خليليَّ ما بالُ النجوم كأَّنما

أبى الليل أن تسري بأفقٍ كواكبهْ

My beloved, why are the stars as if

The night refused the horizons to flow with its planets?

تعاظمَ واطغوغى وألقى بعاعهُ

وأقبل كالبحر الذي أنا راكبه

It grew mighty and tyrannical and flung its blindness,

And came like the sea I was sailing.

أهابُ عواديه وآملُ خوضهُ

وكيف يخوض اليمََّ من هو هائبه

I fear its threats and hope to brave it

How can one brave the sea if he fears it?

إذا حلَّ ظهر الأرض أولاهُ أشفقت

غواربها من أن تقلَّ غواربه

When the surface of earth comes at first, its ships

Feared that their ships would decrease.

فلو أنَّهُ أمسى خضاباً لمعشرٍ

لسرَّ خضيباً أن تشيبَ ذوائبه

So if it had turned into henna for a group

It would have been happy that its tails grew white.

إذا قلتَ قد ولَّتْ وجازت صدورهُ

أطلتْ علينا كالجبال مناكبه

When you say it has passed and crossed its limits

Its ships lengthened upon us like mountains.

أضلَّ بها الأيدي اللوامسَ قصدها

من التيه حتى وَّفر الدرَّ حالبه

It misled with them the touching hands their goal

From straying until the land complained.

فلو طرَّقت أن الليالي بمثلها

لذي حسبٍ ما نظم الجزعَ ثاقبه

If the nights were like it for someone who counts

Despair would not have composed its piercing verses.

كم استأذنت عيني على فجر خدرهِ

فما رفعتْْ أسترهُ وهيادبه

How many times did my eyes ask dawn for its slumber

But it did not lift its veil or blink.

وليس بمرجو الصباح وهذه

مشارقهُ مسودةٌ ومغاربه

It is not hoped for morning, and its

Horizons are dark and its sunsets.

أرى كلَّ صبغ يصحبُ الدهرَ لونه

سينصلُ إلا جنحهُ وغيابه

I see every color that accompanies time

Will arrive except its wings and disappearance.

بغتهُ فهابت أن تلمَّ طيوفهُ

وتسري وخافت أن تدبَّ عقاربه

It took it suddenly so the ghosts dispersed

And walked away fearing their steps' count.

ولم أرَ مثلَ الليل طوداً للاجىءٍ

مهالكهُ حفتْ بهنَّ مطالبه

I have not seen a night like a sheltering mountain

Its perils embraced with its needs.