ونبئتُ ذاك الوجهَ غَيّرَهُ البِلى

على قُرْبِ عَهْدٍ بالطّلاقة والبِشْرِ

I told that face which time had changed,

Though recently it was radiant and bright,

بكيتُ عليه بالدُّموعِ ولو أبَتْ

بكيتُ عليه بالتجلُّدِ والصبر

"I wept for you with tears though it refused,

I wept for you with patience and composure.

فليتهم واروا ذكاء مكانه

ولو عرفت في أوجه الأنجم الزهر

If only they buried your wit in its place,

Even if I recognized the flowers among the stars.

وليتهمُ وارَوْهُ بين جَوَانحي

على فَيْضِ دَمْعي واحْتدامِ لظى صدري

If only they buried you in my embrace

With the outpouring of my tears and the raging fire in my chest.

أمُخْبِرَتي كيفَ استقرّتْ بكِ النّوَى

على أنّ عندي ما يزيدُ على الخبر

My confidant, how did sorrow settle in you

When I have more than just news?

وما فعلتْ تلك المحاسنُ في الشّرى

فقد ساءَ ظنّي بينَ أدري ولا أدري

What did those beauties do in buying,

My doubts about you sway between knowing and not knowing.

يهوِّنُ وَجْدِي أن وَجْهَكِ زَهْرةٌ

وأن ثَرَاها من دموعي على ذِكْرِ

It consoles my pain that your face is a flower,

And that its thorns are from my tears in remembering.

وَيَحْزُنني أني شُغِلْتُ ولم أكنْ

أسائلُ عمّا يفعلُ الدمعُ بالزّهر

It saddens me that I was busy and did not

Ask what tears do to a flower.

دَعينيْ أعلّللْ فيكِ نفسيَ بالمنى

فقد خفتُ ألا نلتقي آخرَ الدهر

Let me console myself in you with wishes

For I fear we may not meet again till the end of time.

وإن تسْتَطيبي فابْدَئيني بزورةٍ

فإنك أولى بالزيارةِ والبر

If you allow, then initiate a visit,

For you are more deserving of visits and righteousness.

مُنىً أتمناها ولا يدَ لي بها

سوى خطراتٍ لا تريش ولا تبري

I wish for wishes that are not in my hands,

Except for delusions that neither feather nor fly.

وأحلامُ مذعورِ الكرى كلما اجْتلى

سُروراً رآهُ وهو في صورةِ الذُّعْر

And the dreams of the stricken, whenever

He saw happiness, it was in the form of fright.

أآمِنَ أن أجزعْ عليك فإنني

رُزِئتُكَ أحْلى مِنْ شبابي ومن وفْري

Trust that I will lament you, for I

Have scorned you, sweeter than my youth or abundance.

أآمِنَ لا والله ما زلتُ موقناً

ببينك لو أني أخذتُ له حِذْري

Trust no, by God, I remain certain

Of your separation, even if I was cautious.

خُذِي حدِّثيني هل أطقتِ على النّوى

أُحَدِّثْكِ أني قد ضَعُفْتُ عن الصبر

Take me, talk to me, have you endured the separation?

Let me tell you I have weakened beyond patience.

مغالطةً لولا الأسى ما حملتُها

على مركبٍ مما وصفت به وعر

A deception, if not for the sorrow I would not have carried,

On a ship I described as rough.

ونيتهم قد أجْمعُوا عنكِ سَلْوةً

لعشرينَ مَرّتْ من فراقك أو عشر

While they have unanimously shunned you,

Twenty times or more since we parted.

وأذهلهمْ حبُّ التُراثِ فكفكفوا

به زفرةً تعتادُ أو عَبْرةً تجري

And the love of inheritance has distracted them,

Silencing a sigh or shedding a tear.

ولم يبقَ إلا ذكرةٌ ربما امترتْ

بقية دمعِ الشوقِ في أكؤوس الخَتْر

Nothing remains except a memory, which may have passed

As remnants of tearful longing in the wine cups.

