1. هَذَا وَرُبَّ مُسِوَّفينَ صَبَحتُهُم

    مِن خَمرِ بابِلَ لَذَّةً لِلشَّارِبِ

    This too: many who kept saying “later” I served at dawn

    with Babylonian wine—a delight to the drinker.

  2. بَكَروُا عَلَيَّ بسَحرَةٍ فصَبَحتُهُم

    بإِنَاءِ ذي كَرمٍ كَقَعبِ الحالِبِ

    They came to me early, in the hour before dawn; so I served them

    with a vessel containing wine, like a milker’s bowl,

  3. بِزُجاجَةٍ مِلءِ اليَدَينِ كأَنَّها

    قِنديلُ فُصحٍ في كَنيسَةِ راهِبِ

    a glass flask filling both hands, as though it were

    an Easter lamp in a monk’s church.