أَيُّ عَيشٍ أَو غِذاءٍ أَو سِنَه

لِاِبنِ إِحدى وَثَمانينَ سَنَه

What food, life, or age

For a son in his eighty-first year

قَلَّصَ الشَيبُ بِهِ ظِلَّ اِمرِئٍ

طالَما جَرَّ صِباهُ رَسَنَه

Gray hair has shrunk the shadow of a man

Whose youth long dragged its skirts

تارَةً تَسطو بِهِ سَيِّئَةٌ

تُسخِنُ العَينَ وَأُخرى حَسَنَه

At times an ugly act overtakes him

That heats the eye, at others, a good one