وأمّا أنا فالتَعْتُ واللهِ لوعةً

هي الخمرُ لو سامحتِ في لَذَةِ السكر

As for me, by God, I have found a torment,

Which is wine, if you would forgive the pleasure of intoxication.

أهزُّ لها عطفيّ منْ غيرِ نشوةٍ

على ما بجسمي من كلال ومن فَتْر

I shake my eyelash without delight,

At the fatigue and languor in my body.

وأودِعُها عينيّ لا لِصَبَابةٍ

ولكن لِتَمْرِي دَمْعَ عيني كما تمري

And I deposit it in my eye, not for youthfulness,

But for my tear to flow as it flows.

فلا تبعدي إن الصبابة خطه

لشخصك في قلبي وإن كان في القلب

So do not distance yourself, for the line of your likeness

Is etched in my heart, even if it is in the heart.

ولا تَبْعَدي إني عليكِ لواجدٌ

ولكنْ على قدرِ الهَوَى لا على قدري

And do not distance yourself, for I miss you

But to the extent of passion, not to my limit.

ذكرتُكِ ذكرَ المرءِ حاجةَ نفسهِ

وقد قيل إن الميتَ مُنْقَطِعُ الذكر

I remembered you like one remembering his soul's need,

And it is said the dead are devoid of remembrance.

ووالله ما وَفّيْتُ رُزْءَكِ حَقّهُ

ولكنه شيء أقمتُ به عذري

By God, I have not fulfilled your worthiness,

But it is something by which I defended myself.

أصيخي إلى الدّاعي فليس بنازحٍ

وما بكِ عنه من وقارٍ ولا وَقْرِ

Scream to the caller, for he will not leave,

And you have nothing of dignity or composure with him.

ولا تبعثي طيفَ الخيالِ فإنه

سميرُ همومٍ لا يُضيفُ ولا يَقْري

And do not send the phantom of imagination, for it

Is the gossip of worries that neither hosts nor settles.

متى يَسْرِ نحوي يلقَ دوني كتائباً

من السُّهْدِ آلتْ لا تسيرُ ولا تَسْري

When will it march towards me, finding legions

Of easy talk that neither walks nor strides?

وعهدي به إنْ لم تُحِلْهُ يدُ البِلى

جديراً بأن يَشْكو الوَنَى وهي في الخِدْرِ

And my covenant with it, if the hands of time do not dissolve it,

Is worthy of complaining of estrangement while it is sheathed.

إذا أجْرَسَ الحليُ استُطيرَ وقلّما

مشى فيه إلا ريث يختال للزهر

When the ornate walk with pride, the meek are timid,

And rarely walk in it except calmly showing off.

فإن يأبَ إلا برّه فابعثي به

على رقْبَةٍ مما هناك وفي سشتْر

If it insists on its righteousness, then send it

On a neck of what is beyond and in the veil.

وكان الأسى نذراً عليكِ نَذَرْتُهُ

ولكن أراد الشوقُ أكبرَ مِنْ نذري

Sorrow was a vow I made to you, but

Desire wanted greater than my vow.

ومن لي بعينٍ تحملُ الدمعَ كلّهُ

فأبكيكِ وحدي لا اقَرُّ ولا أدري

Who can I find with an eye that carries all the tears

So I can cry for you alone, neither resting nor knowing?

ولي مقلةٌ أفضتْ بها لحظاتها

إلى عَبَرَاتٍ جَمّةٍ وكرىً نَزْر

And I have an eyelid that has spilled its moments

Into copious flowing tears and scarce sorrow.

وكان حراماً أن تجودَ بدمعةٍ

وقد تركتْها الحادثاتُ بلا شَفر

And it would be forbidden for it to be generous with a teardrop

When events have left it without a blade.

