1. أَلَم تَسألِ الطّلَلَ الدّارسا

    وكنتَ به واقفاً حابسا

    Did you not question the effaced ruin,

    while you stood there, lingering?

  2. وَقَد كانَ عَهدي به ضاحكاً

    فَكَيفَ اِستَحال بِلىً عابسا

    And I had known it smiling;

    so how did it turn into frowning decay?

  3. وَما لَكَ مستوحشاً وسْطَهُ

    وَما كنتَ إلّا به آنسا

    And why are you lonely in its midst,

    when you felt at ease nowhere but there?

  4. وَمِن أَجلِ أنّك أنكرتَهُ

    بِعَينك ظَلتَ له لامِسا

    And because you found it unfamiliar,

    with your eyes you kept feeling for it.

  5. وَيا لَيتَني حينَ قابلتُهُ

    دُرِستُ ولم أره دارسا

    And oh, would that, when I faced it,

    I had been effaced and had not seen it effaced.

  6. فكمْ قد رأيتُ غزالاً به

    لثوب الصِّبا والهوى لابسا

    For many a gazelle I have seen there,

    wearing the garb of youth and love.

  7. يَميسُ دلالاً وكم في الغصو

    نِ ما لستُ أرضى به مائسا

    He sways coquettishly; how many of the boughs

    fail to please me as they sway!

  8. سُقيتَ الرَّواءَ فقد طالما

    سقيتَ فروّيتَه خامسا

    May you be given quenching water, for often

    you gave drink and quenched him when parched.

  9. ولا زال مَرُّ نسيمِ الرّياحِ

    عليك كَلِيلَ الشّبا ناعسا

    And may the passing breeze of the winds always be

    over you, blunt of edge and drowsy.

  10. ولا فَرَستْكَ نيوبُ الزّمانِ

    فقد كنتَ دهراً لها فارسا

    And may the fangs of time never tear you apart,

    for long you were a knight against them.

  11. ألا أين من كنتُ أرنو إليه

    برَبْعِكَ مُرتفعاً جالسا

    Ah, where is he whom I used to gaze upon,

    seated aloft in your dwelling?

  12. وَمن كانَ عزّاً لبدرِ السّماءِ

    بأَخمصِه أبداً دائسا

    And where is he who, in glory, upon heaven’s full moon

    forever trod with the arch of his foot?

  13. تصيّدني منه بالمأثُرات

    وكنتُ على غيره شامسا

    He ensnared me with his noble deeds,

    while toward anyone else I was restive.

  14. وكان لعينِي الصّباحَ المنير

    فَقوموا اِنظُروا ليلِيَ الدّامسا

    And to my eye he was the radiant morning;

    so rise and look upon my pitch-dark night.

  15. فَأيّ فتىً لَم يَكُن في بحا

    رِ أنعُمِهِ القائمَ القامسا

    So what young man has not, in the seas

    of his bounty, stood and plunged?

  16. وَقَد كانَ غصنُ النَّقا مورِقاً

    فَأصبَحَ مِن بَعدِهِ يابسا

    And the bough of the sandhill was once leafy;

    but after him it has grown dry.

  17. وَنوءُ الرّماحِ وبيض الصّفا

    حِ عاد بنا جامداً جامسا

    And the rain of spears and white sword-blades

    has become, for us, frozen and congealed.

  18. مَضى عَجِلاً كَضياءِ الزّنا

    دِ كنتُ له قادحاً قابسا

    He passed swiftly, like the flash of fire-strikers;

    I struck sparks from him and took his fire.

  19. كأنّ لقلِبيَ منه الحريقَ

    عليه وفي عينِيَ النّاخسا

    As though my heart had, from him, a blaze

    upon it, and my eye a piercing goad.

  20. ومن عجبٍ أنّني حين خا

    ب طِبِّي وعاد به خائسا

    And strange it is that, when

    my healing failed and proved futile for him,

  21. رَحلتُ بِهِ نَحوَ دار البِلى

    جهاراً وأعطيتُه الرّامسا

    I carried him toward the abode of decay,

    openly, and handed him to the burier.

  22. فَلا سَكَنوا بَعدَهُ مَنزِلاً

    ولا شمّتوا بعده عاطسا

    Then may they inhabit no dwelling after him,

    nor bless a sneezer after him.

  23. وَلا نَبَّهوا لِنظامِ المدي

    حِ في أحدٍ بعده هاجسا

    Nor may they rouse, to compose praise,

    a thought about anyone after him.

  24. عليك السّلامُ وإنْ كنتُ مِنْ

    لقائك طول المدا آيسا

    Peace be upon you, though I remain

    forever without hope of meeting you.

  25. وخذْ من دموعِي الغِزار الّتي

    أكون بها أبداً نافسا

    And take some of my copious tears, which

    I am forever loath to spend.

  26. وقد ضاع بعدك من ذدت عنه

    طويلاً وكنتَ له حارسا

    And lost after you is the one you defended

    for so long, and for whom you stood guard.

  27. فَبَيني وَبينَ خُطوبِ الزّمان

    حروبٌ ذكرتُ لها داحسا

    So between me and the calamities of time

    are wars that brought Dāḥis to mind.

  28. وَلَولا جُنونُ مقاديرِهِ

    لما سبق الرّاجلُ الفارسا

    And were it not for the madness of its decrees,

    the man on foot would not have outstripped the horseman.

  29. وَلا كانَ هادِم ما يبتنيه

    وقالعُ أغراسهِ غارسا

    Nor would one who demolishes what he builds

    and uproots his plantings be a planter.

  30. سَقاني وَيا ليت لَم يسقِنِي

    نَعمياً تَراني له قالسا

    It gave me a draught—oh, would that it had not—

    of bliss that you see me spewing back.

  31. وَأَسمَعني وَكَسا أعظُمِي

    وَعادَ لَها عارقاً ناهسا

    And it made me hear, and clothed my bones,

    then returned to strip their flesh and gnaw them.