وتَنَكَّرَتْ شَيْبِي فَقُلْتُ لَهَا

ليْسَ المَشيبُ بِنَاقِصٍ عُمْرِي

My hair turned grey and I said to it,

Grey hair does not diminish my lifetime.

سِيَّانِ شَيْبِي والشَّبَابُ إِذَا

مَا كُنْتُ مِنْ أَجَلِي عَلَى قَدْرِ

It is all the same, my greyness and youthfulness,

If I have not been equal to my fate.

مَا شِبْتُ مِنْ كِبَرِ ولكِنِّي امْرُؤٌ

قَارَعْتُ حَدَّ نَوَاجِذِ الدَّهْرِ

It is not from old age that I turned grey, but because

I confronted the claws and fangs of fate.