قالت تعَلَّمْتُ أنَّ الحبَّ مَسْبَعَةٌ

يفِرُّ منْ ذكْرِها قلبي ويرتاعُ

She said: I have learned that love is a wilderness prowled by beasts;

My heart flees at its mention and trembles in fear.

لها قناديلُ في الظلماءِ مُطْفَأةٌ

لها سماسرةٌ في البيد قُطَّاع

It has lamps in the darkness, all extinguished;

It has brokers in the wastes—highwaymen.

حَتَّى قصيدتها الشمطاءُ مُنْتِنَةٌ

تعافُها أعينٌ مِنَّا وأسْماعُ

Even its hoary poem reeks;

Our eyes and ears recoil from it.

ماتتْ تفاعيلها واعتلَّ مَطْلَعُها

لمْ يَبْقَ بيتٌ بها حياً ومِصْراعُ

Its metrical feet have died, and its opening has grown infirm;

Not one verse remains alive in it, nor a single hemistich.