أرأيت كيف نفى الحبيب همومي

أرأيت كيف نفى الحبيب همومي

بأميرة المشروب والمشمومِ

بأميرة المشروب والمشمومِ

Have you seen how the beloved banished my cares

Have you seen how my beloved dispelled my worries

With the princess of all that is drunk and smelled?

With the princess of drinks and fragrances?

أرأيت بدراً مثله بغلالةٍ

أرأيت بدراً مثله بغلالةٍ

أو شمت شمساً مثلها بنجوم

أو شمت شمساً مثلها بنجوم

Have you seen a full moon like him in a sheer robe,

Have you seen a full moon like him in the darkness

Or glimpsed a sun like her amid stars?

Or smelled a sun like it among stars?

صهباء يوصف للقتيل حميمها

صهباء يوصف للقتيل حميمها

ونيسيمها للعاشق المحموم

ونيسيمها للعاشق المحموم

A golden-red wine: her hot draught is prescribed for the slain,

A blonde described for the slain as intimate

And her breeze for the fevered lover.

And her breeze for the mad lover

لم تدر حمرة خده من وردها

لم تدر حمرة خده من وردها

أم وردها من خده الملثوم

أم وردها من خده الملثوم

You could not tell whether his cheek's redness came from her roses,

The redness of his cheek does not know from its rose

Or her roses from his kissed cheek.

Or is its rose from his veiled cheek?

كانت بها مثل الحمامة ليلتي

كانت بها مثل الحمامة ليلتي

يا عمرو لولا عصبةٌ كالبوم

يا عمرو لولا عصبةٌ كالبوم

My night with her would have been like a dove,

She was with me like a dove in my nights

O Amr, but for a band like owls.

Oh Amr, were it not for a group like owls

لما رأوا كلفي بها وصبابتي

لما رأوا كلفي بها وصبابتي

وتغزلي بحبابها المنظوم

وتغزلي بحبابها المنظوم

When they saw my infatuation with her and my yearning,

When they saw my infatuation with her and my madness

And my love-songs about her strung-together bubbles,

And my swooning for her charms and composition

وفمي يقبل كاسها ويعبُّها

وفمي يقبل كاسها ويعبُّها

ويدي تمسِّحُ دنَّها بهدومي

ويدي تمسِّحُ دنَّها بهدومي

And my mouth kissing her cup and quaffing her,

And my mouth kissing her cup and sipping it

And my hand wiping her wine-jar with my clothes,

And my hand wiping its brim with my clothes

قالوا حُرمتَ من الرحيق بشربها

قالوا حُرمتَ من الرحيق بشربها

وهي الرحيق وشهوة المحروم

وهي الرحيق وشهوة المحروم

They said, ‘By drinking her, you are denied the nectar.’

They said you are deprived of the wine by drinking it

Yet she is the nectar, the deprived one's desire.

Yet it is the wine and desire of the deprived

فأجبتهم خلوا الرحيقَ لمسلم

فأجبتهم خلوا الرحيقَ لمسلم

واَعطوا النصارى خمرة الفيّوم

واَعطوا النصارى خمرة الفيّوم

So I answered them: ‘Leave the nectar for a Muslim,

So I replied, leave the wine for the Muslim

And give the Christians the wine of al-Fayyum.

And give the Christians the wine of Fayoum

أنا والذي خلق الرحيق وغيره

أنا والذي خلق الرحيق وغيره

لا أبدل المعلوم بالموهوم

لا أبدل المعلوم بالموهوم

I—by Him who created nectar and all else—

I and the One who created the wine and others

Will not trade the known for the imagined—

Do not replace what is known with what is imagined

بالكوثر الموعود هذا المشرب ال

بالكوثر الموعود هذا المشرب ال

منقود من هذا الغزال الرومي

منقود من هذا الغزال الرومي

Nor, for the promised al-Kawthar, this draught

With the promised Kauthar is this drink

Paid out now by this Greek gazelle.’

Filtered from this gazelle of Rome

فمضوا ولم أحرم شميم عرارها

فمضوا ولم أحرم شميم عرارها

يا عمرو بين أكارمٍ وكروم

يا عمرو بين أكارمٍ وكروم

So they left, and I was not denied the scent of her ʿarār blossoms,

So they left and I was not deprived of her aroma

O Amr, amid noble men and vineyards.

Oh Amr between generous and vineyards