ما زِلتُ أقلعُ شيبةً نسختْ بها

ما زِلتُ أقلعُ شيبةً نسختْ بها

سوداءُ عقدُ شبابها مفسوخ

سوداءُ عقدُ شبابها مفسوخ

I kept plucking out a gray hair that had superseded

I still pluck out each gray hair imprinted

a black one, whose bond of youth was annulled,

by the unraveling of my youth's dark braid,

حتَّى غدت صفحات وجهي آيةً

حتَّى غدت صفحات وجهي آيةً

لا ناسخ فيها ولا منسوخ

لا ناسخ فيها ولا منسوخ

until the pages of my face became a verse

until my face became verses in which

with neither an abrogator nor an abrogated one within it.

no text is erased, and none copied.