سيدي ما أظنه

بعد يدري بما جرى

My master, I don't think

He knows anymore what has happened

ما درى أن عبده

فلسه قد تقشرا

He doesn't know that his servant

Has just become tattered

عند قومٍ معروفهم

في قد صار منكرا

Among people well known for their kindness

Yet he has become a stranger

كنتُ كالمسك مرةً

بالدنانير أشتري

I was like musk once

Bought with gold coins

فأنا اليوم بعد ما

صرت شيخاً كما ترى

But today, after

Becoming an old man, as you see

عبدُ من عنده نبي

ذٌ إذا كان أحمرا

A servant of He who has a Prophet

If he is red, it is

خمرةٌ دنُّها يض

من مسكاً وعنبرا

Wine whose baseness exceeds

Musk and ambergris

كم فمٍ ذاقها فطا

ب وقد كان أبخرا

How many mouths it has made happy

And they were sober before

وغلامٍ بكأسها

راح يسعى وبكرا

And a boy with his cup

Went about at dawn

هو فينا بريحها

عبق قد تعطرا

Its fragrance to us

Is a perfumed scent

ظل يفسو وعندنا

أنه قد تبخرا

It remained potent while we

Thought it had evaporated