1. سقانيها معتَّقَةً عقاراً

    وقد ألقَتْ يدُ الفجر الإِزارا

    He gave me aged wine to drink,

    When dawn's hand had cast off the mantle.

  2. ودار بها مشعشعة علينا

    فَدارَ الأُنسُ فينا حيث دارا

    And he passed it round among us, lightly diluted,

    So merriment circulated among us wherever he went.

  3. إذا ما زفَّها السَّاقي بلَيْلٍ

    أعاد اللَّيل حينئذٍ نهارا

    Whenever the cupbearer escorted her as a bride by night,

    He turned the night, then, into day.

  4. تشقّ حشاشة الظَّلماء كأسٌ

    كما أوقدَت في الظَّلماء نارا

    A cup cleaves the very heart of darkness,

    As though it had kindled a fire within the darkness.

  5. جلاها في الكؤوس لنا عروساً

    وقد جعل الجمان لها نثارا

    He unveiled her in the cups for us, a bride,

    And had made pearls the gifts scattered in her honor.

  6. يتوِّجها الحباب بتاج كسرى

    إذا مزجت ويلبسها سوارا

    The bubbles crown her with Kisra's crown,

    When she is diluted, and adorn her with a bracelet.

  7. فقبل المزج تحسبها عقيقاً

    وبعد المزج تحسبها نضارا

    Before dilution, you would take her for agate,

    And after dilution, you would take her for pure gold.

  8. جلاها فانجلتْ عنَّا هموم

    وفرت كلَّما جُلِبَتْ فرارا

    He unveiled her, and cares lifted from us,

    And took flight whenever she was brought.

  9. فأَدركت الندامى بالحميّا

    من الهمِّ الَّذي في القلب ثارا

    The drinking companions thus won, through heady wine,

    Vengeance against the sorrow within the heart.

  10. وكم من لذَّةٍ بكيتِ راح

    أغرناها فأَبعدنا المفارا

    And many a delight—'you wept; wine' [wording unclear]—

    We raided it, then banished estrangement [uncertain final word].

  11. ويعذرني الشَّباب على التَّصابي

    بصبوة مغرم خلع العذارا

    And youth excuses me for playing the youth,

    With the longing of a lover who has cast off the bridle.

  12. وما أَهنا المدام بكفِّ ساقٍ

    كمثل البدر أشرق واستنارا

    How delightful is wine in a cupbearer's hand,

    Who shone and glowed like the full moon.

  13. بروحي ذلك الرَّشأ المفدَّى

    وإنْ ألِفَ التجنّب والنفارا

    My soul be ransom for that beloved gazelle-fawn,

    Though he is accustomed to avoidance and flight.

  14. وأينَ الظبي من لفتات أحوى

    يضاهيه التفاتاً واحورارا

    How can a gazelle rival the glances of a dusky beauty,

    Who matches it in his turns and dark eyes set in white?

  15. رنا فأَصابَ بالأَلحاظ منَّا

    فؤاداً بالصَّبابة مستطارا

    He gazed, and with his glances struck within us

    A heart made frantic by ardent longing.

  16. مليحاً ما تصبّر في هواه

    محبٌّ لم يجد عنه اصطبارا

    A beauty in whose love no patience was mustered

    By a lover who could not endure being apart from him.

  17. وما أَنسى غداة الشّرب أمْسَتْ

    بناظره وريقته سكارى

    Nor shall I forget the morning when the drinkers became

    Drunk on his gaze and his mouth's moisture.

  18. أَلا يا ممرضي بسقام طرفٍ

    أصاب من الحشا جرحاً جبارا

    Ah, you who sicken me with a languid eye,

    That dealt, deep in the heart, a wound without redress.

  19. فؤادي مثل طَرفك بانكسارٍ

    فكلٌّ يشتكي منك انكسارا

    My heart, like your glance, is broken;

    So each complains of being broken by you.

  20. غرامي في هواك بلا اختياري

    وما كانَ الهوى إلاَّ اضطرارا

    My passion for you is not of my choosing,

    And love was nothing but compulsion.

  21. مضى وتصرَّمَتْ تلك التَّصابي

    فإنْ عاد الصّبا عاد ادّكارا

    It passed, and those youthful follies ended;

    So if youth returns, it returns as remembrance.

  22. فوالهفي على أوقات لهوٍ

    قَضَيناها وإنْ كانت قصارا

    Oh, how I pine for those hours of revelry

    Which we spent, though they were brief.

  23. تركت الشعر لمَّا ألْبَسَتْني

    من الأَكدار أيَّامي شعارا

    I abandoned poetry when I was clothed

    By my days in a shirt of sorrows.

