مَن ذا يُساعِدُني في القَصفِ وَالطَرَبِ

عَلى اِصطِباحٍ بِماءِ المُزنِ وَالعِنَبِ

Who will aid me in revelry and rapture

Who will aid me in revelry and rapture,

At dawn with wine and grapes’ sweet capture

For a morning draught of cloud-water mixed with the grape?

حَمراءُ صَفراءُ عِندَ المَزجِ تَحسَبُها

كَالدُرِّ طَوَّقَها نَظمٌ مِنَ الحَبَبِ

Ruby red and golden yellow mixed as one

Red, turning gold; when mixed, you would deem it

Like pearls bejeweled in a necklace strung

Like a pearl, ringed by a necklace of bubbles.

مَن ذاقَها مَرَّةً لَم يَنسَها أَبَداً

حَتّى يُغَيَّبَ في الأَكفانِ وَالتُرَبِ

He who tasted it will never forget

He who tastes it once will never forget it,

Until shrouded in death's winding sheet

Until he is hidden away in shrouds and dust.

فَسَلَّ هَمُّكَ بِالنَدمانِ في دَعَةٍ

وَبِالعُقارِ فَهَذا أَهنَأُ الأَرَبِ

So drown your worries in wine’s leisure

So soothe your cares with boon companions in ease,

This is the height of life’s treasure

And with vintage wine, for this is the most blissful pursuit.

وَجانِبِ الشُحَّ إِنَّ الشُحَّ داعِيَةٌ

إِلى البَلِيّاتِ وَالأَحزانِ وَالكُرَبِ

And avoid miserliness, for it invites

And shun miserliness, for truly miserliness is a caller

Only woes, sorrows, and plights

To calamities, sorrows, and anguish.