لم يبق في الدهر شيء بعد ذا حسن

قد أزمع الحسن والإحسان والحسن

After this, nothing beautiful remains in time.

Beauty, beneficence, and Hasan have resolved to depart.

حلَّت غداة نوى الترحال ظعن فتى

حي الحلال فيا لا قوض الظعن

The caravan of a youth alighted the morning he meant to leave,

a youth of the encampments' tribe—oh, may the caravan never strike camp!

مضت بموءتمن عمن مضى خلف

باق وحين مضى لم يبقَ مؤتمن

It departed with a trusted man, the successor of one already gone;

he had remained, but when he departed, no trusted man remained.

يا مرعي العين ان تلتذَّ في وسنٍ

ازل قذى العين حتى يرعوي الوسن

O pasture of the eye, if you delight in slumber,

remove the mote from the eye, so that slumber may relent.

ان الذي غاب عن انسانها لفتى

لولا الممات لأحيت جعفر السنن

Indeed, the one who vanished from its pupil was a youth

whose ways, were it not for death, would have restored Ja'far to life.

لا درَّ درُّ زمان قد اساء بما

قد نال من حسن يا قبح الزمن

May no blessing flow from an age that did such wrong through what

it inflicted on Hasan—how ugly is time!

لِلّه درُّاخٍ نازعته بفمي

درَّ اللبان فصافي بيننا اللبن

God bless a brother with whom I vied, with my mouth,

for flowing breast milk; that milk bound us in affection.

وصاحبٍ ليَ قد الوى لطيته

اتبعته شجناً لو عاقه الشجن

And a companion of mine who turned toward his destination—

I sent sorrow after him; would that sorrow could have detained him.

اخفى عليه تباريحي واعلنها

وليس ينفعني سرٌّ ولا علن

I conceal my agonies from him and reveal them,

but neither secrecy nor disclosure avails me.

حتى رميت بوجد غير مكتمن

والوجد يبرز احيانا ويكتمن

Until I was stricken with unconcealed anguish;

and anguish sometimes emerges and sometimes hides.

كم مورد ساغ بعد الحتف بابن تقى

ما كل مورد حتف ماؤه اسن

How many a watering place beyond death is sweet to a son of piety!

Not every watering place of death has stagnant water.

يا عثرة الدهر فيمن كم اقال بني ال

دهر العثار لخاب العاثر الافن

O time's stumble against one who so often helped the sons of the

age recover from their falls—surely the foolish stumbler is undone!

ليت العثار لوجه فيه غبرته

وجلَّ آخر طلق المجتلى حسن

Would that the fall had struck a face bearing its dust,

and another were exalted, radiant and beautiful to behold.

لا قلت بعدك للدهر العثور لعا

ولا اقيل ومن قالوا لعاً لعنوا

May I never, after you, tell stumbling time, 'Rise again!'

Nor may it be helped up; cursed be those who said, 'Rise again!'

وناعم بدنا في منزل خشن

افضي عليه بنعمى المنزل الخشن

And one tender of body, in a rough dwelling—

may the blessings of that rough dwelling reach him.

من ينظر المرء في ايامه يره

كالغصن يذبل بعد النضرة الغصن

Whoever watches a man through his days will see him

like a branch—the branch withers after its freshness.

وكل محترز ريّاً الى ظمأ

يعود أظمأ شيء ما سقى المزن

And everyone who guards himself, though quenched, turns toward thirst,

returning the thirstiest of all that the rain clouds have watered.

والدهر اول ما تمضي له محن

كذاك آخر ما تبقى له محن

Time's first passing moments are trials,

and likewise its last remaining moments are trials.

لا يعدم الدهر يوما عادماً حزنا

لم تفترق شيم الايام والحزن

Time never lacks, on any day, someone bereft and sorrowful;

the ways of days and sorrow have never parted.

والارض للمرء اما ظهرها وطن

له مقرٌّ واما بطنه وطن

For man, the earth: either its back is a homeland,

a dwelling for him, or its belly is a homeland.

والناس كالبدن للتنحار إن سلمت

لا تسلم الناس حتى تسلم البدن

People are like sacrificial camels marked for slaughter; if they are spared—

people will not be spared until the sacrificial camels are spared.

انَّ الانام وان طالت سلامتها

لابد يقرنها في ميتة قرن

Indeed, all creatures, however long their safety lasts,

must be bound together in death by a tether.

لا ينفع المرء مال يستعدُّ به

ولا شجاعةَ ان اودى ولا جبن

Wealth a man makes ready does not benefit him,

nor courage, if he perishes, nor cowardice.

ومستقرٍّ على ايدي احبته

سدىً يداول بالايدي ويحتضن

And one resting upon the hands of his loved ones,

helpless, passed from hand to hand and embraced.

اوهى الرقاب على الاعواد محتملا

حتى تخيل محمولا بها حضن

He weakened necks, carried upon wooden poles,

until it seemed that Mount Hadan was borne upon them.

ساروا به بسرير كلما اجتهدوا

ان يسرعوا الخطو اجلالاً به وهنوا

They carried him along on a bier; whenever they strove

to hasten their steps, they faltered out of reverence for him.

لو كان مما يردُّ الحتف طعن قناً

لردَّت الحتف عنها بالقنا اليزن

Had spear-thrusts been among the things that repel death,

Yazan would have driven death from itself with spears.

او كان مما يردّ الموت ضرب ظبي

لردَّت الموت عنها بيضها اليمن

Or had sword-strokes been among the things that repel death,

Yemen's white blades would have driven death away from it.

يمشي بنا اجل تلقاء غايته

وليس تنفعنا زغف ولا جنن

An appointed death leads us toward its goal,

and neither supple mail nor shields avail us.

قد قاد محتصد الآراء في شطنٍ

قود الجنيب ولم يستحصد الشطن

It led a man of firm judgment by a long rope,

as a led horse is led, though the rope was not tightly twisted.

اودى الذي ملأ الأيام سابقة

وكان مذ كان وهو السابق الارن

He who filled the days with preeminence has perished,

and ever since he existed, he was the spirited front-runner.

لا يتبع المال مناً حين ينفقه

والمنُّ بالجود نجل المرء والمنن

When he spent money, he never followed it with reminders of his favor;

and flaunting generosity wounds both the giver and his favors.

او يعقبنَّ نداه الجم وجمته

ما كل ذي كرم في وجمة قمن

Nor did he follow his abundant bounty with his sullenness;

not every generous man is worthy when sullen.