مُسوَدُّ فَودِكَ بِالمبيضِّ مُشتعِل
وَأَنتَ بِالهزل وَقتَ الجدِّ مُشتغِلُ
The blackness at your temples is ablaze with white,
yet you are busy with jest when earnestness is due.
أَما اتَّعظتَ بِفِعلٍ كُله خَطأٌ
أَلا اِمتَعَظتَ لقَولٍ كُلّه خَطَلُ
Have you not taken warning from deeds all full of error?
Have you not heeded words that are wholly foolish?
ناهَزتَ ستِّينَ عاماً ما اِنتَهَزت إِلى
رُجعاكَ مِن فُرصَةٍ يُمحى بِها الزَلَلُ
You have neared sixty years, yet seized no chance
to turn back—a chance by which transgressions are erased.
زَلَّت بِكَ القدمُ الخَسرى وَزالَ بِها
عَنِ الهُدى قَدَم بِالضدِّ يَتَّصِلُ
Your ruin-bound foot slipped and, through that fall,
a foot strayed from guidance to join its opposite.
فَأَنتَ تُسرِعُ قُدماً في الضَلال وَما
يَرُدُّك الوازِعانِ الخَوفُ وَالخَجَلُ
Headlong you hasten onward into error, while
the two restraints—fear and shame—do not hold you back.
قَسَت قُلوبٌ فَلا ذِكرى تُلَيِّنُها
جَفَّت جُفونٌ فَما للحُزنِ تَنهَمِلُ
Hearts have hardened, and no reminder softens them;
eyelids have dried, and shed no tears of sorrow.
إِنَّ السَلامَةَ في تَركِ الأَنامِ هُمُ
كَالسُمِّ كُل أَديمٍ حَلَّ يِنتَغِلُ
Truly, safety lies in forsaking humankind: they are
like poison—whatever skin it enters begins to fester.
يَصِحُّ دينُكَ إِذ ما كُنتَ منفرِداً
عَنهُم وَإِن تَرَهُم دَبَّت لَهُ العِلَلُ
Your faith stays sound so long as you remain apart
from them; but if you see them, maladies creep into it.
وَا رَحمَتا لِفُؤادي كَم أَعنِّفُهُ
فَلَيسَ يَردعُهُ قَولٌ وَلا عَمَلُ
Alas, have mercy on my heart! How often I rebuke it,
yet neither word nor deed can make it desist.
مَرَّت عَلَيهِ دُهورٌ لا يَصيخُ إِلى
داعي الهُدى وَلَهُ نَحوَ الصَبا مَيَلُ
Ages have passed over it, yet it gives no ear
to the caller of guidance, while yearning for youth.
Sol 5.6