Sol 6.1

  1. بَلَغتُ أَوَّلَ عُمري أَرذَلَ العُمُرِ

    فَلَم يَزِدني اِشتِعالُ الشَيبِ في الشَعرِ

    At the beginning of my life I reached its most decrepit age;

    so the blaze of gray in my hair made me no older.

  2. وَالشَيبُ وَالشِعرُ كانا ساكِني خَلَدي

    وَإِنَّما اِنتَقَلا مِنهُ إِلى نَظَري

    And gray hair and poetry had both dwelt within my mind;

    they have merely moved from it into my sight.

  3. أَمّا خَديعَةٌ أَحلامٍ أُغَرَّ بِها

    في يَقظَتي فَلَمّا جاءَت عَلى فِكري

    As for dreams' deception, by which I am beguiled

    while awake—when it came into my mind:

  4. بِن يا شَبابُ وَلا تَستَبطِ صُحبَتِنا

    لِلشَيبِ بَعدَكَ وَاِنظُر ما عَلى الإِثرِ

    Depart, O youth, and do not think we shall linger

    with gray hair after you; and see what follows close behind.

  5. كانَ الحِمامُ أَمامَ الصَفوِ أَرفَقَ بي

    مِنَ الحَياةِ الَّتي أَفضَت إِلى الكَدَرِ

    Death before serenity would have been kinder to me

    than life that has led to murk.

  6. عَلا البَيضَ قَتيرٌ كانَ أَولَهُ

    هَذا البَياضُ الَّذي يَعلو عَلى الشَعرِ

    Grayness has overtopped the helmets; its beginning was

    this whiteness that rises over the hair.

  7. ما ضَلَّ دونَ مُرادٍ في العِدا قَدَرٌ

    فَلا تَقُل لي سِراجٌ في يَدِ القَدَرِ

    Fate has never fallen short of its aim among foes;

    so do not tell me it is a lamp in the hand of Fate.

  8. فَاللَيلُ لَيلُ شَبابِ المَرءِ إِن سَلَكَت

    فيهِ المَنِيَّةُ لَم تَسلُك بِمُعتَكِرِ

    For night—the night of a man's youth—if death travels

    through it, it travels through no dense gloom.

  9. عُمرُ الفَتىلَيلَةٌ وَالمَوتُ صُبحَتُها

    وَالشَيبُ بَينَ الدُجى وَالصُبحِ كَالسَحَرِ

    A young man's life is a night, and death its morning;

    and gray hair, between darkness and morning, is like the predawn twilight.