وَمَسمَعٍ مُستَبشَعِ المَنظَرِ

أَثقَلُ مِن دينٍ عَلى مُعسِرِ

With ears deafened and face contorted

Harder than debt on an impoverished man

كَم شارِبٍ خَطَّ شارِباً

بِالمِسكِ مِن نافِجَةِ العَنبَرِ

How many a drinker has marked another

With musk from the aromatic ambergris

لا أَنسَهُ يَوماً وَقَد جاءَنا

مُخَرَّقُ الأَشداقِ وَالمَنخَرِ

I'll never forget the day he came to us

With torn cheeks and perforated nose

فَقُلتُ لِما أَن تَأَمَّلتُهُ

أَظُنُّ هَذا كانَ في عَسكَرِ

So I said when I looked upon him

I reckon this one was in an army camp

فَقالَ لا بَل كُنتُ في دَعوَةٍ

خَسيسَةِ المَورِدِ وَالمَصدَرِ

But he said no, I was at a despicable feast

Of meager fare and poor hospitality

أَحضَرَنيها رَجُلٌ سَفلَةٌ

فَلَيتَني غِبتُ وَلَم أَحضُرِ

It was held by a lowly man who summoned me

I wish I'd been absent and hadn't attended

فَحينَ غَنَّيتُ هَذي واحِدٌ

مِن حَيثُ لَم أَدرِ وَلَم أَشعُرِ

So when I sang this one song

Unaware and unprepared

وَاِبتِدَرَ القَومُ إِلى هامَتي

فَاِنحَلَقَ الشَعرُ مِنَ المَشعَرِ

The people leapt up and grabbed my reins

Tearing out my hair by its roots

فَرُحتُ سَكرانَ لَمّا نالَني

وَما التَقى طَرفِيَ بِالمُسكِرِ

Then I left happily drunk though untouched

By any wine, my eyes unmoistened

وَجُملَةَ الأَمرِ وَتَفصيلُهُ

لَو لَم أَقُم قُمتُ وَلَم أُبصِرِ

And the crux of the matter, to summarize

Had I not risen and come to, I'd have seen nothing