Sol 6.1

  1. نَيْلُ المَطالِبِ بِالهِنْدِيَّةِ البُتُرِ

    لا بِالأَماني والتَّأْميل لِلْقَدَرِ

    Goals are attained with keen-cutting Indian swords,

    not through wishes and hopeful reliance on fate.

  2. فَإِنْ عَفا طَلَلٌ أَوْ بَادَ ساكِنُهُ

    فَلا تَقِفْ فيهِ بَيْنَ البَثِّ والفِكَرِ

    So if a ruined dwelling has faded, or its inhabitant has perished,

    do not stand there amid sorrow and brooding.

  3. في شَمِّكَ المِسْكَ شُغُلٌ عَنْ مَذاقَتِهِ

    وفي سَنا الشَّمْسِ ما يُغْني عَنْ القَمَرِ

    Smelling musk occupies you away from tasting it,

    and the sun's radiance gives enough to dispense with the moon.

  4. لو لَمْ أَكُنْ مُشْبِهاً لِلنّاسِ في خُلُقي

    لَقُلْتُ إِنّي مِنْ جيلٍ سِوى البَّشَرِ

    Had I not resembled other people in my character,

    I would have said I belonged to a race other than humankind.

  5. أو لَمْ يَكُنْ ماءُ عِلْمي قاهِراً فِكْري

    لأَحْرَقَتْني في نيرانِها فِكَري

    Or, had the water of my knowledge not subdued my thought,

    my thoughts would have burned me in their fires.

  6. تَزيدُني قَسْوَةُ الأَيّامِ طِيبَ ثَناً

    كَأَنَّني المِسْكُ بَيْنَ الفِهْرِ والحَجَرِ

    The harshness of the days makes my praise more fragrant,

    as though I were musk between the pestle and the stone.

  7. أَلفتُ مِنْ حادِثاتِ الدَّهْرِ أَكْبَرها

    فَما أَعوج عَلى أَطْفالها الأُخَرِ

    I have grown accustomed to the greatest of time's calamities,

    so I do not pause over their other little offspring.

  8. لاشَيْءَ أَعْجَبُ عِنْدي في تَباينِهِ

    إِذا تَأَمَّلْتُهُ مِنْ هَذِهِ الصُّوَرِ

    Nothing seems stranger to me in its incongruity,

    when I contemplate it, than these figures:

  9. أَرى ثِياباً وفي أَثْنائها بَقَرٌ

    بِلا قُرونٍ وذا عَيْبٌ عَلى البَقَرِ

    I see clothes, and within their folds are cattle

    without horns—and that is a defect in cattle.

  10. قالَتْ رَقَدْتَ فقلت الهَمُّ أَرْقَدَني

    والهَمُّ يمنع أَحياناً مِنَ السَّهَرِ

    She said, 'You slept.' I answered, 'Care put me to sleep,'

    for care sometimes prevents wakefulness.

  11. كَمْ قد وَقَعْتُ وُقوعَ الطَّيْرِ في شَرَكٍ

    فَضَعْضَعَتْ مُنَّتي مِنْهُ قوى المِرَرِ

    How often I have fallen like a bird into a snare,

    and my strength has broken the strength of its twisted cords.

  12. أَصْفو وأَكْدَرُ أَحْياناً لمختبري

    ولَيْسَ مُسْتَحْسَناً صَفْوٌ بِلا كَدَرِ

    Sometimes I am clear, sometimes turbid, to whoever tests me;

    clarity without turbidity is not considered admirable.

  13. إِنّي لأَسْيَرُ في الآَفاقِ مِنْ مَثَلٍ

    سارٍ وأَمْلأُ لِلأَبْصارِ مِنْ قَمَرِ

    I range farther across the horizons than a proverb

    in circulation, and fill the eyes more than a moon.

  14. إِذا تَشَكَّكْتَ فيما أَنْتَ مُبْصِرُهُ

    فَلا تَقُلْ إِنَّني في النّاس ذو بَصَرِ

    If you doubt what you are seeing,

    do not say, 'Among people, I possess sight.'

  15. وكَيْفَ يَفْرَحُ إِنْسانٌ بغرّته

    إِذا نَضاها فَلَمْ تصْدِقْهُ في النَّظَرِ

    And how can a person rejoice in his radiant brow

    if, when he bares it, it proves false to his gaze?

  16. لَقَدْ فَرِحْتُ بِما عَانَيْتُ مِنْ عُدُمٍ

    خوف القَبيحَيْنِ مِنْ كِبر ومِنْ بَطَرِ

    Indeed, I have rejoiced in the poverty I endured,

    fearing the two ugly traits: arrogance and insolence.

  17. ورُبَّما ابْتَهَجَ الأَعْمى بِحالَتِهِ

    لأَنَّهُ قَدْ نَجا مِنْ طِيَرَةِ العَوَرِ

    A blind man may rejoice in his condition,

    because he has escaped the ill omen of one-eyedness.

  18. ولَسَتُ أَبْكي لِشَيْبٍ قَدْ مُنيتُ بِهِ

    يَبْكي عَلى الشَّيْبِ مِنْ يَأْسى عَلى العُمُرِ

    And I do not weep over the gray hair with which I have been afflicted;

    those who grieve over their lifetime weep over gray hair.

  19. كُنْ مِنْ صَديقِكَ لا مِنْ غَيْرِهِ حَذِراً

    إِنْ كانَ يُنْجيكَ مِنْهُ شِدَّةَ الحَذَرِ

    Be wary of your friend, rather than anyone else,

    if the utmost caution can save you from him.

  20. ما أَطْمَئِنُّ إِلى خَلْقٍ فَأُخْبِرُهُ

    إِلاَّ تَكَشَّفَ لي عَنْ لُؤْم مُخْتَبَرِ

    Whenever I trust a person and confide in him,

    he reveals to me a baseness exposed by experience.

  21. وقَدْ نَظَرْتُ إِلى الدُّنْيا بِمُقْلَتها

    فَاسْتَصْغَرَتْها جُفوني غايَةَ الصِّغَرِ

    I have looked at the world through its own eye,

    and my eyelids have judged it utterly small.

  22. وما شَكَرْتُ زَماني وهو يَصْعَدُ بي

    فَكَيْفَ أَشْكُرُهُ في حالِ مُنْحَدَري

    I did not thank my age when it was raising me up;

    so how can I thank it as I descend?

  23. لا عارٌ يلحقني أَنّي بِلا نَشَبٍ

    وأَيُّ عار على عَيْنٍ بِلا حَوَرِ

    No disgrace attaches to me because I possess no wealth;

    and what disgrace is there in an eye without lovely contrast?

  24. فَإِنْ بَلَغْتُ الذي أَهْوى فَعَنْ قَدَرٍ

    وإِنْ حُرِمْتُ الذي أَهْوى فَعَنْ عُذُرِ

    So if I attain what I desire, it is through destiny;

    and if I am denied what I desire, there are excusing reasons.