لَستُ أَرى لَذَّةً وَلا فَرَحا

وَلا نَجاحاً حَتّى أَرى القَدَحا

I see no pleasure nor joy,

I find neither pleasure, nor joy, nor fulfillment, until I behold the brimming cup.

Nor success until I see the wine flask.

For aged wine is the finest shield a youth possesses when sorrow strikes or cares run wild.

نِعمَ سِلاحُ الفَتى المُدامُ إِذا

ساوَرَهُ الهَمُّ أَم بِهِ جَمَحا

Fine is liquor for a young man when

Indeed, wine is such that, were it fashioned into a key for a miser's lock, it would surely open.

Grief besieges him or stirs his passion.

There is no life but in the wine I quaff, sometimes at dusk, and again at the break of dawn.

وَالخَمرُ شَيءٌ لَو أَنَّها جُعِلَت

مِفتاحَ قُفلِ البَخيلِ لَاِنفَتَحا

And wine is something that if it were made

O friend, I shall never abandon the drink, nor heed the counselor's words concerning love.

The key to a miser's lock, his lock would open.

لا عَيشَ إِلّا المُدامُ أَشرَبُها

مُغتَبِقاً تارَةً وَمُصطَبِحا

No life except liquor which I drink

Sometimes hugging the bottle, sometimes sober.

يا صاحِ لا أَترُكُ المُدامَ وَلا

أَقبَلُ في الحُبِّ قَولَ مَن نَصَحا

Oh friend, I shall not leave liquor nor

Accept in love the word of one who admonishes.