1. وقد أخضب الدمعُ فاكففْ رائد النظرِ

    فنرجس الطّرف يحمي وردةَ الخفر

    And tears have already left their stain; restrain the scout of your gaze,

    for the narcissus of the eye guards the rose of modesty.

  2. ومعجز الحسنِ أنَّ الحسن روضته

    محروسةٌ من جناة اللحظ بالزّهر

    And beauty's miracle is that beauty's garden

    is guarded from the gaze's gatherers by blossoms.

  3. قد آن أن يهتدي قلب يضللهُ

    صبحٌ من الثغر أو ليلٌ من الشعر

    It is time for a heart to find its way, led astray by

    dawn from the mouth or night from the hair.

  4. أبيتُ منه ومن ليلي إذا وصلت

    ما بين ليلين ذي طول وذي قصر

    I pass the night, when union comes, with his night and my own,

    between two nights, one long and one short.

  5. وقد سمعتُ ولم اسمع كشأنهما

    بيضُّ ذاك وذا يسودُّ بالقمر

    And I have heard, yet never heard the like of their state:

    that one whitens, while this one darkens with the moon.

  6. كأنني ما طرقتُ الحيَّ من يمنٍ

    والليلُ يعثرُ في ذيلٍ من السّحر

    As though I had never visited the encampment of Yemen by night,

    while night stumbled in a trailing hem of dawn,

  7. ولا جلوتُ ووجه اليوم مبتسمٌ

    شمساً من السُّمر في ظلٍّ من السّمر

    nor unveiled, while the face of day was smiling,

    a sun among the dusky ones, in the shade of acacias.

  8. وحاملُ الكأسِ من خفّت براحته

    لطفاً كما خفّت الأرواحُ بالصّور

    And the cupbearer is one in whose palm the cup grows light

    with delicacy, as souls are buoyed by forms.

  9. لما لمقلتهِ الحوراءِ من وسنٍ

    ما بالنواظر من دمعٍ ومن سهر

    Because of the drowsiness in his dark-pupilled, white-bright eye,

    gazing eyes are full of tears and sleeplessness.

  10. لو كان ينصف أيام الصبا دنف

    لا بيضَّ ما أسودَّ من قلبي ومن بصري

    If a lovesick man gave the days of youth their due,

    what is black in my heart and sight would turn white.

  11. كذاك خلقُ الليالي في تلوّنه

    وأيُّ صفوٍ بها ينجو من الكدر

    Such is the nature of nights in its changing colors;

    and what clarity in them escapes the murk?

  12. وربَّ دهمٍ ليالٍ بتُّ راكبها

    تحجيلها الصبحُ والأقمارُ كالغرر

    And many jet-black nights have I spent riding,

    dawn their white stockings, and moons like forehead blazes.

  13. علقتُ فيها بذيل الصبح مقتنصاً

    ما جلَّ عن شرك الأبصار والفكر

    I clung to dawn's hem in them, hunting

    what is too exalted for the snare of sight and thought.

  14. وبين جنبيّ نفسٌ حرّةٌ كرماً

    تسمو عن الوزر من صبري إلى وزر

    And between my sides is a soul, free in its nobility,

    rising above the burden, through my patience, to a refuge.

  15. وكلَّ أسمر لدنٍ فوق سابغةٍ

    كأنهُ غصنٌ موفٍ على نهر

    And every supple brown lance above a full coat of mail,

    as though it were a branch overhanging a river.

  16. لا تزجر النفس عن أمرٍ تهمُّ به

    فإنما العيش ما أحرزتَ من وطر

    Do not deter the soul from a deed it means to do,

    for life is nothing but the desires you have fulfilled.

  17. ولا تقل إنَّ من دون المنى خطراً

    فما تنال المنى إلاّ مع الخطر

    Nor say that danger stands between you and your wishes,

    for you attain your wishes only with danger.

  18. فربَّ سهم شبابٍ لو قذفتَ به

    لم يثنه حنيهُ قوساً من الكبر

    For many an arrow of youth, were you to shoot it,

    would not be checked by age bending it into a bow.

  19. وربَّ ربِّ أناةٍ خفَّ في غرضٍ

    والجمرُ ترهبُ منهُ خفّة الشرر

    And many a master of deliberation has sped toward a goal;

    and from embers you fear the swiftness of sparks.

  20. ولا يغرَّنك لينٌ تحتهُ شرسٌ

    فالزند يجمع بين النار والخصر

    Do not let softness deceive you when fierceness lies beneath it,

    for the fire-stick holds both fire and cold.

  21. والغدر من شيم الدنيا فساكنها

    إليه أشوقُ من أرضٍ إلى مطر

    And treachery is among the world's traits, so its dweller

    longs for it more than earth longs for rain.

  22. وإنما فضّل الإنسان وهو أخو

    نقيصةٍ كونَ عثمان من البشر

    And man is exalted only—though a brother to

    imperfection—because Uthman is one of humankind.