Sol 6.1

  1. لَجاجُكَ في الحبِّ لا يَجْمُلُ

    وأنت ابنُ "سبعينَ" لو تعقلُ

    Your persistence in love is unbecoming,

    And you are seventy—if only you would see sense!

  2. تقضّى الشبابُ، وودّعتَه

    ورُحتَ على إثْرِه تُرْقِل

    Youth has run its course, and you have bidden it farewell,

    And off you went, hastening in its wake.

  3. مضى منك فيه ربيعُ الحياة

    ومات به نصفُك الأفضلُ

    With it, life's springtime passed from you,

    And with it, the better half of you died.

  4. بكفيكَ واريتَهُ لَحْدَه

    وظلْتَ على " لَحدِهِ " تُعوِلُ

    With your two hands you laid it in its grave,

    And you kept wailing over its grave.

  5. وها أنت تستقبلُ الماضيات

    لَو أنَّ الذي فات يُستقبَلُ

    And here you are welcoming days gone by—

    If only what has passed could be welcomed back!

  6. تُعلِّل نفساً بأطيافها

    وموعظةٌ لك من علَّلوا

    You soothe your soul with their phantoms,

    And those who sought such solace are a lesson for you.

  7. كأعمى أضلّ سواءَ السبيل

    وحيداً، وقد فاته المنزِلُ

    Like a blind man who has lost the straight path,

    Alone, having missed his destination.

  8. تُدير بعينيكَ حيث الشبابُ

    يُعِلُّ به الواردَ المنهلُ

    You turn your eyes to where youth is,

    Where the watering place gives its visitor a second draught,

  9. وحيثُ يَهُبُّ نسيمُ الحياة

    يثير به المَفْصِلَ المَفْصِلُ

    And where the breeze of life blows:

    One joint sets another stirring there.

  10. وإذْ كلُّ ناعمةٍ بَضَّةٍ

    بِأنعمَ تُردَف أو تُحْمَلُ

    And while every soft, tender-fleshed woman

    Is seated behind, or carried by, one softer still;

  11. وإذ أنت لا منهمُ في السلاح

    ولا أنت منجردٌ أعزلُ

    And while you are not one of them in arms,

    Nor are you stripped bare and unarmed.