1. لائمي في النبيذ لم أرَ من قب

    لك مَنْ لام في الحلال المباحِ

    You who reproach me for wine, I have never seen before

    you anyone censuring what is lawful and permitted.

  2. هي مفتاحُ قُفْل كلِّ سرورٍ

    أيّ قفلٍ يُرَى بلا مفتاح

    It is the key to the lock of every joy;

    what lock is ever seen without a key?

  3. جمحت بي الكؤوسُ في حلبةِ الله

    و فمن ذا يردّني عن جماحي

    The cups have run away with me in the racecourse of revelry—

    who, then, can turn me back from my headlong course?

  4. إِذ تدير الكؤوسَ كلُّ هضيم ال

    كشح ريّا السوار غَرثى الوشاح

    As the cups are passed round by every woman slender of

    waist, her bracelet well filled, her sash hungry,

  5. من عُقارٍ يَغْنَى الندامى بها عن

    د حُلول الدجى عن المصباح

    with wine that spares the drinking companions, at

    nightfall, the need for a lamp.

  6. وإذا ما المدامُ دارتْ رأيتَ ال

    شربَ صَرعى وما بهم من جراح

    And when the wine goes round, you see the

    drinkers laid low, though they bear no wounds.

  7. وتراها قد استباحت من القو

    مِ حريماً ما كان بالمستباح

    And you see it has violated, among the people,

    a sanctuary that had been inviolable.

  8. أنا لولا هذا لما كنتُ إلا

    رجلاً سائحاً مع السيّاح

    Were it not for this, I would be nothing but

    a man wandering with the wanderers.