هَجَرتُ الهَوى أيما هَجْرَه

وعفت الغواني والخَمْرَهْ

I estranged love however much estrangement,

And I was chaste from wine and music.

لَوَتْني عن وصلها سَكْرة

بكأس الضنا أيّما سكْرَهْ

If only drunkenness from her union left me,

However much drunkenness from a cup of sorrow.

وبنتُ المنية تنتابني

هدوّاً وتطرقني سُحْرهْ

And death's daughters began to afflict me

Gently, and they practiced their sorcery on me.

إذا وردتْ لم تَزَعْ وردَها

عن القلب حجبٌ ولا سترهْ

When she came she did not remove her roses

From my heart, neither veils nor curtains.

كأن لها ضرماً في الحشى

وفي كل عضو لها جَمْرهْ

It was as if she had embers in my breast

And for each limb of mine she had a live coal.

إذا لم تَرُحُ أصلا في العشى

فأقصى مواعدها بكرهْ

If she does not rest in the evening at all

Then her furthest appointment is tomorrow morning.

لها قدرة في جسوم الأنام

حباها بها اللّه ذو القدرهْ

She has power over people's bodies,

God has endowed her with power.

فقد سلبت أعظمي نَحْضَهَا

ولم تَترِكْ من دمي قطرهْ

She has stolen my greatest weakness

And left no drop of my blood.

تَعَلَّلْت باسم سواها لها

كأنْ ليس لي باسمها خبرهْ

I pretended with the name of another but her -

As if I had no knowledge of her name.

فطوراً القّبها سخنة

وَطَوراً ألقّبها فترهْ

So at times I call her hotly passionate

And at times I call her cold and indifferent.

وقد أعقبْت خُلقي حدّةً

وأورثني إلفها ضجرهْ

And my manners have led to harshness after her

And her familiarity has bequeathed me disgruntlement.

فللعبد إن غاظني لطمة

وللحُسرَ إن ساءني زَجْرهْ

The servant, if he is rude to me, has a slap

And sadness, if it wearies me, has a rebuke.

أسَائلُ أهلي عن سحنتي

وأمنهم نظرةً نظرهْ

I ask my family about my leanness

And I get from them a glance, just a glance.

فأجزع إن قيل لي حمرة

وأشفق إن قيل لي صفرهْ

So I panic if I am told 'redness'

And I fear if I am told 'yellowness'.

وصرتُ إذا جُعْتُ يوماً ظللت

كأن على كبدي شفره

And if I am hungry for a day, I become

As if there were a blade upon my liver.

ويربو الطحال إذا ما شَبعت

فتعلو الترائب والصدرهْ

And my spleen swells when I fill up,

So the bowels and chest are raised up.

فأمسي كأني من معدتي

لبست الثياب على زُكرَهْ

And so I become as if my clothes

Were upon my shoulders from my stomach.

إذا ما رأيت امرأً مطْلَقا

له الأكل تخنقني العَبرهْ

When I see a divorced man

Who can eat freely, tears choke me.

وقالوا شفاؤك في حْمَيةٍ

تعود عليك بها النضرهْ

And they said my cure was in a diet

That would return my blossoming to me.

كأني في منزلي مخْصِبا

ببلقعة جدبة قفرهْ

It was as if in my house I was made fertile

With an infertile, barren tract of land.