لا تَحزَنَنَّ لِفُرقَةِ الأَقرانِ

وَاِقرِ الفُؤادَ بِمُذهِبِ الأَحزانِ

Do not grieve for the parting of companions,

Do not despair over the parting of friends,

And reconcile your heart to the doctrine of sorrows,

But honor the heart with the banisher of grief;

بِمَصونَةٍ قَد صانَ بَهجَةَ كَأسِها

كِنُّ الخُدورِ وَخاتَمُ الدَنّانِ

With a keeper who has preserved the joy of her cup,

With a guarded vintage whose cup preserves its delight,

The bosom friend and the seal of beauty.

Hidden within veils and the seal of clay jars.

دَقَّت عَنِ اللَحَظاتِ حَتّى ما تَرى

إِلّا اِلتِماعَ شُعاعِها العَينانِ

She glanced away for a moment, until you see

So subtle against the glance that the eyes see nothing

Nothing but the convergence of her two eyes,

Save for the shimmer of its radiant beams,

وَكَأَنَّ لِلذَهَبِ المَذوبِ بِكَأسِها

بَحراً يَجيشُ بِأَعيُنِ الحيتانِ

As if the melted gold in her cup

As though the molten gold within its chalice

Were an ocean churning in the eyes of whales,

Were a sea surging with the eyes of whales.

وَمُزَنَّرٍ قَد صُبَّ في قارورَةٍ

ريقَ السَحابِ عَلى النَجيعِ القاني

And spiced wine poured into a flask

And a belted monk has poured into the flask

Was the saliva of clouds over slumbering meadows,

The moisture of clouds upon blood deep and red.

شَمسُ المُدامِ بِكَفِّهِ وَبِوَجهِهِ

شَمسُ الجَمالِ فَبَينَنا شَمسانِ

The sun of wine in his palm and his face

The sun of wine is in his palm, and in his face

Is the sun of beauty, so between us two suns,

Resides the sun of beauty; thus, two suns shine amongst us.

وَالشَمسُ تَطلَعُ مِن جِدارِ زُجاجِها

وَتَغيبُ حينَ تَغيبُ في الأَبدانِ

And the sun rises from the glass walls of her abode

The sun rises from the walls of its glass vessel,

And sets when it sets in the bodies.

And sets only when it sinks into our bodies,

في مَجلِسٍ جَعَلَ السُرورُ جَناحَهُ

سِتراً لَهُ مِن ناظِرِ الحِدثانِ

In a gathering where joy has made its wings

In a gathering where Joy has spread its wing

A screen from the onlooker of the young,

As a veil against the prying eye of Fortune.

لا يَطرُقُ الأَسماعَ في أَرجائِهِ

إِلّا تَرَنُّمُ أَلسُنِ العيدانِ

No ears are troubled in its boundaries

Nothing strikes the ears within its bounds

Except the singing of merry tongues,

Save for the humming tongues of lutes,

أَو صَوتُ تَصفيقِ الجَليسِ تَطَرُّباً

وَبُكاءُ خابِيَةٍ وَضِحكُ قَناني

Or the sound of a clapping companion enchanted

Or the sound of a companion clapping in rapture,

And the crying of a despondent one and the laughter of singers,

The weeping of the cask, and the laughter of flasks.

حَتّى إِذا اِشتَمَلَ الظَلامُ بِبُردِهِ

وَهَدا حَنينُ نَواقِسِ الرُهبانِ

Until when the darkness wraps with its cold

Until, when darkness wrapped us in its cloak

And the longing of church bells subsides,

And the yearning toll of monks' bells fell silent,

أَلفَيتُهُ بَدراً يَلوحُ بِكَفِّهِ

بَدرٌ جَمَعتَهُما لِعَينِ الراني

I found him a full moon waving with his hand,

I found him a full moon, bearing in his palm

A full moon, both brought together in the onlooker's eye.

Another full moon—I gathered them both for the beholder's eye.

ما زِلتُ أَشرَبُ كَأسَهُم مِن بَينِهِم

عَمداً وَما بِيَ عَجزَةُ النَشوانِ

I continued drinking their cup among them

I continued to drink their cup from amidst them,

Deliberately, and I have no disability of intoxication,

Deliberately, though not from the weakness of intoxication,

لِأَنالَ مِنهُم عِندَ ذاكَ تَحِيَّةً

إِمّا بِوَجهٍ أَو بِطَرفِ لِسانِ

In order to gain from them then a greeting,

Only to steal a greeting from them in that moment,

Either with a face or the edge of a tongue.

Whether by a glance of the face or a tip of the tongue.