هل أقْصَرَ الدهرُ عن تعنيتِ ذي أدبِ

هل أقْصَرَ الدهرُ عن تعنيتِ ذي أدبِ

أو قال حَسْبِيَ من إخمالِ ذي حسبِ

أو قال حَسْبِيَ من إخمالِ ذي حسبِ

Has Time ceased tormenting the cultivated man?

Has Time ceased tormenting a man of letters?

Or has it said, “Enough for me of consigning a man of honor to obscurity”?

Or said, 'Enough for me of consigning a man of noble lineage to obscurity'?

لا يلحظُ الحرَّ إلّا مثلما وَقَعَتْ

لا يلحظُ الحرَّ إلّا مثلما وَقَعَتْ

على أخي سيئاتٍ عينُ ذي غضبِ

على أخي سيئاتٍ عينُ ذي غضبِ

It looks upon the freeborn man only in the way

It looks upon the noble man only as

an angry man’s eye falls upon one burdened with offenses.

An angry man's eye falls upon a wrongdoer.

وكيفَ يصفو لنا دَهْرٌ مَشَاربُهُ

وكيفَ يصفو لنا دَهْرٌ مَشَاربُهُ

يخوضها كُلَّ حينٍ جَحفلُ النُّوَبِ

يخوضها كُلَّ حينٍ جَحفلُ النُّوَبِ

How can an age ever run clear for us, when its watering places

And how can an age be clear for us, when its watering places

are forever waded through by the massed armies of calamity?

Are waded through at every moment by the vast army of calamities?

إنّ الزمانَ بما قاسيتُ شيّبَني

إنّ الزمانَ بما قاسيتُ شيّبَني

ولم أُشَيّبْهُ هذا والزّمانُ أبي

ولم أُشَيّبْهُ هذا والزّمانُ أبي

Time has turned me gray through all I have endured,

Indeed, Time has made me gray through what I have endured,

though I have not turned it gray—this Time that is my father.

Yet I have not made it gray—all this, though Time is my father.

ولو خلا الدّهرُ ذو الأبناءِ من عَجَبٍ

ولو خلا الدّهرُ ذو الأبناءِ من عَجَبٍ

أكثرْتُ منه ومن أبنائِهِ عَجبي

أكثرْتُ منه ومن أبنائِهِ عَجبي

Even if Time, father of sons, were empty of wonders,

Even were Time, with its sons, free of wonders,

I would still marvel greatly at it and at its children.

I would marvel greatly at it and at its sons.

قَرَأْتُ وحدي على دهري غرائِبَهُ

قَرَأْتُ وحدي على دهري غرائِبَهُ

فما أعاشرُ قوماً غَيْرَ مغتربِ

فما أعاشرُ قوماً غَيْرَ مغتربِ

Alone, I have read the marvels of my age;

Alone I read out to my age its strange wonders;

whatever people I mix with, I remain a stranger among them.

So I mingle with no people except as a stranger.

أحَلْتُ عزمي على همّي فقَطّعَهُ

أحَلْتُ عزمي على همّي فقَطّعَهُ

كأنّ عزميَ من صَمصَامتي الذّربِ

كأنّ عزميَ من صَمصَامتي الذّربِ

I set my resolve against my care, and it cut the care apart,

I turned my resolve against my grief, and it cut it to pieces,

as though my resolve were a stroke from my keen-edged sword.

As though my resolve came from my keen-edged sword.

ما قرّ بي السيرُ في سهلٍ ولا جبلٍ

ما قرّ بي السيرُ في سهلٍ ولا جبلٍ

إلّا كما قرّ جاري الماء في صَبَبِ

إلّا كما قرّ جاري الماء في صَبَبِ

Travel has brought me no repose on plain or mountain,

Journeying never settled me on plain or mountain,

except the repose that running water finds upon a slope.

Except as flowing water settles on a downward slope.

ولم أضِقْ في السرَى ذرعاً بمعضلةٍ

ولم أضِقْ في السرَى ذرعاً بمعضلةٍ

قد زاحمتنيَ حتى ضاقَ مُضْطَربي

قد زاحمتنيَ حتى ضاقَ مُضْطَربي

On the night journey, I could not bear a hardship

Nor, in night travel, was I overwhelmed by a difficulty

that pressed upon me until my room to move grew narrow.

That had pressed upon me until my room to move grew narrow.

ويرْتَقِي حَرُّ أنْفاسي فَأَبْعَثُهُ

ويرْتَقِي حَرُّ أنْفاسي فَأَبْعَثُهُ

بَرداً وإن كان مُسْتبَقى من اللهبِ

بَرداً وإن كان مُسْتبَقى من اللهبِ

The heat of my breath rises, and I send it forth

And the heat of my breaths rises, so I send it forth

as coolness, though it is drawn from flame.

As coolness, even though it is a remnant of flame.

وأحْرِ بالحَرّ أن تَلقاهُ ذا جَلَدٍ

وأحْرِ بالحَرّ أن تَلقاهُ ذا جَلَدٍ

وإن تَبَطّنَ داءً قاتلَ الوَصَبِ

وإن تَبَطّنَ داءً قاتلَ الوَصَبِ

How fitting that you should find a freeborn man steadfast,

And how fitting that you should find the noble man steadfast,

even while a sickness, deadly in its wasting pain, lies hidden within him.

Even if he harbors an illness whose lingering pain is deadly.