حَمَلُوا إِليَّ حَدِيقَةً صُنِعَتْ

لِلْكَأْسِ يكْنُفُهَا بِهَا الزَّهَرُ

They brought me a garden made

For the chalice, surrounded by flowers.

وَالكَأْسُ كَالعَذْرَاءِ عَارِيَةٌ

أَلحَاظُها تَسْطُو وتَنْكَسِرُ

The chalice is like a bare virgin -

Its veils billow and flutter.

ظَمْأَى إِلَيْهَا حِينَ ضَرَّجَهَا

لَوْنُ الحَيَاءِ وَزَانَهَا الخَفَرُ

I thirsted for it when bashfulness

Dyed it, and modesty adorned it.

وَأَطَلَّ مِصْبَاحٌ يُطَالِعُهَا

كَلِفاً كَأَنَّ شُعَاعَهُ نَظَرُ

A lamp peered at it

Yearningly, its rays like a gaze.

يَنْأَى فَترْسُبُ فِي قرَارَتِها

شمْسٌ تُحِيطُ بِأُفْقِهَا زُهُرُ

It draws away, and a sun sinks

Into its stillness, its horizons flowers.

فَإِذَا دَنَا فَالشَّمْسُ قَدْ غَرَبَتْ

وَطَفا عَلى وَجْهِ الطِّلى قَمَرُ

When one comes near, the sun has set

And a moon has sailed across the dewy cheek.

هَذِي عَجَائِبُهَا وَأَعْجَبُهَا

أَنْ يَسْتَقِرَّ بِقرْبِهَا كَدَرُ

Such are its marvels and most marvelous -

That sadness settles near it.