يا عَذارى الجمال والحُبِّ والأحلامِ

بَلْ يا بَهاءَ هذا الوُجودِ

O maidens of beauty, love, and dreams

O maidens of beauty, of love, and of dreams,

Nay, o splendor of this existence

Nay, O very splendor of this existence,

قَدْ رأيْنا الشُّعورَ مُنْسَدِلاتٍ

كلّلَتْ حُسْنَها صباحُ الورودِ

We have seen tresses cascading

We have seen the tresses flowing down,

Crowned by the morn’s bouquet

Crowned in their beauty by the morning of roses,

ورَأينا الجفونَ تَبْسِمُ أو تَحْلُمُ

بالنُّورِ بالهوى بالنّشيدِ

And we have seen eyelids smile or dream

And we saw eyelids that smile or dream

Of light, love, and song

Of light, of passion, and of song,

ورَأينا الخُدودَ ضرّجَها السِّحْرُ

فآهاً من سِحْرِ تِلْكَ الخُدودِ

And we have seen cheeks blushed by magic

And we saw cheeks flushed crimson by magic,

Ah, the spell of those cheeks

Ah, the enchantment of those very cheeks!

ورأينا الشِّفاهَ تَبْسِمُ عن دنْيا

من الوَردِ غَضّةٍ أُمْلودِ

And we have seen lips smile, revealing

And we saw lips smiling, revealing a world

A world of tender, vermillion roses

Of roses, tender and soft to the touch,

ورأينا النُّهودَ تَهْتَزُّ كالأزهارِ

في نَشْوَة الشَّبابِ السَّعيدِ

And we have seen breasts sway like flowers

And we saw bosoms trembling like flowers

In the bliss of happy youth

In the ecstasy of happy youth,

فتنةٌ توقِظُ الغَرامَ وتُذْكيهِ

ولكنْ ماذا وراءَ النُّهودِ

An allurement that awakens love and flames it

A temptation that awakens love and kindles it,

But what lies behind those breasts?

But what lies hidden beneath the breast?

مَا الَّذي خَلْفَ سِحْرِها الحالمِ السَّكرانِ

في ذلك القرار البعيدِ

What is there, behind her dreamy, drunk magic

What lies behind that dreaming, drunken charm,

In that distant hearth?

In those depths so far away?

أنُفوسٌ جميلةٌ كطيورِ الغابِ

تَشْدو بِساحِرِ التَغْريدِ

Beautiful souls like forest birds

Are they beautiful souls like birds of the forest,

Sing with enchanting melody

That sing with magical melodies?

طاهراتٌ كأنَّها أرَجُ الأزهارِ

في مَوْلدِ الرَّبيعِ الجَديدِ

Pure like the most fragrant flowers

Pure as the fragrance of blossoms

In the springtime just born

At the birth of a new spring?

وقلوبٌ مضيئةٌ كنُجومِ اللّيلِ

ضَوّاعَةٌ كَغَضِّ الوُرودِ

And shining hearts like night stars

And hearts luminous as the stars of the night,

Fluttering like tender petals

Fragrant as fresh roses?

أو ظَلامٌ كأنَّهُ قِطَعُ اللّيلِ

وهَوْلٌ يُشيبُ قلبَ الوليدِ

Or darkness as if pieces of the night

Or is it darkness, like fragments of the night,

And terror that makes a babe gray haired

And a terror that turns the infant's heart gray?

وخِضَمُّ يَموج بالإثمِ والنَّكْرِ

والشَّرِّ والظِّلالِ المَديدِ

And a tumult surging with sin, loathing

A vast ocean surging with sin and vice,

Evil, and lingering shadows

With evil and far-reaching shadows?

لستُ أدري فرُبَّ زهرٍ شديِّ

قاتلٌ رُغْمَ حُسْنِهِ المَشْهودِ

I do not know, for many a fragrant bloom

I do not know; for often a fragrant flower

Though fair, is lethal poison

Is deadly, despite its witnessed beauty.

صانَكُنَّ الإلهُ من ظُلْمةِ الرُّوحِ

ومن ضَلّة الضّميرِ المُريدِ

May God protect you from the soul’s darkness

May God protect you from the darkness of the soul,

And from the conscience’s deviance

And from the straying of the willful conscience.

إنَّ لَيلَ النُّفوسِ ليلٌ مريعٌ

سَرْمَديُّ الأسى شنيعُ الخُلودِ

The night of souls is a dreadful night

For the night of the soul is a dreadful night,

Eternally sorrowful, vilely immortal

Eternal in sorrow, hideous in its endlessness.

يرزَحُ القَلْبُ فيه بالألَم المرّ

ويَشقى بعيشِهِ المَنْكودِ

The heart writhing with bitter pain

In it, the heart buckles under bitter pain,

And a wretched life of gloom

And suffers a miserable existence.

ورَبيعُ الشَّبابِ يُذبِلُهُ الدّهْرُ

ويمضي بِحُسِنهِ المَعْبودِ

And the springtime of youth is worn by time

The spring of youth is withered by Time,

And its worshipped beauty passes

And passes away with its worshipped beauty;

غيرُ باقٍ في الكونِ إلاَّ جمالُ

الرُّوح غضًّا على الزَّمانِ الأبيدِ

Naught lasts in existence but the beauty

Naught remains in the universe save the beauty

Of the soul, forever young beyond all ages

Of the spirit, fresh against the eternal span.