أَلا دَعاني اليَومَ داعي النُهى

وَقَوَّمَت قِدحِيَ أَيدي الخُطوب

Behold, the summoner to abstinence calls me today,

And the cups of affliction have corrected my inclination,

وَكُنتُ خَفّاقَ جَناحِ الصِبا

جَرّارَ أَذيالُِ التَصابي سَحوب

I was once the flutterer of youth's wing,

Dragging the train of clouds, a drawer of rain.

فَرُبَّ لَيلٍ أَقمَرٍ بِتُّهُ

مُهتَزَّ أَعطافِ الأَماني طَروب

Many a flowered night whose moon was enthroned on high

Shaking the leaves of the boughs in joyous ecstasy,

هَصَرتُ فيهِ مِن غُضونِ الصِبا

وَبِتُّ أَجني مِن ثِمارِ الذُنوب

Have I passed in the garden of youth culling clusters of grapes

And pressing the yield of the vine of transgression.

سَيّانِ سَيّانِ صَباحُ المُنى

إِذا اِنطَوى عَنكَ وَلَيلُ الكُروب

But gone, gone is morn of delight,

When the night with its garment of suffering comes rol