أو ما ترى التين في الغصون بدا

ممزق الجلد مائل العنق

And do you not see the fig appear among the boughs,

its skin split, its neck bent?

كأنه رب نعمة سلبت

أصبح بعد الجديد في خلق

As though it were a man whose prosperity was stripped away,

now in worn-out clothes after wearing new ones;

أو كأخي شرة أغيظ وقد

مزق جلباته من الحنق

or like a hot-tempered man, enraged, who has

torn his robes in fury.

مثل نهود الأبكار صورته

لو لم يناد عليه في الطرق

Its shape is like the breasts of virgins,

were it not hawked in the streets.

قد عقدته يد السموم لنا

فالوذج الدوح غير محترق

The scorching wind's hand has thickened it for us:

the spreading trees' faludhaj confection, unscorched.

فالشهد والزعفران مع عرق ال

ورد وحب الخشخاش في نشق

So honey and saffron, with distilled essence of the

rose, and poppy seeds, in a breath of fragrance.

فقم بنا نحوه نباكره

قبل جفاف الندى عن الورق

So rise and lead us toward it; let us visit it early,

before the dew dries from the leaves.

ولا تمل بي إلى سواه فلا

أميل عنه ما دمت ذا رمق

And do not turn me toward anything else, for I will not

turn away from it while a spark of life remains in me.