أرى الدَّهر أغنى خَطْبُه عن خِطابه

بوَعظٍ شفى ألبابَنا بلُبابه

I see time, its events make its speech redundant,

With advice that healed our minds with its core.

وجرَّد سيفاً في ذُباب مَطامعٍ

تهافتَ فيها وهي فوق ذُبابه

It unsheathed a sword amidst the insects of greed,

That swarmed around it while it was above their swarming.

له قلبٌ تهدي القلوب صَوادِياً

إليها وتَعمى عن وشيك انقلابه

It has a heart that guides hearts calmly,

Towards it, and blind to its imminent overturning.

هو اللَّيثُ إلاّ أَنَّه وهو خادِرٌ

سطا فأَغاب الليثَ عن أُنس غابه

It is the lion, except when dozing

It extended its paw, causing the lion to miss the intimacy of its lair.

إذا جال أَنساكَ الرِّجالَ بظُفره

وإنْ صال أنساكَ النِّصال بنابه

When its victories bring men intimacy,

And when its blades bring them the intimacy of its sharpness.

فكم من عروشٍ ثلَّها بشُبوبه

وكم من جيوشٍ فلَّها بشبابه

So many thrones it destroyed in its youth,

And so many armies it defeated with its youth.

ومن أُمَمٍ ما أُوزِعَتْ شُكرَ عَذبه

فصبَّ عليها الله سَوطَ عذابه

And so many nations that did not give thanks for its sweetness,

So God unleashed upon them the whip of torment.

وأشهد لمْ تسلَمْ حلاوة شُهده

لِصابٍ إليه من مَرارة صابه

And I testify that the sweetness of its honey,

Was not safe for one who obtained bitterness from its bees.

مُبيدٌ مَباديه تَغُرُّ وإنَّما

عواقبه مختومةٌ بعِقابه

A destroyer, destructive are its ways, yet

Its consequences are sealed with punishment.

ألَمْ ترَ مَن ساس الممالكَ قادراً

وسارت ملوك الأرض تحت رِكابه

Do you not see the one who ruled kingdoms,

While kings of earth walked under his feet?

ودانت له الدُّنيا وكادت تُجِلُّه

على شُهْبِها لولا خُمودُ شِهابه

The world surrendered to him and almost deified him,

If not for the fading of its shooting star.

أَليس أتاه كالأتِيِّ حِمامُه

وفاجأَه ما لم يكن في حِسابه

Did help not come to him like coming of his pigeons?

And the unexpected befell him, beyond his calculations?

ولم يخش من أعوانه وعُيونه

ولا ارتاع من حُجّابه وحِجابه

He did not fear helpers nor intelligence,

He was not wary of his guards or his veil.

لقد أسلمتْه حِصْنُه وحَصونه

غداةَ غدا عن كَسبه باكتسابه

The next morning his fortress and fortresses betrayed him,

Due to his own gain through his endeavors.

فلا فِضَّةٌ أنجتْهُ عند انقضاضه

ولا ذَهَبٌ أنجاه عند ذَهابه

No silver saved him when he declined,

No gold saved him when he went away.

فحَلَّتْ شِمالُ الحَيْنِ تأليف شَمله

وعَفَّت جُنوب البين إلْفَ جنابه

The left of fate reconciled his reunion,

While the right of separation returned intimacy to his side.

وغُودِرَ شِلواً في الضَّريح مُلحَّباً

وحيداً إلى يوم المآب لما به

He was wrapped, displaced, in the grave, bereaved,

Alone until the day of doom that will come to him.

يترجِمُ عنه بالفَناء فِناؤه

وما أَوْحشَتْ من سُوحِه ورِحابه

His translation to nothingness translates his expiration,

How lonesome became his plains and horizon!

وعرِّجْ على الغَضِّ الشَّباب برَمسِه

وسائلْه عن صُنع الثَّرى بشَبابه

Go easy over the grave’s greenness with his remains,

And ask it about what youth did with its youth.

ففي صَمته تحت الجُيوب إشارةٌ

تُجيب بما يُغني الفتى عن جوابه

In its silence under surfaces, there is a gesture,

That answers what would suffice the young man to answer.

سلا شخصَه وُرّاثُه بتُراثه

وأَفْرَده أترابُه في تُرابه

His relatives divided his inheritance,

And his peers isolated him in his grave’s soil.

وأعجَبُ من دهري وعُجْبُ ذوي الفَنا

لعَمرُكَ فيه من عجيب عُجابه

Stranger than my fate, is the amazement of the temporal,

By your life, the wonders of its wonders!

وحتّى متى عَتبي عليه ولم يزَلْ

يَزيد أذى مَن زادَه في عِتابه

And for how long will I blame it, and it only increases

The harm of one who increases blame towards it?

إذا كنتُ لا أخشى زئير سِباعه

فحتّامَ يُغري بي نَبيحَ كِلابه

If I do not fear the roar of its predators,

Then I must fancy the barking of its dogs.

يُناصبُني مَن لا تَزيد شهادة

عليه سوى بُغضي بلؤم نِصابه

He harbors enmity towards me, he whose testimony

Against me is nothing but my hatred of his hostilities.

إذا اغْتابَني فاشْكُرْهُ عنّي فإنَّما

يُقَرِّظُ مِثلي مِثلُه باغتيابه

If he backbites me, thank him on my behalf, for he only

Admonishes the likes of me with his backbiting.

ويرتاب بالفضل الذي غمرَ الورى

وفي بعضه لو شئتَ كَشفُ ارتِيابه

And he doubts the superior merits that immersed the world,

And I can reveal, if I wished, his doubts.

ويَنحَس شِعري إنْ دبَغْتُ إهابهُ

بهَجوي فقد نزَّهْته عن إهابه

He prophesies ill for my poetry if I refine his ignorance,

For I have exonerated it from ignorance.