  24. ولولا مدح مولانا عليٍّ

    لما جُدْتُ النظام ولا النثارا

    Were it not for praising our lord Ali,

    I would have bestowed neither verse nor prose.

  25. أجلّ السَّادة الأَشراف قدراً

    وأرفعهم وأطيبهم نجارا

    The greatest in rank among the noble lords,

    The loftiest of them, and the purest in lineage,

  26. وأرأفهم على الملهوف قلباً

    وأسرعهم إلى الحسنى بدارا

    The most tenderhearted toward the distressed,

    And the swiftest of them in hastening toward good.

  27. جواد في الأَكارم لا يبارى

    وبحرٌ في المكارم لا يجارى

    A generous man among the noble, whom none can rival,

    And a sea of noble deeds that none can match.

  28. إذا نظر الكبار إلى علاه

    رأت في المجد أنفسها صغارا

    When the great look at his exalted station,

    They see themselves as small in glory.

  29. وقد سبقَ الأَعالي في المعالي

    فما لحقت له فيها غبارا

    He has outstripped the loftiest in high attainments,

    So they have not reached even his dust there.

  30. وساجله السَّحاب فكان أندى

    يداً منها وأعظمها قطارا

    The clouds vied with him, but he was more generous

    Of hand than they, and greatest of them in downpour.

  31. وكم عام منعنا القطر فيه

    فأمطرَنا لجيناً أو نضارا

    And how many a year in which we were denied rain,

    He then showered silver or gold upon us.

  32. وكم شاهدت في الأَيَّام عسراً

    ولذت به فشاهدت اليسارا

    And how often I witnessed hardship through the days,

    And took refuge in him, then witnessed prosperity.

  33. لنا في فضله غرس الأَماني

    جَنَيْناها بدولته ثمارا

    In his bounty we have the seedlings of hope;

    We harvested them as fruit under his rule.

  34. وكم أكرومةٍ عَذراءَ بِكْرٍ

    يجيءُ بها إلى النَّاس ابتكارا

    And how many a noble gift, virgin and untouched,

    He brings to people as a new creation.

  35. يُهينُ أَعزَّ ما ملكت يداه

    بِوافر نَيْله ويعزّ جارا

    He holds cheap the dearest things his hands possess,

    Through lavish giving, and honors a neighbor.

  36. ألَسْتُم في الحقيقة آل بيت

    عَلَوْا جُوداً وفضلاً واقتدارا

    Are you not, in truth, the family of a house

    Who rose high in generosity, virtue, and power?

  37. عليكم تنزل الآيات قِدْماً

    فحسبكمُ بذالكمُ افتخارا

    Upon you the verses descended of old;

    That alone is enough for you to take pride in.

  38. أَقَمْتُم ركن هذا الدِّين فيها

    وأَوْضَحْتُم لطالبه المنارا

    You established the pillar of this faith therein,

    And made its beacon clear to whoever seeks it.

  39. جُزيتم عن جميع النَّاس خيراً

    وما زلتم من النَّاس الخيارا

    May you be rewarded with good on behalf of all people,

    And you have always been the finest among mankind.

  40. بنفسي منكَ قرماً هاشميًّا

    يجير من الخطوب من استجارا

    My soul be ransom for you, a Hashimite chief,

    Who shelters from calamities whoever seeks refuge.

  41. تَقُدّ حوادث الأَيَّام قَدًّا

    فأنتَ السَّيف بل أمضى شفارا

    You cleave the calamities of the days clean through;

    For you are the sword—nay, keener of edge.

  42. بسرِّ نداك قام الشعر فينا

    فأثنينا عليك به جهارا

    Through the mystery of your bounty, poetry arose among us,

    So through it we praised you openly.

  43. نُقَلِّدُ من مناقبك القوافي

    بأحسن ما تَقَلَّدَتِ العذارى

    We adorn our rhymes with necklaces of your virtues,

    With the finest adornments maidens ever wore.

  44. لبسن من الثناء عليك حِلْياً

    لعمرك لن يُباع ولن يعارا

    They have donned jewelry fashioned from praise of you,

    Which, by your life, will never be sold or lent.

  45. يضوع شميمه في كلّ نادٍ

    كما نشرت صَبا نجدٍ عرارا

    Its fragrance wafts through every gathering,

    As Najd's east wind spreads the scent of arar blossoms.

  46. فلا زالتْ لكَ الأَيَّام عيداً

    ولا شاهدت في الدُّنيا بوارا

    May your days never cease to be a festival,

    And may you never witness ruin in this world.