خَليلَيَّ ما بالُ اللَّيالي تَلَفَّتَتْ

إِلَيَّ بِأَعْناقِ الخُطوبِ الطَّوارِقِ

My friend, why have the nights persistently turned

Towards me with events of misfortune?

وَأَعْقَبَني قَبْلَ الثلاثِينَ صَرْفُها

بِسُودِ دَواهِيها بَياضَ المَفارِقِ

And before I turned thirty, their alternation

Replaced their darkness with the whiteness of separation.

وَلَسْتُ أَذُمُّ الدَّهْرَ فِيما يَسُومُني

وَقَدْ حُمِدَتْ في النَّائِباتِ خَلائِقِي

I do not blame fate for what has befallen me,

My manners were praised during adversities.

لَئِنْ أَنَا لَمْ أَخْلُفْ شَبا الرُّمْحِ في الوَغَى

بِأَخْرَسَ رَعّافِ الخَياشِيمِ نَاطِقِ

If I have not failed to match the youth in battle

With a speechless wielder of the deadly lance.

فَلا شَامَ في هَامِ الأَعادِي مُهَنَّداً

يَميني وَلا شَمَّ الحَمائِلَ عاتِقي

So my right hand is not humiliated in the necks of foes,

Nor have shoulders borne what my shoulders have borne.