خذها على وجه الربيع المخصب

خذها على وجه الربيع المخصب

لم يقض حق الروض من لم يشرب

لم يقض حق الروض من لم يشرب

Take it before the face of verdant spring;

Take it with the face of the fertile spring

whoever has not drunk has not paid the garden its due.

He who did not drink did not do justice to the meadow

هممي سماء علا وهمي مارد

هممي سماء علا وهمي مارد

فأرجمه من تلك الكؤوس بكوكب

فأرجمه من تلك الكؤوس بكوكب

My aspirations are a heaven of grandeur, and my grief a rebellious demon;

My ambitions are high skies and my desire is raging

so I pelt it with a star from those goblets.

So I pelt it with stars from those cups

واللَه ما أدري واني واقف

واللَه ما أدري واني واقف

للراح بين تحيّر وتعجب

للراح بين تحيّر وتعجب

By God, I do not know, as I stand

By Allah, I do not know, as I stand

before the wine, between bewilderment and wonder:

For comfort between confusion and astonishment

افضضت دنّا أم فتكت الخدر عن

افضضت دنّا أم فتكت الخدر عن

بكر تجول مع المنى في ملعب

بكر تجول مع المنى في ملعب

have I unsealed a wine jar, or violently torn the curtain from

Did I shed worldliness or did intoxication bare

a virgin who roams with wishes in a playground—

An early rising virgin wandering with desires in the playground

أخت الزمان تكسبت من خلقه

أخت الزمان تكسبت من خلقه

جهل المراهق واحتناك الاشيب

جهل المراهق واحتناك الاشيب

Time's sister, who has acquired from its nature

Sister of time dressed in its creation

the folly of an adolescent and the seasoned wisdom of a gray-haired man?

The ignorance of adolescence and the senility of old age