ومشَى النسيم يجرُّ فَضْلَ ردائهِ

بين الحدائق مِشْيَةَ الخُيَلاَءِ

And the breeze walked on, trailing the train of its robe,

Through the gardens with the strut of the proud.

نشوانَ يعبثُ بالغصون وَيَنْثَنِي

مَرَحاً فيعثرُ في غديرِ الماء

Tipsy, it toys with the branches and sways,

Frolicking, then stumbling into a pool of water.

قَمَرٌ يمدُّ من الثريَّا راحةً

ضُمَّتْ على قَدَحٍ كنجم سَمَاءِ

A moon extends a hand from the Pleiades,

Closed around a goblet like a star in the sky.

يَسْقِي فأسقيه فيشربُ حُسْنُهُ

عَقْلِي ويشربُ راحُه أعضائي

He gives me drink, and I give him drink; his beauty drinks

My reason, while his wine drinks through my limbs.

كأسٌ لها حَبَبٌ يدور بها كما

دارَ السِّوَارُ بمعصمِ الحسناءِ

A cup whose bubbles circle round it, just as

A bracelet circles a beautiful woman’s wrist.

صفراءُ نَمَّ بها الزجاجُ كأنها

شَمْسٌ مُحَجَّبَةٌ بجسمِ هَوَاءِ

Golden wine, betrayed by the glass, as though it were

A sun veiled within a body of air.

سَمْحٌ يوكَّل بالخطوب سماحُهُ

إن الدواء موكَّلٌ بالداءِ

A generous man—his generosity is charged with meeting calamities,

For medicine is appointed to disease.

وتراه أصدقَ من رأيتَ مواعداً

والصدقُ بعضُ مواهبِ الكرماء

You will find him truer to his promises than anyone you have seen,

And truthfulness is among the gifts of the noble.

تَنْدَى أناملهُ ويُشرق وجهُهُ

فيجود بالآلاء واللألاء

His fingertips grow dewy, and his face shines forth,

And he bestows blessings and brilliance.