لا عادَ في حَلبٍ زَمانٌ مَرَّ لي
ما الصُبحُ فيهِ مِنَ المَساءِ بِأَمثَلِ
No more is there in Aleppo a time that has passed for me
Where morning is not like evening in its likeness
سِيّانِ في عَرصاتِها رَأدُ الضُحى
عِندي وَدَيجورُ الظَلامِ المُسبَلِ
The pale daylight in its expanses is for me
Like the darkness of drawn-out night time
في مَعشَرٍ لعَنوا عَتيقاً لا سُقوا
صَوبَ الغَمامِ وَمَعشَرٍ لَعَنوا عَلي
Among a group who cursed the ancients and did not quench their thirst
In the direction of the clouds, and a group who cursed Ali
قَومٌ عُهودُ رِجالِهِم مَحلولَةٌ
أَبَداً وَعَهدُ نِسائِهِم لَم يُحلَلِ
A people whose bonds with their men are dissolved
Forever, while the bond with their women is not untied
مِن كُلِّ مائِسَةِ القَوامِ رَشيقَةٍ
رودِ الشَبابِ كَدميةٍ في هَيكَلِ
Of every alluring slender beauty
The saliva of youth is like a doll in a temple
خطيةِ الخطواتِ يَثني قَدَّها
مَرحٌ فَيَهزَأُ بِالوَشيجِ الذُبَّلِ
The sin of her steps she bends her neck
Playfully mocking the withered decrepit one
وَإِذا عَلاها راكِبٌ رَقَصَت بِهِ
رَقصَ القَلوصِ بِراكِبٍ مُستَعجلِ
And if she's mounted by a rider she dances with him
The dance of a professional with a hasty rider
وَمُقَطَّعِ الأَرماجِ لَيسَ لِدائِهِ
راقٍ وَأَعيا الداءِ داءُ الأَسفَلِ
And disjointed in limbs without a cure for his illness
As the illness has overcome the lowest part
مازالَ يَنتفُ شَعرَ خَدَّيهِ إِلى
أَن أَصبَحَت وَجناتُهُ كَالمُنخُلِ
He continues plucking the hair of his cheeks until
His cheeks have become like a palm tree
وَلَسَوفَ أُعرِبُ عَن غَريبِ صِفاتِهِم
مُستَأنِفاً ما فاتَ في المُستَقبَلِ
And I will express the strangeness of their attributes
Resuming what is past in the future
بِقَلائِدٍ ما أُنشِدَت في مَحفَلٍ
إِلّا وَكانَت عُقلَةَ المُستَعجِلِ
With necklaces never recited in a gathering
Except at the simplemindedness of the hasty one
شِعرٌ يُقَطّعُ بِالنِعالِ أَخادِعَ ال
أَعشى وَيحرا في عَوارِضِ جَروَلِ
Poetry that is chopped by shoes that deceive
The blind and which buzzes around scabbed wounds
