ألا فاسقِني خمراً، وقل لي: هيَ الخمرُ،

ولا تسقني سرّاً إذا أمكن الجهرُ

Pour me wine, and say it is wine,

Pour me some wine, and tell me: "This is wine,"

Do not secretly pour, if it can be done openly,

And serve me not in secret when open display is possible.

فما العيْشُ إلاّ سكرَة ٌ بعد سكرة ٍ،

فإن طال هذا عندَهُ قَصُرَ الدهرُ

For life is only drunkenness after drunkenness,

For life is naught but drunkenness upon drunkenness,

And if it were long with Him, time would be short.

And if one lingers thus, the span of time grows short.

وما الغَبْنُ إلاّ أن ترَانيَ صاحِيا

و ما الغُنْمُ إلا أن يُتَعْتعني السكْرُ

And loss is only that you see me sober,

True loss is nothing but that you should see me sober,

And gain is only that drunkenness makes me stagger.

And true gain is but that intoxication leaves me staggering.

فَبُحْ باسْمِ من تهوى ، ودعني من الكنى

فلا خيرَ في اللذّاتِ من دونها سِتْر

So confess the name of her you love, and spare me from aliases,

So speak the name of whom you love, and spare me vague allusions,

For there is no good in pleasures without them being hidden,

For there is no good in pleasures hidden behind a veil.

ولا خيرَ في فتكٍ بدونِ مجانة ؛

ولا في مجونٍ ليس يتبعُه كفرُ

Nor any good in outrage without forgiveness,

There is no good in daring deeds without shameless vice;

Nor any good in forgiveness not followed by unbelief.

Nor in debauchery that is not followed by impiety.

بكلّ أخي فتكٍ كأنّ جبينَه

هِلالٌ، وقد حَفّتْ به الأنجمُ الزُّهرُ

With each brother in outrage as if his forehead

[I am] with every brazen brother, whose brow appears

Were a crescent, surrounded by bright stars,

As a crescent moon, surrounded by the radiant stars.

و خَمّارَة ٍ نَبّهْتُها بعد هجْعَة ٍ ،

و قد غابت الجوزاءُ ، وارتفعَ النّسرُ

And a tavern girl I awoke after a nap,

And a tavern-mistress whom I roused from her slumber,

While Al Jawza had set and the eagle risen,

When Gemini had set and the Eagle star had risen.

فقالت: من الطُّرّاق ؟ قلنا : عصابة

خفافُ الأداوَى يُبْتَغَى لهُم خمرُ

She said: who is knocking? We said: a gang

She asked: "Who comes knocking?" We replied: "A band"

Of light-footed ones, for whom wine is sought.

"With empty skins, seeking wine for ourselves."

ولا بدّ أن يزنوا، فقالت: أو الفِدا

بأبْلَجَ كالدّينَارِ في طرفهِ فَتْرُ

It is inevitable they commit adultery, she said. I said: or my life

"And we must have our pleasure." She said: "Or perhaps a ransom—"

For one fair like a golden dinar with a slit in its edge.

"With a bright-faced lad like a gold dinar, with languor in his gaze?"

فقلنا لها: هاتِيهِ، ما إن لمِثْلِنا

فديناك بالأهْلينَ عن مثل ذا صَبرُ

We said to her: bring it here. The like of us,

We said to her: "Bring him forth! For truly, for men like us,"

Our religion does not prevent what we desire.

"—May our kin be your ransom—there is no patience for such a prize."

فجاءَتْ بهِ كالبَدْرِ ليلَة َ تمّهِ ،

تخالُ به سحراً، وليس به سحْرُ

She came with it, like the full moon on a completed night,

So she brought him, resplendent as the full moon at its peak,

Walking proudly with it at dawn, no sorcery in it.

You would think him possessed of magic, yet no magic is there.

فقُمنا إليه واحداً بعدَ واحِدٍ،

فكان بهِ من صَومِ غُربتنا الفِطرُ

We stood, one after the other.

So we rose to him, one after another,

With it, the fast of our estrangement broke.

And in him was the breaking of the fast of our long abstinence.

فبِتنا يرانا الله شَرَّ عِصابة ٍ،

نُجَرّرُ أذْيالَ الفُسوقِ ولا فَخْرُ

We spent the night, with God seeing the worst of gangs,

We spent the night while God watched us, the most wicked of bands,

Dragging the trains of wickedness, and no pride.

Trailing the long robes of debauchery, with no shred of shame.