بلى جَرّ أذيالَ الصّبَا فتصابَى

وأوجَفَ خيلاً في الهوَى وركابا

Yes, the mornings of youth fleet away,

And the steeds of passion race heedless on.

قَصَرْتُ زماني بالشمولِ مُسِنّةً

وبالرّوضِ كهلاً والفتاة كَعابا

My days I have shortened by being all-embracing,

And in the garden I have grown old ere my prime.

وأقصرُ أيام الفتى يومُ لَذّةٍ

صبا ما صبا بالعيش فيه فطابا

Shortest of all are the days of the youth,

That day of delight wherein he finds life sweet.

لياليَ لا ترمي الرميَّ وإن تُصِبْ

بسهمك خوداً فالشبابُ أصابا

Nights that cannot be pierced even when you hit

The mark, for youth is the butt for Time's arrows.

وعصبةِ لهوٍ غادروا الهمّ جانباً

فلم يألفوا إلّا السرورَ جَنَابا

A band whose business was idle sport

Have abandoned care, and know but joy.

يديرونها راحاً كأنّ بكأسِها

إذا لبستْ درعَ الحَباب حُبابا

They toss the wine-skin, as though its leather

Were clothed in the steel of coats of mail.

تنَافِرُ لمسَ الماءِ وهو يَرُوضُها

كما تَفْرَكُ البكرُ الفَرُوقُ لُعابا

It recoils from the shock of the hand, as the colt

Scatters the pearls from his grinding teeth.

فاحْبِبْ بذاك العَيشِ عيشاً ذكرتُهُ

وبالعصرِ عصراً والصحابِ صحابا

So love that life I described, and the days

Of that age, and the comrades of that time.

وليلٍ تخوضُ النيّرات ظلامهُ

كأوْجُهِ غَرْقَى يَفْترِقْنَ عُبابا

And a night the water-lilies cover with gloom,

As the faces of drowned men veil the eddies.

سريتُ بمحبوك مِنَ القُبِّ كلَّما

دعا شأوَه وهيُ العِنَانِ أجابا

I stole by the loved one's abode, responding

Whene'er she called to me with no rein on my will,

من الجِنِّ فاسْمُ اللّه إما وَضَعْتَهُ

مكانَ قطيعٍ طار عنك وغابا

As though I were one of the Jinn, repeating "In Allah's name"

Over a fold wherein my flock had strayed and was lost.

ترَى ضَحِكَ الإصباحِ فوق جبينهِ

وَقُمّصَ من ليلِ المُحَاقِ إهابا

You would think the dawn's smile shone from his cheek,

And that his side was clad in the night's murk.

تخالُ الثريّا رأسَهُ وهو مُلْجَمٌ

إذا الجريُ لم يُلبِسْ طُلاه سِخابا

The ostrich struts on his head, which seems to you

Housed in a turban, if the galloping fails to bow it down.

يحرّفُ بالتأليل أذناً كأنّما

ترى قلماً منها يخطّ كتابا

His ear as though the pen were delineating it,

You would think you saw a document traced thereon.

سما الدّرُّ في أرساغِهِ عن زَبَرْجَدٍ

يغادرُ بالوطءِ الصخورَ ترابا

Pure pearl in his bracelets instead of agate;

His heels leave prints upon the rock as he walks.

هو الطِّرفُ فاركبْ منه في ظهرِ طائرٍ

تَنَلْ كلّ ما أعيا عليكَ طلابا

He is Beauty: mount him, you will win everything that seemed

Unattainable to you and eluded your prayers.

إلى قمرٍ تسري إليه كأنّما

عليه سماءُ اللّه تُغلِقُ بابا

Till you come to a moon to which you will go up

As though heaven's vault has lowered its ceiling.

كأنِّيَ سرٌّ في حشا الليلِ داخلٌ

على حَبّةِ القلبِ المصونِ حجابا

As though I were a secret within the night's skirt,

Entering upon the core of my heart veiled in its cover.

فبتُّ مُرَوّىً من مجاجة باردٍ

غذا ذكرُهُ قَلْبَ الغيورِ فَذابا

So I slept, laved with the cold spray of care,

At the thought of which the jealous heart melted.

كأنّ قطافَ اللثم من ثَغْرِ رَوْضِهِ

تَكَسّبَ من طَلّ الغمامِ رضابا

As though the kisses snatched from the edge of his cheek

Were bought by the rain-clouds with thunder and lightnings.

ولم أرَ كالدّنْيا خؤوناً لصاحبٍ

ولا كُمصابي بالشبابِ مُصَابا

Never have I seen in the world a comrade of anyone luckier than I

Nor one smitten like me in his prime.

فَقَدْتُ الصّبا فابيضّ مُسْوَدّ لمّتي

كأنّ الصّبا للشيب كان خضابا

I have lost my youth so my turban's darkness turned white,

As though youth for old age were a dye.