نَظَرت إِلَيها نَظرَة وَهيَ عاتِق

نَظَرت إِلَيها نَظرَة وَهيَ عاتِق

عَلى حينِ ان شِبت وَبان نُهودِها

عَلى حينِ ان شِبت وَبان نُهودِها

I looked at her while she was a young maiden,

I looked at her once when she turned away

when I had grown gray and her breasts had become prominent.

Though time had passed, her beauty was still arrayed

نَظَرت إِلَيها نَظرَة ما يَسُرُّني

نَظَرت إِلَيها نَظرَة ما يَسُرُّني

بِها حمر انعام البِلادِ وَسودها

بِها حمر انعام البِلادِ وَسودها

I cast at her a glance I would not exchange

I looked at her again, it did not please me

for the land’s red livestock and its black ones.

To see her, the belle of the land, in such disarray

من الخفراتِ البيضِ ودّ جَليسِها

من الخفراتِ البيضِ ودّ جَليسِها

إِذا ما اِنقَضَت أحدوثَة لَو تعيدها

إِذا ما اِنقَضَت أحدوثَة لَو تعيدها

One of the modest, fair-skinned women—her companion would wish,

Of her fair, young companions, none were left

whenever a tale ended, that she would tell it again.

If only she could reclaim her vanished youth some day