وَفِتيَةٍ كَنُجومِ اللَيلِ أَوجُهُهُم

مِن كُلِّ أَغيَدَ لِلغَمّاءِ فَرّاجِ

Faces like stars in the night, each one

And youths whose faces were like the stars of the night,

A lamp for the sorrowful from every brilliant wick.

Each one a graceful beauty, a dispeller of deep distress,

أَنضاءِ كَأسٍ إِذا ما اللَيلُ جَنَّهُمُ

ساقَتهُمُ نَحوَها سَوقاً بِإِزعاجِ

They shine like goblets when the night covers them,

Exhausted victims of the cup; when the night enshrouds them,

It leads them insistently towards it.

It drives them toward it with an agitated urgency.

طَرَقتُ صاحِبَ حانوتٍ بِهِم سَحَراً

وَاللَيلُ مُنسَدِلُ الظَلماءِ كَالساجِ

I knocked at a shopkeeper's door at dawn

I knocked on the tavern-keeper's door with them at dawn,

While darkness draped like a curtain.

While the night draped its darkness like a black cloak.

لَمّا قَرَعتُ عَلَيهِ البابَ أَوجَلَهُ

وَقالَ بَينَ مُسِرِّ الخَوفِ وَالراجي

When I knocked on his door it startled him

When I banged upon the door, it startled him,

And he said, between hope and fearful apprehension:

And he asked, suspended between hidden fear and hope:

مَن ذا فَقُلتُ فَتىً نادَتهُ لَذَّتُهُ

فَلَيسَ عَنها إِلى شَيءٍ بِمُنعاجِ

"Who is that?" So I said: "A youth called by his pleasure,

"Who is this?" I replied, "A youth summoned by his pleasure,"

He cannot be prevented from it."

"One who will not turn aside from it for anything else."

اِفتَح فَقَهقَهَ مِن قَولي وَقالَ لَقَد

هَيَّجتَ خَوفي لِأَمرٍ فيهِ إِبهاجي

He laughed at my words and said: "You have

"Open up!" He laughed loudly at my words and said, "Indeed,"

Stirred up my fear of something confusing."

"You stirred my fear regarding a matter that holds my joy."

وَمَرَّ ذا فَرَحٍ يَسعى بِمِسرَجَةٍ

فَاِستَلَّ عَذراءَ لَم تَبرُز لِأَزواجِ

And someone happy passed by with a light,

He went joyfully, hastening with a lamp,

And snatched away an untouched maiden, unseen by suitors,

And drew forth a virgin wine, never before unveiled to suitors,

مَصونَةً حَجَبوها في مُخَدَّرِها

عَنِ العُيونِ لِكِسرى صاحِبِ التاجِ

Sheltered in her bower from strangers' eyes

A guarded treasure they had hidden within her curtained chamber,

By Chosroes the crown-bearer.

Concealed from eyes, reserved for Chosroes, the wearer of the crown.

يُديرُها خَنِثٌ في لَهوِهِ دَمِثٌ

مِن نَسلِ آذينَ ذو قِرطٍ وَدُوّاجِ

A eunuch whirls her around in his revelry, a filthy

Served by a languid youth, gentle in his playfulness,

Descendant of perfidious Dhu'dhawwad with earrings and anklets,

Of the lineage of Adhin, adorned with an earring and brocaded tunic.

يُزهى عَلَينا بِأَنَّ اللَيلَ طُرَّتُهُ

وَالشَمسُ غُرَّتُهُ وَاللَونُ لِلعاجِ

Boasting over us that the night is his mantle,

He flaunts before us that the night is his dark locks,

The sun his necklace, and variegated silk his adornment,

That the sun is his brow, and his skin the color of ivory.

وَالدَهرُ لَيسَ بِلاقٍ شَعبَ مُنتَظِمٍ

إِلّا رَماهُ بِتَفريقٍ وَإِزعاجِ

While fate is not straight like an ordered path,

Yet Time never encounters a gathering united in harmony,

Rather he hurls it into disarray and turmoil.

Without striking it with separation and disarray.