1. أَشاقَكَ والليل مُلقي الجِران

    غُرابٌ يَنوحُ عَلى غُصنِ بانِ

    Did it stir your longing, while night laid down its neck—

    A crow lamenting on a bān-tree branch,

  2. أَحمُّ الجَناح شَديدُ الصياح

    يُبكّي بِعَينَين لا تَهمُلانِ

    Coal-black of wing, piercing of cry,

    Making you weep, with two eyes that shed no tears?

  3. وَفي نَعَباتِ الغُرابِ اغترابٌ

    وَفي البانِ بَينٌ بَعيدُ التَدانِ

    And in the crow's caws is estrangement,

    And in the bān tree, a parting far from reunion.

  4. لَعُمري لئن فَزَعَت مُقلتاك

    إِلى دَمعةٍ قَطرُها غَيرُ وانِ

    By my life, if your two eyes have resorted

    To a tear whose flow does not slacken,

  5. فَحُقَّ لِعَينَيكِ أَلا تَجفَّ

    دُموعُهُما وَهما تَطرِفانِ

    Then rightly should your eyes never let

    Their tears dry while they still blink.

  6. وَمَن كانَ في الحَيّ بِالأمس منك

    قَريبَ المَكانِ بَعيدُ المَكانِ

    And whoever, yesterday in the encampment, was to you

    Near in place is now far away.

  7. فَهَل لَك يا عيشُ مِن رَجعَةٍ

    بأيّامِك المونقاتِ الحِسانِ

    So can you, O life, ever return

    With your delightful, lovely days?

  8. فَيا عَيشَنا والهَوى مُورِقٌ

    لَهُ غُصُنٌ أَخضر العُودِ دانِ

    O our life, when love was in leaf,

    With a green-stemmed branch hanging near!

  9. لَعَلَّ الشَبابَ وَرَيعانَهُ

    يُسَوِّدُ ما بيَّضَ القادِمانِ

    Perhaps youth and its prime

    Will blacken what the two newcomers whitened.

  10. وَهيهاتَ يا عَيشُ مِن رَجعَةٍ

    بِأَغصانِكَ المائِلاتِ الدَواني

    But how far, O life, is any return

    With your bending, low-hanging branches!

  11. لَقَد صَدعَ الشَيبُ ما بَينَنا

    وَبَينَك صَدعَ الرِداءِ اليَماني

    Indeed, gray hair has torn what joined us

    To you, as a Yemeni cloak is torn.

  12. عَليك السَلامُ فَكَم لَيلَةٍ

    جَموحٍ دَليلٍ خَليعِ العِنانِ

    Peace be upon you! How many a night—

    Headstrong, guiding, its reins cast off—

  13. قَصَرتُ بِك الَهوَ في جانِبيه

    بِقَرعِ الدُفوفِ وَعَزَفِ القيانِ

    I shortened with you, revelling at both its ends,

    With beating tambourines and the music of singing girls!

  14. وعَذراءَ لَم تَفتَرِعها السُقاةُ

    وَلا استامها الشربُ في بَيتِ حانِ

    And a virgin wine no cupbearers had deflowered,

    Nor had drinkers bid for her in a wine-seller's house,

  15. وَلا آحتلَبَت دَرَّها أَرجُلٌ

    وَلا وَسَمَتها بِنارٍ يَدانِ

    Nor had feet milked her flowing milk,

    Nor had two hands branded her with fire.

  16. وَلَكِن غَذَتها بأَلبانِها

    ضُروعٌ يَحُفُّ بِها جَدوَلانِ

    But she was nourished with their milk

    By udders with two streams surrounding them,

  17. إِلى أَن تَحوّل عَنها الصِبا

    وأَهدى الفطامَ لَها المُرضعانِ

    Until childhood passed away from her,

    And the two nurses bestowed weaning on her.

  18. فأَحسَبُها وَهي مَكروعةٌ

    تَمجُّ سَلافَتُها في الأَوانِ

    So I imagine her, while she is quaffed,

    Her first-run wine gushing into the vessels,

  19. عَناقيد أَخلافُها حُفَّلٌ

    تَدرّ بِمثلِ الدِماء القَواني

    As grape clusters whose teats are full,

    Pouring forth the likeness of crimson blood.

  20. فَلَم تَزَل الشَمسُ مَشغولَةً

    بصِبغَتِها في بطونِ الدِنان

    So the sun remained busy

    Dyeing her in the bellies of the wine-jars,

  21. ترشّحها لِلِثامِ الرِجال

    إِلى أَن تَصدّى لَها الساقيانِ

    Preparing her for the kisses of men,

    Until the two cupbearers came forward for her.

