عفت الزَمان وَذبت في تَحليله

عفت الزَمان وَذبت في تَحليله

ماذا أَراكَ تجد في تحصيله

ماذا أَراكَ تجد في تحصيله

You loathed time and melted away in analyzing it.

Time has become virtuous while dissolving in it

What do I see you gain from understanding it?

What do I see you finding in acquiring it?

وَالناقِمون عَلى الحَياة وَشؤمها

وَالناقِمون عَلى الحَياة وَشؤمها

كل تاسف عَن ضياع عويله

كل تاسف عَن ضياع عويله

And those who resent life and its ill fortune—

And those resentful of life and its misfortune

Each lamented the waste of his wailing.

All regret over the loss of its wailing

كَم ذللوا منها الاقل قساوة

كَم ذللوا منها الاقل قساوة

حيا فَلَم يقووا عَلى تَذليله

حيا فَلَم يقووا عَلى تَذليله

How often they subdued what was least harsh in it,

How much they made easier the least harshness of it

Alive—yet they lacked the strength to subdue it.

They lived yet they did not have the strength for taming it

هم عللوا ذاك الخفوق بضعفهم

هم عللوا ذاك الخفوق بضعفهم

اما القوى فحار في تَعليله

اما القوى فحار في تَعليله

They attributed that failure to their weakness;

They attributed that palpitation to their weakness

But the strong one was at a loss to explain it.

As for the strong, they were perplexed in explaining it