لَكَ أَن تَلومَ وَلي مِنَ الأَعذارِ
أَنَّ الهَوى قَدَرٌ مِنَ الأَقدارِ
You may blame me, though I have excuses,
That passion is a preordained fate.
ما كُنتُ أَسلَمُ لِلعُيونِ سَلامَتي
وَأُبيحُ حادِثَةَ الغَرامِ وَقاري
I did not willingly surrender my well-being to the eyes,
Nor make light of the incident of love and its dignity.
وَطَرٌ تَعَلَّقَهُ الفُؤادُ وَيَنقَضي
وَالنَفسُ ماضِيَةٌ مَعَ الأَوطارِ
It is a bird which my heart clings to and then abandons,
While my soul presses on with the caravans.
يا قَلبُ شَأنَكَ لا أَمُدُّكَ في الهَوى
أَبَداً وَلا أَدعوكَ لِلإِقصارِ
O heart, your condition is such that I will never aid you in passion
Nor call you to fall short.
أَمري وَأَمرُكَ في الهَوى بِيَدِ الهَوى
لَو أَنَّهُ بِيَدي فَكَكتُ إِساري
My affair and your affair in passion are in the hands of passion—
If it were in my hands, I would break its fetters.
جارِ الشَبيبَةَ وَاِنتَفِع بِجِوارِها
قَبلَ المَشيبِ فَما لَهُ مِن جارِ
Keep close to youth and benefit from its neighborhood
Before grayness, which has no neighbor.
مَثَلُ الحَياةِ تُحَبُّ في عَهدِ الصِبا
مَثَلُ الرِياضِ تُحَبُّ في آذارِ
The life is loved in the days of youth
Like gardens are loved in March.
أَبَداً فروقُ مِنَ البِلادِ هِيَ المُنى
وَمُنايَ مِنها ظَبيَةٌ بِسِوارِ
Never do I wish to part from the homelands—
Yet my wishes are for a gazelle with a wristlet.
مَمنوعَةٌ إِلّا الجَمالَ بِأَسرِهِ
مَحجوبَةٌ إِلّا عَنِ الأَنظارِ
Forbidden, except for perfect beauty,
Veiled, except from glances.
خُطُواتُها التَقوى فَلا مَزهُوَّةٌ
تَمشي الدَلالَ وَلا بِذاتِ نِفارِ
Her steps are pious, neither coquettish,
Nor walking with disdain.
مَرَّت بِنا فَوقَ الخَليجِ فَأَسفَرَت
عَن جَنَّةٍ وَتَلَفَّتَت عَن نارِ
She passed by us above the gulf, revealing
A paradise, while hiding a hell.
في نِسوَةٍ يورِدنَ مَن شِئنَ الهَوى
نَظَراً وَلا يَنظُرنَ في الإِصدارِ
Among women who arouse in me a passion
At a glance, but do not glance for disclosure.
عارَضتُهُنَّ وَبَينَ قَلبِيَ وَالهَوى
أَمرٌ أُحاوِلُ كَتمَهُ وَأُداري
I encountered them, while between my heart and passion
There is a matter I try to conceal and avoid.
