Claude 2

  1. توالى عليّ اليبس من كلِّ جانبِ

    وأقلقني طولُ التفكُّرِ والسهرْ

    Hardship besieged me from every side,

    And long contemplation and vigilance troubled me,

  2. وأزعجني داعي المنية للبِلى

    وأذهلني عما يجلُّ يحتقرْ

    And the call of mortality to decay disturbed me,

    And the One who is most Sublime amazed me by what He scorns.

  3. وقوّى فؤادي حسنُ ظني بخالقي

    وأضعفَ مني قوّةَ السمعِ والبصرْ

    Yet my good opinion of my Creator strengthened my heart,

    Though the powers of hearing and sight weakened me.

  4. وإن مُرادي حيل بيني وبينه

    بردِّي كما يُتلى إلى أرذَلِ العمر

    And if what I desire is hindered from me

    In my coolness, as one grown senile with age is told off.

  5. فنادى بروحي للبرازخِ والتوى

    ينادي بجسمي للمقابرِ والحفَر

    So my spirit called out to the intermediate realm and twisted away,

    And my body called out to the graves and the dug pits.

  6. فهذا حبيسُ القبرِ في منزل البلى

    وهذا حبيس الصورِ في برزخِ الصور

    For this one is the prisoner of the grave, in the abode of decay,

    While that one is the prisoner of the tomb, in the intermediate realm of forms.

  7. فلو لم أكن بالحق كنتُ مقيداً

    ولو لم أكن بالخلقِ كنتُ على خطر

    And had I not had Truth, I would have been fettered,

    And had I not had creation, I would have been endangered.

  8. فحقي يحلِّيني بما فيّ من قوى

    وخلقي يحلِّيني بما يُوصَفُ البشر

    So my Truth adorns me with the powers that are in me,

    And my creation adorns me with what is attributed to mankind.

  9. فما أعذبَ الطعم الذي قد طعمته

    من العلمِ بالله المريدِ وما أمرْ

    How sweet is the taste I have tasted

    Of knowing God—the desired, and what He has commanded!

  10. كأني طعمتُ التمر في طيباته

    وفي العلم ما ذقنا سوى مطعم العشر

    It is as if I tasted dates in their prime,

    And in knowledge we have tasted only the appetizer.

  11. فوفيتُ ما قد أوجبَ الله فعله

    عليّ بتصريفِ القضاءِ مع القدر

    So I have fulfilled what God has obligated me to do,

    Through the disposal of Fate along with Predestination—

  12. عنايةَ مختارٍ عليمٍ منبأ

    وجئتُ كما قد جاء موسى على قدر

    The care of a Choosing One, Knowing, Informed,

    And I have come just as Moses came, according to his appointed term.