تَولَّى شبابٌ واقترابٌ فأَمْعَنا

ووالَى مَشيبٌ واغترابٌ فأَدْمَنا

Youth has passed and come near, so we have revelled,

And old age has turned away and become estranged, so we are steadfast.

فيا حَبَّذا ليلُ الشبابِ الذي نأى

ولا حبذا صبح المشيب الذي دنا

Oh how excellent was the night of youth that has gone,

And no good this morn of old age that has come.

إذا ما رأيتَ الشيبَ في عارضِ امرىءٍ

وإنْ لم يمتْ فاحسِبْه مَيْتا مُكفْنا

When you see white hairs in a man's temples,

Though he lives, consider him a dead man wrapped for burial.

وإنْ ظهرتْ بيضاءُ في مَفْرِق الفتى

فأَوْلَى بذاك الموضع الضربُ بالقَنا

And if whiteness appears in the parting of a youth,

It is best to strike that place with a staff.

وقد كان صبري حارب الهجر والنوى

فما صَدَّه ضعفٌ ولا غالَه ونا

My patience fought against estrangement and enmity,

So no weakness impeded it nor did any wealth make it deviate.

فلما ثنى عنه الشباب عنانه

وشاهَد من جيش المَشيب مُكمَّنا

But when youth turned its reins from it

And from the army of old age it saw an ambush,

تولى وكم ناديتُه بعد أنْ رأى

طليعةَ شيبي للرجوع فما انثنى

It turned away, though how often did I call it, after it saw

The vanguard of my white hairs, to return, but it did not turn back.

سقى العهدَ عهدَ الثغرِ بل عهدَ أهلِه

حَياً كدموعي تجعل السيل دَيْدَنا

It let flow the pact of the mouth’s pact, nay the pact of its folk,

Alive like my tears that make the torrent gush forth.

فكم لي به من غُدوة وعشية

يقصِّر عن إدراك أمثالها المُنى

How many a morn and eve have I had with it

That life falls short of attaining the like.

فطَوْرا لنا بين الكروم مَرابع

يشاهد فيها البدرُ أمثاله بنا

Sometimes between the vineyards we have wandered at dawn,

Where the full moon has looked upon its like with us.

وطورا على ماء الخليج وقد جَلا

عليه نسيمُ الريح كَشْحا مُعَكَّنا

And sometimes on the Gulf’s water that was stirred up

By the blow of the wind like wrinkled parchment.

كأن حَباب الماء ثوب بَرقِش

وقد شابَه لون الضحى فتَلَوَّنا

The water bubbles were like a coat of motley,

Colored by the hue of dawn and many-hued.

حَبابٌ حكى بطنَ الحُباب وظهرَه

إذا الريحُ صاغتْ منه درعا وجَوْشَنا

Bubbles that told of the surface and depth of bubbles,

When the wind wove them into a coat of mail and armor.

فكان كأجيادِ الظباء تلفَّتت

فأظهرْنَ تدريجا هناك مُغَضَّنا

They were like the flanks of wild cows that swayed

And there gradually showed a flexing.

إذا أبرم التيار داراته حكى

أنامل خرّاط يحرّر مُدْهُنا

When the current turned its circles it imitated

The finger joints of a draftsman delineating with care.

وفوق الثَّرى خَزٌّ من الروض أخضرٌ

يُقابل خَزّافي ذرَا الغيثِ أَدْكَنا

And above the ground was a verdure from the meadow, greener,

Confronting the green of the rain’s scattered drops.

ترى ذا بطُرْز النَّوْر سُفْلا مُخَمَّلا

وذاك برَقْم البرق عُلْوا محسَّنا

You see this embroidered with the light’s embroidery below,

And that embellished above with the lightning’s embroidery.

وفي خَلل الأوراق وُرْقٌ غناؤها

ألذُّ وأحلى في القلوب من الغنى

And in the midst of the leaves is the warbling of leaves,

Sweeter and more delicious in hearts than singing.

شَدَتْ فهْي مثلُ الصَّبِّ أَوْدَى غرامه

بكتمانه حتى تلاشى فأعلنا

They burst into song—they were like a lovesick youth

Concealing his passion until it faded and he declared it.

إذا راسلتْها شَمْأَلٌ خِلْتَ صِبْيةً

يُغَنِّين شيخاً أعجم اللفظ أَلْكَنا

When the gentle breeze addresses them you’d think a maiden

Singing, making an incomprehensible-tongued old man sing too.

مكانٌ به زهر البَساتين والفَلا

تَخال عليه منه ثوبا مُفَنَّنا

A place whose flowers of gardens and orchards—

You’d think its clothes were made of them, embroidered.

بَهارا وأزهارا ووردا ونرجسا

وآسا ونسْرينا وجُلاّ وسَوْسنا

Basil and flowers and roses and narcissi

And myrtle and oleander and jasmine and lilies,

تخال حصى الياقوت فيه ملوَّنا

فلو صَلُبت أحجاره كان مَعْدِنا

You’d think its pebbles were colored jacinth,

And if its stones were made hard they’d be a mine.

وقطرُ الندى فيهن أنصاف لؤلؤ

فلو جَمَدت كانت تُصان وتُقتَنى

And the drops of dew on them are half pearls,

And if they hardened they’d be prized and bought.

رياضٌ حكى الديباجُ منها محاسنا

فلو كُنّ ديباجا لأصبح مُثْمَنا

Gardens that told of brocade with their beauties,

And if they were brocade they’d be expensive.

لَعَمْري لقد خلَّفتُ منها مَواطنا

أبى الدهرُ أنْ أعتاضَ منهن موطنا

By my life, I have left places there

That fate refused I ever have a place instead of.

أنا ابْنُ مُضاضٍ وهْي أوطانُ جُرْهُمٍ

فلا فرقَ في طول التفرّق بيننا

I am the son of Muḍāḍ and those are Jurhum’s homelands,

So there’s no difference in the length of our separation between us.

عسى مُنْيَةٌ قبلَ المنيةِ تنقضي

فيرشفَ ثغرَ الثغرِ طرفي إذا رنا

Perhaps a death before death will pass

And the mouth’s lip will drink when it murmurs.

سألتُك يا رَبّاه عَوْدا فجُدْ به

وجازِ بخيرٍ من دعوتُ فأَمَّنا

I asked You, my Lord, for a return, so be generous with it,

And reward with good those whose wishes we have fulfilled.