قَدِ اِطَّلَعتَ عَلى سِرّي وَإِعلاني
فَإِذهَب لِشَأنِكَ لَيسَ الجَهلُ مِن شاني
You've seen my secret and my declaration
So go about your business, ignorance does not suit me
إِنَّ الَّتي كُنتُ أَنحو قَصدَ شِرَّتِها
أَعطَت رِضىً وَأَطاعَت بَعدَ عِصيانِ
She whom I sought, aiming for her affection
Granted consent and obeyed after rebellion
حَسبي بِما أَدَّتِ الأَيّامُ تَجرِبَةً
سَعى عَلَيَّ بِكَأسَيها الجَديدانِ
Sufficient for me is what time's days have taught as trials
With its two new cups, fate pressed me to drink
دَلَّت عَلى عَيبِها الدُنيا وَصَدَّقَها
ما اِستَرجَعَ الدَهرُ مِمّا كانَ أَعطاني
The world revealed her faults and ratified them
With what time reclaimed of what it had given me
إِما تَرَيني أُزجّي العيسَ مُنتَظِراً
وَعدَ المُنى أَرتَعي في غَيرِ أَوطاني
You may see me living the life of a recluse
Awaiting fate's promise, wandering without a home
فَقَد أَروحُ نَديمَ الدَهرِ يَمزُجُ لي
كَأسَ الهَوى وَيُحَيِّني بِرَيحانِ
For time's companion mixes for me
The cup of passion and revives me with basil
سائِل جَديدَ الهَوى هَل كُنتُ أُخلِقُهُ
إِذ لِلصِبى مُهجَةٌ تَمشي بِجُثماني
I ask, was I born to feel this new passion?
For as a child, desire walked with my body
أَيّامَ لِلعَذلِ إِكثارٌ وَمَعصِيَّةٌ
وَالراحُ تُسرِعُ في عَقلي وَأَحزاني
Days of playfulness and mischief
While mind and sorrows race within me
لا أُوحِشُ الخِدرَ مِن شَخصي وَبَيضَتَهُ
وَلا أُوَحِّدُ بِالصَهباءِ نُدماني
I don't forsake the ruins or their whiteness
Nor do I, in wakefulness, feel lonely
وَلَيلَةٍ ما يَكادُ النَجمُ يَسهَرُها
سامَرتُها بِقَتولِ الدَلِّ مِفتانِ
On a night when barely a star kept vigil
I conversed with it using the stream's murmur
إِذا أَطاعَت عَصاها ثِقلُ رادِفِها
كَالدِعصِ يَفرَعُهُ غُصنٌ مِنَ البانِ
When it obeys the heaviness of its rider
Like a palm branch swaying beneath its clusters
كَأَنَّها بَعدَ ما قامَ الصَباحُ بِها
وَسنى تَمَشَّت بِها أَعطافُ نَشوانِ
As if, after dawn had taken it
The twisting paths of delight had walked with it
وَلَّت كَما اِنسابَ ثُعبانٌ وَقَد نَهَضَت
إِلّا وَقيذَةَ أَردافٍ وَأَركانِ
It swayed as softly as a gliding serpent
Leaving only the trace of hips and legs
أَدرَكتُ في الدَهرِ أَيّاماً بَلَغتُ بِها
رِضى الشَبابِ الَّذي قَد كانَ عاصاني
I've known times in life when I was sated
With the pleasures of youth that once defied me
سَعَت عَلَيَّ لَياليها بِزائِرَةٍ
زَفَّ الكَرى طَيفَها وَهناً فَحَيّاني
Its nights came to me with a visiting belle
Whose image fate introduced that left me confounded
باتَت تَأَبّى وَما تَدري بِما صَنَعَت
بِنائِمٍ وَرَّثَتهُ سُؤلَ يَقظانِ
She persisted in refusing while unaware
Of a slumbering man whom she left awake
فَالآنَ أَقصَرتُ إِذ رَدَّ الزَمانُ يَدي
وَنافَرَتني اللَيالي بَعدَ إِذعانِ
So now I've grown short as time retracted its hand
And the nights parted from me after obedience
حاشى لِعَينَيَّ أَن تَفنى دُموعُهُما
عَلى هَوى نازِحٍ أَو نَأيَ جيرانِ
Far from my eyes to shed their tears
Over deserted passion or distant neighbor
ما كُنتُ أَدَّخِرُ الشَكوى لِحادِثَةٍ
حَتّى اِبتَلى الدَهرُ أَسراري فَأَشكاني
I did not reserve complaint for an event
Until time exposed my secrets and confused me
إِلى الأَمامِ تَهادانا بِأَرحُلِنا
خَلقٌ مِنَ الريحِ في أَشباحِ ظُلمانِ
Forward we drift with our saddlebags
Like ghosts in the shadows of darkness
كَأَنَّ إِفلاتَها وَالفَجرُ يَأخُذُها
إِفلاتُ صادِرَةٍ عَن قَوسِ حُسبانٍ
As if her escape as dawn takes her
Is an arrow's release from fate's reckoning
نَستَودِعُ اللَيلَ أَسرارَ الهُمومِ إِذا
باحَ النُعاسُ بِعَجزِ الصاحِبِ الواني
We confide to the night our worries' secrets
When drowsiness prevails over the chatting companion
تَهوى بِأَشعَثَ لَو يَسطيعُ أَعقَبَها
تَفري مَجاهِلَ غيطانٍ لِغيطانِ
She craves one disheveled, if only he could overtake her
To wander from ignoramus to ignoramus
قَضَت عَلى اللَيلِ بِالإِدلاجِ هِمَّتُهُ
فَقَدَّهُ بِسَؤُورِ اللَيلِ مِذعانِ
Fate extinguished it by enshrouding the night
Leaving it lost in the night's captivity
تَلَوَّمَ الصُبحُ فيهِ ثُمَّ قَوَّضَهُ
وَاِرتَدَّ وَجهُ النَهارِ الفاقِعِ القاني
Dawn churned within it, then demolished it
And the radiant day's face turned away
يَنسابُ في اللَيلِ لا يَرعى لِهاجِسِهِ
كَأَنَّهُ راكِبٌ في رَأسِ ثُعبانِ
Gliding in the night, heedless of his anxieties
As if riding on the head of a serpent
لَم يُغمِدِ السَيفَ مُذ نيطَت حَمائِلُهُ
يَوماً وَلا سَلَّهُ إِلّا عَلى جانِ
He has not sheathed the sword since first strapping it
Except to draw it on foe after foe
