أمديرها والعيش أغيد

حمراء أو صفراء صرخد

O you who pass it round, while life is supple,

red, or yellow wine of Sarkhad.

قم فاجلها عقيانة

صبغت لجين الكاس عسجد

Rise and unveil it, a golden draught;

it has dyed the goblet's silver gold.

واقطب حرارة نارها

بمصفق الماء المبرد

And temper the heat of its fire

with clarified, cooled water,

متشعباً يا قوتها

هلابً ولؤلؤها منضد

its ruby branching

into flame, its pearls arrayed.

كالشمس إلا أنّها

حُملت بكف البدر فرقد

Like the sun, except that it

was borne, a Farqad star, in the full moon's palm.

صحَّت كعين الديك صا

فية وطرف النجم أرمد

It was pure as a cock's eye,

clear, while the star's eye was bleary.

يا ساقيَ الأرواح دع

دعها كؤوس هوىً مجسد

O cupbearer of souls, fill

them—goblets of embodied love.

صرَّح بكاسك واسقها

ملك على الصرح الممرد

Display your goblet openly, and serve it

to a king in the polished palace.

واشرب على النغم الصبوح

فعندليبُ الصبح غرَّد

And drink the morning draught to music;

for dawn's nightingale has sung.

راحاً يضوع نديها

بالمندلي الرطب والند

Wine whose dew exhales the scent

of moist Mandali aloeswood and nadd perfume.

درجت لتأخذ من قوا

ئمُ مصفدٍ رجلا إلى يد

It crept in to take from the limbs

of one fettered, a foot along with a hand.

تدعُ الفصيح متعتعاً

يتجشم الكلم المقيد

It leaves the eloquent man stammering,

struggling to force out fettered words.

وبأسرتي من زارني

قمرا وفرع الليل أربد

And my family be ransom for him who visited me,

a moon, while night's tresses were dusky.

نشوان دبّ به الشراب

فما صحا إذ قيل عربد

Drunk, with wine creeping through him;

he did not sober when they said he had run wild.

كسلان ينفض قرطهُ

عن مثل خوط البان أملد

Languid, he shakes his earring

from a supple form like a ban-tree shoot.

شرق المحيا حاسراً

عن طرة الفلق المقدد

Radiant-faced, uncovering

the fringe of dawn, cleft into streaks.

سمحَ السوالف عاقصاً

من وارد الفرع المجعد

Smooth-necked, knotting up

some of his flowing, curling tresses.

ومذهب الدياجتين

مُدّبج الخد المورّد

And dispelling the two darknesses,

his rose-tinted cheek brocaded.

متجفل عن حوزتي

لا بالقريب ولا المبعد

Shying away from my reach,

neither near nor far removed.

في كل يوم ينقضي

الوى يعللني إلى غد

With every day that passes,

he turns aside, putting me off until tomorrow.

باع الوصال بهجره

وشرى القطيعة منه بالصد

He sold our union for his desertion,

and bought separation from it with rejection.

ومبلَّد لكنه

فضح الذكا ذاك المبلد

And dull-witted, yet

that dull one put intelligence to shame.

واغنَّ أن غنى حسبت

بصوته نغمات مقبد

And sweetly nasal-voiced; if he sang, I imagined

in his voice the melodies of Maqbid.

ومصرف حوَلاً تحوَّل

كله كحلا وأثمد

And shifting a squint that turned

entirely into kohl and antimony.

أعيى علي فكلما

راخيت عن عنةٍ تشدد

He baffled me; whenever

I slackened the rein, he grew stubborn.

نازعته حلّ السواد

فانسلَّ كالسيف المجرد

I struggled with him to loosen his black garment;

he slipped out like an unsheathed sword.

وحللت من متنطقٍ

عقداً بقلب الصب تعقد

And from his girdled waist I loosened

a knot that tightened in the lover's heart.

لم أبغ أيم اللَه غير

عناقهِ واللَه يشهد

I sought, by God, nothing but

his embrace, and God bears witness.

هو مفردٌ في حسنه

وكذاك بدر التم مفرد

He is peerless in his beauty;

so too the moon at its fullness stands alone.

أن المحاسن كلها

رسلٌ وخاتمها محمد

Indeed, all beauties

are messengers, and Muhammad is their seal.

أمعوذي ذاك الصفا

عُد للوفا فالعود أحمد

O you who guard that serenity for me,

return to faithfulness: returning is more praiseworthy.

قد يرجعُ الألف المجا

نب الفهُ متعطفا قد

The estranged companion may return

to his companion tenderly—he may.

أن أخلق النأي الهوى

فهواك في خلدي مجدد

If distance has worn love thin,

your love is renewed within my heart.

حاشا خدودك أن تضا

هي رقة وحشاك جلمد

Far be it that your cheeks should rival

softness, while your heart is stone.

يا راقداً عن ليلتي

اللَه في الأرق المسهد

O sleeper heedless of my night,

for God's sake, pity the sleepless sufferer!

مستجمعٌ يقظاته

لسواهِر النوم المشرد

Gathering all his wakeful hours

for sleepless watches, with sleep driven away,

غمض الجفون ولم يفز

إلا بنزر كرى مصرد

he closed his eyelids, yet gained

only a scant measure of rationed sleep.

إن سادلي شعرٌ فقد

بيضت بالقصب المسود

If my poetry has brought me eminence,

I have won bright honor with the blackened reed.

أو شاع لي نظمٌ فكم

جيدٌ بجوهره مقلد

Or if verse of mine has spread, how many

a neck is adorned with its jewels!

أو شدَّ لي باعٌ فقد

أغرقتُ بالسهم المسدد

Or if my reach has grown strong,

I have shot the well-aimed arrow to the utmost.

أو أن فخرت فإنّ لي

نسبٌ أمتُّ به لأحمد

Or if I boast, I have

a lineage that links me to Ahmad.

أو إن علوت فإنَّ لي

مجدٌ على العليا موطَّد

Or if I rise high, I have

glory firmly founded upon the heights.

من جد يطلب غياةً

لم يثنه هزلٌ ولا جد

Whoever strives to reach a goal

is checked by neither jest nor earnestness.

ما أن قنعت وإنما

قُنِّعتُ بالعيش المنكد

It is not that I was content; rather,

I was cloaked in a wretched life.

مالي سوى الطبع الغني

وفاقتني والشكر والحمد

I have nothing but a rich nature,

and [my poverty], gratitude, and praise.