وسقيمة الأجفان لا من علة

تحيى العميد بنظرة وتميته

My languid eyelids not from any illness,

Revive the beloved with a glance, yet slay him with another.

وصلت كَتربَيها الحديث بضاحك

ضاح كمؤتلف الجمان شتيته

Her talk reached me jesting with a laughing companion,

A companion, like gathered pearls strewn apart.

قالت تغرب الرجال فقل في

ضيم أريد بجانبي فأَبَيته

She said, "Men are prone to absence." I said, "In my bosom,

I wish for her presence, yet she refused it."

قالت نفيتَ فقلت ذلك منزل

ورَدَته كل يتيمة ووردته

She said, "You refused." I said, "That was only

A dwelling I gave to each orphan who visited me."

قالت رماك الدهر قلت فلم أكن

نِكسا ولكن بالأناة رميته

She said, "Fate has cast you aside." I said, "Yet I was not

Downcast, rather with composure I cast it."

قالت ركبتَ البحر وهو شدائد

قلت الشدائد مركب عُوِّدته

She said, "You rode the sea during perils."

I said, "Perils are a ship I grew accustomed to."

قالت أخفت الموت قلت أمفلت

أنا من حبائله إذا ما خفته

She said, "You conceal death." I said, "Should I fear

The traps when I know how to avoid them?"

لو نلتُ أسباب السماء لحطني

أجل يحل لحينه موقوته

If I attained the means of heaven, my term

Would halt me, for it has an appointed time.

قالت لقد شَمَت الحسود فقلت لو

دام الزمان لشامت لحفلته

She said, "The envious have sniffed you out." I said, "If

Time endured, they would gloat, yet time will waste them."

قالت كأني بالهجاء قلائدا

سارت فقلت هممت ثم تركته

She said, "It seems the slanderers are like necklaces."

I said, "I intended that, yet left it."

أخذت به نفسي فقلت لها دعى

ما شاءت الأخلاق لا ماشئته

My soul took me to task, so I said to it, "Let habit

Call what it will, not what I willed it."

من راح قال الهُجر أو نطق الخنا

هذا بياني عنهما نزهته

Whoever at ease said, "Separation," or spoke malice,

This is my declaration, absolving him.

الله علمِنيه سمحا طاهرا

نزه الخلال وهكذا علمته

God taught me mildness and pureness.

Absolve wrongs - this is how He taught me.