Sol 6.1

  1. فؤاد ببحر الوجد طاف وعائم

    وجسم بسم السقم فان وعادم

    A heart afloat and swimming in the sea of longing,

    and a body, poisoned by sickness, perishing and bereft;

  2. وجفن بسيف الدمع عاد وصائل

    على صحن خدى والدموع صوارم

    and an eyelid, with tears for a sword, assailing and charging

    across the expanse of my cheek, the tears keen swords.

  3. فهل بين نار الوجد والبعد والجوى

    مقام فهل يا صاح لى أنت لائم

    Is there, amid the fire of longing, separation, and heartache,

    a resting place? Then, my friend, do you blame me?

  4. رعى الله أياما مضت ولياليا

    ثغور وفاها فى الهوى لى بواسم

    May God preserve the days and nights gone by,

    whose lips of faithfulness smiled upon me in love.

  5. يرنح غصن الانس حسن اجتماعنا

    قتسجع منه فى الهوى لى حمائم

    The beauty of our gathering sways the bough of joy,

    so from it doves coo to me in love.

  6. ومع ذا وافق الوصل بالحب مشرق

    وفجر التصابى للنوائب حاسم

    And all the while, union's horizon shines with love,

    and the dawn of youthful dalliance banishes calamities.

  7. أجر ذيول التيه فى روضة الهنا

    وأحسو كؤوس الانس والشوق ناعم

    I trail the skirts of pride through the garden of bliss,

    and sip cups of joy, while longing is gentle.

  8. تجاذبنى أهداب لهو وصبوة

    شموس فؤاد الحسن فيهن هائم

    They tug with me at the fringes of play and youthful passion—

    suns with whom Beauty's heart is infatuated:

  9. كواعب باشرن الهوى بعد خبرة

    به ورداء الطبع منهن سالم

    full-breasted maidens who embraced love after experience

    of it, the robe of their nature remaining unblemished.

  10. فكنا وذياك السرور مسامر

    لنا ولسان الوصل للهجر شاتم

    So there we were, and that joy was a companion by night

    to us, while union's tongue reviled separation.

  11. وقد حفلت بالوصل فى روضة الهوى

    ضروع الوفا والانس ضاغ وباغم

    And in the garden of love, union had filled to overflowing

    the udders of fidelity, while joy whimpered and lowed.

  12. فيا حبذا فى روضة الدهر زهرة

    قطفنا لها والدهر عن تلك نائم

    Oh, how lovely a blossom in the garden of Time,

    that we plucked while Time slept, heedless of it,

  13. الى أن دجا ليل من البؤس فانطوت

    به شمس انس بعدها القلب واجم

    until a night of misery darkened, and folded away

    within it was a sun of joy; thereafter the heart was despondent.

  14. وقابلنى صرف الزمان بعيدها

    بوجه له من كل لؤم دعائم

    And Time's vicissitudes met me soon afterward

    with a face upheld by pillars of every sort of baseness.

  15. وشن غويرات وظن بجهله

    تقوم لمثلى عند خطب مآتم

    It launched petty raids and supposed, in its ignorance,

    that at a calamity, mourning gatherings would be held for one like me.

  16. وما أن درى انى على كل حادث

    صبور وصبرى فى الملمات صارم

    Yet it did not know that, in the face of every misfortune,

    I am steadfast, and my patience amid calamities is a keen sword.

  17. وما أن ادرى انى فتاه واننى

    على كل حال للمكارم سائم

    Nor did it know that I am its man, and that I,

    in every circumstance, seek noble deeds.

  18. أروم من الأيام ما لا يرومه

    سواي وقدر المرء ما هو رائم

    I seek from the days what no one seeks

    but me; a man's worth is what he pursues.

  19. دع الدهر عنى ثم دع عنك أهله

    فما منهمو إلا مشوم وشائم

    Spare me talk of Time, then put its people out of your mind:

    for among them are only the ill-omened and bringers of ill omen.

  20. وباشر مراما هامة الشمس دونه

    وبدر الدجا ما بين كفيه خادم

    And pursue a goal beneath which lies the crown of the sun,

    while night's full moon is a servant between its hands.

  21. فعلّ زمانى ينتبه من سباته

    ويخضع لي والانف لي منه راغم

    Perhaps, then, my time will awaken from its slumber

    and submit to me, its nose pressed into the dust before me.