يا مِنَّةَ إِمتَنَّها السُكرُ

ما يَنقَضي مِنّي لَكَ الشُكرُ

O Manna, sweetened by sugar

O bounty that intoxication has graciously bestowed,

My gratitude for you will never expire

My gratitude toward you shall never cease.

أَعطَتكَ فَوقَ مُناكَ مِن قُبَلٍ

مَن قيلَ إِنَّ مُرامَها وَعرُ

She who is said to be high-minded

It granted you kisses beyond your wildest hopes,

Has given you, from early days, gifts above your merits

From one whose access was rumored to be impossibly steep.

يَثني إِلَيكَ بِها سَوالِفَهُ

رَشأَ صِناعَةُ عَينِهِ السِحرُ

With them he charms you in his conversations

Turning his graceful neck towards you with those kisses,

The witchery of his eyes an art well learnt

A young gazelle whose eyes are crafted of pure magic.

ظَلَّت حُمَيّا الكَأسِ تَبسُطُنا

حَتّى تَهَتَّكَ بَينَنا السَترُ

The wine continues to make us intimate

The potency of the cup continued to loosen our spirits,

Until all barriers between us are removed

Until the veil of reserve between us was torn away.

في مَجلِسٍ ضَحِكَ السُرورُ بِهِ

عَن ناجِذَيهِ وَحَلَّتِ الخَمرُ

In a gathering made joyous by happiness

In a gathering where joy laughed aloud,

And wine freely flowing without stint

Showing its full smile, and the wine flowed lawful and sweet.

وَلَقَد تَجوبُ بِنا الفَلاةُ إِذا

صامَ النَهارُ وَقالَتِ العُفرُ

When we are out in the desert we roam

And often she traverses the waterless desert with us, when

Fasting by day, by night wakeful and watchful

The day stands still in heat and the gazelles seek midday shade.

شَدَنِيَّةٌ رَعَتِ الحِمى فَأَتَت

مِلءَ الجِبالِ كَأَنَّها قَصرُ

A she-camel, pasturing on the hot sands, approached

A strong-built camel that grazed the sanctuary pastures, becoming

As if she was a palace filling the hills

Massive as a mountain, looming large like a palace.

تَثني عَلى الحاذَينِ ذاخُصَلٍ

تَعمالُهُ الشَذَرانِ وَالخَطَرُ

Zigzagging by the sides of the valley’s walls

She swings against her flanks a tail thick with tufts,

Her occupation raiding and daring

Kept in motion by her brisk pace and tail-lashing.

أَمّا إِذا رَفَعَتهُ شامِذَةٌ

فَتَقولُ رَنَّقَ فَوقَها نِسرُ

When a thin one makes her climb up

When she raises it high in her spirited gait,

She says, “It tightened and raised above me a howdah”

You would say a vulture was hovering above her.

أَمّا إِذا وَضَعَتهُ عارِضَةٌ

فَتَقولُ أُرخِيَ فَوقَها سَترُ

When a wide one makes her kneel down

And when she lowers it, pressing it against her side,

She says, “It was spread above me like a canopy”

You would say a curtain had been draped over her.

وَتُسِفُّ أَحياناً فَتَحسَبُها

مُتَرَسِّماً يَقتادُهُ أَثَرُ

And sometimes she violently spews froth

Sometimes she lowers her head near the ground, so you mistake her

As if she was a delineated scripture led by its verse

For a tracker being led by a faint trail.

فَإِذا قَصَرتُ لَها الزِمامَ سَما

فَوقَ المَقادِمِ مِلطَمٌ حُرُّ

So when I shorten the rein she gallops

But if I tighten her rein, she lifts high

Above the footsteps loudly clattering

A noble, free-born cheek above her forelegs.

فَكَأَنَّها مُصغٍ لِتُسمِعَهُ

بَعضَ الحَديثِ بِأُذنِهِ وَقرُ

As if she was listening to inform him

As if she were straining to listen,

Through her ear some talk and verse

To whispers of news, like one hard of hearing.

تَنفي الشَذا عَنها بِذي خُصَلٍ

وَحفِ السَبيبِ يَزينُهُ الضَفرُ

Hair streaming from her, smooth and plaited

She drives away the flies with that tufted tail,

Braids ornamented with golden beads

Thick with hair and adorned with braiding.

تَترى لِأَنفاضٍ أَضَرَّ بِها

جَذبُ البُرى فَخُدودُها صِفرُ

You can see by her emaciation, the pulling

She presses on despite the exhaustion that harmed her

Of the harness has made her cheek pallid

From the pulling of the nose-rings, leaving her cheeks gaunt.

يَرمي إِلَيكَ بِها بَنو أَمَلٍ

عَتَبوا فَأَعتَبَهُم بِكَ الدَهرُ

The sons of hope fling you to her

The sons of hope cast her journey toward you,

And fate has granted their wishes

They complained of fortune, and through you, Time made amends.

أَنتَ الخَصيبُ وَهَذِهِ مِصرُ

فَتَدَفَّقا فَكِلاكُما بَحرُ

You are plentiful and this is Egypt

You are al-Khasib [the Fertile One], and this is Egypt;

So flow, for you are both seas

So flow forth freely, for both of you are vast oceans.

لا تَقعُدا بِيَ عَن مَدى أَمَلي

شَيئاً فَما لَكُما بِهِ عُذرُ

Do not cease to fulfill my hopes

Do not hold me back from the furthest reach of my ambition

For in that you have no excuse

In the slightest, for you have no excuse to do so.

وَيَحِقُّ لي إِذ صِرتُ بَينَكُما

لا يَحِلَّ بِساحَتي فَقرُ

And it is my right, being with you both

And it is my right, now that I stand between you two,

No poverty may touch my domain

That poverty shall never settle in my courtyard.

النيلُ يُنعِشُ مائُهُ مِصراً

وَنَداكَ يُنعِشُ أَهلَهُ الغَمرُ

The Nile revives Egypt with its water

The Nile revives the land of Egypt with its waters,

And your bounty revives its people with wine

And your generosity revives its people like an overwhelming flood.