نجمع والمجموع يكلا ويترك

ونرقع والمرقوع يبلى ويهتك

We gather, and what is gathered is guarded and left behind.

We patch, and what is patched wears out and is torn.

يا مغرور وكيف تطيع الغرور انما

الحياة الدنيا إلا متاع الغرور

O deluded one, how can you obey the deceiver? Indeed,

the life of this world is but the enjoyment of delusion.

بنا حرم الدنيا الخراب معمر

ومحترم الأخرى بنا فهو مهتك

Through us, this world's ruined sanctuary is built up,

while what is sacred in the next world is violated through us.

كيف الأمان وليس البقاء إلا قليلاً والآخرة

خير لمن اتقى ولا تظلمون فتيلا

How can there be security when our stay is but brief? And the Hereafter

is better for those who fear God; you will not be wronged by a date-stone's thread.

نرجّي رجاء دونه الموت حائل

ونحذر والتقدير ما عنه مسلك

We cherish a hope, with death standing in its way,

and take precautions, though there is no escape from destiny.

تموج بنا الآمال كما تموج الآل

فالحكم للّه الكبير المتعالي

Hopes toss us about as a mirage ripples;

judgment belongs to God, the Great, the Most Exalted.

ونسلك منهاجاً ولم ندر بالذي

إليه على العقبى من الحال يسلك

We follow a path, unaware of what

state it leads to in the end.

لا يملك العالم لنفسه نقيرا ولا فتيلا إن هم

إلا كالأنعام بل هم أضل سبيلا

The world possesses neither a date-stone's speck nor a thread for itself; they are nothing

but like cattle—indeed, they are further astray.

ونفرك أخرانا على حب هذه

وهذي التي أولى من الأصل تفرك

We spurn our Hereafter out of love for this world,

though this is the one that ought, from the outset, to be spurned.

إلام الاصطناع لمن لا يجب له الاصطناع

وما الحياة الدنيا في الآخرة إلا متاع

How long will you show favor to one who deserves no favor?

The life of this world, compared with the Hereafter, is but an enjoyment.

ألا إنما الآجال أمست وأصبحت

وهن على الآمال عمرك تضحك

Lo, the appointed ends pass into evening and morning,

and all your life they laugh at hopes.

تاللَه لقد خلعنا عذار الحفر والرسنا فمن

زين له سوء عمله فرآه حسنا

By God, we have cast off the bridle of [unclear] and the rein; so whoever

has his evil deeds beautified for him sees them as good.

نؤمِّل آمالا ومن دون نيلها

مؤملها عن مدرك الغاي يدرك

We cherish hopes, but before they are attained,

the hopeful one is overtaken, short of reaching the goal.

اقعد القواة امغاطها وأعماطها فهل ينظرون

إلا الساعة أن تأتيهم بغتة فقد جاء أشراطها

[Opening phrase unclear]; are they awaiting

anything but the Hour coming upon them suddenly? Its signs have already come.

فكم نائم في راحة صدر ليله

وأخراه في الأرماس يرمى ويترك

How many a sleeper rests at ease at the beginning of his night,

and at its end is cast into the graves and abandoned.

ما لكم والنصال في المفاخر الهاكم

التكاثر حتى زرتم المقابر

What have you to do with blades amid boasts? You have been distracted by

rivalry in abundance, until you visited the graves.

ولذة دنيانا تحول نغائصا

وبيض ليالينا تحن وتحلك

The pleasure of our world turns to vexations,

and our bright nights moan and turn pitch-black.

نحن رقيق في زي المعتقين

إلى مدارج مطمع الدنيا مرتقين

We are slaves in the garb of freedmen,

ascending the steps of worldly desire.

ولدار الآخرة خير دار

ولنعم دار المتقين

The abode of the Hereafter is the best abode;

how excellent is the abode of the God-fearing!

فما مر يوم من هموم مقدس

ولا ليلة مرت ولا الحزن ممعك

No day has passed free of cares,

nor has any night passed so, nor has sorrow been worn away.

لبستم حلة المعتبين وتجاهلتم المنهج المستبين

إن أنتم إلا في ضلال مبين

You have donned the garb of those making amends and ignored the clearly marked path.

You are in nothing but manifest error.

إذا مات منا ميت فار حزننا

وإن نحن واريناه في اللحد يدهك

When one of us dies, our grief boils over,

yet once we bury him in the grave, that grief is ground away.

تأمنون السرور لا سرور وتطيعون الغرور

إلى مناش الغرور وغركم باللَه الغرور

You trust in joy—there is no joy—and obey the deceiver,

toward delusion's [unclear]; the deceiver has deceived you concerning God.

فهذي هي الدنيا وهذا سبيلها

يموت المغبا والجليل المحنك

This, then, is the world, and this is its way:

both the dull-witted and the eminent, seasoned man die.

