شوقي سميُّك شاعرٌ

يا حَبّذا لو كنتَ مثلَهُ

Shawqi, I call you a poet

If only you were like him

يسمُو إلى الملكوتِ حتى

يجعلَ الأملاكَ رُسْلَه

He soars to the highest heavens

Making angels his messengers

توحي السماءُ لَه فَتلقى

وحيّها في الأرض قولَه

The sky inspires him and he hears

Its inspiration as poetry on earth

شعرٌ كساه الوحيُ من

حِلّلِ البيانِ أجلًّ حِلَّهْ

Poetry that revelation clothed

In the finest rhetorical garb

أَسمِعْهُ عنترةً فإِنَّ

جماله يُنسيه عَبْلَه

Let him hear Antara and he will

Forget his own beauty for Antara’s

شَوْقي ومَن يَجْهَلْهُ لا

يغفر له الأدباءُ جهلَهْ

Shawqi, whoever is ignorant of him

The literati will not forgive his ignorance

يا حبّذا لو كنَتهُ

وحويتَ بين الناسِ عَقْلَهْ

If only you were him

And shared his intellect among people

شَرَفاً أبا شوقي فمثلُك

مُنجِبٌ في الناسِ نَسْلَه

Nobility, father of Shawqi, your like

Begets the finest offspring among people

هاتِ اسقِنِيها قهوةً

صِرفاُ تخففُ كلَّ عِلًّهْ

Give me, let me drink coffee

To wash away all my worries

عبثاً تحاول قَتْلَ ما

قد حرّم الرّحمنُ قتلَهْ

You try in vain to kill what

The Merciful has made inviolable

سوداء يشربها ابن خضرٍ

شافياً في الصدر غِلًّهْ

Black coffee drunk by Ibn Khadir

Curing the sickness in his chest

أو عاطنيها إذ ترى

للشمس نحو العصر مَيْلَهْ

Or give it to me as you see

The sun in the late afternoon leaning west

إني امرؤٌ لولا التُقى

جعلَ ابنةَ العنقود شُغْلَهْ

If not for my piety, I am a man

Who would have made the daughter of the vine his sole pursuit

تَثِبُ الرؤوسُ لها وتُضرِم

في صدورِ القوم شعله

Heads would turn to her and ignite

Fires in the hearts of the people

أترشّف اللذاتِ منها

نهلةً في إثر نَهْلَه

I would gain the pleasures of her

Sipping one draft after another

قلْ للرشيد وقد أقام

اليوم للحفلات حَفْلَهْ

Say to Al-Rashid, who has prepared

Celebrations for today’s festivities

عاش الرشيدُ لِنَجْلِهِ

وأعزَّ بين الناس نَجْلَهْ

Long live Al-Rashid, for his heir

Whom he has made glorious among all people