حياة المرء اشبه بالظلال

وهل ظل يكون بلا زوال

A person's life is most like shadows;

and can a shadow exist without vanishing?

وما تخفى الحقيقة غير أنا

نفر من اليقين إلى المحال

Nor is the truth hidden; it is only that we

flee from certainty to the impossible.

لنا من هذه الدنيا خدوع

تجمل وهي فاقدة الجمال

This world is a deceiver to us;

she adorns herself, though she lacks beauty.

تنغص خشية الهجران وصلا

تجود به فنشقى بالوصال

Fear of abandonment spoils a union

that she grants, so we suffer through union.

يظن سرابها الظمأن مآء

وكم غر الظماء وميض آل

The thirsty man takes her mirage for water;

how often a mirage's glimmer has deceived the thirsty!

فمن ظمآن لم ينقع غليلا

واخر غص بالماء الزلال

Thus one thirsty man has not slaked his burning thirst,

and another chokes on clear, sweet water.

وفي الأيام موعظة وذكرى

تفيد العارفين من الرجال

In the days are an admonition and a reminder

that benefit discerning men.

اهابت بالملوك فأسلمتهم

قصورهم إلى عفر الرمال

The days summoned kings, and they were surrendered

by their palaces to the dust of the sands.

وقد سلبوا نعيم العيش قسراً

فمر كانه طيف الخيال

And they were forcibly stripped of life's delights,

which passed like a phantom vision.

وما ردت حمام الموت عنهم

شفار البيض والسمر العوالي

Nor was death's doom turned away from them

by the edges of bright swords and tall, dusky spears.

متى تسأل ديار القوم عنهم

يرد لك الصدى عين السؤال

Whenever you ask the people's dwellings about them,

the echo returns to you the very question.

فتلك الألسن الماضي شباها

رمتهن المنية بالكلال

Those tongues, whose edges were keen,

death has struck them dull.

فهاهة باقل نزلت بقس

وكان يسيل سيلا بالمقال

Baqil's inarticulateness has befallen Quss,

though his speech once flowed in torrents.

أأرباب اللسان لأي أمر

تخليتم عن السحر الحلال

O masters of speech, for what reason

have you abandoned lawful magic?

على ان ليس يعجزكم بيان

إذا حدثتم بلسان حال

Yet eloquence is not beyond you

when you speak in the language of your condition.

وعظتم غير أنا قد لهونا

فلم يخطر لكم وعظ ببال

You admonished us, but we were heedless,

so no admonition of yours entered our minds.

نغالي بالنفوس وتعترينا

منايانا فترخص كل غال

We prize our lives dearly, yet we are overtaken

by our deaths, and all that is precious turns cheap.

نجهز بالرجاء وبالأماني

جيوشا غير صادقة النضال

With hope and wishes we equip

armies unreliable in battle.

وكيف يفوز للامال جيش

تطارده فتهزمه الليالي

And how can an army of hopes prevail

when the nights pursue it and defeat it?

فكم فجعت محبا في حبيب

ففارقه كئيباً غير سال

How often have they bereaved a lover of a beloved,

so he parted from his beloved, sorrowful and unable to forget.

له من لاعج التذكار قلب

لنيران الأسى والحزن صال

His heart, through remembrance's searing pain,

burns in the fires of sorrow and grief.

كان دموعه لما استقلت

ظعون الحي منهل العزالي

His tears seemed, when there departed

the tribe's caravans, a torrent from waterskin-spouts.

يطالع طرفه زهر الدراري

كان من الغرام بها امالي

His gaze reads the bright, shining stars,

as though they held discourses on passionate love.

يؤرقه الوميض إذا تجلى

سنا برق بذي سلم وضال

The flash keeps him sleepless when there appears

the gleam of lightning at Dhu Salam, amid wild lote trees.

وتصبيه منازل آل ليلى

إذا لاحت منازلها الخوالي

And the dwellings of Layla's family stir his longing

whenever her deserted dwellings come into sight.

نعم كل اجتماع لافتراق

وغاية كل وصل لانفصالا

Yes, every meeting is destined for parting,

and every union ends in separation.

