وَلَمّا اِنقَضى عَصرُ الشَبابِ وَعَهدُهُ
ذَوى وَرَقُ الدُنيا وَأَغصانُها الهُدلُ
And when youth's season and its days had ended,
When youth's spring had passed, its epoch done,
The world's leaves and its drooping boughs withered.
The leaves of life all withered, branches sere,
فَما سَوَّدَت عِجلاً مَآثِرُ قَومِهِ
وَلكِن بِهِ سادَت عَلى غَيرِها عِجلُ
It was not his people's glorious deeds that made ʿIjl supreme;
No deeds of his folk by him were undone,
Rather, through him, ʿIjl rose above the rest.
But by him they all other tribes outdid clear,
فَتىً وَقّفَ الأَيّامَ بِالسُخطِ وَالرِضا
عَلى بَذلِ عُرفٍ أَو عَلى حَدِّ مُنصلٍ
A young man who, in wrath and favor, bound the days
A man who judged days by joy or ire,
To bestowing kindness or to a sword's edge.
Giving freely or grasping spear,
هُو الأَمَلُ المَبسوطُ وَالأَجَلُ الَّذي
يَمَرُّ عَلى أَيّامِهِ الدَهرُ أَو يَحلو
He is hope spread wide and the appointed doom, in whose
He was hope spread wide and approaching fate,
Days time turns bitter or sweet.
Time o'er his days did glide or sweetly slide,
وَلا تُحسِنُ الأَيّامُ تَفعَلُ فِعلَهُ
وَإِن كانَ في تَصريفها النَقضُ وَالفِعلُ
Nor do the days know how to do what he does,
Days cannot do as he did create,
Though undoing and doing lie within their sway.
Though in their thread unravelling and tide,
فِعِش واحِداً أَمّا الشَراءُ فَمُسلَمٌ
مُباحٌ وَأَمّا الجارُ فَهوَ حِمىً بَسلُ
So live peerless: as for the purchase, it is yielded up,
So live unique! Goods for sale are free loot,
Freely available; but the neighbor is an inviolable preserve.
But neighbors are protected, an inviolate root!
Sol 6.1