1. رقّ وجه النسمات

    فاملأ الكأس وهات

    The face of the breezes grew tender;

    so fill the cup and bring it.

  2. هاتها نشوانةً من

    عبقريّ اللمسات

    Bring it, intoxicated by

    the genius of touch.

  3. عطرتها كف ساقيها

    شجي النظرات

    Its cupbearer's hand perfumed it,

    his glances full of sorrow.

  4. فأدرها جنةً تطفىء

    نار الذكريات

    So pass it round—a paradise that quenches

    the fire of memories,

  5. وترويك فتحي

    منك ميت الصبوات

    and slakes your thirst, reviving

    the dead passions within you.

  6. هذه نجواك في اللي

    ل أنين وبكاء

    This is your whispered converse in the night:

    moaning and weeping.

  7. خلت سلواك دموعاص

    وهي والحزن سواء

    You thought your consolation was tears,

    yet they and sorrow are alike.

  8. أترى يشفيك في بلواك

    طب أو دواء

    Do you think, in your affliction, you can be healed

    by treatment or medicine?

  9. ها هي الكاس فصور

    من رؤاك الندماء

    Here is the cup: fashion

    drinking companions from your visions.

  10. واسبق العمر إليها

    والتمس فيها العزاء

    And outrun life to reach it,

    and seek consolation in it.

  11. قل لها يا كأس ماجد من

    الدهر علينا

    Say to it: O cup, what new thing

    has time brought upon us?

  12. نحن في الغربة خلا

    ن التقينا فبكينا

    In exile, we are friends;

    we met and wept,

  13. وضحكنا واكتوينا

    وظمئنا وارتوينا

    and laughed and were scorched,

    and thirsted and quenched our thirst.

  14. نشرب الأحلام خمرا

    كرمها في شفتينا

    We drink dreams as wine,

    its vineyard within our lips.

  15. ثم ماذا ثم مات

    الصبر ما بين يدينا

    Then what? Then died

    patience between our hands.

  16. هجمت ذكرى الميت المد

    رج في برد أساه

    The memory of the dead man stormed in,

    shrouded in the cloak of his sorrow.

  17. تنسج الوحدة من حو

    ليه أكفان لظاه

    Loneliness weaves around him

    the shrouds of his blaze.

  18. آه يا كأسي من أكداره

    بعد صفاه

    Ah, my cup, for his sorrows

    after his serenity!

  19. آه يا كأسي من أشوا

    قه رغم نواه

    Ah, my cup, for his longings

    despite his distance!

  20. آه منك آه منه

    آه من طول بكاه

    Ah, because of you; ah, because of him!

    Ah, for his prolonged weeping!

  21. يابنة النسيان كم مر

    بواديك الندامى

    O daughter of oblivion, how many have passed

    through your valley—the drinking companions!

  22. قبلة منك أحلت

    لهم الصفو الحراما

    A kiss from you made lawful

    for them the forbidden serenity.

  23. حدثي يا كأس عنهم

    فلقد عفت الكلاما

    Speak, O cup, of them,

    for I have come to loathe speech.

  24. حدثيني كيف ذاقوا

    من ثناياك الهياما

    Tell me how they tasted

    love's frenzy from your teeth,

  25. ثم ولوا يحسبون ال

    بوم في القفر يماما

    then turned away, taking

    the owls in the wasteland for doves.

  26. أين نسيانك يا كأ

    س وأين السبحات

    Where is your oblivion, O

    cup, and where are the reveries?

  27. أين واحات من الصفو

    نمتها الصبوات

    Where are the oases of serenity

    that passions nurtured?

  28. أين أفواف المنى البي

    ض وأين الضحكات

    Where are hope's fine white fabrics,

    and where is the laughter?

  29. كلها ماتت كما ما

    ت على القبر النعاة

    All of them died, just as died

    the heralds of death upon the grave.

  30. فلديك النور نار

    والأغاريد شكاة

    For with you, light is fire,

    and songs are lamentation.

  31. آه من حبيَ يا كأ

    س ومن ذكرى حبيبي

    Ah, for my love, O

    cup, and for the memory of my beloved!

  32. حبي الزهرة تفنى

    بين نار وجدوب

    My love—the flower—perishes

    between fire and drought.

  33. وصدى ذكراه نجوى

    وتباريح غريب

    And the echo of his memory is whispered converse

    and an exile's torments.

  34. هات نسيانك يا كأ

    س إذا كان طبيبي

    Give me your oblivion, O

    cup, if it is my physician.

  35. أنت في الحزن نصيبي

    وهو في الحب نصيبي

    You are my portion in sorrow,

    and he is my portion in love.