هو الدهرُ فانظر أىَّ قِرنٍ تُحارِبُه

هو الدهرُ فانظر أىَّ قِرنٍ تُحارِبُه

وقد دَهَمَتنَا دُهمُهُ وأشاهِبُه

وقد دَهَمَتنَا دُهمُهُ وأشاهِبُه

It is Time—consider what an adversary you fight,

It is time, so see which era you fight

It is Time, so observe what adversary you engage, / When its dark nights and white days have raided us.

And his black steeds and gray steeds have assailed us.

Its afflictions have overwhelmed us, and its white hair

Nights and days by which mankind is beguiled, / Yet they are naught but its soldiers and battalions.

ليالٍ وأيّامٌ يُغَرُّ بها الورَى

ليالٍ وأيّامٌ يُغَرُّ بها الورَى

وما هِيَ إِلاّ جُندُهُ وكتائِبُه

وما هِيَ إِلاّ جُندُهُ وكتائِبُه

Nights and days by which mortals are deceived,

Nights and days that deceive the people

Its poison targets none but the noble, as though / Their virtues, in the scale of pride, are its very flaws.

Yet they are nothing but his army and his battalions.

And they are nothing but its troops and brigades

Every glorious soul has vanished from the horizon of eminence, / He who held the legacy of ancient glory and its present.

وما سُمُّهُ غَيرُ الكرامِ كأنَّما

وما سُمُّهُ غَيرُ الكرامِ كأنَّما

مناقِبُهم عند الفَخارِ مثالِبُه

مناقِبُهم عند الفَخارِ مثالِبُه

And none but the noble are his bane, as though

And its name is nothing but generosity as if

When my soul remembers him, I spend the night as if / A prisoner of foes, against whom all paths are barred.

Their virtues, when honor is vaunted, were his faults.

Their virtues in pottery are its ascendancies

How many a night have I kept vigil with the stars of the sky; / Whenever one star vanished from me, its companion appeared.

لقد غابَ عن أُفقِ العَلاَ كلُّ ماجدٍ

لقد غابَ عن أُفقِ العَلاَ كلُّ ماجدٍ

له حاضِرُ المجدِ التَّليدِ وغائبُه

له حاضِرُ المجدِ التَّليدِ وغائبُه

Indeed, every noble man has vanished from the horizon of greatness,

The glory of the glorious has certainly disappeared from the horizon

The night grows long upon me until it seems as though / Its points of rising, to the beholders, are its points of setting.

Who possessed ancestral glory, present and absent alike.

For him, the continuity of glory exists, and its disappearance

The full moon has surrendered the stars to the darkness, / In loyalty to a Moon whom his own stars have surrendered.

إذا ذكَرَتهُ النّفسُ بتُّ كأننّى

إذا ذكَرَتهُ النّفسُ بتُّ كأننّى

أسيرُ عِداً سُدَّت عليه مذاهبُه

أسيرُ عِداً سُدَّت عليه مذاهبُه

Whenever my soul remembers him, I spend the night as though I were

When my soul remembers him, it is as if I

It is imagined to me that the darkness is the dust of his trail, / And that the stars traveling by night are his processions.

A captive of enemies, with all his paths barred.

Am a prisoner guarded by its doctrines

And that the flashing lightnings are his swords, / And the pouring rains are his bountiful gifts.

وكم ليلةٍ ساهرتُ أنجُمَ أُفقِهَا

وكم ليلةٍ ساهرتُ أنجُمَ أُفقِهَا

إذا غابَ عنّي كوكبٌ لاحَ صاحبُه

إذا غابَ عنّي كوكبٌ لاحَ صاحبُه

And many a night I have kept vigil with the stars of its horizon:

And how many nights have I stayed up with their horizons’ stars

So say to the nights, after what they have wrought upon us: / "Behold, in this manner let the despoiler strip away glory."

When a star vanished from my sight, its companion appeared.

If a star disappeared, its companion appeared

يطولُ علىَّ الليلُ حتى كأنّما

يطولُ علىَّ الليلُ حتى كأنّما

مشارِقُهُ للنّاظرين مغارِبُه

مشارِقُهُ للنّاظرين مغارِبُه

The night grows long for me, until it is as though

The night is long for me, as if

Its eastern horizons were its western horizons to those watching.

Its dawns for viewers are its sunsets

وقد أسلمَ البدرُ الكواكبَ للدُّجى

وقد أسلمَ البدرُ الكواكبَ للدُّجى

وفَاءً لبدرٍ أسلمتهُ كواكبُه

وفَاءً لبدرٍ أسلمتهُ كواكبُه

And the full moon has abandoned the stars to the darkness,

And the moon surrendered the planets to darkness

In loyalty to a full moon abandoned by his stars.

Out of loyalty to a moon surrendered by its planets

يًخيَّلُ لى أنّ الظّلامَ عَجاجُهُ

يًخيَّلُ لى أنّ الظّلامَ عَجاجُهُ

وأن النجومَ السَّارياتِ مواكبُه

وأن النجومَ السَّارياتِ مواكبُه

It seems to me that the darkness is his swirling dust,

I imagine that darkness is its well-armed forces

And that the stars journeying by night are his processions,

And the flowing stars are its convoy

وأن البروقَ اللامعاتِ سيوفُهُ

وأن البروقَ اللامعاتِ سيوفُهُ

وأن الغيوثَ الهامعاتِ مواهبُه

وأن الغيوثَ الهامعاتِ مواهبُه

And that the flashing lightning bolts are his swords,

And the flashing lightning is its swords

And that the pouring rains are his gifts.

And the pouring rain is its gifts

فَقُل لِلّيالي بَعدَما صَنَعَت بنا

فَقُل لِلّيالي بَعدَما صَنَعَت بنا

أَلا هكَذا فَليَسلُبِ المَجدَ سالِبُه

أَلا هكَذا فَليَسلُبِ المَجدَ سالِبُه

So tell the nights, after what they have done to us:

So say to the nights after what they did to us

Indeed, let glory's plunderer plunder it thus!

Should glory thus be stripped by its stripper?