دعوت بنات الليل في أخرياته

فلبتني الأقدار وهي غضاب

I called upon the daughters of night in its final hours;

and the Fates answered me in anger.

وإني لأدري أنكن ظوالم

وأنك ظفر للزمان وناب

And I know full well that you are unjust,

and that you are Time's claw and fang;

وأن الورى عبداً تكن جزاؤهم

على الصبر والشكر الجزيل عذاب

and that mortals, enslaved [to you], receive as their reward

for patience and abundant gratitude—torment.

ألا رب ملكٍ قد أقمتن ضلة

وللظلم فيه زخرة وعباب

Ah, many a kingdom you have raised in error,

and within it oppression surges and billows.

وكم وادع وثبته وتركته

حشاشته للحادثات نهاب

And how many a carefree soul you have pounced upon and left—

his remaining life plunder for calamities;

ومنتصف أندمته بعد حفزه

وذي أربة قد ضاع منه صواب

and a seeker of redress whom you made regret it after spurring him on,

and a man of understanding whose sound judgment was lost;

وقدم غبي قد رفعت على الورى

فسالت عليه بالبلاء شعاب

and a fool's foot you have raised above mortals,

so ravines poured affliction down upon them.

وأجلمت أفواه الأباة لأنهم

لهم في فكاك المرهقين طلاب

And you silenced the mouths of the unbowed, because

they strive to free the oppressed.

فعني فاني قد وسعتك خبرةً

وما دوننا لو تعلمين حجاب

So away from me, for I know you through and through;

and no veil lies between us, if you but knew.

ولكنه ما ينفع المرء علمه

وعلم الفتى بالحادثات عقاب

Yet a man's own knowledge does him no good,

and a young man's knowledge of calamities is punishment.

عفا اللَه عن جدٍّ شقينا بذنبه

ولم يغن منه عندكن مناب

May God pardon a forefather for whose sin we have suffered,

and whose repentance availed him nothing with you.

يقولون في الأقدار عدل ورحمةٌ

ومن أين علمي أن ذاك الصواب

They say there is justice and mercy in the Fates;

but how am I to know that this is true?

أمن أجل أن المرء أقدر قادر

يكون رحيماً طاش ثم حساب

Is it because a man is the mightiest of the mighty

that he must be merciful? That reckoning has gone astray.

بني آدم ذوقوا النكال لأنكم

بنوا من أني ما ليس فيه معاب

Sons of Adam, taste chastisement, for you are

sons of one who [did] what was without fault.

ولا تفتأوا تثنون بالمين والهوى

على رحمة الأقدار وهي كذاب

And never cease, in falsehood and caprice, to praise

the mercy of the Fates, though it is a lie.