1. Blame me if you wish, do not blame me
For I am deaf to you, like the deaf

2. So let my secret be known openly
Though it offends my proper tact

3. And freely I roam, living riotously
Not bored, nor tired, nor satiate

4. And stay ensconced in frivolity
Like birds ensconced in sanctity

5. And drink the wine that is forbidden
To the world's eyes, sealed, private

6. Its fire a sun, its drink a draught
From an ancient keeper, sublime

7. So its jars were impregnated
Though not by burdened camels' wombs

8. And its plenteous hills bent
From growths flowing like hot lava

9. In bunches twisted awry
Like the locks of Africans in steam baths

10. It was freed by dissolution, it burst
Begetting that not in the womb

11. It was passed down to Thamud till
Its people, heirs of Iram famed

12. And ages stepped over it, though had
It spoken in the cup, with words,

13. Then rendered all it witnessed
Of peoples' generations and realms

14. So free nobles obtained it
Of lofty folk, wronged oft

15. And it shone in their palms
Like the glow of coals in the brazier's heart

16. That is what souls live by
So when will I alight by it

17. To settle in a scented temple's environs
Worshipping in it an idol

18. Carved in beauty from foot to pinnacle
When I calm its ferocity

19. And it rests in my mouth
To me returns the pole of joy

20. As I was wont always before