يا لَيلُ قَد نامَ الشَجيُّ وَلَم يَنَم
جِنحَ الدُجُنَّةِ نَجمُها المِسهارُ
O night, the watcher has slept but the stars have not
The wings of the doves, their shining star
إِن كانَتِ الخَضراءُ رَوضاً ناضِراً
فَلَعَلَّ زُهرَ نُجومِها أَزهارُ
If the green is a blooming garden
Then its starry flowers may be blossoms
وَالناسُ مِثلُ النَبتِ يُظهِرُهُ الحَيا
وَيَكونُ أَوَّلَ هُلكِهِ الإِظهارُ
And people are like plants shown by life
And the first of their destruction is exposure
تَرعاهُ راعِيَةٌ وَتَهتِكُ بُردَهُ
أُخرى وَمِنهُ شَقائِقٌ وَبَهارُ
One shepherdess tends them and strips their cloak
Another exposes their daisies and spring flowers
ما مَيَّزَ الأَطفالَ في أَشباحِها
لِلعَينِ حَلُّ وِلادَةٍ وَعِهارُ
What distinguished the ghosts in their forms
For the eye a dissolution of birth and violation of honor
وَالجَهلُ أَغلَبُ غَيرَ عِلمٍ أَنَّنا
نَفنى وَيَبقى الواحِدُ القَهّارُ
Ignorance prevails over most knowledge that we
Perish while the One, the Subduer remains
وَكَأَنَّ أَبناءَ الَّذينَ هُمُ الذَرى
أَعفاءُ أَهلٍ لا أَقولُ مِهارُ
It's as if the sons who are as motes
Are chaste people, I won't say skilled
يا لَيتَ آدَمَ كانَ طَلَّقَ أُمَّهُم
أَو كانَ حَرَّمَها عَلَيهِ ظِهارُ
If only Adam had divorced their mother
Or forbidden her to him as wife
وَلَدَتهُمُ في غَيرِ طُهرٍ عارِكاً
فَلِذاكَ تُفقَدُ فيهِمُ الأَطهارُ
She bore them in other than purity, mating illicitly
So purity is lost among them
وَلَدَيَّ سِرٌّ لَيسَ يُمكِنُ ذِكرُهُ
يَخفى عَلى البَصراءِ وَهوَ نَهارُ
I have a secret that cannot be told
Hidden from the sighted though it's daylight
أَمّا هَدىً فَوَجَدتُهُ ما بَينَنا
سِرّاً وَلَكِنَّ الضَلالَ جِهارُ
As for guidance I found it among us
Secretly but misguidance openly
وَالرُزءُ يُبدي لِلكَريمِ فَضيلَةً
كَالمِسكِ تَرفَعُ نَشرَهُ الأَفهارُ
And adversity shows the noble one virtue
As musk, its diffusion is raised by investigation
فَاِزجُر عَزيزَتَكَ المُسيئَةَ جاهِداً
وَاِستَكفِ أَن تُتَخَيَّرَ الأَصهارُ
So forbid your honored but sinning wife, struggling
And suffice not to select in-laws
