إذا ولجَ البعيرُ فروغ صبري

عن الصهباء في سُمّ الخياط

When the camel enters the empty desert of my patience

When the camel squeezes through the breach of my patience,

Among the seamstresses' awls and needles,

Renouncing red wine to enter the needle's eye,

فإن رابطتَ في ثغرٍ فدعني

يكون ببيتِ خمّارٍ رباطي

If you tie me down in a tavern,

If you stand guard at the holy frontier, then leave me be,

My bond will be to a wine-server.

For in the vintner's house my own garrison shall lie.

وحجَ إذا أردتَ فإنّ حجّي

إلى شُربِ المدامةِ بالبواطي

And if you want me to go on Hajj, my pilgrimage

Perform the Hajj if you wish, for my pilgrimage

Is to drinking wine in the ruins.

Is to the heavy flagons where the wine runs high.

مشعشعةٌ تزيل الهمّ عنّي

وتحيي بعد مُنكسري نشاطي

It eliminates my worries, shining,

A sparkling draught that sweeps my cares away,

And restores my broken vitality.

And breathes life into me when my spirits die.

غنينا بالمدامةِ عن سواها

وعن نيكِ الزواني باللواطِ

Wine makes us self-sufficient, needing nothing else,

We found wealth in wine above all other things,

Not even the company of handsome young men.

And in the love of lads over the whores you buy.

غدير الفاتكِ العيّارِ مثلي

يغمّي حيث تشرب بالبواطي

My boon companion is the vintner, killer swordsman that he is,

The way of a reckless scoundrel such as I

Wherever wine is drunk in the ruins.

Is to swoon where the brimming vessels multiply.

يعاطينا الزجاجةَ أريحيّ

رخيم الدلّ بوركَ من معاطي

He gives us the bottle gently,

A spirited youth passes us the glass,

Blessed is he who pours it from its veins.

Soft in his grace—blessed be the one to supply.

أقولُ له على طربٍ ألطني

ولو بمؤاجرٍ علِج نباطي

Happily I say to him, "Sate me,

I say to him in rapture: 'Have your way with me,'

Even if only with fermented barely brew!"

Even were you rough as a hired Nabatean guy.

فإن الخمرَ ليس تطيب إلّا

على وضَرِ الجنابةِ واللواط

For wine tastes good only

For the vintage is never truly sweet unless

With the sweat of exertion and pederasty.

Mixed with the stains of lust and sodomy nearby.

وقل للخمس آخر ملتقانا

إذا ما كان ذاك على الصراطِ

And say to the taxman, the last time we meet,

And tell the Five Prayers that our final tryst

If that should be on the Straight Path:

Shall be upon the Bridge of Judgment, by and by.

فإنّي قد جعلتُ الحجّ عمّي

وفي قُطربلٍ أبداً رباطي

"I have made my pilgrimage to be my uncle,

For I have turned my pilgrimage toward the cask,

And my bond forever only wine!"

And in Qutrabbul shall my station forever lie.