متى تحضر تطب يا عذل بالا

وأما أن تغب عنا فلا لا

Whenever you appear, O reproach [perhaps 'justice'], you are at ease;

but as for being absent from us—no, no.

وكم واعدتنا يا عدل وصلاً

وجوناه فلم تنل الوصالا

And how often, O justice, have you promised us union,

and we hoped for it [uncertain reading], yet you did not attain union.

وطالبناك بالإبحار لما

مطلت فلم تزد إلا مطالا

And we demanded that you set sail when

you delayed, doing nothing but delaying further.

إلى الناس التفت يا عدل يوماً

فإن عليك للناس اتكالا

Turn toward the people one day, O justice,

for the people depend on you.

زوالك بما لا تهنأ محضروه

يكون لعز مملكة زوالا

Your departure, in which its instigators find no peace,

brings a kingdom's glory to an end.

وإن السعد حيث ظلعت يبدو

وإن الأمن حيث تميل مالا

And good fortune appears wherever you limp,

and security inclines wherever you incline.

وإنك كالصبح إذا تجلى

وأسفر عن عمود قد تلالا

And you are like dawn when it reveals itself

and unveils a pillar already gleaming.

وإنك قد أضأت الناس قدماً

وإنك كنت حينئذٍ هلالا

And long ago you gave the people light,

and then you were a crescent moon.

فكيف وأنت هذا العصر بدرٌ

بلغت تمام ضوئك والكمالا

Then how, now that in this age you are a full moon,

having attained your fullest light and perfection,

تُوارى نورك المحبوبَ عنا

وتحجُب عن محبيك الجمالا

do you hide your beloved light from us

and veil your beauty from those who love you?

أقم للحق ديواناً عظيماً

ورخّص كي نُلمَّ به عجالى

Establish a great court for what is right,

and grant us leave to visit it in haste,

فنقرأ في ظُلامتنا كتاباً

ونشكو في حضورٍ منك حالا

so we may read a document about our grievance

and complain of our plight in your presence.

وقفت وأعيني مغرورقاتٌ

على ربعٍ لمية قد أحالا

I stood with my eyes brimming with tears

at Mayya's campsite, which had fallen into ruin,

على ريعٍ لميةَ زايلتهُ

ولم يك عَرف مية عنه زالا

on Mayya's hill, which she had forsaken,

though Mayya's fragrance had not left it.

أسائله فلم يُرجع جوابي

كأن الربع ما فهم السؤالا

I questioned it, but it gave me no answer,

as though the campsite had not understood the question.

وقفت محاذياً طللاً حكاني

بهِ وحكيت دارسه هُزالا

I stood facing a ruin that resembled me

there, and in my thinness I resembled its faded traces.

كاني إذ أسائله خيالٌ

يخاطب في مُعَطّلة خيالا

As I questioned it, I seemed a phantom

addressing a phantom in a deserted place.

ذكرت به زماناً فيه ميّ

تلاعبني وتوليني الوصالا

There I recalled a time when Mayy

played with me and bestowed loving union on me.

وصالاً قد نعمت به كأني

شربت به على ظمأٍ زلالا

A union I had enjoyed, as though

through it I had drunk pure water while thirsty.

إلا يا ميّ حبك في فؤادي

كمثل النار يشتعل اشتعالا

But, O Mayy, your love within my heart

blazes fiercely like fire.

أبيني كيف ليلك قر تقضى

فبعدَك ليلنا يا ميُّ طالا

Explain how your night grew still and passed;

for since you left, O Mayy, our night has grown long.

أَميَّةُ نوّلينا منك قرباً

أمية ثم لا تَذَرى النوالا

O Mayya, grant us nearness to you,

O Mayya, then do not cease your giving.

ولم نك إذ منعت الوصل ندرى

ابخلاً كان ذلك أم دلالا

And when you withheld union, we did not know

whether that was stinginess or coquetry.

