1. If you regret me, then take me and water me,
And leave those who see you getting drunk on wine.

2. For I am a man who does not drink wine in obscurity,
But I praise date wine openly.

3. Alive and God-fearing, for God knows
All that we do in secret and openly.

4. And one like you I have tried and chosen -
Abu Matar - though now his means flow.

5. I sensed it was like preserving old gazelle musk
When it is saturated with good distillation.

6. He lingered over it each night
Sipping until dawn broke clearly.

7. So he woke dead, a dog’s death, laughing
Stock for his friends until shoved into a grave.

8. None wept for him but outcasts and songstresses
Like the full moon with a clear mouth.

9. And singing girls who were for him the teats of a whore
He suckled while the night hid in its cover.