ما كنت أول عاشق بين الورى

تبع العشيقة من أمام ومن ورا

I was not the first lover among humankind

To follow his beloved before and behind,

ورأى البكاء له معينا شافيا

يوما ويوما أضحك المستعبرا

And find in weeping a healing helper

One day, and on another make the tearful laugh.

ويكون مصروع الغرام مزبّبا

متكسّسا مستقبلا مستدبراً

One struck down by passion may foam at the mouth,

Writhe, face forward, and turn backward,

ومحنبشا ومجّمشاً ومدهفشا

ومكنّصا ومزنجرا ومعنجرا

Gesture, fondle, and jostle,

Wriggle, clamor, and swagger,

ومرنمّا ومغنّيا ومصفّرا

ومشببا ومطبلا ومزمرا

Hum, sing, and whistle,

Sing of love, drum, and pipe;

وفيينة متثائباً متمّطيا

وفيينة متقاعسا مقعنصرا

At one moment yawn and stretch,

At another hang back and shrink away.

وإذا رأى رأيا رشيدا كان في

إبرامه مترهئا متأخرا

And when he sees a sound course, he is, in

Settling it, hesitant and slow.

فالعشق عقل العقل عن صيّوره

حتى يضل عن الصواب ويبطرا

For love has fettered reason from its proper end,

Till it strays from right judgment and runs wild.

قد كنت أعْجب أن يقولوا شاعر

ذو جِنَّة وأخال ذلك مفترى

I used to marvel when they said, “A poet

Is possessed,” and thought it an invention,

حتى لَقِيتُ صُوَيحْبيّ كليهما

فإذا هما من طينة قد صُوّرا

Until I met both my dear companions,

And found them fashioned from one clay.

خُلِق الجمال لعين صبّ جنّة

ولقلبه نارا تزيد تسعّرا

Beauty was made a paradise for a lover’s eye,

And for his heart a fire that burns ever fiercer.

لا غرو أن يغدو لحمرة وجه من

يهوى وقد حمل الغرام محمّرا

No wonder the redness of the face of the one

He loves leaves him reddened, bearing passion’s load.

يا ليت يغني المرء يوما واحدا

عنهن من شيء يباع ويشترى

Oh, that a man might be freed for one single day

From needing them, by something bought and sold!

ليت الجمال لهن مثل الملح في

قدر الطعام مهوَّعا إن كثّرا

Would that their beauty were like salt in

A cooking pot—nauseating when overdone.

بل ليتهن خلقن اقبح ما يرى

كيلا نهيم تحيّرا وتخيّرا

Rather, would that they had been made the ugliest sight,

So we would not wander in bewilderment and choice.

ليت الكواعب كن هُضْلا حبذا ال

طرطبّ مع لا يا كبادي منظرا

Would that firm-breasted girls were slack; how welcome the

Pendulous breast would look, with no “O my poor liver!”

يا ليت ذي الهيفاء درْدحة وذي ال

دهساء فَلْحَسة فيهنئنا الكرى

Oh, that this slender-waisted one were squat, and this

Dusky one ugly, so sleep might soothe us.

ليت العيون النجل ضيقة وما

في الثغر من در نظيم صُفَّرا

Would that wide eyes were narrow, and whatever

Pearls are strung within the mouth were yellowed.

يا ليت كانت كل ساق فعْمة

عود الشُكاعي بل أدق وأضمرا

Oh, that every full-fleshed leg were

A shukāʿā stalk—nay, thinner and leaner still.

يا ليت لم يَصلُت جبين فوقه

شعر كلَيْل كل غِرٍ غررا

Oh, that no broad, smooth brow appeared, with above it

Hair like night that beguiled every guileless man.

يا ليت ما في الجيد من عَنَط بدا

وقصا لأعيننا وشيّاً منكرا

Oh, that the neck’s stately length appeared

Stunted to our eyes, a repellent pattern.

والحسن أن القبح أحسن ملمحا

إذ ليس يبكي العين ما منه يُرى

The beauty is that ugliness is better to behold,

Since seeing it does not make the eye weep.

فلأيّ داعٍ كان شغل عقولنا

وقلوبنا بهوى الوثائر أكثرا

For what reason, then, are our minds

And hearts so much occupied by love of soft-fleshed women?

