قالَتْ أُبَيْلَى لِي وَلَمْ أُسَبَّهِ
ما السِنُّ إِلَّا غَقْلَةُ المُدَلَّهِ
She blamed me, though I did not deserve blame,
Saying: Old age is but the senility of one gone astray.
لَمَّا رَأَتْنِي خَلَقَ المُمَوَّهِ
بَرَّاقَ أَصْلادِ الجَبِين الأَجْلَهِ
When she saw me, she feigned a specious excuse―
Dazzling smile and clear complexion.
بَعْدَ غُدَانِيِّ الشَباب الأَبْلَهِ
لَيْتَ المُنَى وَالدَهْرَ جَرْيُ السُمَّهِ
After the passing of passionate youth
Would that death and fate were a lethal poison!
لِلَّهِ دَرُّ الغانِياتِ المُدَّهِ
سَبَّحْنَ وَاسْتَرْجَعْنَ مِنْ تَأَلُّهِي
Praise God for the singing girls’ art,
Who revived me from my pining sickness
أَنْ كادَ أَخْلاقِي مِنَ التَنَزُّهِ
يُقْصِرْنَ عَنْ زَهْوِ الشَبابِ المُزْدَهِي
Lest my self-respect should lack the refinement
That trails the glory of exuberant youth,
بَعْدَ لَجَاجٍ لا يَكادُ يَنْتَهِي
عَنِ التَصابِي وَعَنِ التَعَتُّهِ
After stubbornness that knows no end
In backbiting and chaotic events,
بِالْحَقِّ وَالباطِلِ وَالتَمَتُّهِ
أَيَّامَ تُعْطِينِي المُنَى ما أَشْتَهِي
With truth and falsehood and bewilderment.
Days grant me what I wish for in death
غِرٌّ بِلَذَّاتِ الصِبَا تَفَكُّهِي
تَحْت دُجُنّاتِ النَعِيم الأَرْفهِ
And I take pleasure in the delights of a gone youth,
Under the shade of blissful bowers,
لَمْ يَطْو أَذْيالِي كِثارُ المُبْتَهِي
وَلا مَعَرّاتُ الخُطُوبِ الشُدَّهِ
Unruffled by the trains of ominous events,
Nor shaken by the onslaught of hardships.
فَاليَوْمَ قَدْ نَهْنَهَنِي تَنَهْنُهِي
وَأَولُ حِلْمٍ لَيْسَ بِالمُسَفَّهِ
But today my decline has caused me decline,
And the first wisdom, untainted by folly;
وَقُوَّلٌ إِلَّا دَهٍ فَلَا دَهِ
وَحَقَّةٍ لَيْسَت بِقَوْلِ التُرَّهِ
Judicious speech, not foolish talk;
And credible words, not drunkard's babble
تَنْصِبُ عَزّاءَ الحِفاظِ المُكْرَهِ
أَدْرَكْتُها قُدَّامَ كَلِّ مِدْرَهِ
Set up a memorial for the dear departed days
I had known aforetime in every halting-place
بِالدَفْعِ عَنِّي دَرْءَ كَلِّ عُنْجُهِي
مِنَ الغُواةِ وَالعُدَاةِ الشُوَّهِ
Defending me from the harm of every curmudgeon
Among aggressors and troublesome enemies
وَكَيْدِ مَطّالٍ وَخَصْمٍ مِبْدَهِ
يَنْوِي اشْتِقاقًا فِي الضَلالِ المِتْيَهِ
And the guile of a persistent foe and litigant
Who intends to lead astray into error’s labyrinth.
هَرَّجْتُ فَارْتَدَّ ارْتِداد الأَكْمَهِ
فِي غائِلاتِ الخائِبِ المُتَهْتَهِ
I stirred up a commotion and he recoiled like a serpent
In the thickets of the disappointed and distraught.
لَوْ دَقَّ وِرْدِي حَوْضَهُ لَمْ يَنْدَهِ
وَطامِحٍ مِنْ نَخْوَةِ التَأَبُّهِ
Had I tapped at his door, he would not have answered
And the ambitious dreams of the affected fool!
