لا تغبطن أمرا يزهو بثروته — Nicolaos al Sayegh

لا تغبطنَّ أمراً يزهو بثروتهِ

ولاتخلهُ سعيداً فالثراءُ ثَرى

Do not envy a man who prides himself on his wealth,

Nor deem him happy, for wealth is dust.

ان السعيدَ الذي تمَّت سعادتُهُ

بالموتِ هيهاتِ من يَحظَى بذاكَ تُرى

Truly happy is he whose happiness is perfected

In death—how far off! Who attains that, I wonder?

فذو المَسَرَّةِ مَن ساغت مَسَرَّتُهُ

أَوانَ مَسراهُ لا مَن بالسُرورِ سَرَى

True joy belongs to him whose joy remains sweet

At his departure, not to him who journeyed in delight.

كم اذهَبَ الذَهَبُ الموموق من شرفٍ

سامٍ وكم فضة قد فضت الفكرا

How much honor beloved gold has swept away—

Lofty honor! And how often silver has shattered thought.

والدر كم درَّ ضراً للعقول وكم

من مستهامٍ بحبِ التبرِ قد ثُبِرا

How often pearls have brought harm to minds! How many

Men infatuated with raw gold have been destroyed!

ورد الثراءِ يزيدُ الناهليهِ صدى

فكلما زاد زادت كبدُهم سعرا

Wealth's watering place makes its drinkers thirstier;

The more it grows, the more their livers burn.

أضحو لذاك كمستسقينَ ما فتئوا

صادين لن يشعروا عن وردهِ صدرا

Thus they become like sufferers from dropsy, ceaselessly

Thirsty, never knowing departure from its watering place.

نامَ الفقير خلياً من وساوسهِ

وباتَ ذو المال يَقضي ليلهُ سَهَرا

The poor man sleeps free of his anxious thoughts,

While the wealthy man spends his night awake.

وكلَّما بَسَطَ الأَرقامَ في عَدَدٍ

خَوفاً من الكسر إلا وهو قد كُسِرا

Whenever he lays out the figures in a reckoning,

Fearing a shortfall, he himself is already broken.

ان نال ألفاً يَرُم أَضعافَها وإذا

ما نالَ بَدرةَ مالٍ يبتغي بِدرا

If he gains a thousand, he seeks its multiples; and when

He gains a purse of money, he seeks more purses.

مأوى الكآبة مُثرٍ يَختشي أَبداً

فَقرَ الغِنى وغنيٌّ كانَ مفتقرا

Sorrow dwells in a rich man who forever fears

Poverty amid riches, and in a wealthy man who once was poor.

دَعني من المال اني لستُ أُعدَمُ من

قوتٍ وثوبٍ كَفافاً يمنع الضَرَرا

Leave me free of wealth; I do not lack

Food and a garment—a sufficiency that wards off harm.

كم ذاد عني خُمولي من أذى وَقذىً

فليتَ باذخَ ذِكري قَطُّ ما ذُكرا

How much harm and grit my obscurity has kept from me!

Would that my lofty renown had never been spoken of!

فآفةُ المرءِ في دنياهُ شُهرتُهُ

وَيسٌ لمن شاعَ بينَ الناسِ واشتهرا

A man's bane in his world is his fame.

Woe to him who becomes widely known among people and renowned!

ان نلتُ في قَمَرِ غاياتِ مُطلَبي

مالي إلى زُحَلٍ ذاك الرفيعِ ذُرى

If in the moon I attain the utmost of my desire,

What need have I of Saturn, so lofty in its heights?

أو كنتُ من ذُرَة أَلقى الكَفافَ بها

مالي إلى دُرَّةٍ أَلقى بها الخطرا

Or if I find enough to live on in millet,

What need have I of a pearl that brings me peril?

ان كان بالطل يروي الظلم مُهجته

مالي وللوبل إما جاد وانهمرا

If the ostrich refreshes its heart with dew,

What need have I of a downpour, should it fall in generous torrents?

ان فضل الدُر بعض واستهامَ بهِ

فدُرَّة القنع عندي تَفُضُلُ الدُرَرا

If some prefer pearls and become infatuated with them,

To me the pearl of contentment surpasses all pearls.

