1. أَخَذتُ بِرأيٍ في الصبا أَنا تاركُهْ

    فلم تَرَني في مَسْلكٍ أنت سالكُه

    I adopted in youth a view that I now abandon;

    so you have not seen me on a path you follow.

  2. وإن لم أعاقرْكَ المدامَ فإنّني

    حَقَنْتُ دمَ الزِّقّ الذي أنت سافِكُه

    And if I have not drunk wine with you, I have

    spared the blood of the wineskin that you spill.

  3. وإنَّ رَزايا العُمرِ مِنْهُنّ مركبي

    ثقالٌ بأعطانِ المنايا مَبارِكُه

    And life's calamities—my mount is one of them—

    are heavy; its kneeling-places lie at death's watering grounds.

  4. دُفِعْتُ ولم أمْلِكْ دفاعَ مُلِمّةٍ

    إلى زَمَنٍ في كُلِّ حينٍ أُعاركُه

    I was thrust, powerless to ward off a calamity,

    into an age I wrestle with at every moment,

  5. وجيشِ خطوب زاحمٍ كلّ ساعةٍ

    فما أنْفُسُ الأحياءِ إلّا هوالكُه

    and an army of afflictions pressing in at every hour:

    the souls of the living are nothing but its casualties.

  6. كأنّ البروقَ الخاطفاتِ بُرُوقُهُ

    وَزُهْرُ النجومِ اللائحاتِ نَيازِكُه

    As though the darting lightning flashes were its flashes,

    and the bright, gleaming stars its spears.

  7. فإن تَنْجُ نفسي من كلومِ سلاحِهِ

    فَإِنَّ بِرَأسي ما أَثارَتْ سَنابِكُه

    If my soul escapes the wounds of its weapons,

    then my head bears what its hooves have stirred up.

  8. مَضَى كُلُّ عَصرٍ وهو حرْبٌ لأهْلِهِ

    وهل تَصْرَعُ الآسادَ إلّا مَعارِكُه

    Every age has passed at war with its people;

    and what but its battles can lay lions low?

  9. بِرَغمي وَما في الحُبِّ بِالرغمِ لذَّةٌ

    أُحِبّ مشيبي والغواني فَوَارِكُهْ

    Against my will—and unwilling love holds no pleasure—

    I love my gray hair, while beautiful women loathe it,

  10. مُغَيّرُ حسني عن جميل رُوائِهِ

    وَمُوهِنُ جسمي بالليالي وناهِكُه

    altering the fair appearance of my beauty,

    and weakening my body through the nights, wearing it down.

  11. رَأَتْني سُلَيمَى والقذالُ كأنّما

    تَنَفّسَ فيه الصبحُ فابيَضَّ حالِكُه

    Sulayma saw me, the back of my head as though

    dawn had breathed within it, so its darkness turned white,

  12. كما نَظَرَتْ سلمى إلى رأس دعبلٍ

    وقد عَجِبَتْ والشيبُ يُبكيه ضاحِكُه

    as Salma looked at Diʿbil's head,

    and marveled, while his gray hair's laughing gleam made him weep.

  13. فتاةٌ أرَى طرفي لِطرفيَ حاسِداً

    يغايِرُهُ في حُسنِها وَيُماحِكُه

    A maiden: I see one eye of mine envying the other,

    vying with it over her beauty and quarreling with it.

  14. عَلى وَصلِها سِترٌ فَمَن لي بِهَتكِهِ

    إِذا ما مَضى عَنّي منَ العمرِ هاتِكُه

    A veil covers union with her; who will rend it for me

    when the part of life that rends it has passed away from me?

  15. شبابٌ له القِدْحُ المُعَلّى من الهوى

    وما شِئتَ من رقّ الدّمى فَهوَ مالِكُه

    Youth, which holds love's highest winning arrow,

    and whatever servitude you wish from doll-like beauties, it commands.

