بانَ الشَبابُ وَأَمسى الشَيبُ قَد أَزِفا
وَلا أَرى لِشَبابٍ ذاهِبٍ خَلَفا
Youth has departed and old age has come nigh,
I see no remnant of departed youth.
عادَ السَوادُ بَياضاً في مَفارِقِهِ
لا مَرحَباً هابِذا اللَونِ الَّذي رَدِفا
Darkness has returned to whiteness where it parted,
No welcome to you, O hue that followed after.
في كُلِّ يَومٍ أَرى مِنهُ مُبَيِّنَةً
تَكادُ تُسقِطُ مِني مُنَّةً أَسَفا
Every day it shows me some mark
That almost makes me weep with sadness.
لَيتَ الشَبابَ حَليفٌ لا يُزايلُنا
بَل لَيتَهُ اِرتَدَّ مِنهُ بَعضُ ما سَلفا
Would that youth were a lasting friend,
If only some of what is past could return!
ما شَرُّها بَعدَ ما إِبيَضَّت مَسائِحُها
لا الوُدَّ أَعرِفُهُ مِنها وَلا اللَطَفا
When her temples turned white, how evil she was!
Neither love nor kindness do I know in her.
لَو أَنَّها آذَنَت بِكراً لَقُلتُ لَها
يا هيدَ مالِكِ أَو لَو آذَنَت نَصَفا
Had she given notice at first I'd have said to her,
"Gently, slowly, Malik's confidante!" Or even, "Halfway!"
لَولا بَنوها وَقولُ الناسِ ما عُطِفَت
عَلى العِتابِ وَشرُّ الوُدِّ ما عُطِفا
Were it not for her children and people's talk
I'd not have turned to censure her; base is the love that is forced.
فَلَن أَزالَ وَإِن جامَلتُ مُضطَّغِناً
في غَيرِ نأَرَةٍ ضَبَّا لَها شَنَفا
So I shall not cease, though outwardly flattering,
Bitterly blaming her though not with frown or grimace,
وَلاحِبٍ كَحَصيرِ الرامِلاتِ تَرى
مِنَ الَمَطِيِّ عَلى حافاتِهِ جِيَفا
Nor lover, like a worn-out mat with,
On its borders, the dung of camels.
وَالمُرذِياتِ عَلَيها الطَيرُ تَنقُرُها
إِمّا لَهيداً وَإِمّا زاحِفاً نَطِفا
There peck at it the dung-beetles
Now bent over, now crawling sluggishly.
قَد تَرَكَ العامِلاتُ الراسِماتُ بِهِ
مِنَ الأَحِزَّةِ في حافاتِهِ خُنُفا
The workers left upon it, the weavers,
Of ravellings on its edges, tufts.
يَهدي الضَلولَ ذَلولٍ غَيرِ مُعتَرِفٍ
إِذا تَكاءَدَهُ دَوِّيُهُ عَسَفا
It misleads the lost, unrecognized stragglers,
When its echoing roar comes on them suddenly.
سَمحٌ دَريرٍ إِذا ما صُوَّةٌ عَرَضَت
لهُ قَريباً لِسَهلٍ مالَ فَاِنحَرَفا
It is submissive, humble, if a plain stretch near it;
It swerves aside. Through it the wild ass,
يَجتازُ فيهِ القَطا الكُدرِيُّ ضاحِيَةً
حَتّى يَؤوبَ سِمالاً قَد خَلَت خُلُفا
Passes joyously, until he turns left:
The does have passed leaving no trace behind.
يَسقينَ طُلساً خَفِيّاتٍ تَراطُنُها
كَما تَراطَنُ عُجمٌ تَقرَأُ الصُحُفا
It waters slender, hidden, that murmur
As foreign rabble reciting the parchments.
جَوانِحٌ كَالأَفاني في أَفاحِصِها
يَنظُرنَ خَلفَ رَوايا تَستَقي نُطَفا
Gazelles whose eyes in their sockets
Look behind, seeking the sperm-drops.
حُمرٌ حَواصِلُها كَالمَغدِ قَد كُسِيَت
فَوقَ الحواجِبِ مِمّا سَبَّدَت شَعَفا
Bay camels whose girths, like the swelling clouds,
Covered above the eyebrows from what was knotted.
