يا لِقَومي فَتَنَتني جارَتي

بَعدَ ما شِبتُ وَأَبلاني الكِبَرْ

Oh my people, my neighbor has tempted me

O my people, my neighbor has enchanted me,

After I grew old and was weakened by age

After I have grown gray and old age has worn me down,

وَأتَتْ لي سَنواتٌ أَربَعٌ

بَعدَ ستين تَقضَّت لي أُخَرْ

And four years have come upon me

And four more years have come to pass for me,

After sixty passed me by

After another sixty have already slipped away,

بَعدَ ما كُنتُ فَتىً ذا مِرَّةٍ

بَين غِزلانٍ أَثارَتها البَطَرْ

After I was once a virile young man

After I was a youth of robust vigor,

Among does aroused by the rain

Among gazelles stirred by playful pride;

شيبة أَنكرن حيناً شأنَها

وَأَنا القَرمُ اذا عُدَّت مُضَرْ

Gray hair took me by surprise

A hoary age whose state they sometimes spurned,

When I, an old man, was counted as harmful

Even though I am the revered chieftain when the tribe of Mudar is counted.

حَبَّذا الشربُ بدارين إِذا

بِتُّ أُسقاها وَقَد غابَ القَمَرْ

How lovely is drinking in the two abodes when

How excellent is the drinking in Darin when

I stay up at night after the moon has gone

I spend the night being poured wine after the moon has set,

عندنا صنّاجَةٌ رَقّاصَةٌ

وَغُلامٌ كُلَّما شِئنا زَمَرْ

We have a tinkling jug

While we have a dancing girl playing the cymbals,

And a boy who drums whenever we desire

And a young boy who plays the flute whenever we desire;

حَسَنُ العرنين ذو قَصّابةٍ

زانَهُ شَذرٌ وَياقوتٌ وَدُرّْ

Beautiful fair one with a butcher's brand

Fine-featured and holding a reed pipe,

His adornment: speckles, ruby, and pearl

Adorned with beads of gold, rubies, and pearls.

وَإِذا قُلتُ لَهُ قم فاسقنا

قامَ يَمشي مشيَةَ اللَيثِ الهَصِرْ

And if I say to him “Rise and serve us drinks”

And when I say to him, "Arise and pour for us,"

He gets up and walks with the stride of a ferocious lion

He rises, walking with the stride of a crushing lion,

وَأَتانا بِشَمولٍ قَهوَةٍ

نَتَعاطاها بِكاساتِ الصُّفُرْ

And he brings us coffee in a brass pot

Bringing us a cool and aged wine,

That we sip from golden cups

Which we pass to one another in cups of brass,

وَأَباريقَ تَناهَت سَعَةً

وَالَّذي في الكَفِّ مَلثومٌ أَغَرّْ

And pitchers as vast as can be

And from pitchers of the utmost capacity,

And the one in his grip has a sealed spout

While the vessel in the hand is veiled and gleaming,

مِثل فَرخٍ هَبَّ في غيطلةٍ

حَذَرَ الصَقرِ فأقعى وَنَظَرْ

Like a chick startled in the bushes

Like a young bird waking in a dense thicket,

Fearing the falcon, ducking down and looking

Wary of the falcon, crouching as it keeps watch,

أَو كَظَبيِ اللصبِ وافى مَرقباً

حَذرَ القانِص صُبحاً فَنَفرْ

Or a gazelle at a watering hole sighting a hunter

Or like a mountain-cleft gazelle reaching a high vantage point,

Fearing the bowman in the early morn and startling

Fearing the hunter at dawn, so it took flight,

فعلا ثُمَّ اِستَوى مُرتَئباً

قُلَّةَ الطَورِ عَلى رأسِ الحَجَرْ

Then actually standing still, apprehensive

Ascending, then standing firm though terrified,

Skittish atop a boulder

Upon the mountain peak, at the very crest of the rocks.