وَمُؤاتي الطَرفِ عَفِّ اللِسانِ

مُطمِعِ الإِطراقي عاصي العِنانِ

The flirtatious, loose-tongued one,

With a compliant glance and a chaste tongue,

Urging my steed faster, ignoring the reins,

He tempts while looking down, yet remains rebellious to the rein;

مازِجٍ لي مِن رَجاءٍ بِيَأسٍ

نازِحٍ بِالفِعلِ وَالقَولِ دانِ

Mixing hope and despair for me,

Mixing for me a blend of hope and despair,

Advancing in word and deed humbly.

Distant in his deeds, yet intimate in his words.

فَإِذا خاطَبَكَ الجِدُّ عَنهُ

أَكذَبَ الجِدَّ حَديثُ الأَماني

If seriousness addresses you about it,

So when Reality addresses you concerning him,

Seriousness belies the speech of wishes.

The conversation of wishful thinking belies that Reality—

غَيرَ أَنّي قائِلٌ ما أَتاني

مِن ظُنوني مُكَذِبٌ لِلعِيانِ

Except I'm saying what came to me,

Except that I speak only what has come to me

From my suspicions, belying realities,

From my conjectures, contradicting what is visible to the eye;

آخِذٌ نَفسي بِتَأليفِ شَيءٍ

واحِدٍ في اللَفظِ شَتّى المَعاني

Taking myself to compose something,

Compelling my soul to construct a thing

Singular in word, diverse in meanings.

Singular in wording, yet manifold in meaning.

قائِمٌ في الوَهمِ حَتّى إِذاما

رُمتُهُ رُمتُ مُعَمّى المَكانِ

Standing in fancy, until when

It exists in illusion, until the moment

I throw it, I've thrown an invisible place.

I sought it, I sought a place concealed,

فَكَأَنّي تابِعٌ حُسنَ شَيءٍ

مِن أَمامي لَيسَ بِالمُستَبانِ

So it's as if I'm following the beauty

As though I were pursuing the beauty of something

Of something ahead of me, not evident.

That lies before me, yet remains indistinct.

فَتَعَزَّيتُ بِصِرفٍ عُقارٍ

نَشَأَت في حِجرِ أُمِّ الزَمانِ

So I was consoled by a draught of medicine

So I sought solace in a pure, strong vintage

That grew in the lap of Mother Time.

That was raised in the very lap of the Mother of Time;

فَهيَ سِنُّ الدَهرِ إِن هِيَ فُرَّت

نَشَئا وَارتَضَعا مِن لِبانِ

For it is the tooth of fate - if it dashed away

She is the peer of Eternity; were she compared,

And suckled in its prime from fresh milk -

They grew as twins and suckled from the same breast.

وَتَناساها الجَديدانِ حَتّى

هِيَ أَنصافُ شُطورِ الدَنانِ

And the two new ones forgot it

The Day and Night forgot her, until

Until it was halfway ground down.

She was reduced to the mere halves of the jars.

فَاِفتَرَعنا مُزَّةَ الطَعنِ فيها

نَزَقُ البِكرِ وَلينُ العَوانِ

So we enjoyed the flavor of mocking it,

We broached her seal—a wine possessing the bite

The delicacy of a virgin, the softness of a lover.

Of a virgin’s caprice and a matron’s tenderness.

وَاِحتَسَينا مِن عَتيقٍ عُقارٍ

خُسرَوِيٍّ كامِنٍ في لِيانِ

And we gained from an aged, mature medicine,

And we sipped from an ancient vintage,

Khosrowan, latent in the goblets.

A royal spirit lurking within pliancy;

لَم يَجفُها مِبزَلُ القَومِ حَت

تى نَجَمَت مِثلَ نُجومِ السِنانِ

The tribe's abode did not dry it out

The strainer of the company did not treat her harshly,

Until it shone like the stars of Sinnan,

Until she shone forth like the stars on spearheads,

أَو كَعِرقِ السامِ يَنشَقُّ عَنهُ

شُعَبٌ مِثلَ اِنفِراجِ البَنانِ

Or like the vein of lightning that splits from it

Or like a vein of ore splitting open to reveal

Valleys like the divergence of the cliffs.

Branches spreading like the parting of fingers.

فَلِيَ الصَهباءُ أَبكي عَلَيها

وَالمَغاني لِبُكاةِ المَغاني

So the wakeful white camels are mine, I cry over it,

So let the reddish wine be mine to weep over,

And the songs are for the singers of songs.

And leave the ruined dwellings to those who weep for ruins.