أَعطَتكَ رَيحانَها العُقارُ

وَكانَ مِن لَيلِكَ اِنسِفارُ

The perfume gave you its basil,

The rich wine has bestowed its basil scent on you,

And your night was illuminated.

At the hour when your night began to fade away.

فَاِنعَم بِها قَبلَ رائِعاتٍ

لا خَمرَ فيها وَلا خُمارُ

So enjoy it before the maidens arrive,

So enjoy it now, before the dreadful hours arrive,

With no wine in it or veils.

In which there is no wine, nor headache from the wine.

وَوَقِّرِ الكَأسَ عَن سَفيهٍ

فَإِنَّ آيِينَها الوِقارُ

And respect the cup away from the fool,

And maintain the goblet’s honor against the fool,

For its essence is dignity.

For gravity and grace are its intended law.

تِخُيِّرَت وَالنُجومُ وَقفٌ

لَم يَتَمَكَّن بِها المَدارُ

It was chosen while the stars stood still,

It was chosen while the stars stood halting in the sky,

Unable to control its orbit.

Before the celestial spheres began their spinning round.

فَلَم تَزَل تَأكُلُ اللَيالي

جُثمانَها ما بِها اِنتِصارُ

So the nights kept consuming

The passing nights continued to consume its form,

Its body without prevailing over it,

Devouring a body that could not fight back,

حَتّى إِذا ماتَ كُلُّ ذامٍ

وَخُلِّصَ السِرُّ وَالنَجارُ

Until when every reviler died

Until, when every flaw had perished and dissolved,

And the secret and carpenter perished,

And the secret essence and the root were clarified,

عادَت إِلى جَوهَرٍ لَطيفٍ

عِيانُ مَوجودِهِ ضِمارُ

It returned to a subtle essence

It returned into a spirit, subtle and refined,

Whose existence is hidden.

Whose presence to the eye is scarce perceptible.

كَأَنَّ في كَأسِها سَراباً

تُخيلُهُ المَهمَهُ القِفارُ

As if in its cup an illusion,

As if a shimmering mirage lies within its cup,

Imagined by the barren desert.

Conjured by the imagination of the barren wastes.

كَأَنَّها ذاكَ حينَ تَزهى

لَو لَم يَشُب لَونَها اِصفِرارُ

As if when it glows,

It resembles that illusion when it shines in pride,

Had its color not turned yellow,

If only a golden pallor did not tint its hue.

لا يَنزِلُ اللَيلُ حَيثُ حَلَّت

فَلَيلُ شُرّابِها نَهارُ

The night does not descend where it settled,

Night never settles in the place where it alights,

For the night of its drinker is day.

For the night of those who drink it turns to radiant day.

حَتّى لَوِ اِستودِعَت سِراراً

لَم يَخفَ في ضَوإِها السِرارُ

That even if it kept secrets,

So that if it were entrusted to the moonless dark,

The secrets would not be concealed in its illumination.

The dark could not lie hidden within its brilliant light.

ما أَسكَرَتني الشَمولُ لَكِن

مُديرُ طَرفٍ بِهِ اِحوِرارُ

Intoxication did not overwhelm me, but

It was not the chilled wine that intoxicated me,

A glance from it dazzled me.

But the bearer of a glance, intense in black and white.