رمى أم البنين الزهر خطب

يعز على المكارم والمعالي

A calamity struck Umm al-Banin, mother of radiant sons,

that noble virtues and lofty honors can scarcely bear.

محجبة تمثل من حجاها

وستر عفافها اسنى مثال

Veiled, she embodied through her wisdom

and her chastity's veil the most radiant example.

تضمنت الخدور لها المزايا

فاضحت وهي اصداف اللئالي

The secluded chambers held her virtues,

and so became shells enclosing pearls.

تحلت بالفخار فما عليها

إذا عطلت وجيد الفخر حال

She adorned herself with honor; what harm, then,

if she lacked jewels, while honor's neck was adorned?

نقي جيبها ارج شذاها

بطيب شذا المحامد لا الغوالي

Pure is her bosom, fragrant her scent,

with the sweet aroma of virtues, not costly perfumes.

ولولا الفضل ما كانت لتحظى

بمدح ذوي الحجى ذات الحجال

Were it not for virtue, she would not have won

the praise of the wise, this lady of curtained chambers.

ولكن الفضيلة ذات شأن

سواء في النساء وفي الرجال

But virtue holds distinction,

equally in women and in men.

كريمة معشر ولدت كراما

هم للمكرمات اعز ال

A noblewoman of her clan, she bore noble sons;

they are the most honored family in noble deeds.

وكلهم جدير ان يردى

بأردية السيادة والجلال

Each is worthy to be robed

in the garments of lordship and majesty.

وابلج يستخف ندى يديه

نطاف المزن والسحب الثقال

And a radiant man, whose hands' bounty makes light of

the drops of rain clouds and heavy-laden clouds.

يحيى وفده طلق المحيا

مصون المجد ذا وفر مذال

He greets his guests with a cheerful face,

his honor inviolate, his plentiful wealth freely shared.

ثمال المرتجي يأوي إليه

إذا يأس الرجاء من الثمال

A refuge for the hopeful, who seek shelter with him

when hope itself has despaired of refuge.

وفي السنة الجماد له يمين

تجير المجدبين على الشمال

And in a barren year, his right hand

protects the drought-stricken from the north wind.

تسد على النقيصة كل نهج

نقيبته فتسمو بالكمال

Every path to a failing is barred

by his character, which soars in perfection.

تلم به النوائب لا المت

بساحة لا الجزوع ولا المبالي

Calamities befall him—may they never befall

the courtyard of one neither fretful nor concerned.

فليس يعد في الأيام رزء

وحاشاه سوى رزء المعالي

For no loss in time is counted a true loss

but a loss to lofty honor—may he be spared.

نماه كل ابلج من قريش

يضيء هداه داجية الضلال

He descends from every radiant forebear of Quraysh,

whose guidance lights the darkness of error.

كأن جبينه والخطب داج

عمود الصبح أو قوس الهلال

As though his brow, while calamity is dark,

were dawn's pillar or the crescent moon's bow.

من النفر الألى رفعو مناراً

من الايمان ساطعة الذبال

He is of those men who raised a beacon

of faith, with blazing wicks.

فهم سلكوا بنا نهج المساعي

وهم سنوا لنا كرم الفعال

They led us along the path of striving,

and established for us the tradition of noble deeds.

اخذنا الصبر عنهم في الرزايا

وان يك صبرهم صعب المنال

We learned from them patience in calamities,

though their patience is hard to attain.

فيا خير الفروع الست أولى

بما شرع الأصول من الخصال

Then, O finest of branches, are you not most worthy

of the virtues that the roots laid down?

قتلت حوادث الدهر اختبارا

فما تلقى الحوادث باحتفال

You have mastered time's calamities through experience,

so you meet calamities without great concern.

وعزمك دونه البيض المواضي

وحلمك دونه شم الجبال

Your resolve surpasses the keen, bright swords,

and your forbearance towers above the lofty mountains.

تعز ففي عزاء الله روح

وفوز بالجزيل من النوال

Take comfort: in God's consolation is relief,

and the attainment of abundant bounty.

وكل رزية جلل إذا ما

بقيت لنا بسعد واقتبال

And every calamity is slight, if only

you remain with us in good fortune and prosperity.