إِلَيكِ ما أَنا مِن لَهوٍ وَلا طَرَبِ

مُنيتِ مِنّي بِقَلبٍ غَيرِ مُنقَلِبِ

To you I am not of play nor confusion

You departed from me with an unchanging heart

رُدّي عَلَيَّ الصِبا إِن كُنتِ فاعِلَةً

إِنَّ الهَوى لَيسَ مِن شَأني وَلا أَربي

Return my youth to me if you are able

For desire is not my way nor my want

جاوَزتُ حَدَّ الشَبابِ النَضرِ مُلتَفِتاً

إِلى بَناتِ الصِبا يَركُضنَ في طَلَبي

I have gone beyond the stage of verdant youth

Looking to the daughters of youth running after me

وَالشَيبُ مَهرَبُ مَن جارى مَنِيَّتَهُ

وَلا نَجاءَ لَهُ مِن ذَلِكَ الهَرَبِ

And gray hair is the escape of him whose fate is fulfilled

And there is no salvation for him from that escape

وَالمَرءُ لَو كانَتِ الشِعرى لَهُ وَطَناً

حُطَّت عَلَيهِ صُروفُ الدَهرِ مِن صَبَبِ

And if poetry were a homeland for a man

The vicissitudes of fate would rain down on him from the clouds

قَد أَقذِفُ العيسَ في لَيلِ كَأَنَّ لَهُ

وَشياً مِنَ النورِ أَو أَرضاً مِنَ العُشُبِ

I hurl meteors in the night as if they had

Pasture from light or land from grass

حَتّى إِذا ما اِنجَلَت أُخراهُ عَن أُفُقٍ

مُضَمَّخٍ بِالصَباحِ الوَردِ مُختَضِبِ

Until when its last one disappears over a horizon

Dyed with the rose-colored dawn

أَورَدتُ صادِيَةَ الآمالِ فَاِنصَرَفَت

بِرَيِّها وَأَخَذتُ النُجحَ مِن كَثَبِ

I arrive disappointed and turn back

Taking success from a jump

هاتيكَ أَخلاقُ إِسماعيلَ في تَعَبٍ

مِنَ العُلا وَالعُلا مِنهُنَّ في تَعَبِ

These are the morals of Ismael in tiredness

From the ascent and the ascent from them in tiredness

أَتعَبتَ شُكري فَأَضحى مِنكَ في نَصَبٍ

فَاِذهَب فَمالِيَ في جَدواكَ مِن أَرَبِ

You have tired my gratitude so it has become burdened by you

So go away, for I have no desire for your kindness

لا أَقبَلُ الدَهرَ نَيلاً لا يَقومُ بِهِ

شُكري وَلَو كانَ مُسديهِ إِلَيَّ أَبي

I do not accept time bringing me any gain

For which my gratitude stands, even if my father were to hand it to me

لَمّا سَأَلتُكَ وافاني نَداكَ عَلى

أَضعافِ ظَنّي فَلَم أَظفَر وَلَم أَخِبِ

When I asked you, your call met me

Beyond my assumptions, yet I did not win nor succeed

لَم يُخطِ مَأبِضَ خُلساتٍ تَعَمَّدَها

فَشَكَّ ذا الشُعبَةِ الطولى فَلَم يُصِبِ

An orb did not miss targets of stealthiness it deliberately took

So the great Pléiades doubted, but did not hit

لَأَشكُرَنَّكَ إِنَّ الشُكرَ نائِلُهُ

أَبقى عَلى حالَةٍ مِن نائِلِ النَشَبِ

I will thank you, for gratitude finds

One who achieves it remaining in a state of achieving eminence

بِكُلِّ شاهِدَةٍ لِلقَومِ غائِبَةِ

عَنهُم جَميعاً وَلَم تَشهَد وَلَم تَغِبِ

With every witness for the people absent

From them all, neither witnessing nor absent

مَوصوفَةٍ بِاللَآلي مِن نَوادِرِها

مَسبوكَةِ اللَفظِ وَالمَعنى مِنَ الذَهَبِ

Described in subtleties from her rarities

Molded in wording and meaning from gold

وَلَم أُحابِكَ في مَدحٍ تُكَذِّبُهُ

بِالفِعلِ مِنكَ وَبَعضُ المَدحِ مِن كَذِبِ

And I have not flattered you in praise that

Reality from you contradicts, though some praise is of lies