كفاني الزُهدُ شرَّ الإهتمامَ لذا

سيَّانِ خلتهما الإيسارَ والعُسرا

Renunciation has spared me the evil of anxiety; therefore

I deem prosperity and hardship equal.

زُهدٌ تساوت لديَّ الحالتانِ به

ان قلَّ ما في يدي يوماً وان كثرا

A renunciation through which both states are equal to me,

Whether what is in my hand is little one day or much.

ما نلتُ ضمن ضميري راحةً وهناً

حتى نبذتُ الورى عن منكبي ورا

I found no rest or ease within my conscience

Until I cast humankind behind my shoulder.

فَقَدتُ كل هُمومِ العَيشِ مُذ فَقَدَت

يدي النقودّينِ أعني البِيضَ والصُفُرا

I lost all the cares of living once

My hand lost both coinages—I mean the white and the yellow.

لا أرضي عيشةً من ذا الزَمانِ وإِن

صَفا فإِنّيَ قد الفيتُهُ كَدُرا

No life in this age satisfies me; even if

It is clear, I have found it murky.

وكيفَ أرجو أَماناً والحيوةُ بهِ

حربٌ على الأَرضِ لن تُبقي ولن تَذَرا

How can I hope for safety, when life in it

Is war upon the earth, sparing nothing and leaving nothing?

فالدهرُ يغزو بجيشٍ ما لهُ لَجَبٌ

ولن يُمارِسَ فيهِ البيضَ والسُمُرا

For Time invades with an army that makes no clamor,

Nor does it wield white swords or brown spears.

أَضحى يصولُ على كلِّ النفوسِ فلن

يُبقي ظِباءَ كِناسٍ أو أُسودَ شَرَى

It assaults every soul and will not

Spare gazelles in their coverts or the lions of Shara.

سَئِمتُ دُنيايَ لا سَهلاً ولا جَبَلاً

يحلو لَدَيَّ ولا كَفراً ولا مصرا

I am weary of my world: neither plain nor mountain

Delights me, neither village nor city.

سَبَرتُ كُلاً فإِن صفواً وإِن كَدَراً

سِيَّانِ عندي وإن حُلواً وان مَقِرا

I have tested all: whether clear or turbid,

All is alike to me, whether sweet or bitter.

فرَّت حياتي فَرّا مُعقِباً وَمَداً

ما اغبرَ العيشَ فالآتي كما غبرا

My life has fled, its flight leaving anguish.

How dust-gray life is! The future is like the past.

فلا يَرُوقَنكَ زهوٌ غِبَّهُ كَمَدٌ

فالأريُ يُعجِلهُ شَريٌ فكُن حَذِرا

Let no splendor charm you when sorrow follows it;

For bitter colocynth soon overtakes honey; be wary.

ذَر ذا الزمانَ ولا تَركَن اليهِ فكم

قد أَخفَرَ الذِمَّةَ الوُثقى وما خَفَرا

Leave this age behind; do not trust it—how often

It has betrayed the firmest pledge and never kept faith!

سجيةُ الدهرِ وعدٌ لا وفاءَ لهُ

كم غَرَّ قوماً وكم بالأَمنِ قد غَدَرا

Time's nature is a promise never fulfilled:

How often it has deceived people and betrayed them with assurances of safety!

يَهمي سحابُ الأَسى طبعاً فان ومَضَت

منهُ البُروقُ فلا تأمُل بها مَطَرا

Sorrow's cloud pours by nature; should there flash

Lightning from it, do not expect rain from those flashes.

ما كلُّ غُصنٍ رطيبٍ يانعٌ زَهَراً

كلا ولا كلُّ زهرٍ مُدرِكٌ ثَمَرا

Not every tender branch comes into flower;

No, nor does every blossom mature into fruit.

على م تعدو بإحضارٍ كمغتنمٍ

مهلاً فسَل عن دَهاهُ البَدوِ والحَضَرا

Why do you gallop headlong, like one seizing a prize?

Slow down; ask desert folk and townsfolk about its calamities.

تَجري لتقضيَ من ظلمٍ

جَريَ السلاهبِ هل إِنَّ القضاءَ جرى

You run to accomplish [something] through injustice,

Like long-bodied steeds—has destiny run its course?

بئس المرابح قيراطٌ رَبِحتَ به

قِنطارَ إثمٍ وكم من رابحٍ خَمِرا

What a wretched profit: a carat with which you gained

A quintal of sin! How many a profiteer has been overwhelmed!

