أَمسَت ثِيابي وَكُلُّها خِرَقُ

تُشبِهُ رَوضاً أَلوانُهُ فِرَقُ

My clothes are all tattered and torn

My clothes have turned into a patchwork of scraps,

Resembling a garden of varied hues

Resembling a garden whose colors are distinct:

مِن أَزرَقٍ كَالسَماءِ اوَرَهُ

أَحمَرٌ قانٍ كَأَنَّهُ الشَفَقُ

With blue like the sky it's adorned

Of a blue that mirrors the vast sky,

And red like the sunset's bright hues

And a deep crimson, resembling the twilight glow,

وَأَبيَضٍ ناصِعٍ وَأَسوَدٍ فا

حِمٍ فَذاكَ الضُحى وَذا الغَسَقُ

With gleaming white and jet black

And a brilliant white, and a coal-black hue—

That's the dawn and that's dusk's darker hues

The former is the morning light, the latter is the dusk.

كَأَنَّ قَوسَ السَحابِ باتَ عَلى

جِسمي رِداءً وَما أَنا الأُفُقُ

Like a rainbow the clouds did drape

It is as if the rainbow has settled upon

My body in a gown, I'm not the horizon's hues

My body as a cloak, though I am no horizon.

بَردٌ عَجيبٌ قَد خاطَهُ لَبِقٌ

فَلَيسَ بِدعاً إِن حازَهُ لَبِقُ

A wondrous cold that elegance did sew

A wondrous garment, stitched by a skilled hand;

So it's no wonder it gained elegance too

So it is no surprise that a clever man possesses it.

لَمّا تَنَكَّرتُ لَم يَعُد صُحُبي

يَدرونَ أَنّي الصَديقُ إِن رَمَقوا

When I masked myself my friends no more

When I disguised myself, my companions ceased

Could tell that I was their friend when they saw my hues

To realize—when they glanced—that I was their friend.

لِذاكَ لَم يَشفَقوا عَلى جَسَدي

مِنَ الرمايا وَلَو دَرَوا شَفِقوا

So they did not spare my body

Therefore, they showed no mercy to my body

From their shots had they known they'd have been gentle too

With what they cast; yet had they known, they would have softened.

مَرَرتُ بِالحانِقينَ فَاِبتَسَموا

لَمّا رَأَوني وَكُلُّهُم قَلِقُ

I passed foes and they smiled

I passed by those filled with malice, yet they smiled

When they saw me though inside they were glum of hues

When they saw me, though they were all ill at ease.

لَو عَلِموا أَنَّني عَدُوَّهُمُ

أَوشَكَ يَقضي عَلَيهُمُ الفَرَقُ

Had they known I was their foe

Had they known that I was their enemy,

Soon between us would erupt a feud

Terror would have nearly struck them dead.

أَرخى الدُجى ذَيلَهُ وَرُحتُ أَجُرُّ

الذَيلَ عُجباً وَغَيرِيَ النَزِقُ

Night's veil it let down its trail and I started

The night let down its hem, and I went dragging

To drag my tail in wonder, unlike other hues

My train in vanity, while others were frivolous.

وَالجَمعُ حَولي يَضُجُّ مُبتَهِجاً

كَأَنَّهُ لسَيلُ حينَ يَندَفِقُ

And the crowd around me roared delighted

The crowd around me clamors in delight,

Like a flood when it starts to spew

Like a torrential flood when it bursts forth.

تَأَلَّبوا كَالغَمامِ وَاِتَّصَلوا

نَعضٌ بِبَعضٍ كَأَنَّهُم حَلَقُ

They swarmed like clouds and huddled

They gathered like clouds and joined together,

Sticking to each other like a ring of hues

Clinging one to another like links in a chain.

وَاِنتَشَروا وَالدُروبُ واسِعَةٌ

كَالأَنجُمِ الزُهرِ حينَ تَنبَثِقُ

And they spread out while the paths were spacious

Then they scattered across the wide pathways,

Like stars of flowers when they do spew

Like bright stars when they burst into view.

أَطلَقتُ نَفسي مِنَ القُيودِ إِلى

أَن صُرتُ كَالسَهمِ حينَ يَنطَلِقُ

I unleashed myself from restrictions

I released my soul from its chains, until

Until I was like an arrow set free from its bow's hues

I became like an arrow when it takes flight.

وَبِتُّ وَالقَومُ كُلَّما اِجتَمَعوا

رَمَيتُهُم بِالبُذورِ فَاِفتَرَقوا

And I spend the night while the people whenever they gather

I spent the night, and whenever the people gathered,

I pelt them with seeds and they scatter in hues

I pelted them with seeds, causing them to scatter.

أَسخَرُ مِنهُم لِأَنَّهُم سَخِروا

مِنّي اِختَلَفنا وَنَحنُ نَتَّفِقُ

I mock them because they had mocked

I mock them because they have mocked

Me though we weren't different in hues

Me; we differed, yet in this, we are agreed.

وَالحَربُ بَيني وَبَينَهُم نَشَبَت

حَربٌ وَلَكِن سِهامَها الوَرَقُ

And war between them and I flared up

And a war has broken out between us,

A war but its arrows were of paper's hues

A war, indeed, but its arrows are made of paper.

فَلا رِماحٌ هُناكَ مُشرَعَةٌ

وَلا سُيوفٌ هُناكَ تُمتَشَقُ

No spears were raised there nor swords brandished

There are no spears leveled there for the strike,

Just papers strewn that they all did strew

Nor are there any swords being unsheathed.

لَم أَخشَ غَيرَ الحِسانِ ناظِرَةً

أَشَدُّ فِعلاً مِنَ الظُبى الحَدَقُ

I feared none but the gazes of maidens

I feared nothing but the gaze of beautiful women,

More potent in action than a doe's gentle hues

For the pupils of their eyes strike harder than blades.

هَذا هُوَ الكَرنَفالُ فَاِستَبِقوا

إِلَيهِ فَهوَ السُرورُ يُختَلَقُ

This is carnival, so compete

This is the Carnival, so race forward

To it, for it is joy we imbue

Toward it, for it is a joy artfully contrived.