تَناوَلَني كِسرى بِبوسى وَدونَهُ

قِفافٌ مِنَ الصَمّانِ فَلمُتَثَلَّمِ

Kisra's palace, with its high chambers

Made of teak wood elaborately carved,

فَفَجَّعَني لا وَفَّقَ اللَهُ أَمرَهُ

بِأَبيَضَ وَهّابٍ قَليلِ التَجَهُّمِ

Saddened me - may God frustrate its lord's aims! -

With a fair lady hardly given to frowns.

لِتَعفُ مِياهُ الحارِثَينِ وَقَد عَفَت

مِياهُهُما مِن كُلِّ حَيٍّ عَرَمرَمِ

To allow the waters of the two ponds to stagnate,

Though before they were fresh from every thicket.

وَأَقفَرَ مِن حُضّارِهِ وِردُ أَهلِهِ

وَكانَ يُرَوّى في قِلالٍ وَحَنتَمِ

Emptied of its lodgers and the visiting tribes,

Once it was watered on burning sands.

وَقُلتُ لِعَينٍ بِالجُوَيَّةِ يا اِسلَمي

نَعَم ثُمَّ لَم تَنطِق وَلَم تَتَكَلَّمِ

I said to an eye with collyrium, "Do greet them!"

It consented, but did not utter a word.

دِيارُ مُلوكٍ قَد أَراهُم بِغِبطَةٍ

زَمانَ عَمودُ المُلكِ لَم يَتَهَدَّمِ

The abode of kings I saw, when in comfort,

The pillar of kingship never tumbled down.

لَعَمري لَحَرثٌ بَينَ قُفٍّ وَرَملَةٍ

بِبَرثٍ عَلَت أَنهارُهُ كُلَّ مَخرَمِ

By my life! It's now a ruin between dunes and hills

With channels on which the torrents burst all embankments.

لَدى كُلِّ بُنيانٍ رَفيعٍ وَمَجلِسٍ

نَشاوى وَكَأسٍ أُخلِصَت لَم تَصَوَّمِ

By every lofty palace and majestic court,

Are desolate waste and a cup free of all froth.

أَحَبُّ إِلى حَسّانَ لَو يَستَطيعُهُ

مِنَ المُرقِصاتِ مِن غِفارٍ وَأَسلَمِ

Dearer to Hassân, if he could manage it,

Than frolicking girls of Ghifar and Aslam.