1. Hasten in the morn to the keeper of dawn with joy,
And make your time entirely one of bliss.

2. Put off the cares that cloud your spirit in the gloaming,
Until you see that for its darkness there’s a radiance.

3. O seeker of comforts, none attains them
Save he who finds in comfort surcease of care,

4. Or a love-sick soul who gave youth its due,
And his passion calls him to the fray.

5. The exuberance of one made drunk with joyousness is like
A branch that sways gently in the breeze at peace,

6. Or like the murmurings of the doves - their song
Has begun to speak eloquently of love's travail.

7. The meadow in its brocade of streamlets resembles
Raiment that is stripped off to reveal a nakedness.

8. The wind with its breaths seeks out languid souls
And deadened spirits to revive them into life anew.

9. When the lightning flashes upon you, inhale its fragrance,
And quaff the cup till it flashes like lightning unveiled.

10. Then fold your wings in the presence of fate and absent yourself
From sobriety - you will see success in your two states.

11. Were it not for the anguish of sobriety, your union with the cup
Would be coffee and pastime, nothing more.

12. Does not your habit in sobriety consist in
Bringing together the censorious and admonishers?

13. So make intoxication your state of wakefulness, and draw
From your wine both eyes and cups in abundance.

14. I am one who has trafficked long with passion
And found all my commerce to be profit.

15. You have seen me sing out in the rapture of love,
And take delight in anguish and complaining.

16. I have seen Layla dawn and so I lined
My eyes with the arrows of her glances full of wounds.

17. The light of her being dispelled my darkness, as though
She had brought a lamp to its gloom.

18. Then when I saw in her eyes the sickness
Of languid looks, I saw in her beauty only health.

19. So I went out exultant, filled with the intoxication of union,
The vessels with the rapture of attaining, of comfort.