1. أنا شاعرٌ والشعر بي

    قد أبلغوهُ أمانيه

    I am a poet, and poetry through me

    has had its wishes fulfilled.

  2. وبعكس ذلك انني

    فيهِ عدمتُ العافيه

    Yet, in contrast to that, I

    have lost my health through it.

  3. فبهِ شغفتُ كأنهُ

    مرآة حسنٍ باديَه

    For I was enthralled by it, as though it were

    a mirror of beauty, in plain view.

  4. ولزمتهُ وأبحتُه

    أوقات أنسي الغاليه

    And I clung to it and granted it

    my precious hours of delight.

  5. وخدمتُهُ ووهبتُه

    في كل يومٍ قافَيه

    And I served it and bestowed upon it

    each day a rhyme.

  6. منها أصوغ قصيدةً

    تحكي رداحاً غانيَه

    From it I fashion a poem

    that resembles a full-figured beauty,

  7. بجميع أصناف الدما

    لج والخلاخل حاليه

    with every kind of armlet

    and anklet adorned.

  8. هيَ خمسةٌ في ستَّةٍ

    او سبعةٌ بثمانيه

    It is five by six,

    or seven by eight.

  9. فانا اسير الشعر في

    هذي الديار العاتيَه

    So I am poetry's captive in

    these harsh lands.

  10. يُوحَى اليَّ وغالباً

    في الليل بعد الثانيَه

    Inspiration comes to me, most often

    at night, after two.

  11. يُوحى وأعينُ كل حيٍّ

    في المدينة غافيه

    Inspiration comes while the eyes of every living being

    in the city are asleep.

  12. فكأنهُ زيرٌ يطوف

    على الغواني الغاويَه

    So it is as though it were a womanizer roaming

    among the wayward beauties.

  13. يحي الليالي جالساً

    بين الطلا والباطيَه

    He keeps the nights alive, seated

    between wine and the wine bowl.

  14. طنبورهُ في كفّهِ

    والعُود عبد الجارَيه

    His tanbur is in his palm,

    and the lute the slave-girl's slave,

  15. حتى اذا هُجرت موا

    خيرٌ ونامت جانيَه

    until, when the brothels are deserted

    and a sinful woman sleeps,

  16. شدَّ الركابَ اليَّ لا

    يرثي لحالي الواهيَه

    he urges his mounts toward me, without

    pitying my feeble state.

  17. وانا الذي منذ الغرو

    ب اكون حِلس الزاويَه

    Yet I am the one who, since sunset,

    stays like a mat in the corner,

  18. في أسرةٍ بحديثهم

    نفسي الحزينة لاهيَه

    among a family, whose conversation

    diverts my sorrowful soul.

  19. من قبل نصف الليل لا

    تلقى عيوني ساهيَه

    Before midnight, you do not

    find my eyes drowsy.

  20. والنوم أَلزم للحيوة

    من الضيوف الآتيَه

    And sleep is more necessary for life

    than the guests who come.

  21. فيقيمني هذا الخبيث

    او الطباع الجافيَه

    So this wretch makes me rise,

    or the callous temperaments.

  22. واذا عصيتُ رمى الوسا

    د بجمر نارٍ حاميه

    And if I disobey, he pelts the pillow

    with embers of blazing fire.

  23. لقد استبدَّ كأنهُ

    ملكٌ عتا او طاغيَه

    Indeed, he acts despotically, as though he were

    a king grown insolent, or a tyrant.

  24. فيصحُّ عندي انني

    منهُ منيتُ بداهيَه

    Thus I am certain that I

    have been afflicted through him with calamity.

  25. فاهبُّ مرتعداً ونفسيَ

    للقريض مواتيه

    So I spring up trembling, and my soul

    is ready for verse.

  26. وكأنَّ جنَّ قرائح

    الشعراءِ تلبثُ صاحيَه

    And it is as though the jinn of the creative minds

    of poets remain awake,

  27. أو انهنَّ مللنَ من

    تلقين عُرب الباديَه

    or as though they have grown weary of

    prompting the Arabs of the desert.

  28. فيسوقهنَّ ليَ الخيا

    لُ كأنهنَّ زبانيَه

    So imagination drives them to me,

    as though they were Hell's wardens,

  29. وثبت الى وجه الثرى

    من فعر جوف الهاويَه

    who have leapt onto the face of the earth

    from the depths of the abyss's belly.

  30. يملأن راسي ضجَّةً

    فيصير مثل الخابيَه

    They fill my head with uproar,

    so it becomes like a wine jar.

  31. والعين من طول السها

    د تعود سَكرى داميَه

    And the eye, from long sleeplessness,

    becomes drunken and bleeding.

  32. حتى اذا هتكَ الصبا

    حُ ستورَ ليلٍ داجيه

    Until, when morning rends

    the dark veils of night,

  33. ودَّعنني وتركنَني

    كالمومياء الفانيه

    they bid me farewell and leave me

    like a decaying mummy.

  34. دي حالتي مذ كان عُو

    دي كالغصون الناميَه

    This has been my state since my frame

    was like the growing branches,

  35. وأديمُ وجهي نيّرٌ

    كزلال عينٍ صافيَه

    and the skin of my face was radiant,

    like the limpid water of a clear spring.

  36. فلتظهرنَّ ليَ المحا

    سنُ والمعاني الساميَه

    Then let beauties surely appear to me,

    and lofty meanings,

  37. من مَوردٍ او معهدٍ

    أو أغيدٍ أو غاديَه

    from a watering-place or a familiar haunt,

    or a graceful youth or a woman out in the morning,

  38. من كلّ ما تحت الأثير

    وفي السماءِ الصاحيَه

    from all that lies beneath the ether

    and in the clear sky,

  39. من كلّ ما لهجَت بهِ

    أممٌ مضت ام باقيَه

    from all that has been spoken of

    by nations gone by or still remaining,

  40. اما العشيَّة خفيةً

    اما الغداة علانيَه

    either at evening, secretly,

    or at morning, openly.

  41. فتعادُ من قبل الصبا

    ح الى ذويها راضيه

    Then they are returned before morning

    to their owners, content,

  42. تُكسى بما نسج النهى

    حلل التخيُّل زاهيَه

    clothed in what reason has woven:

    the resplendent robes of imagination.

  43. أبداً تدوم جديدةً

    هيهات تُنظَرُ باليَه

    Forever they remain new;

    never shall they be seen threadbare.

  44. اما انا فرسومُ جس

    مي عن قريبٍ عافيَه

    As for me, the traces of my body

    will soon fade away.

  45. ما حيلتي أن لم يخلِّ

    الشعرُ عنديَ عافيَه

    What remedy have I, when I am left

    by poetry with no health?