قالوا قضيبُ البان قد بَانا
فقُلْتُ إِنَّ الحَيْن قد حانا
They said the toothpick of youth has appeared,
So I said: Now is the time, it has come.
يَعِزَّ ما قد هَان من مُهْجَتي
من بَعْد ما عزَّ وما هانا
Dearer grows what of my love was once cheap
After esteem and humbleness.
بان فقد أَشْكل أَمري به
جدَّا ولو طَوَّعْتُ ما بانا
It appeared, so my affair with it grew complex -
Very complex, though I wished to make it pliant.
سأَملأُ الدَارَ دموعاً كما
ملأْتُ دارَ القلبِ أَحْزانا
I will fill the house with tears as
I filled the home of my heart with sorrows.
ما الدّارُ داراً بَعْد مَنْ قد نأَى
عنها ولا الجِيرَانُ جيرانا
The house is no home when one who dwelt there
Has gone from it and the neighbors no neighbors.
دارٌ جَنيْتُ اللهوَ غضّاً بها
من غُصُنٍ يحملُ بستانا
A house where I plucked the fruits of pleasure
From a branch bearing an orchard.
وكم غدت شمسُ الضُّحى لي بها
ضجيعةً والبدرُ نُدْمانا
How often has dawn's sun within it
Lain with me, and the full moon kept me company!
أَيَّامُ وصلٍ أَعقبتْ حسرةً
فليْت ما قد كان لا كانا
Days of union followed by sorrow -
Would they had never been!
ذا خُلُق الدنيا فكم قَطعَتْ
قرائباً منَّا وأَقْرَانا
Such is the way of life - how it has severed
Ties of kinship and brotherhood from us.
وكم أَضلَّ العشقُ من أَهْلِها
بعد الهُدَى شِيباً وشُبَّاناً
How many past and present has love of it
Misguided after maturity and youth!
داءٌ قديم في بني آدمٍ
أَن يَعْشِق الإِنسانُ إِنسانا
An old malady in the sons of Adam -
That man should love man.
قبلي جريرٌ لم يَزْل قلبُه
لساكِن الريَّانِ عَطْشانا
Before me Jarir's heart was ever
Thirsty for the dweller in the thickets.
وهام قلبي بغلاميّةٍ
تشدّ فوق الخصْر هِمْيَانا
And my heart pines for a sweet damsel
Who ties her girdle high at the waist.
قد مثَّر العذَّالُ في شأْنِها
أَظُنُّ عذَّالِيَ عُمْيانا
The reproacher found fault with her affair -
I think my reproacher blind.
آمنتُ بالمعجزِ من حسنها
لأَنَّني أَبصرْتُ برهانا
Her beauty made me believe in miracles,
For I saw clear proof.
في كُلِّ وقْتٍ وجْهُهَا مُشْرقٌ
كأَنما أُلْبِسَ إِيمانا
At every time her face shines
As if clothed in faith.
واتَّفقَتْ في الحسن أَعضاؤُها
فأَصبَحتْ في الحسنِ إِخوانا
Her limbs concur in beauty
And are equal in loveliness.
تبْريَّةُ الخدّ على أَنَّه
يبدي من التفَّاح أَلوانا
The down on her cheek proclaims
It shows apples' hues.
ما كنت أَدْرِي قبل تفَّاحِه
بأَنَّ في عانة لبنانا
I did not know before her apples
That fragrance was in Lebanon.
