1. ألا كلُّ آتٍ قريبُ المَدى

    وكلُّ حياةٍ إلى مُنْتَهَى

    Behold, all that comes is near at hand,

    And every life goes toward an end.

  2. وما غَرّ نَفْساً سوَى نفسِها

    وعُمْرُ الفتى من أماني الفتى

    Nothing deceives a soul except itself,

    And a young man's lifespan is made of his hopes:

  3. فأقْصَرُ في العينِ من لَفْتَةٍ

    وأسرَعُ في السمع من ذا ولا

    Shorter to the eye than a glance,

    And swifter to the ear than 'this' and 'no'.

  4. ولم أرَ كالمرْءِ وهو اللبيبُ

    يرَى ملءَ عيْنَيْه ما لا يُرَى

    I have seen none like man: discerning though he is,

    He sees, filling both his eyes, what cannot be seen.

  5. وليسَ النّواظرُ إلاّ القلوبُ

    وأمّا العيونُ ففيها العمى

    The seeing eyes are nothing but hearts;

    As for the eyes, blindness dwells in them.

  6. ومنْ لي بمثلِ سلاح الزّمانِ

    فأسْطو عليه إذا ما سطا

    Who can give me a weapon like Time's,

    That I might strike it whenever it strikes?

  7. يَجُدُّ بنا وهو رَسْلُ العِنانِ

    ويُدرِكُنا وهو داني الخُطى

    It drives us hard with slackened reins,

    And overtakes us with short steps.

  8. برَى أسْهُماً فنَبَا ما نَبا

    فلم يبْقَ إلاّ ارتهافُ الظُّبى

    It shaped arrows; some glanced aside,

    Until only the keenness of their points remained.

  9. تُراشُ فتُرْمَى فتُنمي فلا

    تَحيدُ وتُصْمي ولا تُدَّرى

    They are feathered, fired, and kill beyond sight, never

    Swerving; they kill outright and cannot be warded off.

  10. أأُهْضَمُ لا نَبعَتي مَرْخَةٌ

    ولا عَزماتي أيادي سَبا

    Shall I be slighted? My nab‘-wood is no markh,

    Nor are my resolves the scattered hands of Saba.

  11. على أنّ مِثلي رحيبُ اللَّبانِ

    على ما ينُوبُ سَليمُ الشظى

    Yet one like me is broad of breast,

    Whatever befalls, sound in the splint-bones.

  12. ولو غيرُ رَيبِ المَنونِ اعتدى

    عليّ وجرّبني ما اعتدى

    Had anything but death's vicissitudes assailed

    Me and tested me, it would not have assailed.

  13. خليليّ هل ينفعَنّي البُكاءُ

    أوِ الوَجدُ لي راجعٌ ما مضى

    My two friends, can weeping help me,

    Or can anguish bring back to me what has passed?

  14. خليليّ سيرا ولا تَربَعا

    عليّ فهَمّيَ غيرُ الثَّوى

    My two friends, go on, and do not halt

    For me; my concern is not to linger.

  15. ولي زَفَراتٌ تُذيبُ المَطِيّ

    وقلْبٌ يَسُدُّ عليّ الفَلا

    I have sighs that melt the riding camels,

    And a heart that blocks the wilderness before me.

  16. سَلا قبل وَشك النوى مدنَفاً

    أقَضّتْ مضاجِعهُ فاشتكى

    Ask, before imminent parting, a wasting lover,

    Whose beds it made restless, so he complained.

  17. وراعى النّجومَ فأعشَيْنَه

    فباتَ يظنُّ الثّريّا السُّهَى

    He watched the stars, and they dimmed his sight,

    So he spent the night mistaking the Pleiades for al-Suha.

  18. ضلوعٌ يضِقنَ إذا ما نَحَطنَ

    وقلبٌ يفيضُ إذا ما امتلا

    Ribs that tighten whenever they heave,

    And a heart that overflows whenever it fills.

  19. وقد قلتُ للعارض المكفَهِرِّ

    أفي السِّلم ذا البرقُ أم في الوغى

    I have said to the lowering cloudbank:

    Is this lightning at peace, or at war?

  20. وما بالُه قادَ هذا الرّعيلَ

    وقُلّدَ ذا الصّارمَ المُنتَضَى

    Why has it led this vanguard,

    And been girded with this drawn, keen sword?

  21. وأقبَلَه المُزنُ في جَحْفَلٍ

    وأكذبَ أن صَدّ عني الكرَى

    The rainclouds advanced it amid a great army,

    And it belied the claim that slumber had forsaken me.

