أَما يَفنى حَديثُكَ عَن جِنانِ

وَلا تُبقي عَلى هَذا اللِسانِ

Does your talk of Paradise ever cease,

Will your talk of Jinan never come to an end?

Or spare this tongue of mine no peace?

And will you not spare this weary tongue?

أَكُلَّ الدَهرِ قُلتُ لَها وَقالَت

فَكَم هَذا أَما هَذا بِفانِ

"For all time," I complained; but softly she

Is it for all eternity: "I said to her, and she said"?

Replied, "Nay; this too passes, presently."

How much of this? Will this story never cease?

جَعَلتَ الناسَ كُلُّهُمُ سَواءٌ

إِذا حَدَّثتَ عَنهُم في البَيانِ

You made all folk seem equal in your eyes

You have made all people appear the same,

When you described them in your poesies.

Whenever you describe them in your speech.

عَدُوُّكَ كَالصَديقِ وَذا كَهَذا

سَواءٌ وَالأَباعِدُ كَالأَداني

Foe was as friend when you declaimed of one;

Your enemy is like your friend, this one matches that,

The far and near were all the same to you.

All equal—the distant ones just like the near.

إِذا حَدَّثتَ عَن شَيءٍ فَوَلَّت

عَجائِبُهُ أَتَيتَهُم بِثانِ

When you told tales of anything, its strangeness

If you speak of a thing and its wonders fade,

Was such, you brought us wonders great and new.

You bring them a second one to take its place.

فَلَو عَمَّيتَ عَنها بِاِسمِ أُخرى

عَلِمنا كُلَّنا مَن أَنتَ عانِ

Had you but masked its name and said instead

So even if you veiled her with another name,

'Twas something else, we all had known the clue.

We all would know exactly whom you mean.