إذا رماك الدهرُ في بلدةٍ

إذا رماك الدهرُ في بلدةٍ

وأهلُها يَعْدونَ في غيِّهمْ

وأهلُها يَعْدونَ في غيِّهمْ

If time casts you into a town,

If fate has thrown you in a town

and its people rush on in their waywardness,

Whose people, in their blindness, roam

وخِلتَهم كالآل في مهمهٍ

وخِلتَهم كالآل في مهمهٍ

يلوح ماءُ المكر في ريِّهمْ

يلوح ماءُ المكر في ريِّهمْ

and you deem them like a mirage in a trackless desert,

And if their kin you find therein

the water of guile glimmers in their quenching of thirst;

Like tools that serve a useless end

وآلة التعريف في عُرفِهم

وآلة التعريف في عُرفِهم

كآلة التنكير في أيِّهمْ

كآلة التنكير في أيِّهمْ

and the marker of definiteness, in their usage,

Their means of knowing and unknowing

is like the marker of indefiniteness in any of them;

Both faulty paths to comprehend

ويسألونَ الجرحَ عن كيِّه

ويسألونَ الجرحَ عن كيِّه

تجاهلاً والجرحُ من كيِّهمْ

تجاهلاً والجرحُ من كيِّهمْ

and they ask the wound about its cauterization,

If they would question of your grief

feigning ignorance, though the wound comes from their own cautery;

With ignorance, as if its source transcends

ويرتدون الحب من ظاهرٍ

ويرتدون الحب من ظاهرٍ

ويُبطنون الغش في طيِّهمْ

ويُبطنون الغش في طيِّهمْ

and they wear love on the outside,

If love, they'd only show outside

and hide deceit within their folds;

While hiding malice they intend

ويُدغمون الحقَّ في باطلٍ

ويُدغمون الحقَّ في باطلٍ

ويسألون الميْتَ عن حيِّهمْ

ويسألون الميْتَ عن حيِّهمْ

and they merge truth into falsehood,

If right and wrong they'd integrate

and ask the dead man about their living one;

And question of the dead as if it ends

فدارِهم مادمت في دارهم

فدارِهم مادمت في دارهم

وحَيِّهم ما دمت في حيِّهمْ

وحَيِّهم ما دمت في حيِّهمْ

so humor them as long as you remain in their abode,

In their abode, while still inside

and greet them as long as you remain in their quarter.

And in their lives, while breath extends