1. غَزالٌ ماطِلٌ دَيني

    بِأَجزاعِ الغَديرَينِ

    A gazelle puts off paying what she owes me,

    at the bends of the two pools.

  2. رُهوني عِندَها تَغلَقُ

    بَينَ الهَجرِ وَالبَينِ

    My pledges in her keeping are forfeit

    between estrangement and parting.

  3. أَلا لا شَلَلاً يا را

    مِيَ القَلبِ بِنَصلَينِ

    Ah, may no palsy strike you, O

    shooter of the heart with two arrowheads,

  4. طَريرَينِ وَما مَرّا

    عَلى مَطرَقَةِ القَينِ

    both keen, though neither has ever come

    beneath the smith's hammer.

  5. أَلا يا نَظرَةٌ أَرسَل

    تُها بَينَ الغَبيطَينِ

    Ah, O glance I sent

    between the two camel-litters,

  6. أَسَأتِ اليَومَ لِلقَلبِ

    وَأَحسَنتِ إِلى العَينِ

    today you have done the heart harm

    and done the eye good.

  7. فَعادَ الطَرفُ بِالفَوزِ

    وَوَلّى القَلبُ بِالحَينِ

    So the eye returned with victory,

    while the heart departed with doom.

  8. فَيا لِلَّهِ كَم تُجرَ

    حُ يا قَلبِيَ مِن عَيني

    So, O God, how often you are

    wounded, O my heart, by my eye,

  9. وَمِن لَومِ الرَفيقَينِ

    وَمِن بَينِ الخَليطَينِ

    and by the reproach of the two companions,

    and by the parting of the two close companions.

  10. صَغا قَلبي إِلى الحِلمِ

    بِلا قَولِ العَذولَينِ

    My heart inclined toward sober judgment,

    without a word from the two reproachers.

  11. وَخَلَّفتُ الصِبا خَلفيَ

    مُنقادَ القَرينَينِ

    And I left youthful folly behind me,

    with both its companions subdued.

  12. وَما جُزتُ الثَلاثينَ

    بِعامٍ أَو بِعامَينِ

    Yet I have not passed thirty

    by a year or two.

  13. فَقُل لي اليَومَ ما عُذرُ

    كَ يا شَيبَ العِذارَينِ

    So tell me today: what is your excuse,

    O grayness in my two sideburns?

  14. سَلي بي جَولَةَ الخَيلِ

    وَمُلتَفَّ العَجاجَينِ

    Ask the horses' charge about me,

    and the mingling of the two dust-clouds,

  15. وَخَطّارَ القَنا وَالمَو

    تُ مَضروبُ الرِواقَينِ

    and the swaying spears, while Death

    has both its tent-canopies pitched.

  16. تَرَي عَزمِيَ مِثلَ السَي

    فِ مَشحوذَ الغِرارَينِ

    You will see my resolve like a sword,

    honed on both cutting edges.

  17. أُجَلّي النَقعَ قَد صارَ

    لِحاماً بَينَ غارَينِ

    I dispel the dust that has become

    a weld between two armies.

  18. وَأَثني سَنَنَ الخَيلِ

    بِهَبهابِ السُرى لَينِ

    And I turn the horses from their course

    with a swift, supple night-traveler,

  19. بِحَيثُ تُقَطَّعُ القُربى

    عَلى أَيدي القَريبَينِ

    where kinship is severed

    at the hands of the two kinsmen,

  20. وَيَشتَقُّ القَنا الذا

    بِلُ ما بَينَ الشَقيقَينِ

    and the slender spears cleave

    what lies between the two brothers.

  21. تَرى فيهِ القَريبَينِ

    مِنَ البَغضا قَرينَينِ

    There you see the two kinsmen

    paired in hatred.

  22. رَمَت عِندي يَدُ الدَهرِ

    بِخَطبٍ لَيسَ بِالهَينِ

    The hand of Time hurled at me

    a calamity that is no trifle.

  23. أَرى الأَيّامَ تَحدو

    نِيَ في شَرِّ الطَريقَينِ

    I see the days driving

    me along the worse of the two roads,

  24. كَما أَوضَعَ تَحتَ المَي

    سِ مَوّارُ المِلاطَينِ

    as beneath a mays-wood saddle sped

    a camel with both flanks swaying.

  25. أُزَجّي الحَظَّ كَاللاعِبِ

    زَحّافاً عَلى الأَينِ

    I nudge my fortune onward, like a player,

    making it crawl despite exhaustion,

  26. كَما زُجِّيَتِ الرَجزاءُ

    زَحفاً بِعِقالَينِ

    as a weak-kneed she-camel is urged onward,

    crawling with two hobbles.

  27. وَهَذا الدَهرُ يَثنينِ

    يَ بِاللَيانِ عَن دَيني

    And this Time turns me aside

    from the debt it owes me, by stalling,

  28. وَيَغدو ماتِحاً لِلضَ

    رِعِ الواني بِسَجلَينِ

    and goes drawing water for the feeble,

    sluggish man, using two buckets.

  29. لَهُ نَضحٌ بِرَوقَيهِ

    وَلي نَطحٌ بِرَوقَينِ

    For him, a sprinkling from its two horns;

    for me, a goring by two horns.

  30. تُرى صَرفُ المَقاديرِ

    مَتى يَصحو مِنَ الأَينِ

    I wonder: the course of destiny—

    when will it wake from weariness?

  31. وَهَيهاتَ لَقَد أَغلَ

    قَ دونَ الرِزقِ بابَينِ

    But far from it! It has already shut

    two doors barring livelihood.

  32. فَلا تَطلُب دَواءَ الحَظ

    ظِ قَد أَعيا الطَبيبَينِ

    So seek no remedy for fortune;

    it has baffled the two physicians.

  33. وَإِن عاتَبتَ هَذا الدَه

    رَ صارَ الذَنبُ ذَنبَينِ

    And if you reproach this Time,

    one offense becomes two.

  34. وَقَد طُلَّ دَمٌ تَطلُ

    بُهُ عِندَ الجَديدَينِ

    And blood has gone unavenged, though you seek

    its due from the two ever-renewed ones—night and day.