1. لِيَ اللهُ مِن شَيخٍ جَفاني أحبّتي

    وَقَدْ بَهرَجَ النّقد المماحِك ضيعَني

    God help me—an old man my loved ones have shunned.

    The quibbler has declared the coinage counterfeit and ruined me.

  2. أُحَمُل شّيبي صِبغةً بعدَ صبُغَةٍ

    وَصُبغَة ربُ العَرْش أَحسن صُبغَةِ

    I coat my gray hair with dye after dye,

    yet the dye of the Lord of the Throne is the finest dye.

  3. وإذْ شَابَ رأسي شاب عَيشي شآيبٌ

    رَمى بفُؤادي مُنيَتي بِمنيّتي

    When my head turned gray, a taint clouded my life;

    my desire struck my heart with my death.

  4. وحاوَلت أنْ يَخفَى مَشيبي فَما اختَفَى

    ويكفيكَ أنّي كاذِبٌ وَسطَ لِحيتيْ

    I tried to hide my gray hair, but it would not hide.

    Enough for you: I am a liar in the midst of my beard.

  5. وَسُمِّتُ طاووسَ الملائِكِ إذْ بَدَتْ

    مطوَّسَةً كالرّيش ريشي بِكَونتي

    I was called the peacock of the angels when there appeared

    my plumage, peacock-colored like feathers, in my [unclear].

  6. وَما شِبتُ حتّى شابَ قلبي منَ الهوى

    وَقَد نَفّرَتْ عنِّي الخرائدَ شَيبتي

    I did not turn gray until love had grayed my heart,

    and my gray hair has driven the fair maidens away from me.

  7. بَيَاضٌ بهِ تجري دموعي كأنَه

    لِذاكَ دموعُ العَين صاحبُ دَمعَةِ

    A whiteness that sets my tears flowing, as though it

    were therefore tearful-eyed, the bearer of a tear.

  8. وَتشمِلُه بالنّيلِ منّي أصابِعٌ

    مُخَلّفَةٌ عنَدَ الوفاءِ بِزُرقَةِ

    Fingers of mine cover it with indigo,

    left blue upon completing their task.

  9. فواعَجباً منهُ بَياضاً تَوَسّخَتْ

    بهِ عندَ مَنْ أهوى مطارفْ صَبوتي

    How strange this whiteness, which has soiled

    the fine cloaks of my youthful passion before the one I love!

  10. وَهَبني لها بالغشِّ والنّيل سائراً

    فأينَ نُهوضي للنّكاح وَهِمّتي

    Suppose I pursue her with deception and indigo:

    where are my erection for intercourse and my drive?

  11. ولي صاحِبٌ طلقُ المحيّا بِصُبغَةٍ

    بَهِيُّ المحيّا نَحوهُ النّفسُ حنّت

    I have a companion, his face cheerful beneath its dye,

    handsome of face, toward whom my soul has yearned.

  12. تَقَمّصَ منْ قُمصِ الخلاعة حلّةً

    عَليها طرازٌ مِن وقارٍ وَحِشمَةٍ

    He donned a robe from the shirts of debauchery,

    embroidered with dignity and decorum.

  13. وإنْ كانَ موسوماً بِشَيبٍ فإنّهُ

    عَليها طرازٌ مِن وقارٍ وَحِشمَةٍ

    And though he is marked with gray hair, he—

    embroidered with dignity and decorum.

  14. وإنْ كانَ موسوماً بِشَيبٍ فإنّهُ

    تَعَرّى شباباً كانَ أحسنَ حلّة

    And though he is marked with gray hair, he—

    has shed youth, once the finest robe.

  15. أراني غراباً في الكهولةِ أبقعاً

    على رأسهِ ينعاهُ في كُلِّ صَيْحَة

    He showed me a piebald crow in middle age,

    upon his head, lamenting him with every cry.

  16. وقالَ لَئنْ أصبحتُ من آلِ شيبةٍ

    فَلا أنا من طَيءْ ولا القومُ عِترتَي

    He said, 'If I have become one of the house of Shaybah,

    I am not of Tayy, nor are those people my kin.'

