إِنَّني اليَومَ عادَني أَحزاني

وَتَذَكَّرتُ مَيعَتي في زَماني

Today my sorrows have returned to me,

And I recalled my youth in days gone by,

وَتَذَكَّرتُ ظَبيَةً أُمَّ رِئمٍ

هاجَ لي الشَوقَ ذِكرُها فَشَجاني

And I recalled a gazelle, mother of a fawn,

Yearning for her stirred my heart painfully.

لا تَلُمني عَتيقُ حَسبي الَّذي بي

إِنَّ بي يا عَتيقُ ما قَد كَفاني

Do not blame me, my old friend,

For in me, my friend, is what has sufficed me.

إِنَّ دَهراً يُلُفُّ شَملي بِسُعدى

لَزَمانٌ يَهِمُّ بِالإِحسانِ

For time brings me happiness for a while,

Then assails me with sorrow for a time.

لا تَلُمني وَأَنتَ زَيَّنتَها لي

أَنتَ مِثلُ الشَيطانِ لِلإِنسانِ

Do not blame me, though you adorned her for me,

You are like Satan to man.

إِنَّ بي داخِلاً مِنَ الحُبِّ قَد أَب

لى عِظامي مَكنونُهُ وَبَراني

For love has crept into my innermost being,

Exposing my bones, flaying my skin.

لَو بِعَينَيكَ يا عَتيقُ نَظَرنا

لَيلَةَ السَفحِ قُرَّتِ العَينانِ

If only you had seen with your eyes, my friend,

That night on the hillside, what sights met our eyes!

إِذ بَدا الكَشحُ وَالوِشاحُ مِنَ الدُر

رِ وَفَصلٌ فيهِ مِنَ المَرجانِ

As the cape and veil appeared with pearls,

With buttons of coral inlaid.

وَقَلى قَبلي النِساءَ سَواهَ

بَعدَما كانَ مُغرَماً بِالغَواني

And before me she snubbed the other women,

After she had been enamored of singing girls.

وَأُرَجّي أَن يَجمَعَ الدَهرُ شَملاً

بِكِ سَقياً لِذَلِكُم مِن زَمانِ

And I wish time would unite us again,

With you giving us drink as in days gone by.

لَيتَني أَشتَري لِنَفسِيَ مِنها

مِثلَ وُدّي بِساعِدي وَبَناني

Would that I could buy from her for myself

A love like mine with my arm and my money!

خَلَجَت عَينِيَ اليَمينُ بِخَيرٍ

تِلكَ عَينٌ مَأمونَةِ الخَلَجانِ

My right eye twitched with good fortune -

That eye is trustworthy in its twitches.