لن يبتلي المرءَ الأسُؤُ شهوتهِ

فلا قضاءَ بمجذورٍ ولا قَدَرا

Nothing afflicts a man but the evil of his desire;

So neither decree nor destiny need be feared [reading uncertain].

ان شئتُ تَرقى المعالي كُن أخادَعَةٍ

وحاذِرِ الكِبرَ والأَحقادَ والوَغرا

If you wish to rise to lofty ranks, be a man of gentleness,

And beware of pride, rancor, and spite.

وعَزِّ طالبَ رِفدٍ واسعِفَنهُ به

ومل إليه ولا تُظهر له صِغرا

Comfort whoever seeks help, and surely provide him with it;

Incline toward him, and do not belittle him.

وأرشِد الضالَ وأفرغ في هدايته

كِنانةَ الجُهد وأنسهُ إذا نَفَرا

Guide the lost, and in guiding him empty

The quiver of your effort; reassure him if he shies away.

وكَمِّلَن نقصَ ذي جهلٍ بِمَعذِرةٍ

ولا تلُمهُ فخيرُ الناس من عذرا

Make good the ignorant man's deficiency by excusing him,

And do not blame him; the best of people is he who makes allowances.

واحذر اعاديكَ دُنياكَ الدنيَة وال

شيطانَ والجِسمَ لا تقبل لهُ عُذُرا

Beware your enemies: your lowly world, and the

Devil, and the body—accept no excuses for it.

هذا العَدُوُّ الذي تُخشى مكامنُهُ

فان يُصادق علمتَ الصِدقَ منهُ مِرا

This is the enemy whose hiding places are feared;

If it befriends you, you will find its sincerity bitter.

أَضحى تلافي تلافي الجسم حِرتُ فان

غَزَوتُهُ ملَّ أو هادَنتُهُ انتصرا

Mending the body has become my undoing; I am bewildered, for if

I attack it, it tires; if I make a truce with it, it triumphs.

أَبِرُّهُ وعُقُوقي كانَ أَجمَلَ بي

حتى كأَنَّ لما يُبدي عليَّ برى

I serve it dutifully, though defiance would better become me,

So much so that I seem to owe it kindness for what it displays.

أَنفقتُ عُمري وساعاتي وما ظَفِرَت

روحٌ بهِ شأنُها ان تَبلُغَ الظَفَرا

I have spent my life and my hours, yet no triumph has been won

Through it by a soul whose calling is to attain triumph.

كأَنَّ رُوحيَ شمسٌ وَهوَ لي قَمَرٌ

والشمسُ لا ينبغي ان تُدرِكَ القمرا

My soul is like a sun, and it is a moon to me;

And it is not for the sun to overtake the moon.

فالسُحبُ لو عايَنَت فعلي لما هَمَعَت

والزُهرُ ما طَلَعَت والصُبحُ ما جَشَرا

Had the clouds seen my deeds, they would not have shed rain,

Nor would the bright stars have risen, nor dawn have broken.

شَأَوتُ أَسرَعَ قومي بالذُنوبِ وقد

أَنضيتُ عِيسَ النُهى بالمُوبِقاتِ سُرَى

I have outstripped the swiftest of my people in sin, and

Exhausted reason's pale camels with deadly sins on night journeys.

إِني لأَحذَرُ جِسمي في تنمُّرهِ

والشاةُ قد تَتَّقي الآسادَ والنُمرا

I truly fear my body in its leopard-like ferocity;

A sheep may indeed guard against lions and leopards.

أَعدى عَدُوِّكَ جِسمٌ انتَ ساكنُهُ

يا ليتَ هذا الحِمى المُنهارَ ما عَمِرا

Your deadliest enemy is a body that you inhabit.

Would that this crumbling enclosure had never been inhabited!

متى أُحَلُّ انا المأسورَ من جَسَدي ال

مَيتِ الذي لحياة الرُوحِ قد أَسَرا

When shall I, the captive, be freed from my body, the

Dead thing that has held the soul's life captive,

كي تَمرَحَ النفسُ في مَيدانِ عالَمِها

وتَبلُغَ الفَوزَ والإِنعامَ والوَطَرا

So the soul may frolic in the arena of its realm

And attain victory, bounty, and its desire?