1. جَهِلْتُ ، أحظُّ المرءِ بالسعي يُقْتَنَى

    أم الحظُّ سرٌّ حَجَّبتْهُ المقادرُ

    I do not know: is a person's fortune acquired through striving,

    Or is fortune a secret veiled by the fates?

  2. وهل مثلَما قالوا جدودٌ نواهضٌ

    تقوم بأهليها وأخرى عواثر

    And are there, as they say, fortunes that rise,

    Lifting their possessors, and others that stumble?

  3. فمن عجب أن يُمْنَحَ الرزقَ وادعٌ

    ويُمْنَعَهُ ثَبْتُ الجَنانِ مُغامر

    How strange that a carefree man should be granted sustenance,

    And a steadfast-hearted adventurer be denied it.

  4. تفكّرتُ في هذي الحياةَ فراعنى

    من الناسِ وحشٌ في التزاحُمِ كاسر

    I reflected on this life, and was appalled

    By a beast among men, ravening in the scramble.

  5. ولا فرقَ إلاّ أنَّ هذا مراوغٌ

    كثيرُ مُداجاهٍ وهذا مجاهر

    There is no difference, except that this one is wily,

    Much given to dissimulation, while that one acts openly.

  6. وقد ظنَّ قومٌ أنَّ في الشِعر حاجةً

    إلى فاقةٍ تهتزُّ منها المشاعر

    And some have thought that poetry has a need

    For poverty, by which feelings are stirred;

  7. وأنَّ نَتاجَ الرفهِ أعْجَفُ خاملٌ

    وأنَّ نَتاجَ البُؤسِ ريّانُ زاهر

    And that the fruit of ease is lean and dull,

    And that the fruit of misery is lush and flourishing.

  8. كأنَّ شعوراً بالحياة وعيشة

    بها يشتهى طَعْمَ الحياةِ ضرائر

    As though a feeling for life and a way of living

    In which one desires life's savor were rival wives.

  9. وما إن يُرى فكرٌ كهذا مُزَيَّفٌ

    لدى أمّةٍ للفنِّ فيها مناصر

    And no such false notion is ever found

    In a nation where art has a champion,

  10. ولا أمةٌ تحيا حياةً رفيهةً

    يَجيشُ بها فيما يُصوّرُ شاعر

    Nor in a nation living a life of ease,

    Which surges within a poet in what he portrays.

  11. ولكنّهُ في أمّةٍ مستكينةٍ

    طغى الذُّلُّ فيها فهو ناهٍ وآمر

    But it is found in a submissive nation,

    Where humiliation holds sway, forbidding and commanding.

  12. وآنسها بؤسُ الأديبِ وأُعْجِبَتْ

    بِشِعرٍ عليه مهجةٌ تتناثر

    The writer's misery has comforted it, and it marvels

    At verse upon which lifeblood is scattered.

  13. وللحزنِ هزّاتٌ وللأُنْسِ مِثْلُها

    يُخالِفُ بعضٌ بَعْضَها ويُناصر

    And sorrow has its tremors, and joy has their like;

    Some oppose others, and some lend support.

  14. ومثلُ قصيدٍ جسَّدَ الحزنَ رائعاً

    قصيدٌ بتجسيدِ المسراتِ زاخر

    And like a poem that splendidly embodies sorrow

    Is a poem brimming with the embodiment of joys.

  15. نُسَرُّ بشِعرٍ رقرق الدمعُ فوقَه

    إذا عَصَرَ الذهنَ المفكّرَ عاصر

    We delight in verse over which tears glisten,

    When a crushing force wrings the thinking mind.

  16. وقد فاتنا أنّ الذي نستلذُّهُ

    قلوبٌ رقاقٌ ذُوِّبَتْ ومرائر

    Yet we have overlooked that what we relish

    Is tender hearts and gall melted down.

  17. وما أحوجَ القلبَ الذكيَّ لعيشةٍ

    يَعِنُّ بها فِكْرٌ ويَسْبَحُ خاطر

    And how greatly the keen heart needs a life

    In which thought arises and fancy swims.

  18. ورُبَّ خصيبِ الذهنَ مَضَّتْ خَصاصةٌ

    به فهو مقتولُ المواهبِ خائر

    And many a man of fertile mind has had want gnaw

    At him, leaving his talents slain and his strength spent.

  19. وشتّانَ فنّانٌ على الفنِّ عاكفٌ

    وآخرُ في دوّامِةِ العَيْشِ حائر

    And how far apart are an artist devoted to art

    And another bewildered in the whirlpool of earning a living!

  20. وقد يطرق البؤسُ النعيمَ اعتراضة

    كما مَرّ مجتازاً غريبٌ مسافر

    And misery may visit bliss in passing,

    Like a traveling stranger who passes through.

  21. ولكنّ بؤساً مُفْرِخاً حَطَّ ثِقْلَهُ

    وألقى عصاه فهو موتٌ مخامر

    But nesting misery that has set down its load

    And laid down its staff is death lodged within.