رابَ دَهرٌ وَسَطا
وَنَأى وَأَفرَطا
Time has flown by
And gone to extremes
لا كَما كُنتَ تَرى
بَهِجاً مُغتَبِطا
No longer as you used to see it
Joyful and content
وَلَقَد أَرضى وَلا
مِثلَ شَيبي سَخَطا
Yet I was pleased but never
As displeased as my gray hair
أَنبَتَ الدَهرُ لَنا
كُلَّ شَيءٍ فَرَطا
Time has yielded for us
Everything abandoned
وَلَقَد أَعدو عَلى
قارِحٍ رَحبِ الخُطا
And I have spurred on
A wide-striding assailant
مُقبِلٍ في دُهمَةٍ
بِبَياضٍ قُمِطا
Approaching in the darkness
With white speckled
ناظِرٍ في غُرَّةٍ
حَشَّها وَاِشتَرَطا
Looking with unbridled passion
That ignited when tied
مُشعَلِ المَيعَةِ جَوّا
لٍ إِذا ما رُبِطا
And when he walked he flung
His sleeves folded
وَإِذا سارَ رَمى
بِيَدَيهِ القُمُطا
Like a gazelle escaped
From a leafy branch it leaped
كَغَزالٍ فاتَهُ
فَرعُ غُصنٍ فَعَطا
And his beard seemed
To flutter open
وَكَأَنَّ لَحيَهُ
مُفتِحاتٌ سَفَطا
So we trod a barren land
That it traversed and roamed
فَوَطِئنا عازِباً
قَد حَلا وَشَمَطا
In it the Spring’s rain poured
Patterns woven
نَشَرَت فيهِ أَها
ضيبُ الرَبيعِ نَمَطا
And its furrows we gathered
And divided its plots
وَضَمَمنَ وَشيَهُ
وَإِقتَسَمنَ خُطَطا
As if its light
Cast off gray locks
فَكَأَنَّ نورَهُ
نَبذُ شَيبٍ وَخَطا
The dawn raised in it
Chatter for the birds
رَفَعَت فيهِ الضُحى
لِلطُيورِ لَغَطا
Safe, though its wilderness
Rose or sank
آمِناً وَحشِيُّهُ
إِن عَلا أَو هَبَطا
Leaving with its foot
Every land it stamped
تارِكاً بِرِجلِهِ
كُلَّ أَرضٍ خَبَطا
Oh you who toy with me
Excessively erring
أَيُّها العابِثُ بي
سَرَفاً وَغَلَطا
Can a chick’s screech frighten
A prowling hunter?
هَل يَروعُ يازِياً
رُزءُ أَفراخِ القَطا
No blame on the trapper
For any harm inflicted
ما عَلى مُقتَنِصٍ
أَيُّ عَيرٍ ضَرَطا
A slithering serpent alerted
Coiled dusty vipers
نَبَّهَت سارِيَةٌ
أُفعُواناً أَرقَطا
Vicious and preying
And upon me they pounced
ضارِياً مُفتَرِساً
وَعَلَيَّ سَقَطا
