دعته المدام وخلانه

فأعرض عن شرب كاس المدام

Wine and his companions called him,

so he turned away from drinking a cup of wine.

بحسنها نحوه صاحب

ويلحاه عنها الفتى بالملام

A companion presents its charms to him,

and the youth rebukes him for it.

وكانت له في الصبا جفوة

إذا ما دعاه إليها المقام

In his youth he had an aversion to it

whenever the occasion called him to it.

وكم كان يرثي لأخوانه

وهم يتخطون طرق الظلام

How often he pitied his brothers

as they trod the paths of darkness!

فما باله بدلت حاله

فألقى إلى الشر هذا الزمام

So what has happened to him, that his state has changed,

and he has surrendered these reins to evil?

وراح سليب الهدى عابثاً

مع العابثين بغير احتشام

He went on frivolously, stripped of guidance,

with the frivolous, without restraint.

أغرره الكثير حتى مضى

ولم يخش للعاديات الجسام

Did the multitude beguile him until he went on,

with no fear of grave calamities,

وهونت النفس أمر الصلاح

إليه ولامته في الاعتصام

and did his soul belittle righteousness

in his eyes and reproach him for holding fast?

أم أزدان للعين هذا السبيل

فلم يرع للعقل حق الزمام

Or did this path grow fair to the eye,

so he failed to honor reason's right to the reins,

وأبصر روض الهدى مقفراً

عبوساً وربع الدجى في ابتسام

and saw the garden of guidance desolate,

frowning, while the abode of darkness smiled?

مضى ليلة مع أقرانه

وكان له بالمدام هيام

One night he went with his peers,

and he had a passionate love of wine.

فما رد كاسا كعاداته

إليم ولا ساءهم بالكلام

He did not send a cup back, as was his custom,

to them, nor offend them with his words.

تعاطى مع القوم أقداحهم

ونادى بها حين راموا القيام

He drank their cups with the company,

and called for it when they meant to rise.

وراحوا وراح لدار الفجور

فساروا وسار الفتى في الإمام

They went, and he went to the house of debauchery;

they walked on, and the youth went in front.

وللراح في الرأس أحكامها

وللرأس في المرء أي احتكام

Wine has its decrees within the head,

and what sway the head has over a man!

وكم كان يشكو أمور الرشاد

إلى زهرة السوء بين الطغام

How often he complained of the ways of rectitude

to the flower of evil among the rabble!

ولو أنصفت لشكت شرها

وباحت له بالدموع السجام

Had she been fair, she would have lamented her own evil

and confided in him with streaming tears.

فهذا امرؤ غوي بعد عقل

فيا بؤس للعاقل المستهام

So this is a man who strayed after being sensible;

woe to the sensible man crazed by passion!

أضلته أهواؤه والصحاب

فجاءت سجاياه عكس المرام

His desires and companions led him astray,

and his character turned contrary to the desired aim.

إذا ما نهى النفس عن منكر

يعود وفيه إليه أوام

Whenever he forbids his soul a wrongful act,

he returns, with a burning thirst for it within him.

وما زال يخبط هذا الفتى

بعمياء سالكها لا يرام

Still this youth blunders on

along a blind course whose traveler is beyond reach.

وفي كل يوم له لا قف

من الموبقات شديد العرام

And each day there is a snatcher for him,

one of the deadly sins, fiercely unruly.

وها هو ذا جالس بعدما

تصادم والدهر أي اصطدام

And here he sits, after

he and Time have clashed in a tremendous collision.

ولا مؤنس اليوم إلا دموع

وإلا بلايا لهن ضرام

Today he has no companion but tears,

and calamities ablaze with fire.

يقول رأيت طعاماً شهياً

فأثقلت بطني بهذا الطعام

He says, "I saw delicious food,

and weighed down my belly with this food,

ولم أك أخشى به بطنه

تهد القوى وتديم السقام

nor did I fear a surfeit from it

that saps strength and prolongs sickness."

رأى القوم ينتهبون الصفاء

سراعاً ولذتهم في تمام

He saw the people snatching up bliss,

swiftly, their pleasure at its height;

فظن الفتى بالحياة الظنون

وخاض الغمار بغير اهتمام

so the youth formed all manner of thoughts about life

and waded into deep waters without a care.

ومن أخذت نفسه دفعة

نصيب لذائذها والوئام

And he whose soul has taken, all at once,

its share of pleasures and harmony

جدير به أن يعيش الحياة

ولا حظ بعد له في الأنام

deserves to live out his life

with no further good fortune among humankind.