نَصَلَ الحَوْلُ وأراني

نَصَلَ الحَوْلُ وأراني

بعدُ من سَكْرةِ النوى مخمورا

بعدُ من سَكْرةِ النوى مخمورا

The year has passed, and I find myself

The years have passed and I see myself

still drunk from the intoxication of separation.

Inebriated after the intoxication of youth has faded

أرجِعوا لي أيامَ رامةَ إنْ كا

أرجِعوا لي أيامَ رامةَ إنْ كا

ن لِما كان وانقضى أنْ يَحورا

ن لِما كان وانقضى أنْ يَحورا

Bring back to me the days of Rāmah, if

Return to me the days of Ramah, if it were possible

what once was and passed away can return;

For what has passed to be reversed

وشبابا ما كنتُ من قبل نَشْرِ ال

وشبابا ما كنتُ من قبل نَشْرِ ال

شيب أخشى غُرابَه أنْ يَطيرا

شيب أخشى غُرابَه أنْ يَطيرا

and youth—I had not, before the spread of

And a youth when I had not yet feared

gray hair, feared that its raven would fly away.

The crow of white hair that might fly away

إنْ تكنْ أَعيُنُ المَها أنكرتْنِي

إنْ تكنْ أَعيُنُ المَها أنكرتْنِي

فلَعَمْرِي لقد أَصَبْن نكيرا

فلَعَمْرِي لقد أَصَبْن نكيرا

If the eyes of the oryx have failed to recognize me,

If the eyes of the beautiful ones have denied me

then, by my life, they have indeed found something unfamiliar.

By my life, they have surely mistaken someone else for me

زاورتْ خُلَّتَيْن منيَ إقتا

زاورتْ خُلَّتَيْن منيَ إقتا

را يُقَذِّى عيونَها وقَتيرا

را يُقَذِّى عيونَها وقَتيرا

They encountered two traits in me: poverty

Two dear female friends of mine paid a visit

that puts grit in their eyes, and gray hair.

To console eyes that had become dormant

كنتُ ما قد عَرَفْنَ ثم انْتَحَتْني

كنتُ ما قد عَرَفْنَ ثم انْتَحَتْني

غِيَرٌ لم أُطِق لها تغييرا

غِيَرٌ لم أُطِق لها تغييرا

I was what they had known; then I was assailed

I was as they had known me before, then they regarded me as a stranger

by changes I had no power to change,

I could not bear their estrangement

وخُطوبٌ تُحيل صِبْغتها الأب

وخُطوبٌ تُحيل صِبْغتها الأب

شارَ فضلا عن أن تُحيل الشعورا

شارَ فضلا عن أن تُحيل الشعورا

and calamities whose dye alters the

And sorrows that turn the color of happy tidings pale

skin, besides altering the hair,

Let alone change the hair’s appearance

وافتقادي من الكرام رجالا

وافتقادي من الكرام رجالا

كان عيبي في ظلهم مستورا

كان عيبي في ظلهم مستورا

and my loss of men among the noble,

And being forgotten by noble men

beneath whose shade my fault was hidden.

In whose company my faults were concealed

فارقوني فقلَّلوني وكم كا

فارقوني فقلَّلوني وكم كا

ثَرْتُ دهري بهم فكنت كثيرا

ثَرْتُ دهري بهم فكنت كثيرا

They left me and made me few—and how often

They abandoned me and diminished me, yet how much

I vied with my fate in numbers through them, and was many.

I had enriched my life through them, I was bountiful