وزائرٍ ما أجْبَنَهْ

ما زار إلّا في سِنَهْ

A visitor whom I did not welcome,

Visited only at the age of senility,

وعنّ لي في غَلَسٍ

فلا عَدِمْنا عَنَنَهْ

Became coy with me during a frosty night,

So we did not lack his coquetry,

ذو دَدَنٍ وإنّما

نعشَقُ منه دَدَنَهْ

Possessing charm, though we

Only love his charm,

يهجرني مجاوراً

يُسمِع قولي أُذُنَهْ

He shunned me while living next to me

Letting my words reach his ears,

حتّى إذا حلَّ النّوى

حدا إليَّ ظُعُنَهْ

Until when the berries ripened,

He sharpened his fangs at me,

لم يأتِ إلّا في دُجىً

وصبحُه ما أمِنَهْ

He only came at nightfall

Without feeling safe in the morning,

وزارني في وطني

مُخَلِّياً لي وَطَنَهْ

And visited me in my homeland

Abandoning his own homeland

ثمَّ أطاب وَسَنِي

لمّا أطار وَسَنَهْ

Then he left hastily

When he plucked his whiskers,

أبدَلنِي هِجرانُهُ

بزَوْرَةٍ مؤتَمَنَهْ

His estrangement compensated me

With a guarded visit,

باطلةٍ لكنَّها

منَ المسيءِ حَسَنَهْ

Futile but

Of a wrongdoer - goodly,

ما أحسنَ النصرَ على

مُقاطعٍ ما أَحسَنَهْ

How goodly is triumph over

An opponent - how goodly!

فليتَهْا زيارةٌ

تكون منه ديدنَهْ

Would that it be a visit

That becomes his habit,

ما بعث الواشي إلى

ما نحن فيه ظِنَنَهْ

The slanderer did not arouse

What we suspect of it,

ولا رمى ذو فِطَنٍ

إليه يوماً فِطَنَهْ

Nor did the prudent one

Cast at it his prudence,

فبِتُّ ليلي كلَّه

أَضَمُّ منه غُصُنَهْ

I spend my night hugging

His branch,

وألثِمُ الصُّدغَ الّذي

عَقْرَبَهُ وزَرفَنَهْ

And cleave to the cheek

Which his scorpion had stung and his viper had bit,

لولا الدّجى يشفع لِي

لَما لقيتُ مِنَنَهْ

Were it not for the darkness interceding for me

I would not have attained his benevolence,

جاد به مسترخصاً

وَما نَقدت ثمنهْ

He was generous with it, buying it cheap

And I did not pay its price,

في ساعةٍ كأنّها

لَذَاذَةً ألفُ سَنَهْ

In an hour that was as if

A thousand years in pleasures,

واصَلَ فيها سَكَنٌ

بعد فراقٍ سَكَنَهْ

Wherein he connected residence

After separation had weaned it;

ما أنصف الدّهرُ الّذي

أخافَنِي وآمَنَهْ

Time did not deal me justice,

In frightening me and securing him,

أُلْقِي إِليه رَسَنِي

ثمّ أجرُّ رَسَنَهْ

I surrender my rein to him

Then hold back his rein,

ما أغبَنَ الحبَّ لمنْ

حُمِّلَهُ ما أغبَنَهْ

How naive is love for whoever

Bears what naive him!

مُمتَحَنٌ يكره إنْ

فارق منكْم مِحَنَهْ

A tester who hates that

He separate from you his test,

وسابحٌ في دَرَنٍ

ولا يُميط دَرَنَهْ

And a swimmer in a creek

Who does not wipe his wet clothes,

ثمّ طعينٌ هَمُّهُ

تقبيلُهُ مَن طَعَنَهْ

Then a passionate one whose care

Is kissing whom he had blamed,

أوْ زمَنٌ يموت من

حيث غشومٌ أَزْمِنَهْ

Or an era which dies because of

Calamities that distressed its eras;

قلتُ له فقراً إلى

نَوالِهِ ومَسْكَنَهْ

I said to him, poor unto

His bounty and dwelling,

يا مالكاً لِي بهوىً

أسْرَرْتُهُ وأعلَنَهْ

"O owner of a love

I concealed yet declared,

ومن إذا غابن حُسْ

ناً بَدْرَ تَمٍّ غَبَنَهْ

And when an absence hides

The full moon's perfection?"

هل عودَةٌ لمثلها

فقال لِي ما أهْوَنَهْ

He said to me - how vile I found it:

"Is there any return to its like?"