1. أَوَ أجفانها المراض سكارى

    ولماها العقار نسلو العقارا

    And are her languishing eyelids drunk,

    and her dusky lips wine, that we should forget wine?

  2. أيِّهوا بالصبوح فالليل فرعٌ

    واشربوا فالصباح فيه توارى

    Call for the morning wine, for night is a tress;

    and drink, for dawn has hidden itself within it.

  3. واصرفوا صارف السرور براحٍ

    صار من نورها الظلام نهارا

    And banish joy's banisher with wine,

    whose light has turned darkness into day.

  4. ما زهت بالحباب إلّا حسبنا

    ها استعارت من الرضاب نثارا

    Whenever it sparkled with bubbles, we thought

    it had borrowed scattered drops from her saliva.

  5. لو رأينا لريق ليلى سبيلاً

    ما مددنا لغيره الأبصارا

    Had we found a way to Layla's saliva,

    we would not have cast our eyes toward anything else.

  6. فهو في منعة النجوم وإن كا

    ن انتدى الأقحوان والجلنارا

    For it is as inaccessible as the stars, though

    it dwells among daisies and pomegranate blossoms.

  7. أضرمت حوله المراشف ناراً

    وانتضت فوقه الجفون شفارا

    Around it, her lips have kindled a fire,

    and above it her eyelids have unsheathed blades.

  8. وحماه افترار شيبي الذي أص

    بح كافوره لدى الغيد قارا

    And my gray hair's smile has kept it guarded;

    its camphor has become pitch in beauties' eyes.

  9. فهو أقسى علي منها وأنكى

    من نواها ولو حكى النوّارا

    It is crueler to me than she, and more wounding

    than separation from her, though it resembles blossoms.

  10. أنقول النوى التي ساقت الشي

    ب وما ساقها سواه جهارا

    Shall we say separation brought gray hair,

    when gray hair alone openly brought separation?

  11. أيها الغادة التي يفضل الدا

    نقُ من مسك خالها الدينارا

    O lovely woman, a daniq

    of whose mole's musk outweighs a dinar,

  12. لا تتيهي فجود حالتَ تبرٌ

    حبةٌ منه تفضل القنطارا

    do not grow haughty: Halet's generosity is unminted gold;

    one grain of it outweighs a qintar.

  13. لا تهيني غلامه فغلام ال

    سمح سمحٌ يفاخر الأحرارا

    Do not scorn his servant, for the servant of

    a generous man is generous, vying in honor with freeborn men.

  14. ببها حالتَ المعالمُ ضاءت

    والدياجي تحولت أسحارا

    Through Halet's splendor the landmarks shone,

    and dark nights turned into dawns.

  15. زانها من بني الرسول همامٌ

    ما برى اللَه مثله كبّارا

    A magnanimous man from the Messenger's descendants adorned it;

    God has never fashioned his equal in greatness.

  16. يخرج الدر من كنوز معاني

    ه ومن بحر جوده مدرارا

    He brings forth pearls from the treasuries of his thoughts,

    and in torrents from the sea of his generosity.

  17. جادنا في عشية العيد من جد

    واه عيداً يبدِّد الإعسارا

    He granted us, on the eve of the feast, from

    his bounty, a feast that dispels poverty.

  18. زاد حسناً على سواه كما زا

    د بحسن النهى جمال العذارى

    It surpassed all others in beauty, just as

    maidens' beauty grows with beauty of mind.

  19. زادك اللَه يا ابن خير البرايا

    عزةً حيدريةً واقتدارا

    May God increase you, O son of the best of creation,

    in Haydar-like glory and power.

  20. ذدت عن جلق الهموم فلِم لَم

    تنف عنها الفويسق الغدّارا

    You drove cares away from Jilliq; why have you not

    banished from it that treacherous petty reprobate?

  21. إن جبران لا ترى العين واللَ

    هِ خبيثاً نظيره كفّارا

    Indeed, Jubran—by God, no eye sees

    a villain like him, so utterly ungrateful.

  22. أتعب الناس بعد أن كان أجنى ال

    ناس للناس ركبةً وفقارا

    He has wearied people, though once none bowed lower

    than he before others, in knee and spine.

  23. كلما قلت حان صرف معاشي

    غصَّ لا عاش بالجواب وحارا

    Whenever I say, "It is time to pay my stipend,"

    he chokes on his answer—may he not live!—and is baffled.

  24. وتلاهى وما عهدناه مذ كا

    ن صغيراً يماطل العطارا

    And he feigns distraction; yet we have never known him, since he was

    a child, to delay paying the perfumer.

  25. يتباهى بفروةٍ ضمَّ منها ال

    هر من ذاته الخبيثة فارا

    He boasts of a fur coat, whose cat has enfolded

    a mouse—his own vile self;

  26. وبدارٍ تدور فيها رحى الزو

    ر غدت للفجور والفسق غارا

    and of a house where the mill of falsehood turns,

    now become a den of debauchery and vice.

  27. تنجلي في الظلام فيها الزواني

    وتنام اللصوص فيها نهارا

    There, harlots reveal themselves in the dark,

    and thieves sleep there by day.

  28. فاصرف اصرف عناده بعصا الطر

    د ونزِّه حسامك البتارا

    So drive away, drive away his obstinacy with the rod of

    expulsion, and keep your keen-cutting sword unsullied.

  29. لا تعدت على علاك العوادي

    لا ولا أخمدت لبأسك نارا

    May misfortunes never assail your eminence,

    no, nor extinguish the fire of your valor.