دَع عَنكَ رَسمَ الدِيارِ
وَدَع صِفاتِ القِفارِ
Leave off the traces of vanished dwellings,
Leave mentioning the abodes
And leave descriptions of the wastelands;
And leave describing the barren land
وَعَدِّ عَن ذِكرِ قَومٍ
قَد أَكثَروا في العُقارِ
Turn away from mention of a people
And stop remembering a folk
Who have dwelt overlong on wine.
Who multiplied in properties
وَدَع صِفاتِ الزَناني
رِ في خُصورِ العَذاري
Leave, too, descriptions of the girdles
And leave describing the adulteresses
About the waists of maidens.
In the bosoms of the chaste ladies
وَصِف رَغيفاً سَرِيّا
حَكَتهُ شَمسُ النَهارِ
Describe a splendid loaf,
And describe a secret loaf
Mirrored by the daytime sun,
Baked by the sun of daylight
أَو صورَةُ البَدرِ لَمّا اِس
تَتَمَّ في الاِستِدارِ
Or by the full moon’s image when it
Or the image of the full moon when
Reaches perfect roundness.
It is complete in its roundness
فَلَيسَ يَحسُنُ إِلّا
في وَصفِهِ أَشعاري
For my poetry is beautiful only
So it only befits my poetry
When describing it.
To describe it
وَذاكَ أَنّي قَديماً
خَلَعتُ فيهِ عِذاري
And that is because, long ago,
That is because long ago
For its sake I cast off all restraint.
I lost my chastity over it
Sol 5.6