أَلثامٌ شفَّ عَن وردٍ ندِ

أَم غمامٌ ضحكت عَن بَرَدِ

Lips that unveiled a rosebud's blush,

Is this a veil revealing a dewy rose,

Or clouds that smiled to reveal a flush,

Or a cloud that smiled to uncover hailstones?

أَم عَلى الأَزرارِ مِن حُلَّتها

بَدرُ تمٍّ في قَضيبٍ أَملَدِ

On her dress's buttons, moonlight's glow

Or is there, rising above the buttons of her robe,

Shone on a slender, swaying rush.

A full moon atop a supple, swaying bough?

بِأَبي لِينٌ لَهُ لَو أَنَّهُ

نُقلت عِطفَتُه للخَلَدِ

By her softness, if it were but moved

May my father be ransomed for a softness that,

To show pity, it would conquer death.

If its curve were transferred to the heart...

لا وَأَلحاظٍ لَها ساحِرَة

نَفَثَت في القَلبِ لا في العُقدِ

Not mere glances of a sorceress

No, by those bewitching glances of hers,

Who breathed enchantment, not on gems, but souls.

Which cast spells upon the heart, not upon knots,

لا طَلَبتُ الثَأرَ مِنها ظالِماً

وَأَنا القاتلُ نَفسي بِيَدي

Nor would I, wronged, seek vengeance on her,

I did not unjustly seek revenge against her,

When I'm the killer of myself by my own hand.

When I am the one slaying my own soul with my hand.

نَظَرت عَيني لِحَيني نَظرةً

أَخَذت روحي وَخلَّت جسدي

My eyes looked at her in a moment's glance,

My eye cast a single glance to my own doom;

That took my soul and left my body bare.

It seized my spirit and left behind my body.

هاتها بِاللَه في مَرضاتِها

قَهوةً فيها شفاءُ الكمدِ

Give it here, by God, in its sweetness,

Pass it round, by God, for the sake of her pleasure,

Coffee wherein lies cure for all cares.

A vintage wine wherein lies the cure for deep anguish;

عُصِرت بِاللُطفِ في عَصرِ الصِبا

فَرمت بِالمسكِ لا بِالزبدِ

It was pressed gently in youth's season,

Pressed with gentleness in the era of youth,

And it casts musk, not mere dregs.

So it frothed with musk, not with foam.

ما دَرى مديرُها في كَأسِها

وَهيَ مثلُ البارِقِ المتّقدِ

Its waitress knows not, in her cup,

The one pouring it knew not, regarding the cup,

That it's like lightning set ablaze.

As it shone like a blazing flash of lightning:

دُرّةٌ ضمَّت عَلى ياقوتةٍ

أَم لجينٌ فيهِ ثَوبٌ عسجدي

A pearl held fast to a ruby,

Is it a pearl embracing a ruby,

Or pure wine in a crystal case.

Or is it silver containing a golden gown?

سقّني غَيرَ مُليمٍ إِنّني

حَنفيُّ الرَأي وَالمعتقدِ

Serve it unsweetened, for I profess

Pour for me without blame, for truly I am

Reason and faith free of heresy.

Of the Hanafi school in judgment and belief;

لا أَرى بالسُكرِ إِلّا من هوى

أو هِبات الملك المُؤيَّدِ

In sugar I see nothing but passion,

I deem no intoxication valid save from love,

Or gifts from the lauded king to me.

Or from the gifts of the divinely aided King.

مَلِكُ العَليا وَلَو أَنصفتُهُ

فَفَتحتُ اللام لَم أُفنَّدِ

King of the Highest, though I sing his praises,

King of the heights—and were I to do him justice,

If I pronounced the L, I would not lie.

And change the vowel to call him Angel, I would not be rebuked.