يا لَيلَةً بِتُّ في دَياجيها

أُسقى مِنَ الراحِ صَفوَ صافيها

O night that lies in its shadows

Oh, what a night I spent within its deep shadows,

I am quenched by the gentlest of its winds

Being served the purest essence of the clearest wine.

تَدورُ بِالسَعدِ كَأسُنا عَجَلاً

قَد فُتِّتَ المِسكُ في نَواحيها

Our cup of joy spins swiftly

Our cup circulated hastily with good fortune,

Musk is emitted from its corners

While crumbled musk scented its brim.

ما تَشتَهي العَينُ أَن تَرى حَسَناً

إِلّا رَأَتهُ في كَفِّ ساقيها

The eye desires not but to see beauty

Whatever beauty the eye desires to behold,

Except it saw it in the palm of its pourer

It finds it resting in the hand of its cupbearer.

وَصيفَةٌ كَالغُلامِ تَصلُحُ لِل

أَمرَينِ كَالغُصنِ في تَثَنّيها

A summer breeze like a young man suitable

A maiden like a youth, suited for both pursuits,

For two matters, like a bent branch

Swaying like a willow branch in her bending.

في قُرطُقٍ زانَهُ تَخَرسُنُها

قَد عَقرَبَت صُدغَها مَداريها

In a flowered scarf adorned by its necklace

In a tunic adorned by her elegant ornaments,

Its mole stabbed its cheeks

Her combs have curled her side-locks into scorpion shapes.

كَمَّلَها اللَهُ ثُمَّ قالَ لَها

لَمّا اِستَتَمَّت في حُسنِها إيها

God completed her creation then said to her

Allah perfected her, and then He said to her,

When she was perfected in her beauty

When she was complete in her beauty: 'Behold!'

لَو قيلَ لِلحُسنِ صِف مَحاسِنَها

ما اِسطاعَ ضَعفاً بِذاكَ يَحكيها

If the most beautiful were asked to describe her beauty

If Beauty itself were told, 'Describe her charms,'

It wouldn't be able to do so out of weakness

It would fail, too weak to recount her tale.

أَشرَبُ كَأساً مِن كَفِّها وَلَها

كَأسُ سَقامٍ في النَفسِ تُجريها

I drink a cup from her hand and she drinks

I drink a cup from her hand, while she pours

A cup of sickness in the soul running through her

A cup of lovesickness to flow within my soul.

حَتّى إِذا السُكرُ كَفُّ نَخوَتِها

وَلانَ مِن بَعدِها حَواشيها

Until drunkenness weighed down her eyelids

Until intoxication curbed her haughty pride,

And her cheeks went slack after it

And her disposition softened thereafter.

وَأَمكَنَتني مِنها مُخاتَلَةً

مَدَدتُ رِفقاً كَفّي إِلى فيها

And I was able to secretly caress her

And when she allowed me access through guile,

I gently extended my hand to her mouth

I gently extended my hand toward her mouth.

فَأَعرَضَت عِندَ ذاكَ وَاِرتَعَدَت

ثُمَّ تَناوَلتُها لِأُرضيها

She jerked away at that and shuddered

She turned away at that and trembled,

Then I drew her to me to please her

So I reached out to soothe and please her.

قالَت لِذا زُرتَنا فَقُلتُ لَها

يا أَحسَنَ الناسِ كُلُّهُم تيها

She said "why have you come?" I said

She asked, 'Is this why you visited us?' I replied,

"O most beautiful of all people combined"

'O you who excel all people in coquettish pride,'

لَولا بَلائي لَما تَجَشَّمتُ أَه

والاً يُرى المَوتُ في أَدانيها

If not for my affliction I wouldn't have endured agony

'Were it not for my affliction, I would not have risked terrors

Otherwise death would be seen in its lowest forms

Where death looms in their closest quarters,'

وَلا تَعَرَّضتُ لِلحُتوفِ بِنَف

سٍ كانَ بَعضُ الغَرامِ يُسليها

Nor would I have endured dangers with a soul

'Nor would I have exposed to doom a soul

That some of passion used to console

That was once content with but a little passion.'

أَهلاً وَسَهلاً بِمَن تَتَبَّعُهُ

نَفسي وَمَن كانَ مِن أَمانيها

Greetings to the one my soul pursues

Welcome to the one whom my soul pursues,

And the one my wishes were from

The very essence of its deepest desires.

فَبِتُّ في لَيلَةٍ نَعِمتُ بِها

أَلثُمُها تارَةً وَأَسقيها

I spend a night in which I enjoyed

So I passed a night of pure bliss,

Kissing her sometimes and pouring for her

At times kissing her, at times pouring her wine,

وَأَجتَني الطيبَ مِن أَطايِبِها

وَأُمكِنُ النَفسَ مِن أَمانيها

And I attained perfumes from her perfumes

Harvesting sweetness from her delights,

And enabled my soul from its wishes

And granting my soul what it had long wished for.

سَقياً لِذا الوَصفِ حَيثُ كانَ وَلا

سَقياً لِدارٍ أَقوَت مَغانيها

Quenching the thirst of this description wherever it was

May rain bless this memory wherever it resides,

And not quenching the house that harbored its songs

But let no rain fall on the desolate ruins left behind.