  16. كَأَنِّيَ لم يُؤنِسْ منَ السربِ وَحشَتي

    مُشَنَّفُ أُذْنٍ فاتِرُ اللَّحظِ فاتِكُه

    As though my loneliness had never been soothed, from among the herd,

    by one with an earring-adorned ear and a languid, deadly glance—

  17. غَزالٌ تَراني ناصِباً من تَغَزّلي

    له شَرَكاً في كلّ حالٍ يُشارِكُه

    a gazelle: you see me fashioning, from my love verse,

    a snare for it that accompanies it in every state.

  18. وصادٍ إلى ريّ الكؤوسِ غَمَرْتُهُ

    بِعارِضِها والغيثُ دَرّتْ حواشِكُه

    And a thirsty one, yearning for the cups' refreshment, I drenched

    with their rain cloud, while the rain's swollen clouds poured.

  19. وَقُلتُ اغتَبِقْ مِن دَنِّها صرفَ قَهوةٍ

    إلى قَدَحِ الندمانِ تفضي سَوالِكُه

    And said, 'Drink pure wine at evening from its jar,

    whose channels lead into the drinking companion's cup.'

  20. وَيَمنَعُها مِن أَنْ تَطيرَ لَطافَةً

    حَبابٌ عَلَيها دائِراتٌ شَبائِكُه

    And what keeps it from taking flight from sheer lightness

    is foam upon it, whose meshes form circles.

  21. عَلى زَهْرِ رَوْضٍ ناضِرٍ تَحسبُ الرّبى

    مُلوكاً عَلَى الأَجسامِ مِنهُم دَرانِكُه

    Among the flowers of a lush garden, you would take the hills

    for kings, its tufted robes draped upon their bodies.

  22. وَباتَ لجينُ الماء بالقرِّ جامداً

    لنا ونُضارُ البرق ذابتْ سبائِكُه

    And the water's silver lay frozen overnight in the cold

    for us, while the ingots of lightning's gold melted.

  23. أَذلِكَ خَيرٌ أَم تَعَسُّفُ سَبسَبٍ

    يُعَقِّلُ أَخفافَ النّجائبِ عاتِكُه

    Is that better, or forcing one's way across a desert plain

    whose piled-up sand hobbles the padded feet of noble camels?

  24. وَإِن جَنّ لَيلٌ أقبَلَتْ نَحوَ سَفْرِهِ

    مُجَلَّحَةً أغوالُهُ وصعالِكُه

    And if night falls, toward its travelers come

    its ghouls and brigands, charging boldly.

  25. مهالكُهُ بالفألِ تُسمى مَفاوزاً

    وما الفوزُ إلا أن تُخاضَ مهالِكُه

    Its deadly wastes are called 'places of deliverance,' for good omen,

    yet deliverance comes only by crossing its deadly wastes,

  26. بِمُعطٍ غَداةَ السيرِ ظَهرَ حَنِيّةٍ

    بَنَيتُ عَلَيها الكورَ فانْهَدَّ تامِكُه

    on a mount offering a bow-shaped back at morning departure;

    I built the saddle upon it, and its lofty part collapsed.

  27. أَلائِمَتي إِنَّ التجمُّلَ جَندلٌ

    صَليبٌ وَإنّي بالتَّجَلُّدِ لائِكُه

    O woman who reproaches me, dignified composure is a stone,

    hard and unyielding; with fortitude I chew it.

  28. أَرى طَرَفاً لي من لِسانِكَ جارِحاً

    وفي طَرَفِ السيفِ المهَنَّد باتِكُه

    I see the edge of your tongue wounding me,

    and in the edge of the Indian-steel sword lies its cutting power.

  29. تُريدينَ مِنِّي جمع مالي وَمَنْعَهُ

    وهل ليَ بعدَ الموتِ ما أنا مالِكُه

    You want me to gather my wealth and withhold it;

    and will what I own be mine after death?

  30. إِذا أَدرَكَت خِلّاً مِنَ الدهرِ فاقَةٌ

    فما بال جَدْوَى راحتي لا تُدارِكُه

    If hardship from time overtakes a friend,

    then why should my palm's bounty not come to his aid?