أَفيكُم لِهَذا الحُسنِ بالله مِنكِرُ

فَإِن كانَ فَالأَعمى الَّذي لَيسَ يُبصِرُ

Is there among you one who this beauty denies?

For if there is, then he is blind and cannot see.

تُؤَدّي إِلى قَلبِ الفَتى نَغَماتُهُ

هَوىً غَيرَ ما كانَت بِهِ العَينُ تَشعُرُ

Its melodies carry to the heart of the young man

A passion not felt by eyes however keen.

هِيَ الكأسُ ما دارَت بِكَفٍّ عَلى فَمٍ

فَبِالسَمعِ نُسقاها وَبِالقَلبِ نَسكَرُ

It is the cup passed from hand to mouth;

We drink it in through hearing, in heart grow drunk.

فَيالَكَ مِن دُرٍّ مِنَ اللَفظِ مُقتَنىً

وَيا لَكَ مِن خَمرِ مِنَ اللَحظِ تُعصَرُ

O precious pearl of elegant diction!

O wine of amorous glance pressed pure!

يُمَجمِجُ أَلفاظاً بِخَمرَةِ ريقِهِ

سُكارى الخُطا في ذَيلِها تَتَعَثَّرُ

He mingles words intoxicated by his saliva.

In his train the drunk ardors stumbling fare.

فَمَحبوبُ هَذا اليَومِ بِالأَمسِ مُجتَوىً

وَمَعروفُهُ قَد كانَ مِن قَبلُ يُنكَرُ

Love of today was shunned but yesterday,

Long known his favors, though once thought rare.

فَأَنجَزَ هَذا الدَهرُ ما كُنتُ أَرتَجي

وَأَنجَزَ هَذا الدَهرُ ما كُنتُ أَحذَرُ

What I had hoped for, time has now allowed,

What I feared, time has now endowed.

فَأُدرِكُ في هَذاكَ ما لا غَرَستُهُ

وَأَغرِسُ في ذا غَيرَ ما هُوَ مُثمِرُ

I attain in the last what first I sowed,

And sow in the first what last I owed.

فَيا وَيلَتي مِن بُعدِ ما لا أَذُمُّهُ

وَيا ضَيعَتي في قُربِ ما لَيسَ يُشكَرُ

Woe for what I bear yet do not mourn!

Woe for proximity, no thanks return!

وَما في يَدي مِنهُ سِوى أَنَّ خاطِري

بِعابِرَةِ الأَخبارِ عَنهُ يُخَبَّرُ

Of it my hands hold nothing but the thought

That by the news of it my mind is taught.

عَلى أَنَّ لَيلاً لِلصِبا لا يَسُرُّني

إِذا كانَ عَن صُبحِ الشَبيبَةِ يُسفِرُ

For youth’s night that begins daybreak pains me

If with dawn of hair it does not square.