لَقِبلةُ الراحِ إذ تُصلّي

له الأباريقُ بالسجودِ

The kiss of the wind when it prays

Verily, the direction of prayer is Wine, when the vessels pray

To it the jugs bow in prostration

With pitchers bowing low in holy prostration,

في بيتِ لهوٍ وشِربِ صفوٍ

وصوتِ ناي وضربِ عودِ

In a house of play and pure drink

Inside a house of pleasure where pure drafts flow

To the sound of flute and guitar strum

To the sound of the flute and the strumming of the lute,

وأخذُ صبّينِ في عِتابٍ

يشكو عميدٌ إلى عميدِ

Two boys reproach each other

Where two lovers engage in soft reproach,

A leader complains to another leader

One lovesick soul complaining to another,

وشمُّ أترجّةٍ بمسكٍ

وشُربُ راح بكفِّ غيدِ

The smell of perfume with musk

Inhaling the scent of citron laced with musk,

And the taste of wine from a chalice

Drinking wine from the hand of a graceful youth,

ووجهُ حِبٍّ بجنبِ حبّ

قد استراحا من الصدودِ

A face of love next to love

Cheek against cheek, a lover beside a lover,

Having rested from rejection

Finding their rest from avoidance and disdain,

وقرصُ فخذٍ وغمزُ ردفٍ

وعضّ خدّ وشمُّ جيدِ

A thigh's circle and a wink of the eye

A pinch of the thigh, a squeeze of the hip,

A cheek bite and kiss of the forehead

A bite on the cheek, a kiss on the neck,

ولمسُ كفٍّ ولمحُ طرفٍ

ولثمُ مستعذبٍ برودِ

A hand's touch and glance of an eye

The touch of a palm, the glance of an eye,

Sweet kiss of coolness

And kissing a mouth that tastes sweet and cool,

ونيكُ ظبي من النصارى

يزورني كلّ يومِ عيدِ

A Christian young man visits me

And bedding a young gazelle of the Christians

Every feast day

Who comes to visit me on every feast day.

يسقط نثرُ الكلامِ منه

تساقطَ الدرّ من عُقودِ

His words fall like pearls

The scattered words fall from his lips

From a necklace

Like pearls cascading from a broken necklace,

زنارهُ فوق غصنِ بانٍ

يهتز في نعمةٍ ميودِ

His belt over a bending branch

His sash tied round a waist like a willow branch

Sways in gentle bliss

That sways in luxury, bending and lithe.

أحسنُ عندي من الفيافي

وذكرِ ربعٍ ونعتِ بيدِ

Better to me than battles

All this is fairer to me than the barren deserts,

And mention of heroism

Than recalling campsites or describing the waste,

ومن وقوف على قلوصٍ

وسيرِ ليلِ على قعود

Than standing over barren land

Better than halting a she-camel in the tracks,

Walking the night sitting

Or a night-journey upon a riding beast.

مَن كان مستسقياً سحاباً

بعُجمةِ الرمل والصعيدِ

Whoever sought rain clouds

Let him who seeks rain from the passing clouds

With foreign sand and dust

Upon the foreign sands and the highland dust,

أو مستهاماً بدارِ قومٍ

بادوا كما بادَ قومُ هودِ

Or inspiration in a people's abode

Or he who is mad for the dwelling of a tribe

Who perished like Hud's folk

Who perished long ago as the people of Hud perished—

فقد سقاها ريقُ الغوادي

بالغربِ من مكّة البريدِ

The spittle of love quenched him

Let the morning showers water that land

From the west of blessed Mecca

To the west of Mecca, along the courier's road,

ولا سقى ربعَ دارِميّ

وساكنيه سوى الصديد

It did not water Darim's land

But may no rain water the Darimi’s ruins,

Except with lightning flashes

Nor give its dwellers drink, save boiling pus.