1. Do not look at me today, oh Salma, for age
Has left no trace of youth upon my face

2. It attacked me, so tell me what can I do
Against a fate that shows me no grace?

3. Stripped bare, more naked than a newborn child
It clothed me in what was not meant to be mine

4. Though I took care, the fate of an exile
I could not escape, though I took care in time

5. If I complain to a people whose homes
Are shaded by peace, they drive me back to my fate

6. Be as you wish, in length or brevity
For the days of a white head are not of my state

7. Tell those who try to comfort my pain
I find no solace in hearing or in sight

8. The worst punishment, oh Salma, for a man
Is punishment dealt by the turns of time

9. If his life was long and old age took his hair
Length and brevity fare equal in their blight

10. It softens him and loosens his diction
Unwillingly, even if he's carved out of rock

11. If the steps of old age in my hair are white
Not all whiteness contains a shining light

12. Not every dawn glow in the darkness of night
Is the radiance of the rising moon bright