  22. فَفَضّا الخَواتيم عَن جَونَةٍ

    صَدوفٍ عَن الفَحلِ بكرٍ عَوانِ

    Then both broke the seals off a dark-hued wine,

    Averse to the male, a virgin yet mature,

  23. عَجوز غذا المِسكُ أصداغها

    مُضمَّخة الجلدِ بالزعفَرانِ

    An old woman whose temples musk had nourished,

    Her skin anointed with saffron.

  24. يَطوفُ عَلينا بِها أَحوَرٌ

    يَداهُ مِنَ الكأَسِ مَخضوبَتانِ

    A dark-eyed one carries her round among us,

    His two hands stained by the cup.

  25. لَياليَ تَحسَبُ لي مِن سِنيّ

    ثمانٍ وواحِدةٌ واثنَتانِ

    In nights when my years were reckoned

    As eight, and one, and two.

  26. غُلامٌ صَغيرٌ أَخو شِرَّةٍ

    يَطيرُ مَعي لِلهَوى طائِرانِ

    A young boy, possessed of unruly vigor,

    Two birds flying with me toward passion,

  27. جَرور الإزارِ خَليعُ العِذار

    عليَّ لِعَهدِ الصِبا بُردَتانِ

    Trailing my waist-wrap, my bridle cast off,

    Two cloaks of youth's days upon me.

  28. أَصيبُ الذُنوبَ وَلا أَتَقي

    عُقوبةَ ما يَكتبُ الكاتِبانِ

    I committed sins and did not fear

    The punishment for what the two scribes recorded.

  29. تَنافَسُ فيَّ عيونَ الرّجالِ

    وَتعثَرُ بي في الحُجول الغَواني

    Men's eyes vied over me,

    And lovely women stumbled because of me in their anklets.

  30. فأَقصَرَت لَمّا نَهاني المَشيب

    وأَقصَر عَن عَذليَ العاذلانِ

    Then I desisted when gray hair admonished me,

    And the two reproachers ceased reproaching me.

  31. وَعافَت عَيوفٌ وأَترابُها

    رُنوِّي إِلَيها وَمَلَّت مَكاني

    And ʿAyūf and her peers shunned

    My lingering gaze at her, and tired of my presence.

  32. وَراجَعتُ لّما أَطار الشَبابَ

    غُرابان عَن مَفرقي طائرانِ

    And I turned back when youth was driven off

    By two crows flying from my hair's parting.

  33. رأَت رَجُلاً وَسَمَتهُ السِنونَ

    بِرَيبِ المَشيبِ وَريبِ الزمانِ

    She saw a man whom the years had branded

    With the ravages of gray hair and the ravages of time.

  34. فَصَدَّت وَقالَت أَخو شَيبَةٍ

    عَديمٌ أَلا بِئسَتِ الحالتانِ

    She turned away and said, 'A man with gray hair,

    Destitute—ah, what a wretched pair of states!'

  35. فَقُلتُ كَذَلِكَ مَن عَضَّهُ

    مِنَ الدَهرِ ناباهُ والمخلبانِ

    So I said, 'So fares one bitten

    By time's two fangs and its two claws.'

  36. وَعُجتُ إِلى جَملٍ بازِلِ

    رَحيبٍ رَحى الزور فحل هَجانِ

    And I turned toward a fully grown camel,

    Broad at the chest's round pad, a purebred sire,

  37. سُبوحُ اليَدينِ طموحِ الجِرانِ

    غؤُولٍ لأَنساعهِ والبِطانِ

    Swimming with his forelegs, his neck held high,

    Devouring his saddle-straps and belly-girth.

  38. فَعضَّيت أَعواد رحلي بِهِ

    وَناباهُ مِن زَمَع يَضربانِ

    So I fastened my saddle's wooden bars upon him,

    His two fangs clashing in agitation.

  39. فَلّما استَقلَّ بأَجرانِهِ

    وَلانَ عَلى السيرِ بَعضَ اللِيانِ

    Then, when he rose, lifting his neck-pads,

    And grew somewhat tractable on the march,

  40. قطَعتُ بِهِ مِن بِلادِ الشآمِ

    خُروقاً يَضلُّ بِها الهاديانِ

    I crossed on him, from the lands of al-Shām,

    Wastes where the two guides lose their way,

  41. إِلى مَلِكٍ مِن بَني هاشمٍ

    كَريم الضَرائِبِ سبط البنانِ

    Toward a king of the sons of Hāshim,

    Noble in nature, his fingers freely outstretched,

  42. إِلى عَلَم البأَسِ في كَفِّهِ

    مِنَ الجودِ عَينانِ نَضَّاختانِ

    Toward a banner of valor, in whose palm

    Two springs of generosity gush forth.