دَعِ الوُقوفَ عَلى رَسمٍ وَأَطلالِ
وَدِمنَةٍ كَسَحيقِ اليَمنَةِ البالي
Leave off standing at a ruin and remnants,
Leave off your standing over sketches and ruins, over traces faded like a worn Yemeni mantle,
And ashes like the scattered dust of Yemen,
And turn with us to a morning draught of burning gold, intense as fire's glow or the mirage's shimmer.
وَعُج بِنا نَصطَبِح صَفراءَ واقِدَةً
في حُمرَةِ النارِ أَو في رِقَّةِ الآلِ
And come with us, let us spend the night chatting
Time has not dulled the keen edge of its power, nor has corruption touched it through the empty ages.
In the red glow of fire or in the soft light of lamps,
The cupbearer rose at night to temper it, radiant as a full moon dispelling the dark,
لَم يُذهِبِ الدَهرُ عَنها حَدَّ سَورَتَها
وَلَم يَنَلها الأَذى في دَهرِها الخالي
Time has not erased its exquisite form,
It nearly snatches away the sight when mixed with water, revealed in the glory of its lucid hue.
Nor did it suffer harm in its empty days,
It beams with laughter in the faces of boon companions, like pearls cascading from a jeweler's hand.
قامَ الغُلامُ بِها في اللَيلِ يَمزُجُها
كَالبَدرِ ضَوءُ سَناهُ لِلدُجى حالِ
The youth stood by it at night mixing it
You see the noble man deny it to the base; he hoards the wine, yet spares no cost of gold,
Like the moon, his brilliant teeth lighting up the darkness,
In the house of a gray-haired tavern-mistress, a shrewd infidel emboldened by the governor's grace.
تَكادُ تَخطِفُ أَبصاراً إِذا مُزِجَت
بِالماءِ وَاجتُلِيَت في لَونِها الجالي
It could snatch eyes when mixed
With water and clarified into its transparent color,
تَفتَرُّ في أَوجُهِ النُدمانِ ضاحِكَةً
كَمِثلِ دُرٍّ وَهيَ مِن كَفِّ لَأآلِ
It sparkles in the faces of boon companions laughing
Like a pearl in the palm of an entertainer,
تَرى الكَريمَ عَنِ الأَنذالِ يَصرِفُها
يُبقي عَلَيها وَلا يُبقي عَلى مالِ
You see the noble turn away the ignoble from it
He preserves it and does not preserve his money,
في بَيتِ كافِرَةٍ بِالخَمرِ تاجِرَةٍ
شَمطاءَ شاطِرَةٍ تَعتَزُّ بِالوالي
In the house of an infidel woman selling wine,
A saucy clever one proud of her clientele.
