لَو أَنَّ داراً أَخبَرَت عَن ناسِها

لَسَأَلتُ رامَةَ عَنِ ظِباءِ كِناسِها

If a house could speak of its dwellers

I would ask Damascus about the gazelles of its meadows

بَل كَيفَ تَسألُ دِمنَةً ما عِندَها

عِلمٌ بِوَحشَتِها وَلا إِيناسِها

But how can you ask a ruined abode which knows nothing

Of its desolation or its friendliness?

مَمحُوَّةُ العَرَصاتِ يَشغَلُها البِلى

عَن ساحِباتِ الرَيطِ فَوقَ دِهاسِها

Obliterated traces whose builder is wear

Unmindful of the processions of maidens above its terraces

بِيضٌ إِذا اِنضاعَ النَسِيمُ مِنَ الصَبا

خِلناهُ ما يَنضاعُ مِن أَنفاسِها

White, when the breeze from the north blows

We discern it not, like its own sighs

يا صاحِبَيَّ سَقى مَنازِلَ جِلَّقٍ

غَيثٌ يُرَوِّي مُمحِلاتِ طِساسِها

O my companion, a shower has watered the dwellings of Julak

A rain satisfying the cisterns of its scattered houses

فَرِواقَ جامِعِها فَبابَ بَرِيدِها

فَمَشارِبَ القَنَواتِ مِن باناسِها

The porticoes of its mosque, the gate of its post

The watering places of its channels and its creeks

فَلَقَد قَطَعتُ بِها زَماناً لِلصِبا

وَاللَهوُ مُخضَرٌّ كَخُضرَةِ آسِها

Indeed I spent with it a period of youth

When sport was verdant like the greenness of its general area

قَبلَ النَوى وَسِهامُهُ مَشغُولَةُ ال

أَفواقِ لَم تَبلُغ إِلى بِرجاسِها

Before determination and its penetrating arrows

Had reached its targets, not attaining its battlements

مَن لِي بِرَدِّ شَبَيبَةٍ قَضَّيتُها

فِيها وَفِي حِمصٍ وَفِي مِيماسِها

Who will restore to me the invigoration of youth I enjoyed

In it, in Hims, and in its Mimas?

وَزَمانِ لَهوٍ بِالمَعَرَّةِ مُونَقٍ

بِسِيائِها وَبِجانِبَي هِرماسِها

And days of sport on the Ma'arrah plain, flourishing

In its beauty and beside its sloping hillsides,

أَيّامَ قُلتُ لَذِي المَوَدَّةِ سَقِّنِي

مِن خَندَرِيسِ حُناكِها أَو حاسِها

When I said to the beloved one, "Give me to drink

Of its wine or its cup, whether new or mellowed"

حَمراءَ تُغنِينا بِساطِعِ لَونِها

في اللَيلَةِ الظَلماءِ عَن نِبراسِها

Ruby whose bright hue in the gloomy night

Replaced for us the shining of its lantern

وَكَأَنَّما حَببُ المِزاجِ إِذا طَفا

دُرٌّ تَرَصَّعَ في جَوانِبِ طاسِها

And it was as if the redness of the wine, when it burst into foam,

Were a pearl set about the sides of its cup

رَقَّت فَما أَدرِي أَكاسُ زُجاجَها

في جِسمِها أَم جِسمُها في كاسِها

So delicate it was, I know not whether the glass of its body

Was within its substance, or its substance within its glass

وَكَأَنَّما زَرجُونَةٌ جاءَت بِها

سُقِيَت مُذابَ التِبرِ عِندَ غِراسِها

It was as if an ember had been kindled by it

Which had been fed on melted amber at its bushes

فَأَتَت مُشَعشَعَةً كَجِذوَةِ قابِسٍ

راعَت أَكُفَّ القَومِ عِندَ مَساسِها

And had come glowing like the glowing coal of a censer

It guarded the hands of the drinkers when they grasped it

لِلّهِ أَيّامُ الصِبا ونَعِيمُها

وَزَمانُ جِدَّتِها وَلِينُ مِراسِها

By God, the days of youth and its pleasures

And the time of its prime, and the gentleness of its temper!

مالي تَعيبُ البِيضُ بِيضَ مَفارِقِي

وَسَبِيلُها تَصبُو إِلى أَجناسِها

Why does the white censure me for quitting my companions

When her own nature bids her seek out her own kind?

نُورُ الصَباحِ إِذا الدُجُنَّةُ أَظلَمَت

أَبهى وَأَحسَنُ مِن دُجى أَغلاسِها

The light of dawn, when darkness is profound,

Is fairer and more beautiful than the gloom of its shadows

إِنَّ الهَوى دَنَسُ النُفُوسِ فَلَيتَني

طَهَّرتُ هَذي النَفسَ مِن أَدناسِها

Passion soils the soul; would that I had cleansed

My soul of the defilement of its dregs!

وَمَطامِعُ الدُنيا تُذِلُّ وَلا أَرى

شَيئاً أَعَزَّ لِمُهجَةٍ مِن ياسِها

And worldly ambition abases, while nothing, I believe,

Is nobler for the grieved heart than renunciation

مَن عَفَّ لَم يُذمَم وَمَن تَبِعَ الخَنا

لَم تُخلِهِ التبعاتُ مِن أَوكاسِها

Whoso is chaste will not be censured, and whoso follows evil

Will not be left by its consequences without protectors

زَيِّن خِصالَكَ بِالسَماحِ وَلا تُرِد

دُنيا تَراكَ وَأَنتَ بَعضُ خِساسِها

Adorn your qualities with liberality, and do not reject

A world which regards you as the meanest of its chattels

وَمَتى رَأَيتَ يَدَ امرِئٍ مَمدُودَةً

تَبغِي مُواساةَ الكَريمِ فواسِها

And when you see the hand of a man extended

To gain the generous man's support, assist it

خَيرُ الأَكُفِّ السابِقاتِ بِجُودِها

كَفٌّ تَجُودُ عَلَيكَ في إِفلاسِها

The best of hands are those which precede in generosity

A hand which bestows upon you in its own poverty

أَمّا نِزارُ فَكُلَّها لَكَريمَةٌ

لَكِنَّ أَكرَمَها بَنُو مِرداسِها

As for Nizār, they are all generous, but the most generous

Were the children of its Mirdas in former times