يَوماً قَطَعَتُ وَموماةٍ سَرَيتُ إِذا
ما ضارِبُ الدُفِّ مِن جِنّانِها عَزَفا
One day I passed Womamah. I walked when
The tambourine player began to beat time.
كَلَّفتُها حُرَّةَ اللَيتَينِ ناجِيَةً
قَصرَ العَشِيِّ تُباري أَينُقاً عُصُفا
I charged the "alas" of the two encampments, chanting,
Vying toward evening with a moaner.
أَبقَى التَهَجُّرُ مِنها بَعدَ ما اِبتُذِلَت
مَخيَلَةً وَهِباباً خاَلِطاً كَثَفا
Did separation from her persist after she was worn threadbare,
Becoming confused and intermixed abundantly?
تَنجو وَتَقطُر ذِفراها عَلى عُنُقٍ
كَالجِذعِ شَذَّب عَنهُ عاذِقٌ سَعَفا
She escapes and her braids drip down upon a neck
Like a sapling from which its leaves were stripped.
كَأَنَّ رَحلي وَقَد لاَنَت عَريكَتُها
كَسَوتُهُ جَورَفاً أَقرابُهُ خَصِفا
As if my riding beast, its saddle worn out
Were clothed with a coverlet by its owner in patches.
يَجتازُ أَرضَ فَلاةٍ غَيرَ أَنَّ بِها
آثارَ جِنٍّ وَوَسماً بَينَهُم سَلَفا
It crosses a desolate land where yet are
Traces of jinn and a pact struck between them long ago.
تَبري لَهُ هِقلَةٌ خَرجاءُ تَحسَبُها
في الآَلِ مَخلولَةً في قَرطَفٍ شَرَفا
Overhanging rocks point out to it
What they suppose in the cooking pots to be left as scraps.
ظَلّا بِأَقرِيَةِ النَفّاخِ يَومَهُما
يَحتَفِرانِ أُصولَ المَغدِ وَاللَصَفا
A shade beneath the blower's leather bag the day they
Sift the flour's bran and its coarseness.
وَالشَرى حَتّى إِذا إِخضَرَّت أُنوفُهُما
لا يَألَوانِ مِنَ التَنُّوِم ما نَقَفا
And they buy, until when their snouts grow green
They do not abstain from sleep a moment.
راجا يَطيرانِ مُعوَجَّينِ في سَرَعٍ
وَلا يَريعان حَتّى يَهبِطا أُنُفا
Like ostriches they fly, swerving, hastily,
And do not light till they stick nose first.
كَالحَبشيينِ خافا مِن مَليكِهِما
بَعضَ العَذابِ فَجالا بَعدَما كُتِفا
Like the Ethiopians, fearing their lord's
Punishment, so they fled after being confined.
كَالخالِيَينِ إِذا ما صَوَّبا اِرتَفَعا
لا يَحقِرانِ مِنَ الخُطبانِ ما نَقِفا
Like the two stammerers, when they straighten up, mounting,
They disdain not the orators' pulpits.
فَاِغتَرَّها فَشَآها وَهِيَ غافِلَةٌ
حَتّى رَأَتهُ وَقَد أَوفى لَها شَرَفا
It took her unawares when she was heedless
Until she saw him and he had fulfilled her wish.
فَشَمَّرت عَن عَمودَي بانَةٍ ذَبَلا
كَأَنَّ ضاحِيَ قِشرٍ عَنهُما اِنقَرَفا
She bared two columns of twisted fiber
As if the side of a parchment scroll were stripped off.
وَقارَبَت مِن جَناحَيها وَجُؤجُئِها
سَكّاءَ تَثني إِلَيها لَيِّناً خَصِفا
She approached the wings and shoulders of her mate
Humbly bending toward her, supple of shoulder.
كانَت كَذِلكَ في شَأوٍ مُمَنَّعَةً
وَلو تَكلَّفَ مِنها مِثلَهُ كَلِفا
Such she was, inviolate,
Though the like of her might for him be sought.
