دَمُ الكرمِ في الكاس أم عَنْدمُ

به تُخْضَبُ الكفّ والمِعْصَمُ

Is that the grapevine’s blood in the cup—or dragon’s-blood dye?

With it the palm and wrist are stained.

أصفراءُ يَبْيَضّ منها الحباب

أمِ الشمسُ عن أنجمٍ تبسِمُ

Is she golden, while her bubbles whiten,

or the sun smiling among stars?

وتلك شقيقةُ روحِ الفتى

إذا وُجِدَتْ فالأسَى يُعْدَمُ

She is the kindred sister of the young man’s spirit;

when she is found, sorrow ceases to be.

تُلامُ على شُرْبِ مشمولةٍ

ولم يدرِ ما سرّها اللّوَّمُ

For drinking her—praiseworthy though she is—you are blamed,

though even the inspired knows nothing of her secret.

خبيئةُ دنّ سناها المنيرُ

محيطٌ به قارها المظلمُ

A treasure hidden in a jar—her luminous splendor

encircled by the jar’s dark pitch.

وَقَد كَثُر القولُ في عمرها

ولم يُدْرَ عاصرُها الأزلمُ

Much has been said about her age,

yet the most ancient age knows nothing of her time.

يقهقهُ في الصبّ إبريقُها

كما هَدَرَ البازلُ المُقْرَمُ

Her ewer guffaws as it pours,

as a full-grown camel bellows.

إذا انبعثتْ منه قال النّديم

أَيَنسابُ من فَمِهِ أَرقَمُ

When she streams from it, the boon companion cries,

“Is that a speckled serpent gliding from its mouth?”

يبيتُ لها سَهَرٌ في العروقِ

وأعينُ شُرّابِها نُوّمُ

For her, wakefulness spends the night in the veins,

while sleep fills the eyes of those who drink her.

كَأَنَّ لها فيْ خَفِيّ الدّبيبِ

نمالاً مساكِنُها الأعظُمُ

It is as though, in her stealthy creeping,

ants had made their dwellings in the bones.

يطوفُ بها رشأ أحْوَرٌ

لمقلتهِ الليثُ مُستسلمُ

A dark-eyed fawn bears her round;

before his gaze, the lion submits.

وتلحظُ بالسحرِ منه الجفونُ

ويلفظُ بالدّرّ منه الفمُ

His eyelids cast bewitching glances,

and his mouth scatters pearls,

بفَوّاحَةِ الزّهْرِ مُخْضَلّةٍ

تُجادُ معَ الصّبْحِ أو تُرْهُمُ

amid fragrant blossoms drenched with moisture,

lavishly showered at dawn or softly drizzled upon.

كأنّ لها في طباقِ الثّرى

بأيدي الحيا حُللاً تُرْقَمُ

As though beneath the earth’s layered folds they had

robes embroidered by the hands of life-giving rain—

على شدواتِ طيورٍ فصاحٍ

على أنّ أفْصَحَها أعْجَمُ

all to the warblings of eloquent birds,

though the most eloquent among them is inarticulate.

لهنّ أعاريضُ عند الخليل

مُهْمَلَةُ الوزنِ لا تُعْلَمُ

In al-Khalil’s reckoning, their songs have metrical patterns,

yet, heedless of meter, they know it not.

ترجِّعُ فيها ضروبَ اللحونِ

فَتُطْرِبُنا وَهْيَ لا تفهمُ

Within them they repeat the varied modes of melody

and enrapture us, though they understand nothing.