مجنكم يا شباب بعدي

فهذه شمسكم تطل

Lead on, my youthful friends, when I am gone,

For this is your sun rising now.

والعقل عند الهوى مجن

لو كان عند الشباب عقل

Reason flees when passion reigns;

Were youth wise, it would lack youth’s zest!

كم قال يا ليل ذو شجون

فهل أجاب النداء ليل

How often night with woeful heart complains:

“Does it not heed my call at all, the dawn?”

يا داخل الحب مستغلاً

دخلت ما ليس منه دخل

You entered love’s domain to gain your ends:

That domain is not meant for your ends!

لو أشيع الحب صار حوبا

أو يقطع الوصل فهو صل

Were love proclaimed, it would become a crime.

Or, if it severed ties, itself a tie.

ما أضيع العمر من معنى

حياته لوعة وشكل

No meaning can my life destroy. Its form

Is sadness and illusion all the while.

مسكين الصب لم ينله ال

هوى ولم يلو منه عذل

Wretched the youth whom love has never blessed

Nor wronged so he might vent his grief!

وتلك يا عاشقون مني

نصيحةٌ قبل أن تزلوا

That, O lovers, was my advice to you

Before you slip and take a fall.

إن لم أكن قد نفعت نفسي

فلي على العاشقين فضل

If I could not assist myself, at least

My word will benefit all lovers else.