XVIII: O cupbearer! unto me such a cup of…

O cupbearer! unto me such a cup of forgetfulness give,
That on quaffing it I may oblivious and insensate become!

Reproached and reviled by the world, to the deserts and wilds I flee;
Like even unto Majnun, I make the wilderness my home.

The fruit of its aims and desires, it shall then eat therefrom,
When the grain, in the earth, shall itself to extinction give.

Since it is filled with the conceptions of the faces of the fair,
The picture gallery of Mani, this mind of mine must be.

My heart becometh, through envy and jealousy, to pieces torn,
When her fingers draw the comb through her flowing hair.

For a minstrel, in the spring-time, I have no necessity;
The sweet melody of the nightingale is sufficient for me.

Nightly, in my dwelling, with this intent, I gather a party together,
That possibly, under this plea, the charmer might attend.

As an inducement, that he should risk his life to obtain it,
The diver desireth that the oyster-shell a pearl should contain.

A hundred times over, Aeabd-ul-Kadir would sacrifice it for her,
If, by parting with his head, he might his loved one obtain.