كبرت وفي خمس وخمسين مكبر

وشبت فألحاظ المهَا منك نُفَّرُ

I've grown old at fifty-five, no longer desirous,

Youth has departed, the glances of girls now shun me.

إذا ما رأتك البيض صَدَّتْ وربما

غدوتَ وطَرفُ البيض نحوك أصور

When the fair ones see me, they turn aside,

Though once I arose, and their glances followed me.

وما ظلمتْك الغانياتُ بصدّها

وإن كان من أحكامها ما يُجوَّر

The singers have not wronged me by their disdain,

Though their laws may ordain what I think distorted.

أعِرْ طرفك المرآة وانظر فإنْ نبا

بعينيْك عنك الشيبُ فالبِيض أعذر

Lift your eyes to the mirror, and if the white

In your hair tells you that youth has deserted;

إذا شَنِئَت عينُ الفتى وجهَ نفسه

فعينُ سواه بالشناءة أجدر

The eyes that once admired their own pretty face,

Should welcome disdain from all others with modesty.