اذنبٌ يا رعاكِ اللَه أنا

عشقنا منك يا ميُّ الجمالا

Is it a sin—may God protect you—that we

fell in love with your beauty, O Mayy?

أدر في الربع عيناً منك وانظر

إلى حال إليها الربع حالا

Cast your eye over the campsite and look

at the state into which the campsite has changed.

تولى فيه عنك العيش حلواً

فخلَّ العين تنهمل انهمالا

Sweet life there has departed from you,

so let your eye stream with tears.

وما الربع الذي أخبرت عنهُ

سوى الوطن الذي ركناه مالا

And the campsite I have spoken of

is none other than the homeland whose two pillars have tilted.

وليس سوى العدالة ما هوينا

وميٌّ قد ذكرناها مثالا

And what we loved was nothing but justice;

and we have mentioned Mayy as an example.

إذا أمست حياة المرء عبثاً

عليه لا يطيق لها احتمالا

If a person's life becomes futile

to him, and he cannot endure it,

ولازَمهُ من الآلام داءٌ

وأصبح داؤُه داءً عضالا

and a painful illness clings to him,

and his illness becomes incurable,

وقد فرحت أعاديه شِماتاً

وفارقه أحبتهُ مَلالا

and his enemies have rejoiced in gloating,

and his loved ones leave him out of weariness,

فليس سوى الحِمام له طبيبٌ

يداوي منه آلاماً توالى

then he has no physician but death

to heal his pains, which follow one another.

فإن الموت يرحمه وينفي

خطوباً قد نزلن به ثقالا

For death has mercy on him and dispels

the heavy calamities that have befallen him.

وإن الموت ملتجأ كريمٌ

لمن ألقى بساحته الرحالا

And death is a gracious refuge

for whoever lays down his baggage in its courtyard.

فزرنا عاجلاً يا موت زرنا

فإن لنا بزورتك احتفالا

So visit us soon, O death, visit us,

for we shall celebrate your visit.

ويا نفس ارحلي عنا ففينا

بقاؤك لم يكن إلا ضلالا

And O soul, depart from us, for within us

your staying has been nothing but error.

ودوسي في طريقك كل صعبٍ

بعزمٍ تنطحين به الجبالا

And trample every obstacle in your path,

with a resolve by which you butt against mountains.

فإنك إن برحت الجسم منا

سموت إلى ذرى جوّ تعالى

For if you leave our body,

you will rise to the heights of the lofty sky.

نَفِرُّ من الحياة إلى المنايا

لأن حياتنا أمست وَبالا

We flee from life toward death,

because our life has become a calamity.

نريد من الكروب بها خلاصاً

وعن دار الهوان بها ارتحالا

Through death we seek deliverance from anguish

and, through it, departure from the abode of humiliation.

وإنّ لنا إذا متنا حياةً

ننالُ إلى السماء بها انتقالا

And when we die, there is a life for us

through which we gain passage to the heavens.

ستخرج عن مضيق الجسم روحي

وتلقى في الفضاء لها مجالا

My soul will emerge from the body's narrow confines

and find room for itself in open space.

بقاء الروح بعد الجسم أمرٌ

بهِ اختلفوا ومن يدري المآلا

The soul's survival after the body is a matter

on which they have disagreed—and who knows the outcome?

فقال البعض إن الروح تبقى

إذا انفصلت عن الجسم انفصالا

Some said that the soul survives

when it separates completely from the body;

وقال البعض إن النفس تفنى

إذا لاقت قوى الجسم انحلالا

and some said that the soul perishes

when the body's powers undergo dissolution.

فظن بقاءَها حتما أناسٌ

وعدَّ بقاءها قومٌ مُحالا

Some therefore believed its survival inevitable,

while others deemed its survival impossible.

وقد قلنا بهِ ونفاه بعض

وإن لنا مع النافي جدالا

We have affirmed it, while some have denied it,

and we dispute with those who deny it.