رحم اللَه أقواماً لأمره طائعون ولنهيه سامعون

ولطاعته راجعون إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون

May God have mercy on people obedient to His command and attentive to His prohibition,

and returning to obey Him. We belong to God, and to Him we return.

وأما التعازي بيننا فهي سنة

يعزي المعزي ذا العزاء ويهلك

As for the condolences we exchange, they are a customary practice:

the consoler comforts the bereaved, and himself perishes.

إلى كم أنتم مستبقون كأنكم للبقاء مثبتون

إنك ميت وإنهم ميتون

How long will you race, as though assured of permanence?

You are mortal, and they are mortal.

وكيف العزا عمن له في ضمائري

من الحزن واللوعات للفقد مبرك

How can I be consoled for one for whom, in my innermost heart,

grief and the burning pangs of loss have a resting-place?

أيها المحزون لقد سلكت منهج السالكين

حتى تكون حرضا أو تكون من الهالكين

O grieving one, you have followed the path of the wayfarers,

until you waste away or become one of those who perish.

ثلاثة أولار بهم يمم الردى

ثلاثة أرماس إليهن أسلك

Three children [uncertain reading], toward whom death turned,

three graves toward which I make my way.

كأن عليهم كان وثرا من الردى

فأدركهم في الحال من حيث أدركوا

As though death held a blood-debt [uncertain reading] against them,

it overtook them at once, where they were overtaken.

فألقت لهم أيدي المنايا مخالبا

فراحوا وهم بين المخالب أشيدوا

Then the hands of death laid their claws upon them,

and they departed, raised aloft [uncertain reading] between the claws.

هنيئا لكم ماتوا فلا الذنب مقرف

ولا القلب محزون ولا العرض مهتك

Good fortune to you! They died with no sin committed,

no heart saddened, no honor violated.

ولا من أذى الدنيا بلوا وتنغصوا

ولا نافقوا فيها وعنها تنسكوا

Nor were they afflicted and embittered by this world's harm,

nor acted as hypocrites in it, and kept apart from it in devotion.

ولا عرفوا الدنيا ولاعرفتهمو

ولا زودوا منها سوى ما تحنكوا

They neither knew the world, nor did it know them,

and received no provision from it beyond what was rubbed on their palates.

إلى رحمة الرحمن راحوا فأدركوا

مناهم وهنوا بالذي قد تمسكوا

They went to the mercy of the All-Merciful and attained

their desires, rejoicing in what they had held fast to.

أأحمد صبرا واقتداء وأسوة

فلم يبق دهقان ولا متصعلك

O Ahmad, have patience, follow their example, and take consolation;

for neither a landed lord nor a pauper remains.

لئن تلبس السلوان عنهم مؤملا

من اللَه عفواً عنك يعفو ويمحك

If you clothe yourself in solace for them, hoping

for pardon from God, He will pardon you and [unclear].

فلا ترجع الأحزان ما كان فائتاً

ولا يوسع الأعوال ما اللَه مضنك

Grief does not restore what has been lost,

nor can wailing widen what God has constricted.

وإِن سداد العُمر في الصبر والأسى

يقطع أكباد الحزين ويهتك

Indeed, life's right course lies in patience, while sorrow

cuts through the livers of the grieving and rends them.

فلا يدمك الانسان ما اللَه قاطع

ولا يقطع الإنسان ما اللَه يدمك

No human can bind together what God severs,

nor sever what God binds together.

إِذا فاتك الأَمر الذي أنت آمل

فعنه العزا والصبر أَولى وابرك

If what you hope for escapes you,

then solace and patience over it are more fitting and more blessed.

فجدك قد أودى غريب وبنته

وجدتك الخدر الرضى المتنسك

For your grandfather Gharib has died, and his daughter,

and your grandmother, secluded, contented, and devout.

ونسلك قد أودى وإنك بعدهم

تعود ولا أصل وفرع مشبك

Your offspring have died, and after them you

are left with neither root nor entwined branch.

فصبراً عسى تلقاهمو في فرادس

من الخلد واستمسك بما قد تمسكوا

So be patient; perhaps you will meet them in gardens

of eternity; hold fast to what they held fast to.

ولا تجعل الأحزان بين حيازم

على حرها تطوى وتكوى وتفرك

Do not lodge sorrows between your ribs,

folded around their heat, seared and rubbed raw.

وإني وإياك الشريكان في الأسى

وإن لم يكن ما قلت بالجبت مشرك

You and I are partners in sorrow,

provided what I have said does not partake of idolatry.

فما عنك أمحى اللَه حزناً بغيره

ولا سفك دمع غير ما أنت مسفك

So God has erased no grief from you through anything else,

nor have tears been shed other than those you shed.