لَمَّا سَمِعتُ الديكَ صاحَ بسحرةٍ

وَتَوَسَّطَ النَسران بَطنَ العَقرَبِ

When I heard the rooster crow at dawn

When I heard the rooster crowing at the break of dawn,

And Alnashran straddled the belly of Alakrab

And the two Eagle stars settled in the belly of the Scorpion,

وَتَتابعت عُصَب النُجومِ كَأَنَّها

عُفرُ الظِّباءِ عَلى فُروعِ المرقَبِ

And the stars followed each other as if they were

And the clusters of stars followed one another as though they were

Doe dung on the branches of Almarqab

Dust-colored gazelles upon the heights of the lookout peak,

وَبَدا سهيلٌ في السَماءِ كَأَنَّهُ

ثورٌ وَعارضَه هِجانُ الرَبرَبِ

And Suhail appeared in the sky as if it were

And Canopus appeared in the sky as though it were

A bull and Alhijan Alrabrab opposed it

A bull intercepted by a white herd of wild cows,

نَبَّهتُ نَدماني فَقُلتُ لَهُ اِصطَبِح

يا ابنَ الكرامِ مِنَ الشَرابِ الاصهَبِ

I awakened my drinking companion and said to him get up

I woke my drinking companion and said to him: Take your morning draught,

O son of nobles, from the yellow wine

O son of noble men, from this tawny wine!

صَفراءَ تَنزو في الإِناءِ كَأَنَّها

عَين الجَرادَةِ أَو لُعابُ الجُندَبِ

Yellow, pouring into the cup as if it were

Yellow wine leaping in the vessel as though it were

The eye of the locust or the saliva of the rabbit

The eye of a locust or the froth of a grasshopper,

نَزوَ الدَبا مِن حَرِّ كلِّ ظَهيرةٍ

وَقّادَةٍ حرباؤُها يَتَقَلَّب

The wine flowed from the heat of every noon

Leaping like young locusts from the heat of every midday,

And battlefield, its flasks tossing and turning

A scorching noon in which the chameleon turns over.