أرضى العذول ولجَّ في سخطي

صنم قلاني وهو من رهطي

I please the fickle one, who rages in his wrath against me,

An idol of mine, yet he is of my own tribe.

امعنِّفي في خطِّ عارضه

دعني ونقطة ذلك الخطِّ

Reproach me about the line of his cheek—

Leave me be!—and that line's dot.

لو أنَّ لي قلبا يطاوعني

لقطعت منه علائق الربط

If I had a heart that would obey me,

I would cut from it the ties that bind.

لكنَّ قلبي بين قرطقه

علقٌ وبين ملاعب القرط

But my heart is between a bow and an archer

who has hung it up as a target amid his playgrounds and arrows.

يا مطمعي والعيش منتهز

والشيب جرَّد صارم الوخط

O my hope! And life is fleeting,

while age has stripped the keen-edged sword.

ما كل ما يمضي بمرتجعٍ

او كل من يقضي بمشتط

Not everything that passes returns,

nor does everyone who judges recover.

فالحق صبوحي بالغبوق وصل

حمراء اسفنطٍ باسفنط

So greet the morn with darkness and night has departed—

the red ground has turned white.

ولرب اخدان تلاغطهم

ما بينهم كتلاغط البط

Though allies quarrel loudly,

like the croaking clamor of ducks.

صرعتهم الصهباء فانقلبوا

خرسا بعيد ترادد اللغط

The blond one laid them low, so they turned

voiceless when the din had passed.

من لي بعطف غزيِّل بهم

قد راح ينفض رفرف المرط

Who will lend me his cloak to wrap them in?

It flutters loosely in the April wind.

عبث الدلال مرنّح مرحٍ

متمايل كتمايل الخطي

The coquettish guide flirts and gambols,

swaying like the pliant branch.

ولربّ شائكة تشوك ولا

يقوى لها قبضي ولا بسطي

Often a thornbush scratches me whom

neither my grasp nor reach can master.

ما زلت اخرط شوكها بيدي

والشوك يدمي الكف بالخرط

Still I peel its thorns with my hand

while the thorns bloody my palm.

واما وليلة ذي الاثيل وقد

سقط العشاء بنا على السقط

On a night of prolonged drinking, when

supper had slipped through our fingers,

ويسود اصداغ معقربة

نفثت بسود اساود رقط

and the sides of a starry night

had breathed out their black squadrons,

وشميم ذاك الطيب ينفح من

جعد يلفُّ بمرسل سبط

the scent of perfume was diffused

from a curling lock and balsam comb.

جثل دحوجي مرجله

عبقٍ بنشر بشامة المشط

Had I spent my days giving you broth,

I would not have given what you give.

لو كنت اعطى الدهر فيك قلىً

يوما لما اعطيت ما تعطي