1. ناشِئٌ في الوَردِ مِن أَيّامِهِ

    حَسبُهُ اللَهُ أَبِالوَردِ عَثَر

    A youth amid the roses of his days;

    God suffice him—did he stumble over roses?

  2. سَدَّدَ السَهمَ إِلى صَدرِ الصِبا

    وَرَماهُ في حَواشيهِ الغُرَر

    He aimed the arrow at youth's breast

    and shot it into its radiant fringes,

  3. بِيَدٍ لا تَعرِفُ الشَرَّ وَلا

    صَلَحَت إِلّا لِتَلهو بِالأُكَر

    with a hand that knew no evil, and was never

    fit for anything but playing with balls.

  4. بُسِطَت لِلسُمِّ وَالحَبلِ وَما

    بُسِطَت لِلكَأسِ يَوماً وَالوَتَر

    It was outstretched for poison and the rope, but never

    outstretched for the cup or the musical string, even once.

  5. غَفَرَ اللَهُ لَهُ ما ضَرَّهُ

    لَو قَضى مِن لَذَّةِ العَيشِ الوَطَر

    May God forgive him! What harm would it have done him

    had he fulfilled his longing for life's pleasures?

  6. لَم يُمَتَّع مِن صِبا أَيّامِهِ

    وَلَياليهِ أَصيلٌ وَسَحَر

    He was granted no enjoyment of his youthful days

    and nights—not an evening, not a predawn hour.

  7. يَتَمَنّى الشَيخُ مِنهُ ساعَةً

    بِحِجابِ السَمعِ أَو نورِ البَصَر

    An old man longs for an hour of it,

    at the price of his hearing's membrane or the light of his sight.

  8. لَيسَ في الجَنَّةِ ما يُشبِهُهُ

    خِفَّةً في الظِلِّ أَو طيبَ قِصَر

    Nothing in Paradise resembles it

    in its lightness of shade or its sweet brevity.

  9. فَصِبا الخُلدِ كَثيرٌ دائِمٌ

    وَصِبا الدُنيا عَزيزٌ مُختَصَر

    For the youth of eternity is abundant and enduring,

    while this world's youth is precious and brief.

  10. كُلُّ يَومٍ خَبَرٌ عَن حَدَثٍ

    سَئِمَ العَيشَ وَمَن يَسأَم يَذَر

    Every day brings news of a youth

    weary of life—and whoever wearies leaves it.

  11. عافَ بِالدُنيا بِناءً بَعدَ ما

    خَطَبَ الدُنيا وَأَهدى وَمَهَر

    He rejected consummation with the world, after

    courting the world, giving gifts, and paying her bride-price.

  12. حَلَّ يَومَ العُرسِ مِنها نَفسَهُ

    رَحِمَ اللَهُ العَروسُ المُختَضَر

    On the wedding day, he freed himself from her;

    may God have mercy on the bridegroom, cut down young.

  13. ضاقَ بِالعيشَةِ ذَرعاً فَهَوى

    عَن شَفا اليَأسِ وَبِئسَ المُنحَدَر

    Unable to bear life, he fell

    from despair's brink—what a dreadful descent!

  14. راحِلاً في مِثلِ أَعمارِ المُنى

    ذاهِباً في مِثلِ آجالِ الزَهَر

    departing with a life as short as the lives of hopes,

    passing away with a span as brief as the lives of flowers,

  15. هارِباً مِن ساحَةِ العَيشِ وَما

    شارَفَ الغَمرَةَ مِنها وَالغُدُر

    fleeing life's arena, though he had not

    yet approached its deep waters and pools.

  16. لا أَرى الأَيّامَ إِلّا مَعرَكاً

    وَأَرى الصِنديدَ فيهِ مَن صَبَر

    I see the days as nothing but a battlefield,

    and I see its true champion as one who endures.

  17. رُبَّ واهي الجَأشِ فيهِ قَصَفٌ

    ماتَ بِالجُبنِ وَأَودى بِالحَذَر

    Many a fainthearted man, brittle within,

    died of cowardice and perished through caution.

  18. لامَهُ الناسُ وَما أَظلَمَهُم

    وَقَليلٌ مَن تَغاضى أَو عَذَر

    People blamed him—how unjust they were!

    And few overlooked his fault or excused him.

  19. وَلَقَد أَبلاكَ عُذراً حَسَناً

    مُرتَدي الأَكفانِ مُلقىً في الحُفَر

    Indeed, a worthy excuse has been offered you

    by the one wearing shrouds, cast into the pits.

