وَمائِلِ الرَأسِ نَشوانٍ شَدَوتُ لَهُ

وَدِّع لَميسَ وَداعَ الصارِمِ اللاحي

With swaying head intoxicated, I reproved him,

To a companion with a nodding head, intoxicated, I sang:

And bade Lamees farewell, stern warrior's farewell.

"Bid Lamis farewell, the farewell of a resolute censurer."

فَعالَجَ النَفسَ كَي يَحيا لِيَفهَمَهُ

وَقالَ أَحسَنتَ قَولاً غَيرَ إِفصاحِ

He roused himself that he might understand me

He struggled with his spirit to revive enough to understand it,

And said, "Thou speakest well, though not eloquently."

And said, "You spoke well," though without clear articulation,

فَكادَ أَو لَم يَكَد أَن يَستَفيقَ لَهُ

وَالنَفسُ في بَحرِ سُكرٍ عَبَّ طَفّاحِ

Scarce had he, or not at all, come to his senses,

He almost—or perhaps failed to—sober up for the song,

While still his soul was in a sea of drunkenness tossing.

While his soul was in a sea of drunkenness, surging and overflowing.

فَقُلتُ لِلعِلجِ عَلِّلني فَرُبَّ فَتىً

عَلَّلتُهُ فَاِنثَنى مِن نَشوَةِ الراحِ

I said to my healer, "Tell me the cause, for many a gallant lad

So I said to the servant, "Pour me another," for many a youth

Have I made senseless with the intoxication of pleasure."

Have I entertained until he swayed from the euphoria of the wine,

مِن بِنتِ كَرمٍ لَها في الكَأسِ رائِحَةٌ

تَحكي لِمَن نالَ مِنها ريحَ تُفّاحِ

Of the daughter of the vine whose chalice retains a fragrance

From a daughter of the vine that possesses a scent in the cup

That tells him who has tasted it the smell of apples.

Resembling, to the one who partakes, the fragrance of apples.

نَفتَضُّ بِكراً عَجوزاً زانَها كِبَرٌ

في زِيِّ جارِيَةٍ في اللَهوِ مِلحاحِ

An old man doting on a damsel in the wantonness of youth

We break the seal of a virgin, an old dame adorned by age,

In the garb of a fair slave at play.

appearing in the guise of a maiden, persistent in frivolity.

حَتّى إِذا اللَيلُ غَطّى الصُبحَ مِجوَلَهُ

كَمُطلِعٍ وَجهَهُ مِن بَينِ أَشباحِ

Till when the night spreads over the dawn its skirt,

Until, when the night draped its cloak over the morning,

Like one who shows his face from amid shadows,

Like one revealing his face from amidst apparitions,

نَبَّهتُ نَدمانِيَ الموفي بِذِمَّتِهِ

مِن بَعدِ إِتعابِ كاساتٍ وَأَقداحِ

I roused my boon companions, faithful to their bond,

I roused my boon companion, faithful to his bond,

After outpourings from cups and flagons.

After the exhausting of cups and goblets.

فَقالَ هاتِ اِسقِني وَاِشرَب وَغَنِّ لَنا

يا دارَ شَعثاءَ بِالقاعَينِ فَالساحِ

And he said, "Give me to drink and drink thou, and sing to us,

He said, "Bring it! Pour for me, drink, and sing to us:

O litter strawn with goblets and diches."

‘O Abode of Sha'tha in the twin valleys and the clearing...’"

فَما حَسا ثانِياً أَو بَعضَ ثالِثَةٍ

حَتّى اِستَدارَ وَرَدَّ الراحَ بِالراحِ

No second time or part of a third

But he did not sip a second, or part of a third,

Did he awake ere he spun round and the punter sent to the pitcher.

Before he reeled, and dashed the wine aside with his palm.