  22. أشيمُكَ يا برق شيْمَ النُّجيم

    وما فيك لي بَلَلٌ من صَدى

    I scan you, O lightning, as I scan a little star,

    Yet in you I find no moisture to quench thirst.

  23. كِلانا طَوى البيدَ في ليلِهِ

    فأضْعفُنا يَتَشَكّى الوَجى

    Both of us traversed the deserts in his night,

    And the weaker of us complains of sore feet.

  24. فجُبْتَ الغَمامَ وجُبتُ الغرامَ

    حنانيك ليس سُرىً من سُرى

    You traversed the clouds, and I traversed passion:

    Have mercy: one night-journey is not like another.

  25. أعِنّي على الليل ليلِ التّمامِ

    ودعني لشاني إذا ما انقضَى

    Help me through the night, the longest night,

    And leave me to my affairs when it ends.

  26. فلو كنتُ أطْوي على فتكِهِ

    تكشّفَ صبحي عن الشَّنْفرَى

    For had I harbored its murderous force,

    My dawn would have unveiled al-Shanfara.

  27. وما العين تعشقُ هذا السُّهادَ

    ووَدّ القَطا لو ينَامُ القَطا

    The eye does not love this sleeplessness,

    And the sandgrouse wished the sandgrouse could sleep.

  28. أقولُ وقد شقّ أعلى السحابِ

    وأعلى الهِضابِ وأعلى الرُّبَى

    I speak, as it has cleft the tops of the clouds,

    The tops of the plateaus and the tops of the hills:

  29. أذا الوَدْقُ في مثل هذا الرّباب

    وذا البرْقُ في مثل هذا السنا

    Is this rain in such a cloudbank,

    And this lightning in such radiance?

  30. ألا انهلّ هذا بماءِ القلوبِ

    وأُوقدِ هذا بنارِ الحَشَا

    Surely this has poured with the water of hearts,

    And this was kindled with the fire within.

  31. فيهْمي على أقْبُرٍ لو رأى

    مكارمَ أربابها ما هَمَى

    It streams on graves; had it seen

    Their occupants' noble deeds, it would not have streamed.

  32. وفي ذي النواويسِ موْجُ البحارِ

    وما بالبحارِ إليْهِ ظَما

    Within these tombs is the surge of seas,

    And the seas have no thirst for it.

  33. هلمّوا فذا مصرَعُ العالَمينَ

    فمن كلّ قلبٍ عليه أسى

    Come, for here is the death-place of all mankind;

    From every heart comes grief over it.

  34. وإنّ التي أنْجَبَتْ للورى

    كآلِ عليّ لأمُّ الورى

    She who bore for mankind

    The like of ‘Ali's house is surely the mother of mankind.

  35. فلوْ عِزّةٌ أنْطَقَتْ مُلحَداً

    لأنْطَقَ مُلحَدَها ما يَرَى

    If dignity could make a burial niche speak,

    What her tomb beholds would surely make it speak.

  36. بكتْه المغاويرُ بِيضُ السيوفِ

    وهذي العَناجيجُ قُبُّ الكُلى

    The bold warriors with white swords wept over it,

    And these fleet steeds, lean in the loins.

  37. ولمّا أتينا سقَتْه الدموعُ

    فما باتَ حتى سقاه الحَيا

    When we came, tears watered it;

    It had not spent the night before rain watered it.

  38. وما جادَه المزْنُ من غُلّةٍ

    ولكنْ ليبْكِ النَّدى بالنَّدى

    The rainclouds did not drench it because of thirst,

    But so that generosity might weep with dew.

  39. وقد خدّ في الشمس أُخدودَه

    ولكن سَبَقْنا به في الثرى

    It had carved its furrow in the sun,

    But we had done so first in the dust.

  40. وما ضَرّ من لم يَطُفْ بالمقامِ

    إذا طافَ بالجوسَقِ المُبْتَنى

    No harm comes to one who has not circled al-Maqam,

    If he has circled the erected pavilion.

  41. وقالوا الحَجونُ فثَمّ الحجونُ

    وثَمّ الحَطِيمُ وثَمّ الصَّفا

    They said, 'al-Hajun'; al-Hajun is there,

    And there is al-Hatim, and there is al-Safa.

  42. وبينَ الشمالِ وبين الجنو

    بِ في هَبوَةٍ من مَهَبّ الصَّبا

    And between the north and the sou—

    —th, in a dust-cloud from the east wind's quarter,

  43. قبورُ الثلاثةِ في مصْرَعٍ

    أما كان في واحدٍ ما كفى

    Are the graves of the three in one place of death.