  17. وما تابَ لمّا شابَ من كُلِّ رِيبةٍ

    وأقلَعَ إلاَ باللّتيا وبالّتي

    When he turned gray, he did not repent of his dubious deeds,

    or desist, except with the greatest difficulty.

  18. إذا قام في الحمام مثلي محرّساً

    مُسَخمّ وجه ثمَّ نامَ كَمَيِّتِ

    When, like me, he stands guarded in the bathhouse,

    his face soot-blackened, then sleeps like a corpse,

  19. فيا قُبحَهُ إذ سالَ منهُ صَديدُه

    وَقَد مُدَّ مثلَ المركَب المَتَزفِّتِ

    how hideous he is when his pus flows out,

    stretched out like a vessel coated with pitch.

  20. وَقَد ضاقَ بالحمّامِ ذَرْعاً وَضيقتْ

    مَنافِسُه منْ كَربة بعدَ كَربةِ

    He can no longer bear the bathhouse; constricted are

    his breathing passages, through distress upon distress.

  21. وَكَم مَصَّ منْ صفّارةٍ حالةَ الظّما

    منَ الماءِ ما روَّى به بعضَ غُلّةِ

    How often, thirsty, he has sucked from a spouted vessel

    enough water to quench some of his burning thirst!

  22. وساخٌ كأمواهِ المبلاّةِ ماؤهاه

    فَصادَتْ أنوفَ الحاضرينَ بِعَطسةِ

    Its water is filthy, like the water of a soaking trough [uncertain word],

    so it catches the noses of those present with a sneeze.

  23. فأصبَحَ للمِقراضِ في جَنَباتِها

    فِعالَ المدى في صوف فرو مُسَلّت

    Then the shears work along its sides

    as knives do in the wool of a shorn fur coat.

  24. على قَلَحِ في فيهِ منْ بَخَرٍ به

    إذا فاحَ أردى المسكَ في أرضِ تبّتِ

    Besides the yellowing in his mouth, there is his foul breath,

    which, when it wafts forth, lays low the musk in Tibet.

  25. فَتَبّتْ يدا مِنْ يَصْبغُ الذَّقنَ حائلاً

    صِباغَ خَرىً لا يَرْتَضيه وَتَبّتِ

    May the hands of whoever dyes a faded beard perish,

    with a dye of shit he would not accept; may they perish!

  26. وليلةَ زارَتني على غيرِ مَوعدٍ

    سُعادٌ لِوَصلٍ كانَ غيرَ مُؤقَتِ

    One night, without an appointment, I was visited

    by Su'ad, for an unscheduled union.

  27. فَقُمْتُ إليها ناشطاً وكأنّني

    فتى حَدُثٌ لولا دَيالي ورعشتي

    I rose to her eagerly, as though I were

    a young man, but for my [unclear affliction] and my trembling.

  28. فقالَتْ هَهَا أَمّا التصابي فظاهرٌ

    وأَحسَبُه لولا أرتعاشٌ به فَتي

    She said, 'Ha! Your playing at youth is plain,

    and I would take him for a young man, but for his trembling.'

  29. فَقُلتُ لها بي هِزَّهُ الوجد والهوى

    ولم أرتَعشْ إلاَّ لِفَرطِ مَحبّتي

    I said to her, 'Mine is the tremor of longing and desire;

    I tremble only from the excess of my love.'

  30. ولمّا أعتَنَقْنا لم تَجدْ أيَ نَهْضَةً

    وأينَ على هجر الثمانينَ نَهْضتي

    When we embraced, she found no erection at all;

    where was my erection, under eighty years' estrangement?

  31. وَمَدَّتْ إلى تريد

    فما وَجَدَتْ شيئاً سوى صُفرِ خِصيَتي

    And she reached toward ..., wanting—

    but found nothing except my testicle's emptiness.

  32. بَلَى ناحِلاً قد غيّرتهُ يدُ البِلى

    يُعانِدني في صورة المُتَعَنِّتِ

    Yes—a wasted thing, altered by the hand of decay,

    defying me like an obstinate wretch.

  33. تقلّصَ لمّا رمتُ منهُ قِيامَه

    كَقُنفُذِ شَوكٍ في مَغابن

    It shrank when I sought to make it stand,

    like a prickly hedgehog in the body's folds.

