1. حال يَقِلُّ لمثلها

    حلَّ العقابُ بأهلها

    A plight—too little for its like

    is the punishment that has befallen its people;

  2. ومصيبة عظمت علي

    ي فما أقوم بثقلها

    and a calamity has weighed heavily upon

    me, so I cannot bear its weight.

  3. لهفي لأيامي التي

    من غفلة لم أخلها

    Alas for my days, which

    I never kept free of heedlessness.

  4. مرّت وما حلّت لدي

    دقيقة في حلّها

    They passed, and never lingered with me

    a single moment of their stay.

  5. لم أستفق في بعضها

    حتى أصبت بكلّها

    I did not come to my senses during any of them

    until I suffered the loss of them all.

  6. لهفي على النّفس التي

    لا ترعوي عن جهلها

    Alas for the soul that

    will not turn away from its ignorance.

  7. تلهو وقوس الموت تخ

    ترم النفوس بنبلها

    It plays, while death's bow

    cuts down souls with its arrows.

  8. وكأنها قد ألحقت

    بمن انقضى من قبلها

    And it is as though it has already been joined

    to those who passed away before it.

  9. يا أيّها الخلّ المنادى

    مثله في مثلها

    O friend, whose like is called upon

    in a plight like this,

  10. أسعد أخاك بدعوة

    تسقي ثراه بوبلها

    help your brother with a prayer

    that waters his dust with its downpour.

  11. فعليه من نسج الذّنوب

    مدارعٌ لم يبلها

    For upon him, woven from sins,

    are tunics he has not worn out.

  12. والله يشهد انني

    في حيرة من أجلها

    And God bears witness that I

    am bewildered on their account.