1. وساقيةٍ تَرتمِي بالحَبَابِ

    وتبكي لحبّ أزاهِيرِها

    And a stream tossing up bubbles,

    and weeping for love of its blossoms.

  2. جرى دمعها جرىَ دمعِ المحبّ

    وناحت بصوت نواعِيرِها

    Its tears flowed as a lover's tears flow,

    and it lamented in the voice of its waterwheels.

  3. فأدمُعها مَزْج أقداحِنا

    وريحاننا نَشْرُ كافورِها

    So its tears dilute the wine in our cups,

    and our fragrant herbs are the scent of its camphor,

  4. لدى روضةٍ حَلْيُها نوْرها

    حمتها عيونُ نواطيرِها

    beside a garden whose adornment is its blossoms,

    guarded by the eyes of its watchmen.

  5. إذا شاقنا رَقْم أعلامِها

    سبتْنا عيونُ يعافِيرِها

    When the embroidery of its banners stirred our longing,

    the eyes of its gazelles took us captive.

  6. تعيد أديم الضحى مُذْهبا

    إذا لاح فوق دنانِيرها

    It turns the skin of morning to gold

    when it shines above its dinars.

  7. وأحسنُ من عَبَرات الغيومِ

    إذا قذفت بقواريرِها

    And lovelier than the tears of clouds,

    when they cast down their glass flasks,

  8. وقوفُ الندى فوق محمرّها

    ونفخ الصبَا في مزاميرها

    is dew resting upon its red blossoms,

    and the east wind breathing into its flutes.

  9. أطعنا الصبا في مواخِيرِها

    ونِلنا المنى في مقاصِيرها

    We obeyed youthful desire in its taverns,

    and attained our wishes in its secluded chambers.

  10. وشاطِرةِ الزِيّ مخطوفةٍ

    إذا برزت في زنانِيرها

    And a girl in a rogue's garb, slender-waisted,

    when she appeared in her girdles,

  11. أدارت علينا كؤوس المدامِ

    وتأثيرُها فوق تأثِيرِها

    passed cups of wine around to us,

    her spell surpassing the wine's.

  12. كأن لُبَانه ألحاظِها

    تحاوِل بسطَ معاذِيرِها

    As though the longing in her glances

    sought to unfold their excuses.

  13. ولا خير في الراح إن لم تُعَنْ

    بسُقْم العيون وتفتِيرها

    There is no good in wine unless it is aided

    by languishing eyes and their languid gaze.

  14. ومودَعةٍ بطنَ مغبّرة

    تحدِّث عن عهد سابورِها

    And wine stored in the belly of a dusty vessel,

    telling of the age of its Shapur:

  15. حججنا إلى بيت خَمَّارِها

    لنشربها في معاصِيرِها

    we made pilgrimage to its wine-seller's house,

    to drink it at its winepresses.

  16. سُلاَف تسلَّف منها الزمان

    قذاها وأبقى على خِيرها

    Pure wine from which Time borrowed

    its dregs, leaving its best intact.

  17. يقبِّل منها النديمُ الصباح

    ويصبِغُ كُمَّيه من نورها

    The drinking companion kisses the morning in it,

    and dyes both his sleeves with its light.

  18. فلا تعذِر النفس في تركها

    فلست عليه بمعذورها

    So do not excuse your soul for abandoning it,

    for you are not thereby excused by your soul.

  19. وطاوٍ على حسدٍ كشحَه

    قديم العداوة مشهورها

    And one who folds his flank around envy,

    long hostile and notorious for it,

  20. يُساء بكسبي العلا كلّما

    أغرْتُ بجُودي على عِيرِها

    is grieved at my winning glory whenever

    I raid its caravan with my generosity.

  21. ويأمل شأوي وهل يغتدِي

    أميرُ المعالي كمأمورِها

    He hopes to match my reach—but can

    the commander of high honors set out at dawn like their subordinate?

  22. فإن تك هاشمُ قد عدِّلت

    منابتنا في عناصِرها

    Even if Hashim has made equal

    our roots within its ancestral stock,

  23. فما نستوي في الحِجا والندى

    وطيّ الأمور ومنشورِها

    we are not equal in intellect or generosity,

    or in folding affairs away and spreading them open.

  24. دعُوا لِي العلا دون ساداتِكم

    فإنيّ سُورٌ على سُورها

    Leave glory to me, not to your lords,

    for I am a rampart above its rampart.

  25. وإني نهضت بمكسورِها

    وآنست وحشة مهجورها

    And I have raised up its broken part,

    and soothed the loneliness of its forsaken part.

  26. وأنتم تطُون ذُنابَي العلا

    وتزدحمون على زورها

    Yet you tread the tail of glory

    and crowd upon its breast.

  27. ملأت عيونكُم بالغُبار

    فحسبكُم مسحُ تغبِيرها

    I have filled your eyes with dust;

    enough for you is to wipe that dust away.

  28. ولا تطلبوا رتبتي إنني

    ملأت السماء بتكثيرها

    Do not seek my rank, for I

    have filled the sky by multiplying that rank.

  29. ولا تفعلوا فعل آبائكم

    فتَخْطُونَ خطوي بتطهيرها

    Nor do as your fathers did,

    thereby matching my stride through its purification.

  30. ورِثت سياسة مَهْدِيّها

    وحُزت شجاعة منصورِها

    I inherited the statecraft of its Mahdi,

    and gained the courage of its Mansur.

  31. ولم أنحرف عن سجايا المعِزّ

    وقائمة يوم تقريرها

    I have not departed from the qualities of al-Muizz,

    or what stood firm on the day of its establishment.

  32. ولم أُلقِ من ناظري نظرة

    إلى منظَر غيرِ منظورها

    Nor have I cast a glance from my eye

    toward any sight other than what it beholds.

  33. ولم ترِثوا غيرَ أنسابكم

    ولكن وَلِعتم بتكديرها

    And you inherited nothing but your lineages,

    but became obsessed with sullying them.