خذِ العيشَ الهنيَّ من المجوس

معاقرةَ العقارِ الخندريسِ

Take joyful life from the Magi,

Seize the blissful life from the ways of the Magians,

Drinking their healing potion,

In the ceaseless quaffing of vintage wine,

ودع لهوَ العُرَيب بطردِ صيد

له يأبى العناء على النفوس

Leave the Bedouin's vain pursuit of game

And leave the petty Arabs to their play of chasing game,

To weary and vex men's souls.

For the soul rejects such burdensome strain.

ذر الوحشيَّ يرعى جلمتيهِ

وخلّ الطيرَ يعدُ بغيرِ بوس

Let the beast graze his pair of cheek-teeth,

Let the wild beast graze its pastures in peace,

Let the birds chatter heedlessly.

And let the birds fly free without woe,

وغُضفاً ينسفنَّ الأرض نسفاً

تنافرُ فيه حبّاتُ النفوس

Locusts ravage the land with ravage

And the flop-eared hounds that tear up the earth,

Whose pellets the souls abhor.

Where the very kernels of life are scattered in fear.

وسرباً حائراتٍ فوق قُفّ

تشبّهها بمشيخةٍ جلوس

A flock, wandering above a wasteland,

And the flock hovering bewildered above the crag,

Looking like a council of elders sitting.

Resembling a gathering of seated elders,

وأسود لهذم الشفرين يفري

وأزرقَ منسَرٍ أقنىً هموس

Lions whose two fangs prey,

And the black falcon, sharp-beaked and tearing,

And a worm, most timid of crawlers.

Blue-taloned, hooked, and stealthy in flight,

تخالُ على القرا درّاج وشي

تكشّفَ عن غلالةِ خندريس

They seem, when they glance at ruins,

You would think its back bore patterns of brocade,

To reveal the dark leaves of oleander.

Revealed from beneath a tunic of wine-dark hue,

يثيرُ بكل معركةٍ صناجاً

وداهيةً كداهيةٍ البسوسِ

With every battle they provoke a cafe's

Stirring up a clamor in every battle,

Worth of saucy tales and gossip.

A calamity like the ancient war of Al-Basous,

وأمّ الطير في شرٍّ وضير

وأمّ الوحشِ في يوم عبوسِ

The female beasts are vicious and spiteful

Bringing evil and harm to the mother bird,

On an inauspicious day.

And a grim, frowning day to the mother beast.

فركضُ السكر في يوم عبوس

بأعناقِ الرؤوسِ إلى الرؤوس

Gallop the steeds on an ill-omened day,

But the rush of intoxication on a sullen day,

With the heads at the heads, in double file.

Passing from head to head with eager necks,

وإطلاقُ الجفونِ وهنّ حومٌ

لصيدِ الخدّ والوجهِ النفيس

Eyelids flutter, for they are a party

And the casting of glances that hover and circle,

Hunting cheeks and precious faces.

To hunt the soft cheek and the exquisite face,

ألذُّ على فم الأحرارِ ذوقاً

وأغلبُ للسعود على النحوس

Sweeter to the freeman's mouthful

Is sweeter to the taste on the lips of the free,

More profitable for happiness than ill-omen.

And surer to bring fortune over despair.

وللبيضُ المضمّخةُ التراقي

سوى الشفع المنمّشةِ الرؤوس

The whiteness stained red through contact

For the fair ones with their perfumed throats

Is better than the gray heads with their tribulation.

Are unlike the falcons with speckled heads;

وللوجَناتُ أفرسُهنّ أشهى

من الفرَس الفريس إلى الفريس

The cheeks of the girls are more ardent racers

And the cheeks of the beloved are far more desired

Than the steed charging to the stallion.

Than the predatory steed chasing down its prey,

تناقلُ من سنابِكها فتحكي

مناقلةَ الأناملِ في الطروسِ

Transferring from their chamber windows

Whose galloping hooves mimic in their beat

The gestures of fingers entwined.

The movement of fingertips across the scrolls.