برزت في مظهر الحسن لنا

آية انزلها رب الجمال

She appeared to us in beauty's guise,

A sign sent down by the Lord of Beauty.

غادة في لحظها كل المنى

تفتن الناس بانواع الدلال

A maiden whose glance holds every wish,

Enchanting people with all kinds of coquetry.

كم لها ما بيننا صب عميد

سلبت من صبها كل النهى

How many a stricken lover she has among us!

She robbed her lover of all reason,

فهو منها هائم في كل واد

وهي تبغي كل يوم مشتهى

So, because of her, he wanders lovelorn through every valley,

While she seeks a delight every day,

ولها الف مرام ومراد

أين منها ما يرجي ويريد

And has a thousand aims and desires.

How far from her are his hopes and desires!

خال ان القلب منها مرتهن

في هواه فهي لن تبغي سواه

He imagined that her heart was pledged

To his love, so she would seek no one but him.

فرأى الطاعة من خير السنن

لقضاها فازدرى مالا وجاه

So he thought one of the finest courses was obedience

To her will, and scorned wealth and rank,

من طريق قد حواه وتليد

فهي يوما ثوب ديباج تروم

From means he had acquired, and inherited wealth.

One day she wants a robe of brocade,

وهي يوما تشهي بعض الحلي

ولقد توشك ان تهوى النجوم

And another day she craves some jewelry.

Indeed, she almost comes to covet the stars.

كل ممنوع بعينيها حلي

من مفيد كان أم غير مفيد

Every forbidden thing looks lovely in her eyes,

Whether it is useful or of no use.

وهي حينا ذات صد ونفار

وهي حينا في الأماني تطمع

At times she is full of rejection and aversion,

At times she eagerly pursues her wishes.

وترى حينا معاطاة العقار

وهو غي ليس عنه ترجيع

At times she favors passing the wine around,

A folly from which there is no turning back,

فيرى السكر وقد كان رشيد

وتقول اليوم ميعاد السباق

So he takes to drunkenness, though once he was sound-minded.

And she says, 'Today is the time for the races,

وبهذا الليل رقص ولعب

وغدا يوم اصطباح واغتباق

And tonight there is dancing and play;

Tomorrow is for drinking at dawn and dusk,

وماء الغد فيه ننتهب

حظ ساعات بعمر الدهر عيد

And in tomorrow's water we shall seize

The pleasure of hours—a feast in time's long span.'

وإلى الالحان تصبو وهي في

ساعة الأنس تشير الولها

She yearns for melodies, and in

The hour of pleasure she signals longing;

وإذا ما وعدت لي تفي

ولها بالصب مكر ولها

And whenever she promises, she keeps her word to me.

She has guile for the lovesick man, and she has

كل يوم مطلب غال جديد

وهو من سكر هواها في جنون

Every day a new, costly demand.

He is mad from the intoxication of loving her.

ليس يثنيه كلام الناصحين

واليه حدقت كل العيون

The words of advisers cannot turn him back.

And every eye has stared at him,

وهي تستغوي عقول الناظرين

بابتسام أو بغفر من بعيد

While she beguiles the minds of those who look,

With a smile, or with concealment from afar.

قد جرى متبعا داعي الغرور

لا يرى في حبها عيبا يصم

He has run on, following the call of delusion,

Seeing no flaw in loving her that might disgrace him,

حاسبا ان نهارا لا يدور

وهو بالساعد منها معتصم

Thinking no day could ever turn—

While he clings for refuge to her arm—

يوم بؤس ما عليه من مزيد

ثم لما علمت ان الفتى

Into a day of misery that could not be worse.

Then, when she learned that the young man

قد اضاع العرض فيها والذهب

غادرته ومضت قال متى

Had squandered his honor and gold on her,

She left him and went away. He said, 'When

ترجع الظبية قالت ان وهب

ربك الثروة والعيش الرغيد

Will the gazelle return?' She said, 'If

Your Lord grants you wealth and a life of ease.'

هكذا قد ودعته الغاويه

بعد أن بذر فيها ما ملك

Thus the seductress bade him farewell,

After he had squandered on her all he owned.

صاح لنا أن رآها ناويه

من رأى ابليس في ثوب ملك

He cried out to us when he saw her resolve:

'Who has seen Iblis in an angel's garb?

اتلفت مالي وها عقلي شريد

تركته في بكاه وعويل

She has ruined my wealth, and behold, my mind is adrift!'

She left him in his weeping and wailing.

ما رآه شامت الا بكى

ومضت تصطاد للوقت خليل

No gloating onlooker saw him without weeping.

And she went off to hunt a lover for the moment,

وتنادي ان من منا اشتكى

عد بين الناس مجنونا بليد

Proclaiming, 'Whoever complains of us

Is counted among people as a dull-witted madman.

ظن هذا الغر غمزي بالعيون

وابتسامي من جراه وله

This naive fool thought my winks

And my smiles were passion stirred by him.

ليس يدري أن هاتيك الفنون

حيلة يحسب فيها وصله

He does not know that those arts

Are a ruse through which he thinks union with him

قصدنا والمال مقصود وحيد

ليت شعري كيف نهوى ثم من

Is our aim, while money is our sole desire.

Would that I knew how we could love—and whom!

أين للغادات عهد وذمام

أو ثبات وإلى من نطمئن

Where have maidens fidelity and a binding pledge,

Or constancy? And in whom could we trust?

ولنا في كل يوم مستهام

نتصباه ومملول طريد

Each day we have a man mad with love,

Whom we entice, and a tiresome one cast out.

نحن ربات الهوى ليس لنا

أرب إلا بلبس وقصوف

We are the mistresses of love; we have no

Desire except for dress and revelry.

جاهل من ظل يرجو وصلنا

ورضانا بعد تبذير الألوف

Foolish is he who keeps hoping for union with us

And our favor, after squandering thousands,

وخلو الكيس من غنم جديد

وامرؤ يحسب أن الغاويات

And with his purse devoid of fresh gains.'

And a man who thinks that seductresses

قد بقي فيهن للحب شعور

ذاك مغرور فما بعد الممات

Still retain within them any feeling for love—

That man is deluded: after death,

لحياة العشق يوما من نشور

وقلوب الغيد حقا من حديد

The life of love will never know resurrection,

And the hearts of fair women are truly iron.

حكمة بل عبرة للمعتبر

صورت باللفظ في ثوب رقيق

A wise saying—indeed, a lesson for one who takes heed—

Portrayed in words in a delicate robe,

تتجلى بالضياء المنتشر

لبصير تخذ الحق رفيق

Shines in the light that spreads

For a discerning person who has taken truth as a companion.

وكفى بالعقل خلا ورشيد

And reason suffices as a friend and a wise guide.