أسفاً لقد ولى الشباب ولم أفد

منه سوى حرقٍ تطيل عذابي

Alas, youth has passed and I did not benefit

Except with burning that prolongs my torment

انفقت أيامي بوهمٍ باطل

ما بين تفكير وبين كتاب

I spent my days in vain delusions

Between thinking and writing

ولو أنني انصفت كان هوى المها

قصدي وكان الحسن كلّ طلابي

Had I been fair, the love of the beautiful maid

Would have been my purpose, and beauty my only quest

كم لذة عرضت وكنت بجنبها أحرى

ولكن قد أضعت صوابي

How much pleasure came by yet I was oblivious

But I lost my composure

كم فرصة سنحت باغيد فاتن

يسبي العقول بحسنه الخلاب

How many chances arose that I let pass

That captivate minds with their graceful charm

أعرضت عنه تعففا وبمهجتي

ظمأ إلى قبل ورشف رضاب

I turned away modestly though in my mind

Thirst for a kiss and sip of wine

وجعلت صدري مدفنا لنوازعي

إذ كان غضا في الزمان أهابي

I made my chest the grave of my desires

When abstinence was called for in the times

فهرمت قبل الشيب وانحلت قوى

جسدي ببرح الهمّ والأوصاب

So I grew old before graying, and my bodily strength

Fell to the strike of worries and afflictions

وندمت حين أضعت ايام الصبا

وأضعت فيها لذتي ورغابي

And I regretted when I wasted my youthful days

And missed in them my joy and wishes

واليوم صرت إذا ادّكرتُ وراجعَت

قلبي بقية فتنةٍ وتصابي

And today if I remember and go back

My heart still has remnants of infatuation and yearning

أبكي على الماضي واندبُ عهده

وأغص من فرط الأسبى بشرابي

I weep for the past and lament its time

And nearly choke from intense craving for my wine

إني كراهب معبد متبتل

سلخ الليالي خلف ومض سراب

I am like a monk in a secluded temple

Who spent nights behind the mirage of a specter

حتى إذا عرضت له تاييس في

حللٍ الجمال وفتنة الأهداب

Until when the beauty of adornments and

The charm of eyelashes was put before him

هجر الصلاة وديرَه وموحَه

وأملّه الترتيل في المحراب

He forsook his prayers and monastery and chanting

And his hope of reciting in the prayer niche

ناداه داعي القلب بعد تزهد

وتقشف طمعا بحسن مآب

The caller of the heart called him after asceticism

And austerity, hoping for good fate

ظمىء السنين فجاء ينقع غلّه

لكنه لم يلق غير تباب

Thirsty for years, so he came to soak his bitterness

But he did not find except disgrace

هذا مصير الثائرين وهذه

نظم الحياة وسنة الاحقاب

Such is the fate of rebels, and these

Are the rhythms of life and course of eras