دُعينا إلى تأبين من مات قبلنَا

وقد ساورتنا في الحياة المخاوفُ

We were called to eulogize those who died before us

While we were haunted by fears in life

وماذا الذي يرجو من الشعر شاعرٌ

تطول به فوقَ القبور المواقف

And what does a poet hope from poetry

To prolong over graves the positions

أحق من الموتى بنعيٍ ومأتمٍ

مدين رهين أرهقته المصارف

Is it right for the dead to be elegized and mourned

While a debtor is held hostage by creditors

وإن شراء الدَّين بالدين حيلة

فإما توفيه وإمّا تضاعف

And buying debt with debt is a trick

Either pay it off or it gets doubled

عطفنا ولم نعقل فكيف نجاتنا

وقد غلبت تلك العقول العواطف

We sympathized yet did not understand, so how did we survive

While those minds overpowered emotions

وقلنا فلم نسمع عتاباً من الذي

نعادي ولم نبلغ رضى من نحالف

And we spoke but did not hear rebuke from those

We oppose and did not attain consent from those we ally with

ولجت دعاوي الجانبين فلم نصل

إلى من نجاريه ولا من نخالف

The arguments of both sides resorted but we did not arrive

At who we should oppose or align with

وسرنا بنجوانا إلى غير منجد

يسائلنا عما بنا وهو عارف

And we walked boastfully to one who is not a refuge

Who would ask us about ourselves while he already knows

وما قرَّبتْ تلك الأحاديثُ موعداً

ولا أبعدت تلك الظنون الزخارف

And those conversations did not bring the time nearer

Nor did those delusions remove the ornaments

فما للذي شدنا له الصرحَ مُعرضاً

يطالع فيه غيرنا ويشارف

So why did we erect the palace, turning away

For others to look out from and share in

وليت لنا منه نصيب عداته

وقد راح يستصفيهمُ ويلاطف

If only we had a share of his surplus

While he is screening them and being gentle

وليت رعاة العهد يلقون عنده

من الود ما يلقاه في الطرْق هاتف

If only the keepers of the promise find with him

The affection that a passerby finds on the road

وأهون من فقد الجميل زلازلٌ

تُغيِّر مما حولنا وعواصف

And loss of kindness is easier than tremors

That change what is around us and storms

ولا يتساوى الناس إلا وكلهم

على الطلل البالي وقوع زواحف

And people are not equal until they are all

Prone before ruins and creeping low