دَعَتِ الهُمومُ إِلى شِغافِ فُؤادي
وَحَمَت جَوانِبَ مُقلَتَيَّ رُقادي
Sorrows called out to the very core of my heart, / And warded off sleep from the corners of my eyes.
Ash-grey doves wailing in grief for their mates, / In the gloom of darkness upon the highest boughs.
وُرقٌ بِتَفجِعَةٍ تَنوحُ أَليفَها
غَلَسَ الدُجُنَّةِ في ذُرى الأَعوادِ
Yet I dispel the care when it assails me, / While longing strikes fire in my vitals like a flint,
With a vintage whose essence Time has inherited / From the ancients among the great lords of 'Ad.
وَلَقَد أُزيحَ الهَمُّ حينَ يَنوبُني
وَالشَوقُ يَقدَحُ في الحَشا بِزِنادِ
It grew in glory through the length of its aging, / Until it summoned its own end through vanishing,
Until Time gazed upon it, after it had pierced / The veils of the clay jars with a sharp, penetrating eye.
بِمُدامَةٍ وَرِثَ الزَمانُ لُبابَها
عَن ذي الأَوائِلِ مِن أَكابِرِ عادِ
As though antiquity had dyed its raiment, / And the cup, at the wine’s wedding, was a striped robe.
A maiden of Karkh hastens toward me with her cup, / She whom her companion singles out with affection.
زادَت عَلى طولِ التَقادُمِ عِزَّةً
وَدَعَت لِآخِرِ عَهدِها بِنَفادِ
She draped a sash across her shoulder, as you might see / A hero seeking succor, girt with a sword-belt.
The bubbles of the wine beheld the pearls of her sash / And mimicked them, though they were not inanimate stone.
حَتّى تَطَلَّعَها الزَمانُ وَقَد فَرَت
حُجُبَ الدِنانِ بِناظِرٍ حَدّادِ
So the two lights shimmered: a radiant beam, / And a fragrant arrangement adorning the neck.
And a resonant singer who gathered for her companions / Novelties of joy that lead the soul wherever they please.
فَكَأَنَّما صَبَغَ التَقادُمُ ثَوبَها
وَالكَأسُ في عُرسِ المُدامِ بِجادِ
When she sang, while pleasure urged her on: / 'The beloved tribe has departed, driving their camels through the black night.'
تَسعى إِلَيَّ بِكَأسِها كَرخِيَّةً
يَختَصُّها نَدمانُها بِوَدادِ
ناطَت بِعاتِقِها الوِشاحَ كَما تَرى
بَطَلاً يُحاوِلُ نَجدَةً بِنِجادِ
فَرَأَت عُقودُ الراحِ دُرَّ وِشاحِها
فَحَكَينَهُنَّ وَهُنَّ غَيرُ جَمادِ
فَتَلَألَأَ النورانِ نورٌ ساطِعٌ
وَمُنَظَّمٌ أَرِجٌ عَلى الأَجيادِ
وَمُرِنَّةٍ جَمَعَت إِلى نُدمانِها
بِدَعَ السُرورِ يَقُدنَ كُلَّ مَقادِ
لَمّا تَغَنَّت وَالسُرورُ يَحُثُّها
رَحَلَ الخَليطُ جِمالَهُم بِسَوادِ
