أَبعَيدَ الشّبابِ هَوى وَصِبا

كلا لا لَهوَ ولا لَعِبا

After youth—love and youthful ardor?

No indeed: no diversion and no play.

ذَرتِ السِّتونَ بُرادَتَها

فِي مِسكِ عِذارَكِ فاشتَهَبَا

Sixty has strewn its filings

through the musk of your cheek-down, till it blazed white.

يا نفسُ أحيَي تَصِلِي أمَلاً

عيشي رَجَباً تَرَي عَجَبا

O soul, live on, that you may attain a hope;

live through Rajab, and you will see wonders.

فَخُذَن فِي شُكرِ الكَبرَةِ مَا

جاءَ الإِصباحُ وَمَا ذَهَبَا

So take up, in gratitude for old age, all that

morning has brought, and all that has gone.

فِيها أحرَزتَ مَعَارِفَ مَا

أبلَيتَ لِجِدّتِهِ الحِقَبا

In it you gained knowledge; for its freshness

you wore whole ages away.

وَالخمرُ إِذا عُتِّقَت وَصَفَت

أغلَى ثمَناً مِنهَا عِنَبَا

And wine, once aged and clarified,

is dearer in price than it was as grapes.

وَبَقيّةُ عُمرِ المَرءِ لَهُ

إِن كانَ بِها طَبَّاً دَرِبا

What remains of a person's life is his,

if he knows how to use it and is well practiced:

يَبنِي فِيهَا بإِنَابَتِهِ

ما هَدَّمَهُ أيامَ صِبا

within it, through repentance, he rebuilds

what the days of youth destroyed;

وَيُنَبّهُ عَينَ تُقىً هَجَعَت

وَيُعمِّرُ بيت حِجىً خرِبا

awakens an eye of piety that had slumbered,

and restores a ruined house of reason;

ويُحَبُر فيها الشِّعرَ على

وَزنٍ هَزجيُدعَى الخَبَبا

and in it he weaves poetry upon

the measure of a chant called al-Khabab—

وَحشٍ في العُربِ مَنازِلُهُ

مَجهولِ الأصلِ إذا نُسِبا

strange are its haunts among the Arabs,

its origin unknown whenever its lineage is traced;

سَهلِ التَّقطِيعِ وَلَكِن لَم

يُنطق بَارِيكَ بِهِ العَرَبا

easy to scan, and yet

its maker never caused the Arabs to utter it.

نَكِرَتهُ فَلَم يَضرِب وَتِداً

فِي الحَيِّ وَلَم يَمدُد سبَبَا

They disowned it, so it struck no tent peg

among the clan, nor stretched out a rope.