أعيذك أن تمنى بتبريح لوعة

وأن تعرف الوسواس كيف يكون

I pray you be spared the torment of burning grief,

and never learn what obsession is like.

ويحزنني أن تسند القلب راحةٌ

كأنك بالقلب الشجي ضنين

And it saddens me that a palm should support your heart,

as though you jealously guarded your sorrowing heart.

ويؤلمني أن تقطع الليل ساهراً

تسهدك الأشجان وهي جنون

And it pains me that you spend the night awake;

your sorrows keep you sleepless, and they are madness.

إذا هزك الشوق اضطربت ولم تفه

ونهنهت قرب الدمع وهو خؤون

When longing shakes you, you tremble and do not speak,

and hold back the approaching tears, though they are treacherous.

وليلٍ سهراناه سميرين تشتكي

هواك وأصغى والحديث شجون

And on a night we spent awake as companions, you lamented

your love, while I listened; talk has many branches.

تمر بنا الساعات تعدو كما عدا

على الصخر سيلٌ ما حواه وجين

The hours pass us, racing as did

a torrent over the rocks, contained by no stony bank.

فيا لك من ليلٍ قصيرٍ وليته

تطاول لو أن الزمان يعين

Oh, what a brief night! If only it

had lengthened, if time would lend its aid.

ويالتني الشاكي وليتك سامعي

ولكن همي في الفؤاد دفين

If only I were the one lamenting, and you my listener!

But my sorrow lies buried in the heart.

أذعت لنا سرّاً شقينا بمثله

زماناً وفي غصن الشبيبة لين

You revealed to us a secret whose like made us suffer

for a time, while youth's branch was still supple.

فيا ليتني لما ذوى الغود وانحنى

برئت ولكن الشقاء فنون

Oh, if only, when the [stem?] withered and bent,

I had recovered—but misery has many forms.

إذا شئت رؤيت السامع بالذي

لقيت ولكن الفؤاد ضمين

If I wished, I could tell the listener of what

I suffered—but the heart is bound by a pledge.

وكنت وقد بتنا سميرين في الدجى

أرقهما لكن أخاف أبين

And when we spent the darkness as two night companions, I was

the more tender-hearted, but I fear to speak plainly.

ولو شئت أطربت الصحاب عيشيةً

ولكن قلبي يا سمير طعين

And if I wished, I could delight the company one evening,

but my heart, O night companion, is pierced.

ومن لي بأن تشتاق ما أنا كاتم

ولكن سري في الضلوع حصين

And who can grant me that you yearn for what I hide?

Yet my secret is well guarded within my ribs.

وما كل أيام الشباب حميدة

ولا كل أجرح إن نأت يهون

Not every day of youth is praiseworthy,

nor does every wound become bearable when distant.

إذا تحدى للشوق وما لما مضى

فؤادي استهلت بالدموع شؤون

When it rises in defiance for longing and [unclear] for what has passed—

my heart—the tear ducts stream with tears.

أساكت هذا الباس والقول حاضر

ولي فن غليلي زفرة وأنين

Am I to be silent about this distress, when words are ready,

and my art of burning anguish is a sigh and a groan?

أنام على سرى ووجدي ساهر

فما لشجوني الثائرات سكون

I sleep upon my secret, while my passion stays awake,

for my raging sorrows know no rest.

كلانا إذاً يا خل ضامن لوعة

وكل على سر الفؤاد أمين

Both of us, then, dear friend, are keepers of burning grief,

and each is faithful to the heart's secret.

كلانا محب ليس يدري حبيبه

هواه وكلٌّ يا سمير غبين

Both of us are lovers whose beloved does not know

his love, and each, O night companion, is cheated.

كلانا له داء يداويه بالمنى

وهل تنفع الأمال وهي ظنون

Each of us has an illness he treats with wishes;

and do hopes help, when they are mere conjectures?

كلانا احتسى كأس الغرام بكرهه

وكل عراه من هواه جنون

Both of us drank the cup of passion against our will,

and each was seized by madness born of his love.

ولكنني شر الرفيقين قسمةٌ

وأشقاهما لولا تقول يمين

But I have the worse lot of the two companions,

and am the more wretched, were it not for an oath's false claim.

شبابك ريان وروضك ضاحك

وأنت بتحقيق الرجاء قمين

Your youth is lush, and your garden smiles,

and you are likely to see your hope fulfilled.

ولكنني ما ذا أرجي ولم يدع

لي الدهر إلا مهجة ستحين

But what can I hope for, when nothing is left

to me by time but a heart whose end will come?

ثقلت بأعباء الهموم وهضنني

مسالك عيش كلهن حزون

I am weighed down with burdens of care, and worn down by

the paths of life, all of them rugged.

وما نظمي الأشعار إلا علالة

لو انه سلوا بالقريض يكون

My composing poems is only a passing solace,

if consolation through verse is possible at all.

وماهي إلّا برهة ثم يثني

يكر مضيضٌ في الحشا وحنين

It is only a moment; then, turning back,

anguish in the breast and longing charge again.

فصبراً طويلاً إنما هي رقدةٌ

وتذهلني عما لقيت منون

So bear it long and patiently: it is only a sleep,

and death will make me forget what I have endured.

وصبراً جميلاً يا سمير ففي غد

تسليك عن سحر الجفون جفون

And bear it nobly, O night companion, for tomorrow

eyelids will make you forget the enchantment of eyelids.

تهيم بهذي ثم تسلو بغيرها

ويصبيك من بعد الجبين جبين

You are lost in love with this one, then find solace in another,

and after one brow, another brow captivates you.

فوطن على السلوان نفسك إنني

خبير بأدواء القلوب طبين

So accustom your soul to forgetting, for I am

an expert in the ailments of hearts, keenly discerning.

ستعلم أن العيش حلم وأننا

نيام ولو مد الرقاد سنون

You will learn that life is a dream, and that we

are asleep, even if years prolong the slumber,

وأنا كأهل الكهف نصون وما نعى

قتيلاً ولو أن الرقاد قرون

and that, like the People of the Cave, we guard [wording unclear], and none has mourned

one slain, even if the slumber lasts centuries.

كأن لم يمر السعد والنحس بالفتى

ولا كر بيضٌ في الزمان وجون

As though good fortune and bad had never passed the young man,

nor white days and dark ones recurred through time.

ويركد صرف الدهر حتى كأنما

له أجلٌ تعدو عليه منون

And time's changing fortunes lie still, until it seems

it has an appointed end, with death rushing upon it.