  20. قالَ ناسٌ صَرعَةٌ مِن قَدَرٍ

    وَقَديماً ظَلَمَ الناسُ القَدَر

    Some people said, "A fatal stroke of fate,"

    and people have long done fate injustice.

  21. وَيَقولُ الطِبُّ بَل مِن جَنَّةٍ

    وَرَأَيتُ العَقلَ في الناسِ نَدَر

    Medicine says, "No, it was madness,"

    and I have seen how rare reason is among people.

  22. وَيَقولونَ جَفاءٌ راعَهُ

    مِن أَبٍ أَغلَظَ قَلباً مِن حَجَر

    They say harshness frightened him,

    from a father whose heart was harder than stone;

  23. وَاِمتِحانٌ صَعَّبَتهُ وَطأَةٌ

    شَدَّها في العِلمِ أُستاذٌ نَكِر

    and an examination, made harder by pressure

    a harsh teacher intensified in his schooling.

  24. لا أَرى إِلّا نِظاماً فاسِداً

    فَكَّكَ الغَلمَ وَأَودى بِالأُسَر

    I see only a corrupt system

    that shattered the young and ruined families.

  25. مِن ضَحاياهُ وَما أَكثَرَها

    ذَلِكَ الكارِهُ في غَضِّ العُمُر

    Among its victims—and how many there are!—

    is that hater of life in the tender bloom of his years.

  26. ما رَأى في العَيشِ شَيئاً سَرَّهُ

    وَأَخَفُّ العَيشِ ما ساءَ وَسَر

    He saw nothing in life that pleased him,

    yet the easiest life is one that saddens and delights.

  27. نَزَلَ العَيشَ فَلَم يَنزِل سِوى

    شُعبَةِ الهَمِّ وَبَيداءِ الفِكَر

    He alighted in life, but alighted only in

    the ravine of care and the desert of thoughts,

  28. وَنَهارٍ لَيسَ فيهِ غِبطَةٌ

    وَلَيالٍ لَيسَ فيهِنَّ سَمَر

    a day without gladness,

    and nights without evening talk,

  29. وَدُروسٍ لَم يُذَلِّل قَطفَها

    عالِمٌ إِن نَطَقَ الدَرسَ سَحَر

    and lessons whose fruits were never made easy to pluck

    by a scholar who could enchant when he spoke the lesson.

  30. وَلَقَد تُنهِكُهُ نَهكَ الضَنى

    ضَرَّةٌ مَنظَرُها سُقمٌ وَضُر

    And indeed, he is worn down as by a wasting illness,

    by a co-wife whose very sight is sickness and harm.

  31. وَيُلاقي نَصَباً مِمّا اِنطَوى

    في بَني العَلّاتِ مِن ضِغنٍ وَشَر

    And he suffers hardship from what lies hidden

    in his paternal half-brothers: rancor and evil.

  32. إِخوَةٌ ما جَمَعَتهُم رَحِمٌ

    بَعضُهُم يَمشونَ لِلبَعضِ الخَمَر

    Brothers whom no single womb united,

    some of them creep upon the others under cover.

  33. لَم يُرَفرِف مَلَكُ الحُبِّ عَلى

    أَبَوَيهِم أَو يُبارِك في الثَمَر

    The angel of love never fluttered over

    their parents, nor blessed the fruit.

  34. خَلَقَ اللَهُ مِنَ الحُبِّ الوَرى

    وَبَنى المُلكَ عَلَيهِ وَعَمَر

    God created humankind from love,

    and built the realm upon it, and made it flourish.

  35. نَشَأَ الخَيرِ رُوَيداً قَتلُكُم

    في الصِبا النَفسَ ضَلالٌ وَخُسُر

    Good young people, pause! Your killing

    of your souls in youth is error and loss.

  36. لَو عَصَيتُمُ كاذِبِ اليَأسِ فَما

    في صِباها يَنحَرُ النَفَسَ الضَجَر

    If only you defied false despair, then

    weariness would not slaughter life in its youth.

  37. تُضمِرُ اليَأسَ مِنَ الدُنيا وَما

    عِندَها عَن حادِثِ الدُنيا خَبَر

    It harbors despair of the world, though

    it knows nothing of the world's events.

  38. فيمَ تَجنونَ عَلى آبائِكُم

    أَلَمَ الثُكلِ شَديداً في الكِبَر

    Why do you inflict upon your fathers

    bereavement's pain, so bitter in old age,

  39. وَتَعُقّونَ بِلاداً لَم تَزَل

    بَينَ إِشفاقٍ عَلَيكُم وَحَذَر

    and act unfilially toward a country that has always been

    between anxious concern for you and fear?

