ما لِهِند وَكُلُّ حَسناءَ هِندُ

كُلُّ يَومٍ تَبدو بِزِيٍّ جَديدِ

What is the matter with Hind? For every beauty is a Hind.

Every day she appears in a new guise.

تَلبِسُ الثَوبَ يَومَها وَهيَ تَطريـ

ـه وَتَطريهِ عِندَها كُلُّ خَودِ

She wears a gown for a day, praising it,

And every young beauty praises it in her presence.

فَإِذا جاءَ غَيرُهُ أَنكَرَتهُ

فَرَأَينا الحَميدَ غَيرَ حَميدِ

But when another arrives, she disavows the first,

And we see the once-lauded object become despised.

أَولَعَت نَفسَها بِكُلِّ طَريفٍ

لَيتَها أَولَعَت بِبَعضِ التَليدِ

She has obsessed herself with every novelty;

Would that she were fond of something ancient instead.

أَصبَحَت تَعشَقُ المِشَد وَلَم أُبـ

ـصِر طَليقاً مُتَيَّماً بَِلقُيودِ

She has grown to love the corset, though I have never seen

A free soul so enamored with shackles.

رَحمَةً بِالخُصورِ أَيَّتُها الغيـ

ـد وَرِفقاً رِفقاً بِتِلكَ القُدودِ

Have mercy upon your waists, O slender beauties,

And be gentle, be gentle with those figures.

ما جَنَتهُ الزُنودُ حَتّى يَنالَ الـ

ـعُريُ مِنها يا عارِياتِ الزُنودِ

What crime have the forearms committed that

Exposure should claim them, O women of bared arms?

لَهَفَ نَفسي عَلى المَعاصِمِ تَغدو

غَرَضَ الحَرِّ عُرضَةً لِلجَليدِ

My soul grieves for wrists that have become

Targets for the heat and exposed to the biting frost.

عَلامَ الأَذيالُ أَمسَت طِوالاً

كَلَيالي الصُدودِ أَو كَالبُنودِ

Why have the trains of your dresses grown so long,

Like nights of estrangement, or like streaming banners?

لَو تَكونُ الذُيولُ أَعمارَ قَومٍ

لَضَمِنّا لَهُم نَوالَ الخُلودِ

If these trailing hems were but the lifespans of men,

We would guarantee them the gift of eternity.

قَصَرَت هَمَّها الحِسانُ عَلى اللَه

و وَيا لَيتَ لَهوَها بِالمُفيدِ

The beauties have devoted their cares only to pleasure,

And oh, how I wish their pleasure lay in something useful.

ساءَ حالُ الأَزواجِ في عَصرِنا هَـ

ـذا وَساءَت أَحوالُ كُلِّ وَليدِ

The state of husbands has grown wretched in this era,

And wretched too is the plight of every newborn child.

كُلُّ زَوجٍ شاك وَكُلُّ صَغيرٍ

دامِعِ الطَرفِ كارِهٍ لِلوُجودِ

Every husband complains, and every little one

Is teary-eyed, despising their very existence.

يَظلُمُ الدَهرُ حينَ يَعزو إِلَيهِ

البُؤس وَالبُؤسُ كُلُّ أُمٍّ كَنودِ

Fate is wrongly blamed when one attributes to it

This misery; for the source of misery is every ungrateful mother.

لا رَعى اللَهُ زَوجَةً تُنفِقُ الأَمـ

ـوال وَالعُمرَ في اِقتِناءِ البُرودِ

May God show no care for a wife who spends her wealth

And her life in the acquisition of fine robes.

لَيسَ في اللَهو وَالبَطالَةِ فَخرٌ

إِنَّما الفَخرُ كُلُّ عُرسٍ كَدودِ

There is no glory in amusement and idleness;

True glory belongs only to the diligent, toiling wife.