يا صاحِ كَم تُفّاحَةٍ غَضَّةٍ

يَحمِلُها في الرَوضِ غُصنٌ رَطيب

O my friend, how many a tender apple

O friend, how many a fresh apple,

Borne by a fragrant branch in the garden

Borne in the garden by a tender branch,

ناضِجَةٍ تَرتَجُّ في جَوِّها

مِثلَ اِرتِجاجِ الشَمسِ عِندَ المَغيب

Ripening, quivering in its air

Ripe, trembling in the air,

Like the sun's quivering at sunset

Like the trembling of the sun at sunset.

حَرَّضَكَ الوَجدُ عَلى قَطفِها

لَمّا غَفا الواشي وَنامَ الرَقيب

Passion tempted you to pluck it

Passion incited you to pluck it,

When the guard was sleeping and the watcher nodding

When the slanderer dozed and the guardian slept.

لَكِن لِأَمرٍ أَنتَ أَدرى بِهِ

رََِعَت عَنها رَجعَةَ المُستَريب

But for a reason you know better than I

Yet, for a reason you know best,

You shrank from it, recoiling warily

You turned back from it, like one filled with doubt.

تَقولُ لِلنَفسِ الطَموحِ اِقسُري

ما سِرقَةُ التُفّاحِ شَأنَ الأَريب

Say to your venturesome soul, hold back!

Saying to the ambitious soul, "Hold back,"

Stealing apples is no worthy labour

"Stealing apples is not the way of the wise."

وَرُبَّ صَفراءَ كَلَونِ الضُحى

يَنفي بِها أَهلُ الكُروبِ الكُروب

And many a yellow one, dawn-coloured

And how many a golden wine, like the hue of mid-morning,

Can drive away the gloom of spirits in despair

With which the sorrowful banish their griefs.

دارَت عَلى الشَربِ بِها غادَةٌ

كَأَنَّها ظَبيُ الكِناسِ الرَبيب

A roe turned it in her mouth, then passed it by

A maiden circulated it among the drinkers,

As though it were the perfumed kiss of a beloved

As if she were a gazelle of the thicket, raised tame.

في طَرفِكَ الساجي هُيامٌ بِها

وَبَينَ أَحشاءَكَ شَوقٌ مُذيب

In your soft glance it stirred a fond craving

In your quiet glance was a desperate love for her,

And kindled in your heart consuming longing

And within your chest, a melting longing.

لَكِن لِأَمرٍ أَنتَ أَدرى بِهِ

رَجَعتَ عَنها رَجعَةَ المُستَريب

But for a reason you know better than I

Yet, for a reason you know best,

You shrank from it, recoiling warily

You turned back from her, like one filled with doubt.

تَقولُ لِلنَفسِ الطَموحِ اِقصُري

ما غُرَّ بِالصَهباءِ يَوماً لَبيب

Say to your venturesome soul, hold back!

Saying to the ambitious soul, "Desist,"

Never was seduced by blondes one sensible or wise

"Never is a sensible man deluded by wine."

إِيّاك وَإِيّاكَ أَكوابَها

أُختُ الخَنا هَذي وَأُمُّ الذُنوب

Beware, beware her brimming cups!

"Beware, oh beware of its cups,"

Sister of treachery, mother of sins

"This is the sister of vice and the mother of sins."

وَكَم شِفاهٍ أُرجُوانِيَّةٍ

كَأَنَّها مَخضوبَةٌ بَِلَّهيب

And many the rosy lips like those

And how many crimson lips,

Dyed as with flame of burning coal

As if they were dyed with flame.

ساعَدَكَ الدَهرُ عَلى لَأمِها

وَرَشفِ ما خَلفَ اللَهيبِ العَجيب

Fortune aided you to enjoy them

Fate aided you to reach them,

And to drain what lay beyond that wondrous flame

And to sip the wonder lying behind the fire.

لَكِن لِأَمرٍ أَنتَ أَدرى بِهِ

رَجَعَت عَنها رَجعَةَ المُستَريب

But for a reason you know better than I

Yet, for a reason you know best,

You shrank from it, recoiling warily

You turned back from them, like one filled with doubt.

تُعَنِّفُ القَلبَ عَلى غَيِّهِ

وَتَعذُلُ العَينَ الَّتي لا تُنيب

You chide your heart for its caprice

Violently rebuking the heart for its error,

And rebuke the eye that will not heed

And blaming the eye that would not repent.

قَتَلتَ نَزعاتِكَ في مَهدِها

وَلَم تُطِع في الحُبِّ حَتّى الحَبيب

You killed your passions in their cradle

You killed your impulses in their cradle,

Nor in love obeyed even the beloved

And obeyed not even the beloved in matters of love.

وَالآنَ لَمّا اِنجابَ عَنكَ الصِبى

وَلاحَ في المَفرِقِ ثَلجُ المَشيب

And now when age has freed you

And now, when youth has cleared away from you,

And frost glitters on your temples

And the snow of age gleams in the parting of your hair,

وَاِستَسلَمَ القَلبُ كَما اِستَسلَمَت

نَفسُكَ لِليَأسِ المَخوفِ الرَهيب

And your heart surrenders, as your own life

And the heart has surrendered, just as surrendered

Surrendered to grim, fearful despair

Your soul to a fearful, terrible despair,

أَراكَ لِلحَسرَةِ تَبكي كَما

يَبكي عَلى النائي الغَريبِ الغَريب

I see you mournfully weep

I see you weeping out of regret, as

As weeps for the remote, the lonely stranger

A stranger weeps for a stranger far away.

تَوَدُّ لَو أَنَّ الصِبى عائِدٌ

هَيهاتَ قَد مَرَّ الزَمانُ القَشيب

You wish that youth would come again

You wish that youth would return;

Alas no more returns that hoary past

Far from it! The splendid time has passed.

خَلِّ البُكا يا صاحِبي وَالأَسى

اللَيلُ لا يُقصيهِ عَنكَ النَحيب

Spare your tears, my friend, and sorrow

Abandon weeping, my friend, and sorrow;

Night is not outlasted by lamentation

The night is not driven away by wailing.

لا خَيرَ في الشَيءِ اِنقَضى وَقتُهُ

ما لِقَتيلٍ حاجَةٌ بِالطَبيب

When a thing's time has passed, no good remains

There is no good in a thing whose time is over;

The slain needs no physician for his pain

The slain man has no need for a physician.