وَبِكرِ سُلافَةٍ في قَعرِ دَنٍّ

لَها دِرعانِ مِن قارٍ وَطينِ

In the deep valley at dawn

And a virgin vintage lying deep within a cask,

Wearing two coats of resin and clay

Protected by two coats of armor, pitch and clay.

تَحَكَّمَ عِلجُها إِذ قُلتُ سُمني

عَلى غَيرِ البَخيلِ وَلا الضَنينِ

I tended to her when I said "Fatten me up"

Its foreign keeper drove a hard bargain when I said, "Name your price,"

Not being stingy or resentful

Dealing with one neither miserly nor stingy.

شَكَكتُ بُزالَها وَاللَيلُ داجٍ

فَدَرَّت دِرَّةَ الوَدَجِ الطَعينِ

I doubted her fatigue as night fell dark

I pierced its seal while the night was dark,

She let out a loud, raspy groan

And it gushed forth like the stream of a stabbed jugular.

بِكَفِّ أَغَنَّ مُختَضِبٍ بَناناً

مُذالِ الصَدغِ مَضفورِ القُرونِ

With a palm that earns more than a youth with dyed hair

Served by the hand of a soft-voiced lad with henna-dyed fingertips,

Of drooping temple and blunt horns

With dangling sidelocks and hair in braided plaits.

لَنا مِنهُ بِعَينَيهِ عِداتٌ

يُخاطِبُنا بِها كَسرُ الجُفونِ

We have promises in her eyes

In his eyes, we find promises intended for us,

That address us in the lowering of eyelids

Addressed to us by the languid folding of his lids.

كَأَنَّ الشَمسَ مُقبِلَةٌ عَلَينا

تَمَشّى في قَلائِدِ ياسَمينِ

As if the rising sun approaches us

It is as if the sun itself were advancing toward us,

Walking in necklaces of jasmine

Walking amidst necklaces of jasmine.

أَقولُ لِناقَتي إِذ بَلَغَتني

لَقَد أَصبَحتِ عِندي بِاليَمينِ

I say to my she-camel when she reaches me

I say to my she-camel, now that she has delivered me:

“You have become auspicious to me”

"You have secured with me a solemn pledge of safety.

فَلَم أَجعَلكِ لِلقُربانِ نَحراً

وَلا قُلتُ اِشرَقي بِدَمِ الوَتينِ

I did not make you an offering for sacrifice

I have not made you a slaughtered offering for sacrifice,

Nor say “Gleam with the blood of slaughter”

Nor said, 'Choke on the blood of your heart\'s vein.'

حَرُمتِ عَلى الأَزِمَّةِ وَالوَلايا

وَأَعلاقِ الرِحالَةِ وَالوَضينِ

You are prohibited to harsh conditions and journeys

You are forbidden henceforth to reins and saddle-pads,

And the belts of travelers and valley-dwellers

And to the trappings of the mount and the girth."