غَنيتُ عَنِ الكَواعِبِ بِالغُلامِ

وَعَن شُربِ المُرَوَّقِ بِالمُدامِ

I have no need for dancing girls when I have a boy,

I have dispensed with buxom maidens for the sake of a boy,

Nor spiced wine when I can drink wine unmixed.

And exchanged the clarified draught for vintage wine,

وَعَن سُبُلِ الرَشادِ بِطُرقِ غَيٍّ

وَعَن طَلَبِ المُحَلَّلِ بِالحَرامِ

I shun right guidance for the paths of error,

And forsaken the path of guidance for the ways of error,

And forbidded pleasures over that allowed.

And abandoned the pursuit of the lawful to seek the forbidden.

قَطَعتُ مَقاوِدي وَخَلَعتُ عُذري

وَأَمكَنتُ الخِسارَةَ مِن لِجامي

I've turned away from gatherings and forsaken my excuse,

I have severed my tethers and cast off my excuses,

Letting ruin have its way with me.

And surrendered the reins of my bridle to ruin.

عَشِقتُ لِشَقوَتي رَشَأً رَبيباً

رَخيمَ الدَلِّ مَجنوحَ الكَلامِ

For my misery's sake I've loved a gazelle,

To my misery, I loved a fawn reared in luxury,

Tender of glance, soft of speech.

Gentle in his coquetry, soft-spoken in his speech.

كَأَنَّ جَبينَهُ قَمَرٌ تَلالا

عَداهُ الدَجنُ مِن خَلَلِ الفِحامِ

His brow seems a moon that night shadows grace,

As if his forehead were a shimmering moon,

Veiled in darkness amid the sandy wastes.

Unveiled by clouds through the darkness of coal-black hair.

يَرى لِبسَ القَميصِ عَلَيهِ عَيباً

وَلِبسَ الطَيلَسانِ مِنَ الأَثامِ

He sees it a fault to don a shirt,

He views the wearing of a common shirt as a defect upon him,

Or to wear a robe - a sin of sins!

And the donning of the scholar’s hood as a sin.

يَلبَسُ دَرزَبَيروناً قَصيراً

رَقيقَ الخَصرِ مَخروطَ الكِمامِ

He wears a short caftan of golden cloth,

He wears instead a short, fitted Persian tunic,

Slim at the waist, conical his turban.

Revealing a slender waist, with sleeves tapered tight,

وَخُفّاً واسِعاً مِن تَحتِ بُردٍ

مِنَ الديباجِ مِن نَهبِ الهُمامِ

On his feet babouches soft beneath a cloak

And wide boots beneath a mantle,

Of brocade - spoils of feats of valor.

Of brocade taken as plunder from a king.

يَروحُ وَيَغتَدي لِلحَربِ قِدماً

وَيَرمي بِالبَنادِقِ وَالسِهامِ

He rides off to war on foot at dawn

He goes forth to war at dawn and at dusk,

And fights with spears and arrows.

Striking with stone-bows and loosing arrows.

وَيَغشى نارَها وَيَكونُ فيها

كَريمَ الفَتكِ كَرّاراً يُحامي

He storms the fray and there shows spirit keen,

He plunges into the fire of battle and dwells within it,

Ever guarding, valiant in onslaught.

Noble in his lethality, charging repeatedly to defend.

فَهَذا النَعتُ لا نَعتي فَتاةً

أُشَبِّهُها لِجَهلِيَ بِالغُلامِ

This is how I describe - not a girl I liken

This is the description—not my description of a girl,

In my ignorance to a boy.

Whom I might, in my ignorance, compare to a boy.

أَتَجعَلُ مَن تَحيضُ بِكُلِّ شَهرٍ

وَيَنبَحُ جِروُها في كُلِّ عامِ

Can one who's menstrual in every month

Would you compare one who bleeds with every month,

And whose womb yelps yearly be compared

And whose offspring barks like a whelp every year,

كَمَن أَلقاهُ في سِرٍّ وَجَهرٍ

وَأَطمَعُ مِنهُ في رَدِّ السَلامِ

To one I meet in secret and openly

To one whom I meet in secret and in the open,

And hope for his returning greetings?

And from whom I covet merely the return of a greeting?

أُكَلِّمُهُ بِما أَهوى صَريحاً

بِلا خَوفِ المُؤَذِّنِ وَالإِمامِ

I speak to him of all I wish frankly

I speak to him of my desire explicitly,

Without fear of muezzin or imam.

With no fear of the Muezzin or the Imam.