ولمَ اختُصصن بكل علق مضنّة

وبكل حلي فاخر دون الورى

Why were they singled out for every treasured rarity

And every splendid jewel, above all others?

وبمَ ارتفعن على الرجال تطاولاً

ولهنّ تحتُ تقدما وتأخرا

By what did they rise so haughtily above men,

Though their place is below, in advance and retreat?

والى مَ تصطبر الفحول وقد طغت

أفعالهنَّ تحيّر المتصبرا

How long will stallions endure, when beyond all bounds

Their deeds have gone, bewildering even the patient?

منا خرجن وعقلنا يخرجن إذ

يدخلن أو يخرجن سفّه من مرى

From us they came, yet drive out our reason when

They enter or leave—call whoever disputes this a fool.

ولأي شيء لم يكن قود على

من لحظها قلب المتيم قد فرى

And why is blood-retribution not exacted from

Her whose glance has torn the enslaved lover’s heart?

ولأي شيء حل رشف الريق من

ثغر الرشوف وكان ذلك مسكرا

And why is sipping saliva permitted from

The sweet-mouthed woman’s lips, when it intoxicates?

وعلى مَ تعتز الشنِاط على شج

يمسي ويصبح بالغرام محسرا

And why does the tall woman lord it over a grieving man

Who morn and eve is worn out with passion?

سلها هل التنور فار كما انبغى

في كل شهر أم تأخر اشهرا

Ask her: has the oven boiled over as it should

Each month, or has it been delayed for months?

أين المعالي والمكارم أين من

فخر الأنام بعزّه وتجبرا

Where are lofty deeds and noble virtues? Where is he who

Boasted above mankind in his might and arrogance?

يقتاده اسم الخود إن ذكرت له

طوعاً وكرها وهو يهزم عسكرا

A fair maiden’s name leads him when she is mentioned,

Willing or unwilling, though he routs an army.

وإذا تجشأ ساعة في وجهه

من أي سمّ قال أنشي عنبرا

And if a belch should come into his face

From any opening, he says, “I smell ambergris!”

ولربما عشق الكبير فجُنّ من

ريح من الحسناء تفعم منخرا

Often a great man falls in love and goes mad from

A beauty’s wind filling his nostril.

ولو ان ذا القرنين جاري كيدها

لرأى إلى قرنيه قرنا آخرا

Had Dhū al-Qarnayn matched her cunning,

He would have found another horn beside his two.

لولا النساء لما رأيت مخطّأ

ومسفّها ومفسقا ومفجّرا

Were it not for women, you would see no one judged mistaken,

Or deemed foolish, branded wicked, or branded debauched,

ومفلسّا ومجبَّها ومُعنّنا

ومكشخنا ومجرّسا ومعزّرا

Or bankrupted, rebuffed, or made impotent,

Or cuckolded, paraded in disgrace, or chastised,

ومتيما ومهيما ومسهما

ومدّمما ومذّمما ومشّهرا

Or love-enslaved, love-maddened, or wasted away,

Or vilified, censured, or publicly shamed.

ولما تناثرت الجماجم في الوغى

تحت السنابك وهي توري المغفرا

Nor would skulls have scattered on the battlefield

Beneath hooves striking sparks from mail-helmets.

ولما عفت دول بهنّ لهَت فبي

يتها الدمار فأصبحت تحت الثرى

Nor would states that dallied with them have been effaced,

Destruction striking them by night, leaving them beneath the earth.

أمْلت عليّ حوادث الأمم التي

غبرت فقلت مقال من قد حرّرا

The fortunes of nations dictated to me, nations that

Have passed away; so I spoke as one who had examined them.

يا رب قد فتن النساء عقولنا

فامسح محاسنهن قبحا يزدرى

O Lord, women have bewitched our minds;

Efface their charms with despised ugliness.

أو فاجعلن غشاوة تغشى على

أبصارنا أوْ لا فأعم المُبصِرا

Or lay a veil that falls upon

Our eyes—or else blind whoever sees.

أو فانصُنا أو فابصُنا أو فالصِنا

أو فاخصِنا طبعا بصاء بالحرى

Or geld us, or castrate us, or unman us,

Or make us eunuchs by nature—castration, rather!