أحسنُ من رمي برعّادةٍ

أحسنُ من رمي برعّادةٍ

ومن قِذافِ المنجنيقاتِ

ومن قِذافِ المنجنيقاتِ

Better than hurling with a siege engine,

Better than one who hurls stones

Better than the casting of a thunder-bolt,

And than the catapults’ bombardment,

And catapult boulders

Or the bombardment of the mangonels,

مُسامرٌ في مجلس حاضر

مُسامرٌ في مجلس حاضر

أمام أعوادٍ وناياتِ

أمام أعوادٍ وناياتِ

Is an evening companion, present at a gathering,

Is an entertainer in a lively gathering

Is a night-friend in a seated company,

Before lutes and reed flutes,

Before logs and flutes

Before the wooden ouds and wailing flutes,

وقينةٌ تشدو على صنجِها

وقينةٌ تشدو على صنجِها

تعطيكَ أسبابَ اللذاذات

تعطيكَ أسبابَ اللذاذات

And a singing girl who sings to her harp,

And a singing girl strumming her lute

And a songstress singing to her instrument,

Giving you the means of pleasure.

Giving you reasons for delight

Who gives to you the grounds for all delight.

فذاك يشلي الهمّ لا معرَكٌ

فذاك يشلي الهمّ لا معرَكٌ

يرمي بأحجارِ المنيّات

يرمي بأحجارِ المنيّات

For that banishes care—not a battlefield

For that alleviates cares, not battle

For that drives worry out, unlike the war,

Hurling the stones of death.

That hurls stones of fate

Which hurls the heavy stones of mortal doom.