Sol 6.1

  1. هَل لِشبابٍ فات من مَطلب

    أم ما بُكاءُ البائسِ الأَشيبِ

    Is there any way to regain youth gone by?

    Or is the weeping of the wretched, gray-haired man

  2. إلا الأضاليل ومن لا يَزَل

    يُوفي على مهلكه يَعصَب

    nothing but delusions? And whoever keeps

    drawing near his doom will perish.

  3. بُدّلتُ شيبا قد عَلا لمتي

    بعد شَبابٍ حَسنٍ مُعجبِ

    I was given gray hair that has covered my locks,

    after beautiful, delightful youth.

  4. صَاحبتُه ثُمَّت فارَقتُهُ

    ليتَ شبابي ذاك لم يَذهبِ

    I kept it company, then parted from it;

    would that that youth of mine had never gone!

  5. وقد أُراني والبلى كأسمه

    إذ أنا لم أصلع ولم أحدَبِ

    And I can picture myself—decay is true to its name—

    when I had not grown bald or become stooped,

  6. ولم يُعرني الشيب أثوابه

    أصبى عُيون البيضِ كالرَبربِ

    and gray hair had not lent me its garments,

    charming the eyes of fair women like a herd of wild cattle.

  7. كأنما يومَي حَولٌ إذا

    لم أشهَدِ اللَّهو ولم ألعبِ

    My day seemed a year whenever

    I joined no revelry and did not play.

  8. وقَهوةٍ صهباءَ باكرتُها

    بجُهمةٍ والديكُ لم ينعَبِ

    And many a tawny wine I drank early,

    in pre-dawn darkness, before the cock had crowed.

  9. وطامح الرأسِ طويلِ العمى

    يذهبُ جَهلا كلما مَذهبِ

    And many a haughty-headed man, long steeped in blindness,

    wandering ignorantly down every path,

  10. كويته حين عدا طورَه

    في الرأس منهُ كيَّة المكلبِ

    I seared when he overstepped his bounds,

    on his head, with the cautery for a rabid-dog victim.

  11. وغارةٍ شعواءَ ناصبتُها

    بسابحٍ ذي حُضُرٍ مُلهبِ

    And many a sweeping raid I mounted,

    on a swimming-striding steed with a blazing gallop.

  12. تراهُ بالفارسِ من بعد ما

    نكّسَ ذو اللأمةِ كالأنكبِ

    You see him bearing his rider, even after

    the armored man has bowed like one who limps.

  13. وصَاحِبٍ نَبّهتُهُ مَوهنا

    ليسَ بأناحٍ ولا جأنبِ

    And a companion I roused deep in the night,

    no wheezing weakling, nor a coarse, squat fellow,

  14. أروعَ بُهلولٍ خميص الحشا

    كالنَّصل ما تركب به يركبِ

    splendid and generous, lean of belly,

    like a blade: whatever you tackle with him, he tackles.

  15. فقامَ وسنانَ إِلى رحلهِ

    وجَسرةٍ دَوسرةٍ ذعلِبِ

    Then he rose, drowsy, to his saddle,

    and a sturdy, massive, fleet she-camel.

  16. ومَربأ كالزُّجِ أشرفتهُ

    والشمس قد كادت ولم تَغرُبِ

    And a lookout like a spear's butt-spike I climbed,

    when the sun had nearly set, but had not yet.

  17. تلّفني الريحُ على رأسهِ

    كأنني صَقرٌ على مَرقَبِ

    The wind wrapped me round upon its summit,

    as though I were a falcon on a lookout.

  18. ذاك ومَولي يمُجُّ الندى

    قُريانهُ أخضرُ مُغلَولبِ

    That—and a tract watered by later rains, dew gushing

    from its watercourses, green and thickly overgrown:

  19. قفر حَمته الخيلُ حتى كأن

    نَ زاهرُهُ أُغشيَ بالزرنبِ

    a wilderness guarded by horses, until it seemed

    its flowering growth was cloaked in zarnab.

  20. جاد السما كان بِقُريانهِ

    بالنجم والنَثرة والعقربِ

    The two Simāk stars watered its channels generously,

    with the Pleiades, al-Nathra, and the Scorpion.

  21. كأنَّ أصواتَ عَصافيرِه

    أصوابُ راعي ثَلَّةٍ مُحصبِ

    As though the sounds of its sparrows

    were the calls of a shepherd pelting a flock with pebbles.

  22. قُدتُ به أجردَ ذاميعَةٍ

    عَبلِ الشوى كالصدع الأشعبِ

    There I led a sleek-coated, spirited horse,

    stout-limbed, like a young ibex with spreading horns,

  23. فَرداً تُغنيني مكاكيّهُ

    تَغنيَ الولدان والملعَبِ

    alone, its larks singing to me

    the songs of boys and the entertainer.