وَقَهوَةٍ مُرَّةٍ باكَرتُ صُبحَتَها

وَضَوءُها نائِبٌ عَن ضَوءِ مِصباحِ

With morning's bitter coffee I awoke

And a bitter vintage I hastened to at dawn,

Its glow instead of lantern's light invoked

Whose radiance serves in place of a lamp's light.

حَمراءُ عَلَّقَها بِالماءِ شارِبُها

تُفتَضُّ عُذرَتُها في بَطنِ رَحراحِ

Ruby red where its drinker poured the water

Red wine, mixed with water by the hand of its drinker,

Blooming open like a slit pomegranate

Its virginity broken within the belly of a broad cup.

وَيُثبِتُ الماءُ في حافاتِها حَبَباً

كَالقَطرِ يَثبُتُ في حافاتِ ضَحضاحِ

Beads of dew collect on the cup's rim

The water fixes bubbles along its rim,

As drops on flower petals, clinging, glimmering

Like raindrops settling on the edges of a shallow pool.

تَنَفَّسَت في وُجوهِ القَومِ ضاحِكَةً

تَنَفُّسَ المِسكِ في تَفليجِ تُفّاحِ

Breathing laughter on the faces of the people

It breathed into the faces of the company, laughing,

Like musk breathed on the cleft of apples ripe

With the breath of musk found in sliced apples.