فَمَن شَبَّهَ العُمرَ كَأساً يَقِرُّ

فَمَن شَبَّهَ العُمرَ كَأساً يَقِرُّ

قَذاهُ وَيَرسُبُ في أَسفَلِه

قَذاهُ وَيَرسُبُ في أَسفَلِه

So whoever likened life to a cup in which settles

Whoever compares life to a chalice it pleases

its sediment, sinking to its bottom—

To sip its froth and leave the dregs behind

فَإِنّي رَأَيتُ القَذا طائِفاً

فَإِنّي رَأَيتُ القَذا طائِفاً

عَلى صَفحَةِ الكَأسِ في أَوَّلِه

عَلى صَفحَةِ الكَأسِ في أَوَّلِه

I, for my part, have seen the sediment floating

Yet I have seen the dregs continually

on the cup’s surface at life’s beginning.

Dance on the surface from the start, in kind