  34. فقامَتْ إلى عُنقي بأدهمَ أعوج

    صقيلٍ فقلتُ النّصرُ لِلْمُتَثبِّتِ

    Then she went for my neck with a dark, curved,

    polished blade; I said, 'Victory belongs to the cautious.'

  35. وَقُدِّمتُ نحوَ النّطعِ فارتعتُ قائلاً

    ملكتِ قيادِي فاحسني اليومَ قِتلتي

    I was brought toward the execution mat and cried out in terror,

    'You hold my reins; give me a good death today.

  36. تُرى ما الذي أَذنبتُ قالَتْ غرورُنا

    بِصُبغَةِ ذَقنٍ كالهشيم المفتّتِ

    What, I wonder, have I done wrong?' She said, 'Deceiving us

    with dye upon a beard like crumbled dry brush.'

  37. حلى عنكِ باديِّ النّصولِ كَقلّةٍ

    مِنَ الماءِ حُفّت بالشّعير المُنَبْتِ

    Put away from you the visibly fading [beard], like a jar [text unclear],

    of water ringed with sprouting barley.

  38. إذا هي حلّتْ في يَدَي مُتَعَتّبٍ

    أسُائِلُها أيَّ المواطنِ حَلّتِ

    When it settles in the hands of a reproachful man,

    I ask it which places it has settled in.

  39. فآهاً لأَيّامِ الشّبابِ وطيبِها

    وواهاً على أَيّام لهوي وَلَذَّتي

    Ah, for the days of youth and their sweetness!

    Alas for the days of my play and pleasure!

  40. وَحُسنِ ليالٍ كنتُ فيها مُقَلِّداً

    لِكُلِّ فتاةٍ كاعب الحسن غضّةِ

    And the lovely nights when I garlanded

    every tender, full-breasted beauty.

  41. خَلَعْتُ عَذاري بعدَ لَبْسهِ في الصّبا

    جَديداً ولا لِبسي لأَجملِ حُلُّهِ

    I cast off my bridle after wearing it in youth,

    new—nor my wearing of its fairest adornment [text unclear].

  42. إذا عَذَلتني فيهِ عاذِلةُ الصِّبا

    يقل عندَها وقد أنعظَ اسكتي

    Whenever a reprover of youthful folly scolded me for it,

    it would say in her presence, already erect, 'Be quiet!'

  43. وإذْ كنت دَبَاباً على كُلِّ أمردٍ

    ثقيلٍ خفيف النّومِ بادي التّعفرُتِ

    And when I was a prowler after every beardless man,

    heavy, light of sleep, plainly impish,

  44. فكم بعد إيلاجٍ تشاهد نائماً

    على ظهرِهِ كمَلتُهْ بِعُمْيرتي

    how often, after penetration, you would see a man asleep,

    on his back, whom I finished with my Umayrah.

  45. ويا طيبَ أيامي بِجلد عميرةٍ

    فكم حَفِظَتْ عِرضي لَدَيها وفِضّتي

    How sweet were my days of 'beating Umayrah'!

    How often she kept my honor and my silver safe with her!

  46. وأيّامِ لهوٍ كنتُ من بها

    أُعوِّجُ في الفراشِ

    And days of pleasure, when I was among ... in them [text incomplete],

    I would twist in bed.

  47. وما شاقني إلاَّ البدالُ وطيبُه

    وحسنُ وفائي في صِحابي وَرِفقَتي

    Nothing attracted me but swapping roles and its sweetness,

    and the beauty of my loyalty among my companions and comrades.

  48. فهل بعدَ شيبِ العارِضَيْنِ لِذاذَةٌ

    وقد أخلقَتْ تلكَ الثمانينُ جدَّتي

    Is there pleasure once both sides of the beard turn gray,

    when those eighty years have worn out my freshness?

  49. فإنْ أَلبسَ الشّيبُ السوادَ فإنّني

    حزينٌ على أيامِ شرخ شبيبتي

    Even if I dress my gray hair in black, I remain

    sorrowful for the days of my youth's first bloom.

  50. ولستُ أُبالي باللواتي قَلينني

    إذا رَضِيَتْ عنّي كرامُ عشيرتي

    I care nothing for the women who have hated me,

    if the noble members of my clan are pleased with me.