Ode - Amir ibn Kolthum

Ha girl! Up with the bowl! Give us our dawn draught
And do not spare the wines of al-Andarina,

The brightly sparkling, as if by saffron were in them
Whenever the mulled water is mingled with them,

That swing the hotly desirous from his passion
When he has tasted them to gentle mellowness;

You see the skinflint miser, when the cup's passed him,
Suddenly holds his prized property in derision.

O Umm ‘Amr, you've withheld the beaker from us-
From right to right it should have been running-

And yet your friend, whom you deny the dawn-draught,
O Umm ‘Amr, is not the worst trio,

And of surety the fates will overtake us
Predestined for us, as we for them are predestined.

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Amir ibn Kolthum, 6th C (died 584) Persia