    Was there not enough in one?

  44. أما والركوعُ به والسجودُ

    إذا ما بكَى قانتٌ أو دعا

    Indeed, by the bowing there and the prostration,

    Whenever a devout worshipper weeps or prays,

  45. لَذاكَ الصّعيدُ وذاك الكديدُ

    أحَقُّ من الخَيْفِ بي أو مِنى

    That ground, that stretch of hard earth,

    Has more claim on me than al-Khayf or Mina.

  46. ولو جاوَرَ العرَبَ الأقدمينَ

    وفي الذاهبينَ وفَى مَنْ وَفى

    Had it neighbored the Arabs of old,

    And among the departed were those who kept faith,

  47. أتَتْه الحجيجُ من الرّاقصاتِ

    فمنها فُرادى ومنها ثُنا

    Pilgrim bands of dancing she-camels would have come to it,

    Some singly, and some in pairs.

  48. فما ليَ لا أقتدي بالكِرامِ

    وأوثِرُ سُنّةَ مَن قد خلا

    Why should I not follow the noble,

    And prefer the practice of those who have passed?

  49. إذا ما نحرتَ به أو عقرتَ

    فعَدِّ الخوانفَ ذاتَ البُرى

    If you slaughter there or hamstring,

    Then pass over the swaying camels with nose-rings,

  50. ولا ترْضَ إلاّ بعَقْرِ الثناءِ

    ونَحْرِ القَوافي وإلاّ فلا

    And accept nothing but the slaughter of praise,

    And the slaying of rhymes—or else, nothing.

  51. فلوْلا الدّماءُ إذاً أقبلتْ

    عليه تَكوسُ ذواتُ الشَّوى

    Were it not for blood, then there would come

    Upon it, tumbling, the creatures with limbs.

  52. إذاً لم تُغادرْ غُرَيْرِيّةً

    تَخُبُّ ولا سابحاً يُمتطَى

    Then it would leave no Ghurayri she-camel

    Trotting, nor any swimming-gaited horse to ride.

  53. يُعَدُّ الشريفُ وأعمامهُ

    وأخوالهُ فيه شِرْعاً سُوى

    The nobleman and his paternal uncles are reckoned,

    And his maternal uncles too, on equal terms here.

  54. وإنّ حَصاناً نَمَتْ جعفراً

    ويحيَى لَعاديّةُ المنتمى

    Indeed, a chaste woman who bore Ja‘far

    And Yahya is ancient as ‘Ad in her descent.

  55. فجاءتْ بهذا كشمسِ النهارِ

    وجاءت بهذا كبدرِ الدّجى

    She brought forth this one like the sun of day,

    And that one like the full moon of darkness.

  56. تَرى بهما أسَدَيْ جَحْفَلٍ

    غَداةَ المواكبِ وابنَي جَلا

    You see in them two lions of an army

    At the morning of processions, and two sons of Jala.

  57. ألمْ تَك من قوْمها في الصّميم

    ومن مجدِها في أشَمّ الذُّرى

    Was she not at the very heart of her people,

    And, in her glory, at the loftiest summit?

  58. فمن قومكَ الصِّيدُ صِيدُ الملوكِ

    ومن قومها الأُسدُ أُسْدُ الشرى

    From your people come the proud lords, the proud among kings,

    And from hers, the lions, the lions of al-Shara.

  59. فوارسُ تُنضي المذاكي الجِيادَ

    إذا ما قَرعنَ العُجا بالعُجا

    Horsemen who exhaust mature, noble steeds,

    When leg-sinews strike against leg-sinews.

  60. يُضيءُ عليهمْ سَنا الأكرمينَ

    إذا ما الحديدُ عليهم دجا

    The radiance of the noblest shines upon them,

    When the iron upon them grows dark.

  61. فجئتَ كما شئتَ من جانبَيك

    فأنتَ الحياةُ وأنتَ الرّدى

    You have come as you wished, from both your sides:

    You are life, and you are death.

  62. فصِلُّكَ يُرْقى ولا يَستجيبُ

    وناركَ تُذكَى ولا تُصْطَلى

    Your viper is charmed, but does not heed,

    And your fire is fed, but cannot be basked in.

  63. ومن ذاك أضْنيتَ صرفَ الزمان

    فلم يُخفِهِ عنْكَ إلا الضّنى

    Through this you have worn out Time's vicissitudes,

    And only wasting sickness hid it from you.

  64. فلم تُغمِدِ السيفَ حتى انثنى

    ولم تصرِفِ الرُّمحَ حتى انحنى

    You did not sheathe the sword until it bent,

    Nor turn aside the spear until it bowed.

