وَعَشيَةٍ كانَت قنيصةَ فَتيَةٍ

أُلفوا مِن الأَدب الصَريح شُيوخا

A youth's tunic was the dusk

Of elders made most courteous through true breeding.

فَكَأَنَّها العَنقاءُ قَد نَصَبوا لَها

مِن الإِنحِناءِ إِلى الوُقوع فُخوخا

As though for her they had erected

From bowing to falling, posts to prop her up.

شَمَلتَهُمُ آدابُهُم فَتَجاذَبوا

سرَّ السُرور محدّثاً وَمُصيخا

Their fine manners enveloped them, and they pulled

The secret of joy, conversing and whispering.

وَالوُرقُ تَقرأُ سورةَ الطَرَبِ الَّتي

يُنسيكَ مِنها ناسِخٌ مَنسوخا

And the leaves recited the surah of rapture

That makes you forget the abrogating and abrogated verses.

وَالنَهرُ قَد طمحَت بِهِ نارنجَةٌ

فَتَيمَّمَت مَن كانَ فيهِ مُنيخا

The river, an orange blossom had aspired to it

So she turned to face whoever in it was bent over.

فَتَخالُهُم خَلَلَ السَماءِ كَواكِباً

قَد قارَنَت بِسُعُودِها المَرّيخا

You would think them, amid the sky, planets

That had joined with Mars in its rising.

خَرَقَ العَوائدَ في السُرورِ نَهارُهُم

فَجَعَلتُ أَبياتي لَها تاريخا

Their day broke through customs of joy.

So I made my verses a chronicle of it.