لَعَمري ما تَهيجُ الكَأسُ شَوقي

وَلَكِن وَجهُ ساقيها شَجاني

By my life, it is not the cup that stirs my longing,

But the face of its bearer that afflicts me with passion.

حَسَدتُ الكَأسَ وَالإِبريقَ لَمّا

بَدا لِيَ مِن يَدَي رَخصِ البَنانِ

I envied the cup and the ewer when

They appeared to me in hands of delicate fingertips.

أَموتُ إِذا أَزالَ الكَأسَ عَنّي

وَأَحيا مِن يَدَيهِ إِذا سَقاني

I die if he removes the cup from me,

And I revive by his hands when he gives me drink.

فَلي سُكرانِ مِنهُ سُكرُ طَرفٍ

وَسُكرٌ مِن رَحيقٍ خُسرَواني

I possess two intoxications from him: the intoxication of a glance,

And the intoxication of a nectar fit for Khosrow.

تَجَمَّعُ فيهِ أَصنافُ المَعاني

فَما يُلفى لَهُ في الحُسنِ ثانِ

In him, all varieties of aesthetic meaning are gathered,

So that no second can be found to match his beauty.

إِذا ظَفِرَت بِهِ كَفّي اِستَفادَت

لِنَفسي عَن تَجَمُّعِها الأَماني

If my palm were to succeed in holding him, it would secure

For my soul the realization of all its gathered hopes.

أَعَزُّ العَيشِ وَصلُ المُردِ دَهري

وَبُؤسُ العَيشِ وَصلي لِلغَواني

The most precious life, for all my time, is union with young men,

And the misery of life is my union with maidens.

مُعاقَرَةُ المُدامِ بِوَجهِ ظَبيٍ

حَوى في الحُسنِ غاياتِ الرِهانِ

To drink old wine in the presence of a gazelle

Who has claimed the highest stakes in the wager of beauty.

إِذا ما اِفتَرَّ قُلتُ رَفيفُ بَرقٍ

وَإِمّا اِهتَزَّ قُلتُ قَضيبُ بانِ

When he smiles, I say: "A flash of lightning,"

And when he sways, I say: "A branch of the ban-tree."

أَلَذُّ إِلَيَّ مِن عَيشٍ بِوادٍ

مَعَ الأَعرابِ مَجدوبِ المَكانِ

This is more delightful to me than life in a valley,

Living with Bedouins in a barren, desolate place.

قُصارى عَيشِهِم أَكلٌ لِضَبٍّ

وَشُربٌ مِن حَفيرٍ في شِنانِ

The height of their existence is the eating of lizards,

And drinking from a dug-out pit in worn-out skins.