وشائِمةٍ برقاً بفودَيَّ راعَهَا

وما كلُّ برقٍ لاحَ يُؤذِنُ بالخِصبِ

With lightning flashes has she reproached me, after my locks turned hoary,

Yet not every lightning flash portends fertility's downpour.

رأت شَعَراتٍ أخلَقَتْ بعدَ جِدَّةٍ

ونفساً سَلَتْ بعد الغَواِيةِ في الحُبِّ

When my hairs betrayed some silver strands,

And my soul grew calm after youthful passion's pangs,

فقالَت نهاك الشيبُ عن مَرَحِ الصِّبَا

ورَدَّاكَ بعد الجَوْنِ دهرُكَ بالعَصْبِ

She said: "Old age has barred you from frolicking as a lad,

And after your prime, fate has confined you with debility."

فقلتُ نعَم أصبحتُ طَوعَ عَواذِلي

وأصبحتُ لا أصبُو لِلَهْوٍ ولا أُصبي

I replied: "Yes, I have become compliant to my censors,

And ceased aspiring to foolishness or to folly."

ولا عجبٌ لَيلٌ تبلَّجَ فجرُهُ

وحِلمٌ رمَى شيطانَ جهليَ بالشُّهْبِ

Small wonder that his dawn dispelled the night that donned him,

And my dream flung the devil of ignorance with shooting stars.

وهمٌّ وَرَى بين الجوانِحِ زَنْدُهُ

أضَاءَ له في مَفرِقي لامِعُ اللَّهْبِ

An anxiety glimpsed its spark between my vitals,

Illuminating for it in my forehead the flaming blaze.

أَما تَرى الشَّيبَ قد رَدَّاكَ بعد دُجَى

فَودَيْكَ واهاً لِذَاك اللّيلِ بالعَصَبِ

Do you not see how hoariness has confined you after your night of darkness subsided,

And its flashes reproached you - alas for that night of infirmity!

وأسمَعَتْكَ اللَّيالي في مواعظِها

أنَّ ابنَ سبعين من وِردٍ على قُرُبِ

And the nights have let you hear in their admonitions,

That he in his seventies belongs to the parade ground of the bier.

أعرضْتُ عن صبَوَاتٍ كنتُ ذا شَغفٍ

بها وجانبتُ ما يُدني من الرِّيبِ

I have turned away from passions I was ardently attached to,

And avoided what would bring me disgrace or shame.

وسرتُ طوعَ النُّهى تُرضَى أنَاتِيَ في

سَيري ومَرِّيَ في شَدَّي وفي خَبَبي

I have proceeded compliantly with prohibition's behests, well-pleased with my pace in my travels and my steps in my paths.