ولكنْ حداها الحُزْنُ فاستوسقتْ به

وأكبرُ ما يُعِطي البخيلُ على قسر

But grief drove it, so it sought drink through it,

The most a miser gives under compulsion.

فإنْ أنا لم استسقها لك نجدتي

فلا عرك الورَّاد من سَبَل القطر

If I have not begged it for you, you would have found me

Without shame, like the one who prevents the rain from falling.

أنمضِي الليالي لا أراكِ وربّما

عَدَتْنِي العَوَادي عنْ طِلابِكِ في الحَشْر

The nights pass and I do not see you, and maybe

The returning ones have distracted me from seeking you at the resurrection.

في عَزْمَةٌ لو خِفْتُها لَسَبَقْتُها

إليكِ ولو بين السماكينِ والنسر

With determination, if I feared it, I would have preceded it

To you, even between the predators and eagles.

ألا ليتَ شِعْري هل سمعتِ تأوهي

فقد رعْتُ لو أسْمعتُ قاسيةَ الصخر

Oh, I wish I knew! Did you hear my groan?

For I have shouted, if only I heard the hardness of stone.

وهل لعبتْ تلك المعاطفُ بالنُّهى

كسالفِ عهدي في مجاسِدِها الحمرِ

And did those robes play with prohibition

Like the old ones in their beds of red?

ونبئتُ ذاك الجيدَ أصبحَ عاطلاً

خذي أدمعي إن كنتِ غضبي على الدر

And I told that braid, it has become idle,

Take my tears if you were angry at the pearls.

خُذي فانظميها فهيَ كالدرِّ إنني

أرى علتي أوْرى بها وهي كالجمر

Take them and string them as they are like pearls,

For I see my ailment more deserving of them as they are like embers.

خذي اللؤلؤَ الرطب الذي لَهِجوا به

مَحارَتُهُ عيني ولُجّتُه صَدْري

Take the moist pearls they babbled about,

My eyes' oysters pained by them and my chest embedded by them.

لعلكِ يَوْماً أن تَرَيْهِ فتذكري

وسائلَ لم تَعْلَقْ بلومٍ ولا عُذْر

Maybe one day you will see them and remember

The causes that were not blamed or excused.

خُذِي فانظميه أو كليني لِنَظْمِهِ

حليّاً على تلكَ الترائبِ والنحر

Take them and string them for me or teach me to string them

As jewelry on that chest and neck.

ولا تخبري حُوْرَ الجنانِ فربما

غَصَبْنَكِهِ بين الخديعةِ والمكر

And do not tell the houris of Heaven, for they may

Take them from you through deceit and scheme.

أيا قُرّةَ العينِ اعتباراً وَحَسْرَةً

أَجِدَّكِ قد أصبحتِ قاصمةَ الظهر

Oh comfort of the eye, I have found you to be

Back-breaking out of my spite.

برغميَ خُلّي بين جِسْمِكِ والثَّرى

وإن كنتُ لا أخْشى الترابَ على التبر

Against my will, distance between your body and the ground

Even if I do not fear dirt on the coffin.

هنيئاً لقبرٍ ضمّ جسمَكَ إنه

مَقَرُّ الحيا أو هالةُ القمر البدر

Congratulations to a grave that contained your body,

For it is the home of the living or the moon's halo.

وإنك فيه كلما عَبَثَ البلى

بأرجائهِ كالغُصْن في الورق النضر

For in it, whenever time disrupts

Its corners, you are like a branch in tender foliage.

إذا جئتِ عدناً فاطلبينا فقلَّما

تقدمتنِي إلا مشيتُ على الأثر

If you come to Eden, then look for me, for rarely

Have you preceded me except I walked in your footsteps.

ولا تَعْذُليني إن أَقمتُ فربَّما

تأخَّر بي سعيي وأَثْقَلني وِزْري

And do not blame me if my endeavor is delayed

And my burden made me late and heavy.