نَظرَ الغَرامُ إلَيهِ مِن نَظَراتِه

فلمَن يلومُ وداؤهُ من ذاتِهِ

Love looked at him with its glances,

So who can blame his innate passion?

ولَقد غَدا يلتذُّ أيامَ الهَوى

جَهلاً بأنَّ المَوتَ مِن لذَّاتِهِ

Indeed he began to enjoy the days of love,

Ignorant that death comes from its pleasures.

لَم يَدرِ ما لاقَى فلو وَصَفوا له

ماذا يُلاقي ماتَ عِند صِفاتِهِ

He did not know what he would encounter, though if they had described to him

What he would meet when his virtues passed away.

إن عَبَّرَت أجفانُه عن سرِّهِ

فَعَنا بها ما انهَلَّ من عَبَراتِهِ

If his eyelids expressed his secret,

We would be spared what poured from his tears.

عُدم الصَّديقُ وهَل صَدِيق عندكَم

لفتىً يكونُ الدَّهرُ بَعضَ عداتِهِ

The lack of a friend - and is there a friend among you

For a youth whose days make up some of his enemies?

وسَطا الزَّمانُ علَيه لا جَهلاً بهِ

لكن سَطا إذ خافَ من سَطَواتِهِ

And time is too harsh on him - not out of ignorance of him,

But it was harsh fearing his assaults.

للدَّهرِ آفاتٌ تَردُّ صُرُوفَهُ

وَبقاؤهُ في الدَّهرِ من آفاتِهِ

Time has calamities that reverse its courses,

And its permanence in time comes from its calamities.