  40. فَمُصابُ المُلكِ في شُبّانِهِ

    كَمُصابِ الأَرضِ في الزَرعِ النَضِر

    For the realm's loss among its young men

    is like the earth's loss of its green, flourishing crop.

  41. لَيسَ يَدري أَحَدٌ مِنكُم بِما

    كانَ يُعطى لَو تَأَنّى وَاِنتَظَر

    No one among you knows what

    he would have been given had he been patient and waited.

  42. رُبَّ طِفلٍ بَرَّحَ البُؤسُ بِهِ

    مُطِرَ الخَيرَ فَتِيّاً وَمَطَر

    Many a child whom misery tormented

    was showered with blessings as a youth, and showered them in turn;

  43. وَصَبِيٍّ أَزرَتِ الدُنيا بِهِ

    شَبَّ بَينَ العِزِّ فيها وَالخَطَر

    and many a boy whom the world scorned

    grew up amid honor and eminence within it.

  44. وَرَفيعٍ لَم يُسَوِّدهُ أَبٌ

    مَن أَبو الشَمسِ وَمَن جَدُّ القَمَر

    And many a lofty man was not made a lord by his father—

    who is the sun's father, and who the moon's grandfather?

  45. فَلَكٌ جارٍ وَدُنيا لَم يَدُم

    عِندَها السَعدُ وَلا النَحسُ اِستَمَر

    A sphere in motion, and a world where there is no lasting

    good fortune, nor does ill fortune endure.

  46. رَوِّحوا القَلبَ بِلَذّاتِ الصِبا

    فَكَفى الشَيبُ مَجالاً لِلكَدَر

    Refresh the heart with youth's pleasures,

    for gray hair gives sorrow room enough.

  47. عالِجوا الحِكمَةَ وَاِستَشفوا بِها

    وَاِنشُدوا ما ضَلَّ مِنها في السِيَر

    Practice wisdom and seek healing through it,

    and seek what has been lost of it in biographies.

  48. وَاِقرَأوا آدابَ مَن قَبلِكُم

    رُبَّما عَلَّمَ حَيّاً مَن غَبَر

    Read the writings of those before you:

    often one long gone has taught a living person.

  49. وَاِغنَموا ما سَخَّرَ اللَهُ لَكُم

    مِن جَمالٍ في المَعاني وَالصُوَر

    And seize what God has made available to you

    of beauty in meanings and forms.

  50. وَاِطلُبوا العِلمَ لِذاتِ العِلمِ لا

    لِشَهاداتٍ وَآرابٍ أُخَر

    Seek knowledge for its own sake, not

    for certificates and other aims.

  51. كَم غُلامٍ خامِلٍ في دَرسِهِ

    صارَ بَحرَ العِلمِ أُستاذَ العُصُر

    Many a boy undistinguished in his studies

    became an ocean of learning, a master of the ages;

  52. وَمُجِدٍّ فيهِ أَمسى خامِلاً

    لَيسَ فيمَن غابَ أَو فيمَن حَضَر

    and many diligent in study ended in obscurity,

    counted neither among the absent nor among the present.

  53. قاتِلُ النَفسِ لَو كانَت لَهُ

    أَسخَطَ اللَهَ وَلَم يُرضِ البَشَر

    The killer of his own soul—even if it belonged to him—

    has angered God and pleased no mortal.

  54. ساحَةُ العَيشِ إِلى اللَهِ الَّذي

    جَعَلَ الوِردَ بِإِذنٍ وَالصَدَر

    Life's arena belongs to God, who

    made coming to water and departing subject to His leave.

  55. لا تَموتُ النَفسُ إِلّا بِاِسمِهِ

    قامَ بِالمَوتِ عَلَيها وَقَهَر

    No soul dies except in His name;

    He stands over it with death and subdues it.

  56. إِنَّما يَسمَحُ بِالروحِ الفَتى

    ساعَةَ الرَوعِ إِذا الجَمعُ اِشتَجَر

    A young man parts freely with his soul only

    at the hour of terror, when the host clashes in battle.

  57. فَهُناكَ الأَجرُ وَالفَخرُ مَعاً

    مَن يَعِش يُحمَد وَمَن ماتَ أُجِر

    For there, reward and glory stand together:

    whoever lives is praised, and whoever dies is rewarded.