ولَرُبَّ حانٍ قد أدَرْتُ بدَيْرِهِ

ولَرُبَّ حانٍ قد أدَرْتُ بدَيْرِهِ

خَمْرَ الصِّبا مُزِجَتْ بِصَفْوِ خُمُورِه

خَمْرَ الصِّبا مُزِجَتْ بِصَفْوِ خُمُورِه

And in many a vintner’s monastery I have passed around

In many a monastery I have lived, and there

The wine of youth, blended with the purest of his wines,

Mingled youth’s rapture with the elders’ knowledge;

في فِتْيةٍ جَعَلُوا الزِّقاقَ تِكاءَهُمْ

في فِتْيةٍ جَعَلُوا الزِّقاقَ تِكاءَهُمْ

مُتَصَاغِرِينَ تخشُّعاً لكَبِيرِه

مُتَصَاغِرِينَ تخشُّعاً لكَبِيرِه

Among young men who made the wineskins their cushions,

On pavements where the loitering scholars throng

Making themselves small in reverence before its elder.

I bowed me humbly to some reverend sage;

يُهْدِي إِليْنا الرّاحَ كُلُّ مُعَصْفَرٍ

يُهْدِي إِليْنا الرّاحَ كُلُّ مُعَصْفَرٍ

كالخِشْفِ خَفَّرَهُ التِماحُ خَفِيرِه

كالخِشْفِ خَفَّرَهُ التِماحُ خَفِيرِه

Each one in safflower-dyed robes brings us wine,

The laughing breeze of May breathed fragrance round

Like a fawn made bashful by his guardian’s glance.

And fluttered lightly each wen’s whiskered lip;

وَالى علَىَّ بطَرْفِهِ وبكَفِّهِ

وَالى علَىَّ بطَرْفِهِ وبكَفِّهِ

فأَمالَ مِن رَأسِي لِعَبِّ كَبيرِه

فأَمالَ مِن رَأسِي لِعَبِّ كَبيرِه

He plied me with his gaze and with his hand,

Then shone on me an eye with beckoning lash,

And made my head sway as I quaffed his aged wine.

And waked my heart to childhood’s wantonness.

والقسُّ ممَّا شاءَ طُولَ مُقامنا

والقسُّ ممَّا شاءَ طُولَ مُقامنا

يدعو يُعَوِّذ حَوْلَنا بِزَبُورِه

يدعو يُعَوِّذ حَوْلَنا بِزَبُورِه

And the priest, so eager for our stay to last,

The priest discoursed exactly as he would,

Prays, invoking protection around us with his Psalter.

Singing his incantations o’er and o’er;

وَتَرنَّمَ النَّاقُوسُ عِنْدَ صَلاتِهِمْ

وَتَرنَّمَ النَّاقُوسُ عِنْدَ صَلاتِهِمْ

ففَتَحْتُ من عَيْني لرَجْعِ هَدِيرِه

ففَتَحْتُ من عَيْني لرَجْعِ هَدِيرِه

And the bell sang at their prayers,

Then rang their vesper chime upon my ear,

So I opened my eye a little at its echoing roar.

And called me back from rapture wandering far.

يَتَناوَلُ الظُّرَفاءُ فيه وشُرْبُهمْ

يَتَناوَلُ الظُّرَفاءُ فيه وشُرْبُهمْ

لسلافِهِ والأَكْلُ مِن خِنْزِيرِه

لسلافِهِ والأَكْلُ مِن خِنْزِيرِه

The men of wit partake there: their drink

On such they feast within those holy walls,

Is his finest wine, and their food is his pork.

Quaffing their wine and eating their ham forbidden