قُل لِمَن يَبكي عَلى رَسمٍ دَرَس

واقِفاً ما ضَرَّ لَو كانَ جَلَس

Tell those who weep over faded lines,

Say to the one who weeps o'er traces effaced,

Standing, what harm if they had sat?

Standing upright—what harm if he were to sit?

اِترُكِ الرَبعَ وَسَلمى جانِباً

وَاِصطَبِح كَرخِيَّةً مِثلَ القَبَس

Leave the pasture and turn aside,

Cast the campsite and Salma far aside,

And become like embers that gleam and blaze.

And take a morning draught of Karkh, glowing like an ember.

بِنتُ دَهرٍ هُجِرَت في دَنِّها

وَرَمَت كُلَّ قَذاةٍ وَدَنَس

Time's daughter was shunned in her low estate

A daughter of the ages, forsaken in her jar,

And flung away every mote and stain.

Having cast off every speck and impurity,

كَدَمِ الجَوفِ إِذا ما ذاقَها

شارِبٌ قَطَّبَ مِنها وَعَبَس

Like the blood in the entrails when tasted

Dark as the heart's blood; should a drinker taste it,

By one who sipped it and pulled a face.

He knits his brows and frowns at its bite.