كَعْكَعْتُهُ بِالرَجْمِ وَالتَنَجُّهِ
أَوْ خَافَ صَقْعَ القارِعَاتِ الكُدَّهِ
I drove him off with pelting stones and cudgels
Or he feared the bolt of the stern-faced fates
وَخَبْطَ صِهْمِيمِ اليَدَيْنِ عَيْدَهِى
أَشْدَقَ يَفْتَرُّ افْتِرارَ الأَفْوَهِ
And the blows of my hands that never miss their mark.
He gaped wide, spreading slander,
مِنْ عَصِلاتِ الضَيْغَمِيِّ الأَجْبَهِ
أَنْ جاءَ دُونَ الزَجْرِ وَالمُجَهْجَهِ
From the spites of a snarling, splay-nosed lout,
Coming without rebuke or altercation
وَدُونَ نَبْحِ النابِحِ المُوَهْوَهِ
رَعّابَةٌ يُخْشى نُفُوسَ الأُنَّهِ
And without the barking of a clamorous barker,
A good-for-nothing vile to gentle souls
بِرَجْسِ بَخْبَاخِ الهَدِيرِ البَهْبَهِ
سامٍ عَلَى الزَأَّارَةِ المُكَهْكِهِ
By the stench of a bubbly-drink mixing scoundrel,
Poised to steal from the twittering wastrels,
بَعْدَ اهْتِضامِ الراغِياتِ النُكَّهِ
وَمَخْفِقٍ مِنْ لُهْلُهٍ وَلُهْلُهِ
After the weaning of the coddled weaklings,
Mumbling crazily without coherence,
وَمَهْمَهٍ أَطْرافُهُ فِي مَهْمَهِ
أَعْمَى الهُدَى بِالجاهِلِينَ العُمَّهِ
And babbling whose extremities end in babble,
Blind to guidance in the throng of the blind,
جالَتْ بِهِ مُختَلِفَات الأَوْجُهِ
إِذَا سَيَاهِيكُ الرِياحِ الوُلَّهِ
With whom the disagreeing faces concurred,
Whenever the erratic winds blow you about,
دَهْدَهْنَ جَوْلانَ الحَصَى المُدَهْدَهِ
بِجَوْزِ لا مَسْقىً وَلا مُؤَيَّهِ
Tossed by the pelting of smooth-rubbed pebbles
On a waterless, parched piece of land
جَدْبِ المُنَدَّى شَئِزِ المُعَوَّهِ
مُواجِه أَشْباهَهُ بِالأَشْبَهِ
Whose brushwood is twisted from drought.
He faces his likes with their likes,
عَلَيْهِ رَقْراقُ السَراب الأَمْرَهِ
يَسْتَنُّ مِنْ رَيْعَانهِ المُرَيَّهِ
On him the quivering of the shifting mirage,
Delighted by the meadows of his grazing land.
يَمْشِي بِهِ الأُدْمانُ كَالمُؤَمَّهِ
بِهِ تَمَطَّتْ غَوْلَ كُلِّ مِيلَهِ
Addiction walks him along like a driving-beast
By it the curves of all inclinations are ironed out.
بِنَا حَرَاجِيجُ المَهَارَى النُفَّهِ
يَجْذِبْنَهُ بِالبوْعِ وَالتأَوُّهِ
By us the cawing of the cheating peddlers
Who pull him with sale items and fraud.
كَمْ رُعْنَ لَيْلاً مِنْ صَدىً مُنَبَّهِ
عَلَى إِكَامِ النائِحاتِ النُوَّهِ
How often he bellows at night to the echo of an arousal
At the keening of the caterwauling she-mourners,
تَعْدِل أَنْضادَ القِفاف الرُدَّهِ
عَنْها وَأَثْباجُ الرِمالِ الوُرَّهِ
Rivalling the sand-dunes checkered with valleys
By it the motes of the dusty motes are confounded
قَفْقافُ أَلْحِي الراعِشاتِ القُمَّهِ
يَطْلُقْنَ قَبْلَ القَرَبِ المُقَهْقِهِ
From it the trembling of the shuddering highlights
That flee before the nearing of the horror
فِي الفَيْفِ مِنْ ذاكَ البَعِيد الأَمْقَهِ
In the gloom of that distant, godforsaken wasteland.
