ومُلِحّةٍ بالعذلِ تحسبُ أنّني

للعذلِ أتركُ صُحبَةَ الشطّار

A persistent woman scolds me, imagining that I

Would abandon the company of rogues for the sake of blame.

بكَرت تبصّرني الرشادَ كأنني

لا أهتدي لمذاهبِ الأبرارِ

She rose early to lecture me on guidance, as if

I could not find my own way to the paths of the righteous.

وتقول ويحكَ قد كبرتَ عن الصبا

ورمى الزمانُ إليكَ بالأقدارِ

She says: "Woe to you! You have outgrown the folly of youth,

And Time has cast its destined burdens upon you."

فإلى متى تصبو وأنت متيّمٌ

متقلّب في ساحةِ الأقذار

"So how long will you play the youth while enslaved by passion,

Turning about in the mire of corruption?"

أوّما ترى العصرين عن قوسِ الردى

يتناضلان تقضّيَ الأعمارِ

"Do you not see Day and Night, from the bow of Destruction,

Competing to strike down the span of lives?"

فاجبتُها إن قد عرفتِ مذاهبي

فصرفتِ معرفتي إلى الإنكار

So I answered her: "If you have truly known my ways,

Then you have turned that knowledge into denial."

فدعي الملامَ فقد أطعتُ غوايتي

ونبذتُ موعظتي وراء جدارِ

"So cease the blame, for I have obeyed my seduction,

And cast moral preaching behind a wall."

ورأيتُ إيثارَ اللذاذةِ والصبا

وتمتّعي من طيب هذي الدارِ

"I have chosen to prefer pleasure and youthful folly,

And to enjoy the delights of this fleeting abode."

أجرى وأحرم من تنظّر حارمٍ

ظنّي به رجمٌ من الأخبارِ

"This is wiser than waiting for a depriving God,

Faith in whom is merely guessing at rumors."

إني بعاجلِ ما ترين لمؤكل

وسواهُ أرجافٌ من الآثار

"I am devoted to the immediate reality you see;

All else is but trembling fables of the ancients."

ما جاءني أحدٌ يخبّر أنّهُ

في جنّةٍ مُذ ماتَ أو في نارِ

"No one has ever returned to tell me

That he is in Paradise since he died, or in Hellfire."

فدعي معاتبتي على تركِ التُقى

وتعتّبي فيه على الأقدارِ

"So stop admonishing me for abandoning piety,

And direct your complaints instead against Fate."

أما العفافُ فليس ذا بأوانهِ

حتى يُلفّعُ بالمشيبِ عذاري

"As for chastity, this is not yet its season,

Not until grey hair swathes my temples."

لو عنّ لي قدرٌ يساعدُ صرفهُ

لرأيتِ كيف تعفّفي ووقاري

"If a destiny appeared that aided such a course,

You would witness the extent of my virtue and dignity."

لكنني أهوى المجونَ وأشتهي

فيما أحبُّ تهتّك الأستارِ

"But I possess a passion for debauchery, and I desire,

In the things I love, to tear down every veil."

كيف التعففّ عن غزالٍ أحورِ

قسمَ الحتوفَ بطرفِهِ السحّار

"How can one be chaste before a dark-eyed fawn,

Who deals out death with his enchanting glance?"

بتماجنٍ غنّت محاسنُ وجههِ

فثنت إليه أعنّةَ الأبصار

"Through playful wantonness, his facial beauties sang out,

Bending the reins of all eyes toward him."

بزهى بوجهٍ مشرقٍ ذي رونقٍ

كالبدرِ حين انار للسفّار

"He glories in a radiant, resplendent face,

Like the full moon lighting the way for travelers."

ديباجَتي خدّيهِ ينتضلان عن

قوس الردى في أعين النظار

"The silken brocades of his cheeks shoot arrows

From the bow of Destruction into the eyes of beholders."

يغتالُ ألسنةَ المُريدي نيكَهُ

إجلالُهُ فيُناك بالإضمار

"His majesty silences the tongues of those desiring his bed,

So he is possessed only in the secrecy of thought."

ومعقربِ الأصداغ يهتكُ لحظهُ

عن كلّ مكنونٍ من الأسرار

"With hair curled like scorpions at his temples, his glance

Rips the cover from every hidden secret."

أحوى أغنّ مزنّرٍ ذي رونق

حَسِنِ التشكّلِ من بنّي عمّار

"Dark-lipped, melodious, girdled and splendid,

Beautifully formed, of the lineage of Banu Ammar."

نازعتُهُ من قهوةٍ مشمولةٍ

ما افتضّها بالماءِ غير نزار

"I disputed with him over a vintage cooled by the north wind,

Which water had barely deflowered."

كانت وآدمَ طينة محجوبةً

في دنّ شمطاءَ ذات خمار

"It existed, veiled, while Adam was yet clay,

In the jar of a grey-haired matron covered in dust."

حتى إذا ذهب الزمانُ بذاتها

وتخلّصت روحاً من العطّار

"Until, when Time had eroded its substance,

And it was liberated as a pure spirit from the distiller,"

عادت إلى لونٍ كأنّ بكأسها

منهُ جميعَ طوالعِ الأقمار

"It returned to a hue as if, within its cup,

Resided the brilliance of every rising moon."