  65. وإنّ الّذي أنتَ صِنْوٌ له

    لمَاضي العَزَائمِ عَرْدُ النَّسا

    The one whose twin you are

    Is surely firm in resolve, tough of sciatic sinew.

  66. يُبيرُ عِداكَ إذا ما سَطَا

    ويُعرَفُ فيهم إذا ما احتبى

    He destroys your enemies whenever he strikes,

    And is known among them when he sits clasping his knees.

  67. ويأتي على أعيُنِ الحاسدينَ

    إذا سألوا مَن فتىً قيل ذا

    He overwhelms the eyes of the envious;

    When they ask, 'Who is a noble youth?' they are told, 'This one.'

  68. بنو المنجِباتِ بنو المُنجِبينَ

    فمِن مُجتَباةٍ ومن مُجتَبَى

    Sons of noble-bearing mothers, sons of noble-begetting fathers,

    From a chosen woman and a chosen man.

  69. لأمّاتِنَا نِصْفُ أنْسابِنَا

    إذا المَلِكُ القَيلُ منَّا انتمَى

    To our mothers belongs half our lineage,

    When a king, a qayl among us, traces his descent.

  70. دَعائِمُ أيّامِنا في الفَخارِ

    وأكْفاءُ آبائِنا في العُلى

    Pillars of our days of glory,

    And peers of our fathers in loftiness.

  71. ألمْ تَرَهُنّ يُبارينَنَا

    فيَمرُقْنَنَا ويَنَلْنَ المدى

    Have you not seen them competing with us,

    Then outstripping us and reaching the goal?

  72. كفَلنَ لنا بظِلالِ الخِيام

    وأكفَلنَنَا بظِلالِ القَنا

    They guaranteed us the shelter of tents,

    And made us guarantee the shelter of spears.

  73. وتغدو فمنهنّ أسماعُنا

    وأبصارُنا في حِجالِ المها

    At morning, from them comes our hearing,

    And our sight, in the curtained chambers of oryx.

  74. فلوْ جازَ حكميَ في الغابرينَ

    وعدّلْتُ أقسامَ هذا الوَرَى

    If my judgment could prevail among those long gone,

    And I adjusted the divisions of this mankind,

  75. لسمّيتُ بعضَ النساء الرجالَ

    وسمّيتُ بعضَ الرجال النسا

    I would call some women men,

    And call some men women.

  76. إذا هي كانتْ لكشفِ الخطوبِ

    فكيفَ البنون لضَرْبِ الطُّلى

    If she was fit to dispel calamities,

    How must her sons be at striking necks!

  77. تولّتْ مُرَفِّلَةً للملوكِ

    فمن مصطفى النجل أو مرْتضَى

    She departed, bestowing trailing robes on kings:

    Some with chosen offspring, others well-approved.

  78. وأكثرُ آمالِها فيكما

    وفي القلب منها كجمر الغضا

    Most of her hopes are in you two,

    And some lie in the heart like ghada embers.

  79. فقد أدركت ما تمنت فلا

    تضيقا عليها بباقي المنى

    She has attained what she wished; so do not

    Withhold from her the hopes that remain.

  80. فلولا الضّريحُ لنادتكما

    تُعيذُكما من شماتِ العِدى

    But for the tomb, she would call to you both,

    Invoking protection for you against the enemies' gloating.

  81. فإمّا تَزِيدانِ في أُنسِها

    وإمّا تَذودانِ عنها البِلى

    Either you two increase her solace,

    Or you ward decay away from her.

  82. فقد يُضحك الحيُّ سنّ الفقيدِ

    فتهتَزُّ أعظُمُه في الثرى

    The living may bring a smile to the departed's teeth,

    So that his bones stir in the dust.

  83. ومهما طلبتَ دليلَ الكرامِ

    فإنّ الدّليلَ ائِتلافُ الهوَى

    Whenever you seek the proof of noble souls,

    The proof is harmony of affection.

  84. وأنتَ اليَمينُ فَصُلْ بالشمال

    فما بيَدٍ عن يدٍ من غنى

    You are the right hand: strike with the left,

    For no hand can do without another.

  85. وليسَ الرّماحُ بغيرِ السيوفِ

    وليس العِمادُ بغيرِ البِنا

    Spears are nothing without swords,

    Nor pillars without a building.

  86. ومن لا يُنادي أخاً باسمِهِ

    فليس يُخافُ ولا يُرتَجَى

    Whoever does not call a brother by his name

    Is neither feared nor looked to with hope.