هل أُضاخٌ كما عهدنا أضاخا

حبذا ذلك المناخُ مُناخا

Shall I be deceived as we were deceived before?

Such was that pleasant weather, weather of deceit

لو يعافَى حيٌّ لعوفِيَ أرخٌ

في قلالِ الجبال يَفْلو إِراخا

If a living man became well, he would find laid down

Amid hill-slopes which send forth the bleating of sheep

يتقرّى شثّاً ويألفُ طبا

قاً ويقرو ضالاً ويرعى مراخا

Picking sweet basil, making friends with the fox

While he grazes a straying lamb and pastures a weakling

أو أقبٌ طوراً يؤمُّ أضَا الرو

ضِ وطوراً مَيْثاءَها الجواخا

Or I take refuge in a mountain which shelters the beasts

Of prey, and a mountain whither their rending-places cling

أو أصكٌّ أسكُّ لا يعرف الغضرو

فَ سمٌّ منه ولا صملاخا

Or I make me a house not known of change and vicissitude

No blow falls on it, no commotion shakes it

أو فَشغوٌ قتمُ الجآجئ منه

يعجلُ القرهبَ الشبوبَ امتلاخا

Or I am maddened, and the flashings of madness

Speed on the neighbor from near, hastening in long bounds

هنَّ أو أعصمٌ كأنْ مِدْرَياهُ

حين عاجا على القذالين حاخا

Amid them my life was dainty, but it turned and withdrew

And my days among them in boyhood were lovely and vain

كان عيشي بهم أنيقاً فولَّى

وزماني فيهم غلاماً فشاخا