وَكَلَّفتَني أَمراً لَو انَّ أَقلَّهُ

يكلَّفُهُ ثَهلانُ كادَ يَميدُ

You burdened me with a task, that if even

The slightest of it was burdened on an exhausted camel, it would collapse

إِعادة ماضٍ وَاستدامَةَ حالَةٍ

وَتحصيلَ آتٍ إِنَّ ذا لَشَديدُ

Repeating the past and continuing a state

And collecting the future, indeed this is severe

تَصَرَّفتُ في ماضٍ وَآتٍ وَحاضِرٍ

كَأَني فِعلٌ بانَ عَنهُ جُمُودُ

I dealt with past, future and present

As if I am an act that its stillness has departed from it

وَما زالَ بي التَشبيهُ حَتّى تَظافَرَت

مَوانِعُ صَرفٍ ما لَهنَّ مَحيدُ

And the comparison has not ceased to concur in me

Obstacles of disposal, for which there is no deviator

فَلَيتَ اِنصِرافي في مِكانِ تَصَرُّفي

فَيَنقصُ ذا عَنّي وَذاكَ يَزيدُ

If only my retreat to the place of my disposal

So this would decrease from me, and that would increase