1. خليلي قد اتسعت محنتي

    على وضاقت بها حيلتي

    My friend, my ordeal has grown

    Upon me, and my means of coping have shrunk.

  2. عذرت عذاري في شيبه

    وما لمت أن شمطت لمتي

    I forgave my sideburns for turning gray,

    Nor blamed my locks for becoming streaked with gray.

  3. إلى كم يخاسسني دائماً

    زماني المقبح في عشرتي

    How long will I be continually demeaned

    By my time, so foul in its dealings with me?

  4. تحيفني ظالماً غاشماً

    وكدر بعد الصفا عيشتي

    It has wronged me, unjust and ruthless,

    And muddied my life after its serenity.

  5. وكنتُ تماسكتُ فيما مضى

    فقد خانني الدهر في مسكتي

    I once held myself together in days gone by,

    But time has betrayed my means of support,

  6. إلى منزلٍ لا يواري إذا

    تحصلت فيه سوى سوأتي

    Reducing me to a dwelling that, when

    I lodge in it, conceals only my private parts.

  7. مقيماً أروح إلى منزلٍ

    كقبري وما حضرت ميتتي

    I return in the evening to dwell in a house

    Like my grave, though my death has not yet come.

  8. إذا ما ألم صديقي به

    على رغبةٍ منه في زورتي

    Whenever my friend drops in there,

    Eager to pay me a visit,

  9. فرشت له فيه بسط الحدي

    ث من باب بيتي إلى صفتي

    I spread for him there the carpets of conversation,

    From my house's door to my portico.

  10. ومعدته من خلال الكلا

    م تشكو خواها إلى معدتي

    And his stomach, amid the conversation,

    Complains of its emptiness to my stomach.

  11. وقد فت في عضدي ما بهِ

    ولكن عليه غلبت علتي

    And his plight has already sapped my strength,

    Yet my own affliction outweighs his.

  12. وأغدو غدواً ملياً بأن

    يزيد به الله في شقوتي

    And I go out in the morning, on an outing fit

    For God to increase my misery through it.

  13. فأيةُ دارٍ تيممتها

    تتيم بوابها حجتي

    So whichever house I head for,

    My plea captivates its doorkeeper.

  14. وإن أنا زاحمتُ حتى أموت

    دخلتُ وقد خرجت مهجتي

    And if I jostle my way through until I die,

    I enter with my life's breath already gone.

  15. فيرفعني الناس عند الوصول

    إليهم وقد سقطت عمتي

    Then people lift me up when I reach

    Them, my turban having already fallen.

  16. وإن نهضوا بعد للأنصرا

    ف أسرعت في إثرهم نهضتي

    And if afterward they rise to depart,

    I hasten to rise in their wake.

  17. وإن قدموا خيلهم للركوب

    خرجت فقدمت لي ركبتي

    And if they bring their horses forward to ride,

    I go out and bring forward my own knee.

  18. وفي جمل الناس غلمانهم

    وليس سوائي في جملتي

    And in people's retinues are their servants,

    While my retinue contains no one but me.

  19. ولا لي غلامٌ فأدعوا به

    سوى من أبوه أخو عمتي

    And I have no servant I can call for,

    Except the one whose father is my paternal aunt's brother.

  20. ركنت مليحاً أروق العيو

    ن أيضاً فقد قبحت خلقتي

    I relied on being handsome, pleasing the eyes;

    Yet my appearance, too, has grown ugly.

  21. يعرق خدي جفاف الهزال

    وحاف الشناج على وجنتي

    The dryness of emaciation strips my cheek bare,

    And wrinkling has ravaged my cheek.

  22. وقوسني الهم حتى انطويت

    فصرتُ كأني أبو جدتي

    And worry bent me like a bow till I doubled over,

    So I became as though I were my grandmother's father.

  23. وكان المزينُ فيما مضى

    تكسرُ أمشاطه طرتي

    And the barber, in days gone by,

    Would have his combs broken by my forelock.

  24. وكنت برأسٍ كلون الغداف

    فقد صرت أصلع من فيشتي

    And my head once had the color of a raven;

    Now I am balder than the head of my cock.

  25. ويا رب بيضاء رود الشبا

    ب كانت تحن إلى وصلتي

    And oh, how many a fair-skinned woman, tender in youth,

    Used to yearn for union with me.

  26. فصارت تصد إذا أبصرت

    مشيبي وتغضب من صلعتي

    Now she turns away when she sees

    My gray hair, and grows angry at my baldness.

  27. على أنني قلت يوماً لها

    وقد أمضت العزم في هجرتي

    Although I said to her one day,

    When she had firmly resolved to abandon me:

  28. دعي عنك ما فوقه عمتي

    فإن جمالي ورا تكتي

    Never mind what lies beneath my turban;

    For my beauty lies behind my trouser drawstring.

  29. هنالك أيرٌ يسرُّ العيون

    طويلٌ عريضٌ على دقتي

    There is a cock there that delights the eyes,

    Long and broad, despite my thinness.

  30. سوى أنّ قلبي قد ضرفت

    ه في شغله بالأسى عطلتي

    Except that my heart has been worn down

    By my idleness, keeping it occupied with grief.

  31. وكانت بتكريت لي غلةٌ

    فغلت بأجمعها غلتي

    And I had a yield in Tikrit,

    But my entire yield was embezzled.

  32. أغاروا على سمسمي غارةً

    تعدت فأنضت إلى حنطتي

    They raided my sesame in an onslaught

    That spread farther and depleted even my wheat.

  33. فلا أزال في نقمةٍ كل من

    أزال بحيلته نعمتي

    So I remain in wrath against everyone who

    Stripped away my good fortune through his scheming.