تباً لما اختلق الواشي وما نقلا

أما وعينيك لا قالَ الأنام سلا

Perdition to what the slanderer fabricated and what he relayed!

Indeed, by your eyes, may people never say, 'He has forgotten!'

لولا الوفاءُ وحفظي ما أضعت لما

لبستُ قرطيّ فيك اللّوم والعذلا

But for loyalty and my guarding what you neglected, I would not

Have worn blame and reproach as my two earrings for your sake.

وقفتَ من جسمي المضني على طلل

فما سألتَ اتباعَ السنّة الطّللا

You stood at a ruin of my wasted body,

Yet did not question the ruin, as custom requires.

وهبك حلتَ فما أعدى خيالكم

فلم يقل ذلك المشتاق ما فعلا

Granted you have changed—what infected your phantom,

That it never asked, 'How has that yearning lover fared?'

لولا قلاك لقد كانت خلائقه

إذا صددتَ على عاداته وصلا

But for your hatred, its ways would surely have been

To grant union, as usual, whenever you turned away.

خلفتموني على فرش السقام لقى

ما كل من صحَّ يأوى لمن نحلا

You left me cast aside on beds of sickness.

Not everyone in health pities one grown wasted.

حتى لو أنَّ بنات الدهر تسعفني

بقربكم ما عرفت اللهو والجذلا

Even if Time's daughters were to favor me

With nearness to you, I would know neither diversion nor delight.

يا قاتلي في سبيل الحب لا قودٌ

ومصمي القلب بالأجفان لا تسلا

O my slayer in the path of love—no blood-requital!

And you who slay the heart with your eyelids—may you never be forgotten!

وجيرة السفح من لبنان جادكم

نظير دمعي إذا ما أنهلَّ أو هطلا

And, O neighbors of Lebanon's slopes, may you be watered

By the like of my tears whenever they gush or pour.

تلوَّنت مثلَ أيّامي عهودكمُ

واستبدلوني ولم أطلب بهم بدلا

Your pledges changed color, like my days,

And they replaced me, though I sought no substitute for them.

مهىً خلعت الصّبا والشملُ مجتمعٌ

خلع الرداء على أيّامهم حللا

Oryxes: I shed youth while we were all together,

Like a mantle, laying it as robes upon their days.

سمّوا الظلامَ على أقمارهِ شعراً

ويانعَ الورد في أغصانه خجلا

They called the darkness upon its moons 'hair,'

And the rose in bloom among its branches 'blushing.'

وأهاً لشرخ شباب كنت مغتبطاً

به وعمرِ وصالِ كان مقتبلاً

Ah, for the prime of youth in which I rejoiced,

And a life of union that was just beginning!

شكوت أن هزّني ذو منظرٍ بهجٍ

أو لذَّ صفوُ حياة بعدكم وجلا

I lamented that one of radiant aspect had stirred me,

Or that untroubled life tasted sweet after you, fearful

من موقفٍ مثلِ حدّ السيف دونكم

مضيت فيه وحدُّ السيف قد نكلا

Of a place like a sword's edge barring the way to you,

Which I passed through, though the sword's edge had recoiled.

وزورةٍ لي وعين النجم ناعسةٌ

من السّرى وخضاب الليل ما نصلا

And a visit of mine, while the star's eye was drowsy

From night-travel, and night's dye had not faded:

جهلتُ فيها فأدركت المنى كثباً

وإنما يدرك اللذاتِ من جهلا

I acted recklessly there and attained my wishes close at hand;

For only the reckless attain pleasures.

وإنَّ نار الهوى بالدمع ما خمدتْ

كما زعمتم وجرح الشوق ما أندملا

And the fire of love has not been quenched by tears,

As you claimed, nor has the wound of longing healed.

آهاً لقلبٍ أسيرٍ في رحالكمُ

نصحتهُ فيكمُ جهدي فما قبلا

Ah, for a heart held captive in your camp!

I counseled it about you as best I could, but it would not listen.

وعند قبّ المذاكي حاجة قدمت

وطال ما أنجز الميعادَ من مطلا

And with lean, full-grown steeds lies a long-standing need;

And many a procrastinator has fulfilled a promise.

ذمَّ النوى كلُّ مخلوقٍ وربَّ نوى

شكرتُ فيها جيادَ الخيل وإلا بلا

Every creature condemns separation; yet in many a parting

I have thanked noble horses and camels.

أفقٌ من البين أهدت لي مطالعهُ

وللبريّة بدرُ التمّ لا أفلا

A horizon of parting, whose risings bestowed on me

And all creation a full moon—may it never set!

وما الغمامُ سوى الملك المعظّم جاد

الأرض جمعاً فعمَّ السهل والجبلا

And the raincloud is none but al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam: he watered

The whole earth, encompassing plain and mountain alike.