وَصاحب حانوت عَشَوتُ لِنارِهِ

وَقَد مالَت الجَوزاءُ نَحوَ المَغارِبِ

The shopkeeper lit a fire for us

And a tavern owner whose fire I sought in the night,

As the evening approached from the west

While Orion inclined towards the western horizons;

فَقالَ أَلا عَجِّل لَنا النَقد إِنَّنا

أُناسٌ أَخَذنا بِالكَرا وَالضَرائِبِ

He said, hurry and pay us cash for

He said, "Come, hasten the cash to us, for we

We are people bound by fees and taxes

Are people burdened by rent and taxes."

نثرت لَهُ عِشرينَ بيضاً كَأَنَّها

عَلى كَفَّةِ الميزانِ زهرَ الكَواكِبِ

I threw him twenty eggs as white as

I scattered twenty white coins for him, as though they were,

Stars on the scale's dish

Upon the pan of the scale, radiant stars.

فصبَّ لَنا حَمراءَ يَنزو حبابها

إِذا شَعشَعَت بالدَّنِّ نَزوَ الجَنادِبِ

So he poured for us a red one whose bubbles

So he poured us a red wine, its bubbles leaping

Flowed like partridges when stirred gently

When mixed in the jar, like the springing of grasshoppers.