لَولا الأَميرُ وَأَنَّ العُذرَ مَنقَصَةٌ
وَالعارُ بِالعُذرِ عِندي أَقبَحُ العارِ
Were it not for the prince, and that excuses are diminishing,
Were it not for the Prince, and that making excuses is a flaw,
And that shame with an excuse is to me the ugliest shame,
And the disgrace of an excuse is, to me, the vilest shame,
جاءَت بِخاتَمِها مِن عِندِ خَمّارٍ
روحٌ مِنَ الكَمِ في جِسمٍ مِنَ القارِ
There came with her ring from a wine-seller’s place
She came, bearing her seal, from the vintner's store,
A spirit in a body of embers,
A spirit of the vine encased in a body of pitch,
فَالريحُ ريحُ ذَكِيِّ الأَذفَرِ الداري
وَالبَردُ بَردُ النَدى وَاللَونُ لِلنارِ
So the wind is the wind of the bright quick-witted one,
Her scent is the scent of pungent Darian musk,
And the coolness is the coolness of dew, and the color is of fire,
Her coolness is the chill of dew, and her color belongs to fire.
ما تَختَطي مَجلِساً مِمّا تَمُرُّ بِهِ
إِلّا تَلَوها بِأَسماعٍ وَأَبصارِ
She does not pass by a sitting place without
She steps through no gathering along her path,
Following it with ears and sights,
But that they pursue her with eager ears and eyes,
وَالزِقُّ يَرميهُمُ عَمّا تَضَمَّنَهُ
رَمياً يُصيبُ بِهِ مِن غَيرِ أَوتارِ
And frankincense which casts at them from what she contained
And the wineskin strikes them with the force it holds within,
A casting that hits without bowstrings,
A strike that hits its mark without the aid of bowstrings,
حَتّى إِذا حازَها الحَيُّ الَّذي قَصَدوا
بِها إِلَيهِ فَحيزَت مِنهُ في دارِ
Until when she reached the alive one whom they headed
Until, when the tribe she was destined for possessed her,
To him with her, so she took from him in the house,
And she was secured for him within a dwelling,
فاحَت بِرائِحَةٍ قالَ العَريفُ لَهُم
هَل في مَحَلَّتِنا دُكّانُ عَطّارِ
There diffused from her a scent, so the guard said to them:
She exhaled such fragrance that the overseer asked of them:
“Is there a perfumer's shop in our neighborhood?”
"Is there, within our quarter, a perfumer's shop?"
