اخا الاشجان حي على الفلاح

سكرت وقد برزت بثوب صاحى

Brother of sorrows, come to salvation.

You grew drunk, yet appeared in a sober man's garb.

هل النفحات من ازهار نجد

سقتك من الغرام قديم راح

Did the fragrant breaths from Najd's blossoms

Give you aged wine of passion to drink?

ولهت بروض بر عبقري

وهمت بريم هاتيك البطاح

You were enthralled by a wondrous garden of goodness,

And love-maddened by the gazelle of those plains.

تذكر فالغرام له شؤن

تقاتل ذا الصبابة بالسلاح

Remember: passion has its ways,

Which wage armed war upon the lovesick.

وكم للعشق من علل جسام

فلو اقلعت عن حب الملاح

And how many grave ailments love has!

So, if only you would forsake love of the fair!

امحضك النصيحة والتصابي

يزحزحني لحبي عن مراحى

I give you sincere counsel, yet youthful dalliance

Dislodges me, through my love, from my resting place.

اراه بكل مرئي لوجدي

واشرق فيه بالماء القراح

I see him in every visible thing, through my ardor,

And on his account I choke on pure water.

غزال حل في شطحات قلبي

وصيرها له بعض المضاحى

A gazelle has settled amid my heart's raptures,

And made them some of his sunlit haunts.

يصول بقده فيهز زانا

وتعلم صاح طاعنة الرماح

He struts with his figure, setting a beech tree swaying,

And you know, my friend, the piercing thrust of spears.

ويبعث من سواد الطرف عضبا

ولست بجاهل بيض الصفاح

And from the blackness of his eye he sends a keen sword,

And you are no stranger to white sword-blades.

ترقرق فيه ماء الحسن حتى

جلا بالوجه طالعة الصباح

Beauty's water shimmered within him, until

His face revealed the rising light of morning.

تثاقل في حقوق الود كبرا

وخفف بالهوى وزن الرجاح

He shirked affection's claims out of pride,

And through passion lightened the weight of the weighty.

تباخل وهو يعرف صدق ودي

وقد بني الوداد على السماح

He acted miserly, though he knows my affection is true,

Yet affection is founded on generosity.

اغار علي من عينيه جندا

رمتني بين ذي عذل ولاحى

He launched an army from his eyes against me,

Which cast me between a censurer and a reproacher.

ورب الراقصات بسفح سلع

ونشر الزهر من تلك الضواحي

By the Lord of the swaying camels at the foot of Salʿ,

And the flowers' fragrance from those outlying lands,

فؤادي ما سلا حبي وروحي

لديه في الغدو وفي الرواح

My heart has not forgotten my beloved, and my soul

Is with him in the morning and the evening.

اما وهواه جاري مل مني

ونوحي لهفة ملأ النواحي

Indeed, by love of him, my neighbor has tired of me,

And my anguished wailing has filled the surroundings.

اجاري ها سحاب الدمع جار

وخدي منه خدد الجراح

O my neighbor, behold: the cloud of tears is flowing,

And my cheek bears the furrows of wounds from it.

وقلبي طائر للحب فارحم

بحقك لوعتي وارحم نواحي

And my heart flutters with love; so have mercy

On my anguish, by your worth, and pity my wailing.

ولا تثقل علي العذل اني

يعوقني اللطيف من الرياح

And do not burden me with blame, for I

Am hindered by even the gentlest of winds.

ورب معاتب للدهر لكن

تغافل عن معائبه الصراح

And many a reproacher of time has nonetheless

Turned a blind eye to its blatant faults.

غزا اهل النهى بوجوه زيغ

سماج من ذخائره وقاح

It assailed the people of reason with faces of perversity,

Ugly and shameless, drawn from its hoards.

لقد سكتوا عن المعروف طبعا

وقد ملأ وا البرية بالصياح

By nature, they have indeed kept silent about goodness,

Yet they have filled creation with shouting.

فمن يرجو الوفاء من الاداني

كمن يرجو السخاء من الشحاح

So whoever hopes for fidelity from the base

Is like one who hopes for generosity from the miserly.

الا خل العتاب اخل وارجع

لصفو في شؤنك وارتياح

Come, leave reproach, O friend, and return

To serenity in your affairs and ease.

وعلل قلبك المحزون حينا

باحبار الاخلاء الصحاح

And soothe your grieving heart awhile

With the sages among true friends.

وريض منك عن شيم خيالا

برب القرط او ذات الوشاح

And restrain your fancy from gazing

On an earring-wearer or a woman with a sash.

ولا تبعث لشأن الدهر فكرا

ففيه الهم منفلت الجماح

And do not rouse a thought about time's affairs,

For in it, sorrow runs wild and unrestrained.

وطر لرياضة الافكار عن ذا ال

زمان وعن ذويه بلا جناح

And fly, to exercise your thoughts, away from this

Age and its people, without a wing.

وعين غزيلي اني ولوه

باطوار العرانين الصباح

By my little gazelle's eye, I am love-bewildered

By the ways of the fair-faced noble ones.

ولكن الشؤن لها فنون

تغلغل بالدجى والوقت ضاحى

Yet affairs have their varied arts,

Which penetrate the darkness while the hour is bright.