شبابَكِ عنّي فالمشيبُ لباسي

وقد ملأتْ منه الطّوالعُ راسي

Your youth is lost to me, for gray hair is my garb,

And the firmaments have filled my head with it.

ولا تطلبي عندي الصَّبابةَ بعدها

سَفاهاً فإنّي للصَّبابةِ ناسِ

Seek not in me the folly of youth after this,

For youthful folly suits idle folk.

فَلم تُطْفَ إلّا بِالمَشيب عَرامَتي

وَلَم يُمْحَ إلّا بِالمَشيب شِماسي

My dignity was adorned only by gray hair,

And only by gray hair were my features made comely.

وَمِن غَير أَحواضِ البَطالةِ مشربي

وَفي غَيرِ أَسبابِ الغرامِ مِكاسي

My beverage is from other than vats of idleness,

And my goblet is of other than trappings of love.

وما لِيَ تَعريجٌ إلى ريمِ رملةٍ

ولا لِيَ إلمامٌ بظبْي كِناسِ

I have no yearning for the sand dunes of Rima,

Nor do I know the meadows of Kinās.

لَقَد كانَ قَلبي كالقلوب على الهَوى

فمُذْ زارَ هَذا الشّيب صُيِّرَ قاسِ

Truly my heart was like hearts enamored with passion.

But since this gray hair visited, it grew hard.

فَلا لَهْوَ مُذْ لاحَ المَشيبُ بمَفْرَقي

وصار قناعاً في العيون لراسي

So I have had no joy since gray hair appeared at my temples,

And it has become a veil over my eyes.