1. أسفاً لقد ولى الشباب ولم أفد

    منه سوى حرقٍ تطيل عذابي

    Alas! Youth has passed, and I gained nothing

    from it but burning pangs that prolong my torment.

  2. انفقت أيامي بوهمٍ باطل

    ما بين تفكير وبين كتاب

    I spent my days in a vain illusion,

    between reflection and a book.

  3. ولو أنني انصفت كان هوى المها

    قصدي وكان الحسن كلّ طلابي

    And had I done myself justice, love of oryx-like beauties would have been

    my aim, and beauty all I sought.

  4. كم لذة عرضت وكنت بجنبها أحرى

    ولكن قد أضعت صوابي

    How many a pleasure offered itself, and I beside it was more deserving of it,

    but I had lost my good judgment.

  5. كم فرصة سنحت باغيد فاتن

    يسبي العقول بحسنه الخلاب

    How many a chance arose with a graceful, alluring youth,

    who captivated minds with his bewitching beauty.

  6. أعرضت عنه تعففا وبمهجتي

    ظمأ إلى قبل ورشف رضاب

    I turned away from him out of chastity, while in my heart

    was a thirst for kisses and sips of saliva.

  7. وجعلت صدري مدفنا لنوازعي

    إذ كان غضا في الزمان أهابي

    And I made my breast a tomb for my impulses,

    when my skin was still fresh in those days.

  8. فهرمت قبل الشيب وانحلت قوى

    جسدي ببرح الهمّ والأوصاب

    So I aged before my hair grayed, and the vigor ebbed

    from my body through the ravages of worry and ailments.

  9. وندمت حين أضعت ايام الصبا

    وأضعت فيها لذتي ورغابي

    And I regretted it once I had squandered the days of youth,

    and squandered in them my pleasure and desires.

  10. واليوم صرت إذا ادّكرتُ وراجعَت

    قلبي بقية فتنةٍ وتصابي

    And now I find myself, whenever I remember and there returns

    to my heart some remnant of enchantment and youthful dalliance,

  11. أبكي على الماضي واندبُ عهده

    وأغص من فرط الأسبى بشرابي

    weeping for the past and lamenting its days,

    and choking on my drink from overwhelming sorrow.

  12. إني كراهب معبد متبتل

    سلخ الليالي خلف ومض سراب

    I am like a devout monk of a temple,

    who spent his nights pursuing a mirage's gleam,

  13. حتى إذا عرضت له تاييس في

    حللٍ الجمال وفتنة الأهداب

    until, when Thais appeared before him in

    the robes of beauty and the enchantment of eyelashes,

  14. هجر الصلاة وديرَه وموحَه

    وأملّه الترتيل في المحراب

    he forsook prayer, his monastery, and his haircloth robes (probable reading),

    and chanting in the sanctuary wearied him.

  15. ناداه داعي القلب بعد تزهد

    وتقشف طمعا بحسن مآب

    The heart's herald called him after renunciation

    and austerity, practiced in hope of a good final abode.

  16. ظمىء السنين فجاء ينقع غلّه

    لكنه لم يلق غير تباب

    He thirsted for years, then came to quench his burning thirst,

    but he found nothing but ruin.

  17. هذا مصير الثائرين وهذه

    نظم الحياة وسنة الاحقاب

    This is the fate of rebels, and these

    are the laws of life and the way of the ages.