أثار الدمع مرفضّ الجمان

تذكر عهد دار الترجمان

Tears aroused by memories of the house of translation,

The scattered pearls of tears were stirred,

Of times past when life was joyful and hopeful.

By the memory of our time at Dar al-Tarjuman,

تعاوَرَها الحيا وأتى عليها

من الأعوام منتصف الثماني

Now half of eighty years have elapsed,

Rain showers took turns sweeping over it, and there passed

And truth compels these tears in vain.

Upon its ruins, half of eight full years.

مغان حق فيا الدمع لا قى

مغاني الشعب طيبا في المغاني

The melodies of the nation were sweet in songs,

Dwellings so true—may the weeping clouds never fail

Songs in which boys not numbers were found.

To bless the valley's abodes with fragrance among all lands.

مغان بان فيها الصبي لا في

مغاني الرقمتين ولا أبان

So the gazelles shunned it,

Dwellings where youth blossomed, and not within

And gazelles left it to beasts.

The abodes of Al-Raqmatayn nor the hills of Aban.

فاشباه الظباء ظَعَنّ عنها

وخلفن الظباء بها حوانِ

When will its vestiges return, I asked,

Those resembling gazelles have journeyed from it,

And its eyes flowing with tears?

Leaving real gazelles behind to dwell in sympathy.

متى تعد الروابي قلت هذى

سوالفها وأعينُها الرواني

Its regions will remain in pairs and solitude

When they race across the hills, I say: these are

Wandering in gardens of didymus.

Their slender necks and their captivating eyes.

تظل بقاعها مثنى فرادى

تهادى في رياض الديدمان

In it I have often sung, and spent nights

They linger in its meadows, in pairs and alone,

As if untouched by passing days.

Swaying gracefully amidst gardens of crimson bloom.

بها قد طالما غنيت وأمست

كان لم تمس بالأمس الغواني

The teens, with the blooming teen girls,

There I long prospered, yet it has come to be

Were adorned with freshness and beauty.

As if the fair maidens had never graced its yesterdays.

بنو العشرين حول بنات عشر

يحلين النضار مع الجمان

And the gossip of the critic slept,

Youths of twenty circling maidens of tender age,

As did the mischief of the boatman.

Adorning themselves with pure gold and pearls.

ونامت مقلة النمام عنهم

وعنهم حادث الملوان وان

None hunted them but Indians

While the eye of the slanderer slept blind to them,

Who courted them out of love.

And the turning of days and nights withheld its harm.

فما يصطادهم الا هنودٌ

بدا منها اشتقاق الهندواني

From its gazelles came the derivation of gazelle,

None hunts them down but the fatal glances of beauties,

And from their teeth the origin of ivory.

From whom the sharpness of the Indian blade is derived.

ومن مقلاتها قلَتُ البرايا

ومن أسنانها أصل السنان

Dainty when sitting, sitting gently,

From their eyes comes the destruction of mankind,

And elegant when rising, rising leisurely.

And from their gleaming teeth, the spearpoint takes its form.

نواعم ان جلسن جلسن هونا

ومهما قمنَ قمن على تواني

With passions like fires they were surrounded,

Delicate ones—when they sit, they rest with grace,

And with disliked things like shields they were surrounded.

And whenever they rise, they rise with languid slowness.

وبالشَهواتِ كالنّيران حُفّت

وحفّت بالمكاره كالجنان

They sipped the wine of pleasure in drafts

They are encompassed by desires like ringed fires,

And quaffed the undiluted wine of intimacy.

And guarded by hardships, as Paradise is guarded.

ورَشّفنَ الخلِيّ مدامَ لهو

وجَرَّعنَ الحميم حميم آن

You see its friendship and love in its nearness,

They made the carefree heart sip the wine of dalliance,

And the sun moves away when light approaches.

While forcing the devoted lover to swallow scalding draughts.

يريكَ دنوّها والوصل ناء

وتنأى الشمس حين الضوء دان

When it makes a promise, circumstances

She appears near to you, yet union remains distant,

Point to promises reversed in treachery.

Just as the sun is remote, though its light is close at hand.

إذا وعدت أشار الحال منها

إلى خلفِ المواعدِ بالبنان

If she makes a promise, her very demeanor signals

The breaking of that vow with the tip of a finger.