Sol 6.1

  1. وغازل فوديَّ المشيب مسلِّما

    فودعت غزلان النقا وتغزلي

    And gray hair wooed my two temple-locks with a greeting,

    So I bade farewell to the gazelles of the dune and to my flirtations.

  2. فشا ببياض كان يكتمه الصبا

    زمان التصابي بالغداف المرجل

    It spread in a whiteness that youth once concealed

    In days of youthful dalliance, with combed, raven-black locks.

  3. اذا مرَّ في رأسي تجرعه فمي

    شجاً في اللها مثل السمام المثمل

    Whenever it passes through my head, my mouth swallows it

    As a choking sorrow in the throat, like stupefying poison.

  4. لقد شبَّ في جزل القذالين شعلة

    يكاد بها المشتو ذو القر يصطلي

    Indeed, it kindled a flame in the thick wood on both sides of my nape;

    A cold-stricken man in winter could almost warm himself by it.

  5. لقد كنت كالطرف البهيم شواته

    فلاحت شياتي في اغر محجَّل

    Indeed, I was like a steed with a wholly dark head;

    Then my markings appeared, as on a white-blazed, white-socked steed.

  6. لياليَ استسبي الفتاة بلمة

    تروق لعين الناظر المتأمل

    In nights when I would captivate a maiden with locks

    That delighted the eye of the contemplative beholder.

  7. امن بعد تلوين العذارين ارتجي

    صفاء ليال رنَّقت عذب منهلي

    Can I hope, after my two cheek-locks have changed color,

    For the serenity of nights that have muddied my spring's sweet water?

  8. وتمَّت لي الستون حولاً وان اعش

    مئيناً كأني في تمائم محول

    And I have completed sixty years; even if I live

    Hundreds of years, I am as though wearing a year-old child's amulets.

  9. مضى زمن الجهل الذي قد نزعته

    برغميَ خوّاضاً به كل مجهل

    Gone is the age of folly that I have cast off,

    Against my will—I who plunged with it into every trackless wilderness.