ولَرُبَّ حانٍ قد أدَرْتُ بدَيْرِهِ

خَمْرَ الصِّبا مُزِجَتْ بِصَفْوِ خُمُورِه

In many a monastery I have lived, and there

Mingled youth’s rapture with the elders’ knowledge;

في فِتْيةٍ جَعَلُوا الزِّقاقَ تِكاءَهُمْ

مُتَصَاغِرِينَ تخشُّعاً لكَبِيرِه

On pavements where the loitering scholars throng

I bowed me humbly to some reverend sage;

يُهْدِي إِليْنا الرّاحَ كُلُّ مُعَصْفَرٍ

كالخِشْفِ خَفَّرَهُ التِماحُ خَفِيرِه

The laughing breeze of May breathed fragrance round

And fluttered lightly each wen’s whiskered lip;

وَالى علَىَّ بطَرْفِهِ وبكَفِّهِ

فأَمالَ مِن رَأسِي لِعَبِّ كَبيرِه

Then shone on me an eye with beckoning lash,

And waked my heart to childhood’s wantonness.

والقسُّ ممَّا شاءَ طُولَ مُقامنا

يدعو يُعَوِّذ حَوْلَنا بِزَبُورِه

The priest discoursed exactly as he would,

Singing his incantations o’er and o’er;

وَتَرنَّمَ النَّاقُوسُ عِنْدَ صَلاتِهِمْ

ففَتَحْتُ من عَيْني لرَجْعِ هَدِيرِه

Then rang their vesper chime upon my ear,

And called me back from rapture wandering far.

يَتَناوَلُ الظُّرَفاءُ فيه وشُرْبُهمْ

لسلافِهِ والأَكْلُ مِن خِنْزِيرِه

On such they feast within those holy walls,

Quaffing their wine and eating their ham forbidden