صبراً جميلاً فلعلَّ أو عسى

صبراً جميلاً فلعلَّ أو عسى

يورقُ عودُ الوَصلِ بعد مَا عَسا

يورقُ عودُ الوَصلِ بعد مَا عَسا

Have gracious patience—for perhaps, or perchance,

Show beautiful patience, perhaps or maybe

The bough of union will put forth leaves after it has hardened.

The branch of connection will leaf after it dried

وربّما يبكي الجليدُ صَبوةً

وربّما يبكي الجليدُ صَبوةً

كالصّخرِ تَنْدى عينُهُ وإن قَسا

كالصّخرِ تَنْدى عينُهُ وإن قَسا

And sometimes the stouthearted weep with longing,

And maybe the ice will cry tears

Like a rock whose eye grows moist, though it is hard.

Like the rock, its eye dews though it hardened

فسقِّني مَشمولةُ يَسْعى بِها

فسقِّني مَشمولةُ يَسْعى بِها

قضيبُ بانٍ في فؤادي غُرسا

قضيبُ بانٍ في فؤادي غُرسا

So give me north-wind-cooled wine, borne swiftly by

So serve me wine matured, which a rod runs with

A slender bān bough planted in my heart.

Of erect bamboo in my heart it rooted

ونادِ بالولدانِ إنِّي رَجُلٌ

ونادِ بالولدانِ إنِّي رَجُلٌ

أَعجَمُ لا أعرفُ سُورة النِّسا

أَعجَمُ لا أعرفُ سُورة النِّسا

And call for the boys, for I am a man

And call the lads, I'm a man

Foreign-tongued—I do not know the Surah of Women.

Who's foreign, knows not a verse of women

وإنْ رزقتَ في الملاهي نَفسَاً

وإنْ رزقتَ في الملاهي نَفسَاً

فعُدَّ كُلَّ العُمرِ ذاك النَفَسا

فعُدَّ كُلَّ العُمرِ ذاك النَفَسا

And if you are granted a breath amid revelry,

And if you're graced in revelries a breath

Then reckon that breath your whole life.

Then count a whole lifetime that breath

لا سيّما والبلبلُ الغِرِّيدُ قد

لا سيّما والبلبلُ الغِرِّيدُ قد

أفصحَ بالنُّطقِ وكانَ أَخْرَسا

أفصحَ بالنُّطقِ وكانَ أَخْرَسا

Especially as the melodious nightingale has

No less so and the warbling nightingale

Spoken clearly, though once it was mute.

Spoke eloquently, yet it was mute

كأنّما في نَغَماتِ صَوتِهِ

كأنّما في نَغَماتِ صَوتِهِ

يُشَمِّتُ الصُّبحَ إذا ما عَطَسا

يُشَمِّتُ الصُّبحَ إذا ما عَطَسا

As though, in the notes of its voice,

As though in melodies of its voice

It blesses the dawn whenever it sneezes.

It gloats at dawn when it sneezed

والأقحوانُ ضاحكٌ مِن عَقلِ مَن

والأقحوانُ ضاحكٌ مِن عَقلِ مَن

حازَ الشّراب دونَهُ وما احْتَسى

حازَ الشّراب دونَهُ وما احْتَسى

And the chrysanthemum laughs at the judgment of one

The vines laugh at the mind of whom

Who has wine to its exclusion, yet has taken no sip.

Drank without it and did not sip