1. نِظامٌ أَرَاهُ كَروحِ النّظامِ

    وَرَشفِ الْمُدامِ ورَوْحِ الْجِنانِ

    A poem I see as the soul of poetry,

    And the sipping of wine, and the gardens’ refreshing breeze.

  2. فَمَا الإحْوِرَارُ مَعَ الاِنْكِسارِ

    وطَعْمُ الْعُقارِ وَضَمُّ الْحِسانِ

    For neither dark-eyed beauty with a downcast gaze,

    Nor wine’s taste and the embrace of lovely women,

  3. بأعْذَبَ مِنْهُ ولا الدُّرُّ في

    نُحُورٍ لِحُورٍ كَتِلْكَ الْمَعاني

    Is sweeter than it; nor are pearls on

    The throats of dark-eyed maidens like those meanings.

  4. وهَذَا هُوَ الْحَلُّ فانْظُرْهُ في

    رياضِ الْمُنَى فَهْوَ رَوْضُ الأمَاني

    And this is the solution—behold it in

    The gardens of wishes, for it is the garden of hopes.