أَثنِ عَلى الخَمرِ بِآلائِها

وَسَمِّها أَحسَنَ أَسمائِها

Praise wine for its virtues,

Praise the wine for the bounties it bestows,

And name it with its finest names.

And invoke it by the fairest of its names.

لا تَجعَلِ الماءَ لَها قاهِراً

وَلا تُسَلِّطها عَلى مائِها

Do not let water overcome it,

Let not the water rise to conquer it,

Nor give it power over its substance.

Nor give it dominion to overpower the water.

كَرخِيَّةٌ قَد عُتِّقَت حَقبَةً

حَتّى مَضى أَكثَرُ أَجزائِها

Like an emancipated slave girl

A Karkh vintage that has aged for an epoch,

Who has endured captivity for ages,

Until the greater portion of its parts has fled,

فَلَم يَكَد يُدرِكُ خَمّارُها

مِنها سِوى آخِرَ حَوبائِها

Until most of her limbs had wasted away,

So that its vintner could scarcely detect

Leaving her master naught but her last locks.

Aught remaining but the last of its spirit.

دارَت فَأَحيَت غَيرَ مَذمومَةٍ

نُفوسَ حَسراها وَأَنضائِها

She revolved, alive without blame,

It circulated and revived—free from all blame—

The souls that pine for her and her likes.

The souls of the weary and the wasted.

وَالخَمرُ قَد يَشرَبُها مَعشَرٌ

لَيسوا إِذا عُدّوا بِأَكفائِها

And there is a group who drink wine

For wine may well be drunk by a company

Who, though few, are its equals.

Who, when counted, are not worthy of its rank.