ادر على الندمان كأس العقار

فالورق غنت والصباح استنار

Pass the cup of wine among the drinking companions;

for the gray doves have sung and morning has grown bright.

واستجلها بكراً عروساً لها

من حبب المزج عليها نثار

And unveil her, a virgin bride, with

a shower of bubbles from mixing strewn upon her.

ما كل يوم فيه يعطى الفتى

من دهره فيما يروم الخيار

Not every day is a young man granted

by his fate the choice in what he seeks.

فاغتنم العيش ونبّه له

بدر الدّجى يسعى بشمس العقار

So seize the joy of life, and rouse for it

the full moon of darkness, hastening with the sun of wine.

واشرب على نرجس اجفانه

وورد خدّيه وآس العذار

And drink—gazing on the narcissi of his eyelids

and the roses of his cheeks and the myrtle of his cheek-down—

مشمولة يسطع من كأسها

نشر الخزامى واريج العرار

a wine cooled by the north wind, from whose cup rises

the scent of lavender and the fragrance of ʿarār flowers.

حمراء لا يدري إذا ما بدت

أو جنة في الكأس أم جلنار

Red—when she appears, one cannot tell whether

it is a cheek in the cup or a pomegranate blossom.

مهفهف الأعطاف غض الصبا

له على هيف الغصون افتخار

Slender of frame, fresh in youth,

he boasts of surpassing the branches' slender grace.

قد الهبت خمر الصبا خدّه

فاتقدت في مهجتي منه نار

The wine of youth has set his cheek aflame,

so from him a fire has blazed within my heart.

يا من حكى هاروت في سحره

بمقلة كحلاء ذات احورار

O you who match Harut in his sorcery,

with a kohl-dark eye, its white and black in sharp contrast.

اسكنك القلب المعنى فيا

ساكن قلبي داره فهو دار

I lodge you in my tormented heart; so, O

dweller in my heart, be gentle with it, for it is a home.

يا طالباً سفك دمي ظالماً

من فتك عينيك بك المستجار

O you who unjustly seek to shed my blood,

from your eyes' deadly assault, in you I seek refuge.

الله في سفك دم دونه

تهتز اعطاف القنا والشفار

For God's sake, beware shedding blood in whose defense

spear-shafts and blades quiver.