اِسقِنيها بِسَوادِ
قَبلَ تَغريدِ المُنادي
Pour it slowly in the darkness
Pour it for me in the deep darkness,
Before the caller's morning song,
Before the caller sings his chant,
مِن كُمَيتٍ بَلَغَت في ال
دَنِّ أَقصى مُستَزادِ
From a skin so full it reached
Of a dark red vintage that attained,
The brim and could take no more.
In the cask, the utmost peak of age,
رَضِعَت وَالدَهرَ ثَدياً
وَتَلَتهُ في الوِلادِ
It suckled time and from it drew
She suckled at the breast of Time,
Milk when time itself was young,
Following him in the order of birth,
فَهيَ فيها كُلُّ ما يَب
لُغُ مَقروحُ الفُؤادِ
So it contains all that can make
For she holds within her all that is sought,
A wounded heart spill over.
By the one with a wounded heart,
سُمتُها عِندَ يَهودِي
يٍ خَصيبِ المُستَرادِ
A Jew who lives off lush oases
I bargained for her with a Jewish host,
Once owned it at his wish and will
Whose grounds were rich and fertile,
فَشَرِبنا شُربَ قَومٍ
عَطِشوا مِن عَهدِ عادِ
And we drank like men who after long
So we drank the draught of a folk,
Thirst quaffed since the days of 'Aad.
Parched since the days of ancient 'Ad,
بَينَ أَفياءِ عَريشٍ
عَمَدوهُ بِعِمادِ
Twixt poles that propped the goat-hair tent
Amidst the shadows of a vine trellis,
They built and pegged down good and firm,
Propped aloft by sturdy pillars,
وَدِنانٍ مُسنَداتٍ
مُعلَماتٍ بِمِدادِ
And plugged them with hard, wooden pegs
And great casks set leaning in rows,
Sharp like the jabs of prods and goads.
Marked with inscriptions in ink,
أَنفَذوهُنَّ بِطَعنٍ
مِثلَ أَفواهِ المَزادِ
Then having mixed it thoroughly
They broached them with a piercing thrust,
They saw it foam and seethe and surge,
Like the open mouths of waterskins,
ثُمَّ لَمّا مَزَجوها
وَثَبَت وَثبَ الجَرادِ
Then drank it in and it possessed
Then, when they mingled her with water,
Them like a swooning, drugged fatigue.
She leapt up like a swarm of locusts,
ثُمَّ لَمّا شَرِبوها
أَخَذَت أَخذَ الرُقادِ
And then, as they drank her down,
She seized them as sleep seizes the weary.
