لا أَستَزيدُ حَبيبي مِن مُواتاتي

وَإِن عَنُفتُ عَلَيهِ في الشِكاياتِ

I do not ask for more affection from my beloved

I ask no more favor from my beloved,

Even if I complain to him bitterly

Though I may be harsh with him in my complaints.

هُوَ المُواصِلُ لي لَكِن يُنَغِّصُني

بِطولِ فَترَةِ ما بَينَ الزِياراتِ

He is the one who keeps in touch with me but he pains me

He grants me union, yet he mars my joy

With the long intervals between visits

With the long, weary intervals between his visits.

قالوا ظَفِرتَ بِمَن تَهوى فَقُلتُ لَهُم

الآنَ أَكثَرُ ما كانَت صَباباتي

They said you got the one you love so I said to them

They said, "You have won the one you love," but I replied,

Now my youthful passions have increased

"My passion burns now fiercer than before."

لا عُذرَ لِلصَبِّ أَن تَهوى جَوانِحُهُ

وَقَد تَطَعَّمَ فوهُ بِالمُواتاةِ

No excuse for a young man that his soul loves

The lover has no excuse for a wandering heart

When his mouth has gotten used to affection

Once his lips have tasted the sweetness of consent.

وَداهِريٍّ سَما في فَرعِ مَكرُمَةٍ

مِن مَعشَرٍ خُلِقوا في الجودِ غاياتِ

He is one of lofty lineage, a branch of the generous tribe

And a noble companion, high on the branch of honor,

Who were created to embody the essence of generosity

From a people fashioned to be the summit of generosity—

نادَيتُهُ بَعدَما مالَ النُجومُ وَقَد

صاحَ الدَجاجُ بِبُشرى الصُبحِ مَرّاتِ

I called him after the stars had set and the rooster

I called to him when the stars had begun to set,

Had crowed the good tidings of dawn repeatedly

And the roosters crowed the tidings of dawn time and again.

فَقُلتُ وَاللَيلُ يَجلوهُ الصَباحُ كَما

يَجلو التَبَسُّمُ عَن غُرِّ الثَنِيّاتِ

And I said, as the night fades into dawn, just as

I spoke, while morning unveiled the night

A smile chases gloom from the frown

Just as a smile reveals the gleam of white teeth:

يا أَحمَدَ المُرتَجى في كُلِّ نائِبَةٍ

قُم سَيِّدي نَعصِ جَبّارَ السَمَواتِ

O Ahmed, the hoped for in every tribulation

"O Ahmed, my hope in every calamity,

Rise, my master, defy the tyrant of the heavens

Rise, my master, let us disobey the Lord of the Heavens!

وَهاكَها قَهوَةً صَهباءَ صافِيَةً

مَنسوبَةً لِقُرى هيتٍ وَعاناتِ

Attributed to the villages of Hiet and Anat

Here, take it—a wine, golden-red and pure,

I provoke him with its heat and deter him

Sourced from the villages of Hit and 'Ana."

أَلُزُّهُ بِحُمَيّاها وَأَزجُرُهُ

بِاللينِ طَوراً وَبِالتَشديدِ تاراتِ

With gentleness at times, and harshness at others

I plied him with its heat and urged him on,

Until he sings, and before the third cup

Now with gentleness, and now with stern insistence,

حَتّى تَغَنّى وَما تَمَّ الثَلاثُ لَهُ

حُلوُ الشَمائِلِ مَحمودَ السَجِيّاتِ

The sweet disposition, Mahmoud of excellent traits

Until he began to sing—before three cups were done—

Oh, if only my share of my money and my children

That man of sweet disposition and praiseworthy nature:

يا لَيتَ حَظِّيَ مِن مالي وَمِن وَلَدي

أَنّي أُجالِسُ لُبنى بِالعَشِيّاتِ

Were to sit with the doe-eyed ladies in the evenings

"Oh, would that my only lot from wealth and kin

Were that I might sit with Lubna in the evenings!"