أَرَأَيتَ مِن داءِ الصَّبابَةِ عائِداً
وَوَجَدتَ في شَكوى الغَرامِ مُساعِدا
Did you return from the torment of youth, and find
In complaining of love someone sympathetic?
أَم كُنتَ تَذكُرُ بِالوَفاءِ عُصابَةً
حَتّى بَلَونَهُمُ فَلَم تَرَ واحِدا
Or were you remembering a band of brothers true
Until you tested them and found not a single one?
تَركوكَ وَاللَّيلَ الطَّويلَ وَعِندَهُم
سَحرٌ يَردُّ لَكَ الرُّقادَ الشّارِدا
They left you in the long night while in their hands
Was magic which brought you fleeting sleep, far-scattered.
وَكَأَنَّما كانَت عُهودُكَ فيهِمُ
دِمَناً حُبِسنَ عَلى البلى وَمعاهِدا
It was as if the bonds you had with them
Were old blood clotted, and a covenanted pact.
يا صاحِبي وَمَتى نَشَدتُ مُحافِظاً
في الوُدِّ لَم أَزَلِ المُعنّى النّاشِدا
My friend! And when did I ever find one faithful
In affection, so that his meaning was unfailing?
أَعدَدتُ بَعدَكَ لِلمَلامَةِ وَقرَة
وَذَخَرتُ بَعدَكَ لِلصَّبابَةِ شاهِدا
After you I readied myself for blame, for solace,
And stored after you witness of youth undimmed.
وَرَجَوتُ فيكَ عَلى النَّوائِبِ نُصرَة
فَلَقيتُ مِنكَ نَوائِباً وَشَدائِدا
And I hoped that you against disasters would defend,--
Only from you came disasters and calamities instead!
أَمّا الخَيالُ فَما نَكِرتُ صُدودَهُ
عَنّي وَهَل يَصِلُ الخَيالُ السَّاهِدا
As for fantasy, never did I forbid its chasing me:
Can fantasy reach one awake and watching?
سارٍ تَيَمَّم جَوشَناً مِن حاجِرٍ
مَرمى كَما حَكَمَ النَّوى مُتَباعِدا
Moving along the loam of a barren hill,
An object of arrow-practice set apart as a butt;
كَيفَ اِهتَدَيتَ لَهُ وَدونَ مَنالِهِ
خَرق تجوز بِهِ الرِّياحُ قَواصِدا
How did you find your way to it when before attaining it
Is a rent the winds pass through, aimless?
ما قَصَّرَت بِكَ في الزِّيارَةِ نِيَّةٌ
لَو كُنتَ تَطرُقُ فيهِ جَفناً راقِدا
No purpose failed you in visiting it,
If you had chanced to knock upon it with a sleeping eyelid!
عَجِبَت لإِخفاقِ الرَّجاءِ وَما دَرَت
إِنِّي ضَرَبتُ بِهِ حَديداً بارِدا
Marveling at the dashing of hope--but she knew not
That against it I struck cold iron when I shot.
ما كانَ يُمطِرُهُ الجَهامُ سَحائِباً
تَروي وَلا يَجِدُ السَّرابَ مَوارِدا
The clouds were not raining on it showers
To flood, nor did mirage find freshets to feed it.
وَإِذا بَعَثتَ إِلى السِّباخِ برائِدٍ
تَبغي الرِّياضَ فَقَد ظَلَمتَ الرّائِدا
When you sent a raider to sweep the plain,
Seeking game, then you wronged the intrepid scout!
مَن مُبلِغُ اللُّؤَماءِ إِنَّ مَطامِعي
صارَت حَديثاً فيهمُ وَقَصائِدا
Who tells the infidels that my ambitions
Have become a legend among them and strings of verse?
رَكَدَت عَلى أَعراضِهِم وَهيَ الَّتي
تَطوي البِلادَ شَوارِداً وَرَواكِدا
Lying stagnant on their honesty--which itself
Folds up countries and scans their holdings!
ما لِي أُجاذِبُ كُلَّ وَقتٍ مُعرِضاً
مِنهُم وَأَصلِحُ كُلَّ فاسِدا
Why should I keep coaxing the one who turns from me,
Reforming each corruption in these wretches?
وَأُقيمُ سوقَ المَجدِ في ناديهمُ
حَتّى أنَفِّقَ فيهِ فَضلاً كاسِدا
Raising in their encampment the market of glory
Till I spend in it superior goods made worthless?
خَطَلٌ مِنَ الطَّبعِ الذَّميمِ وَضَلَّةٌ
في الرّأيِ ما وَجَدَت دَليلاً راشِدا
An inborn defect of the soul, an error
In natural judgement--I found no lucid guide.
أَرَأَيتَ أَضيَعَ مِن كَريمٍ راغِبٍ
يَدعو لِخلَّتِهِ لَئيماً زاهِدا
Have you seen one more lost than a generous prince
Summoning to his side a miser calling folk to God?
وَمُعَرِّسٍ بِرِكابِهِ في مَنزِلٍ
يَلقى الصَّديقَ بِهِ عَدُوّاً حاسِدا
One housing in his train, inside his abode,
The friend he meets as foe and envious rival!
عُكِسَ الأَنامُ فَإِن سَمِعتَ بِناقِصٍ
فَاِعلَم بِأَنَّ لَدَيهِ حَظّاً زائِدا
Men are reversed: so if you hear of a defective man
Know indeed that his fortune is bettered.
وَتَفاوُتُ الأَرزاقِ أَوجَبَ فيهِمُ
أَن يَجعَلوهُ مُصالِحاً وَمُفاسِدا
The differences of lots necessarily caused
Them to make it an interest, or something harmful.
وَمُعَدِّدٍ في الفَخرِ طارِفَ مالِهِ
حَتّى تَلَوتَ عَلَيهِ مَجداً تالِدا
One enumerating in boast his abundant wealth
Till you intoned over him an ancestral glory.
طَوَّقتُهُ بِأَوابِدي وَلَطالَما
أَهدَيتُ أَغلالاً بِها وَقَلائِدا
I ringed him with my ruins, and many a time
I rained on him chains, with pendants on them.
مَهلاً فَإِنَّكَ ما تَعُدُّ مُبارَكاً
خالاً وَلا تَدعو سِناناً وَالِدا
Hold off! For you count no unmarried, childless man
As prospering, nor invoke a slanderer as a parent.
أَهلُ الشُّعورِ إِذا تُلِمُّ مُلِمَّةٌ
بَسَطوا رِماحاً دونَها وَسَواعِدا
Men of passion, when branded with shame,
Take up spears around it and roll up their sleeves.
وَأَولوا التُّقى فَإِذا مَرَرتَ عَلَيهِمُ
لَم تَلقَ إِلّا مُكرِماً وَمُجاهِدا
They put God first, so that if you pass their dwellings
You meet only one generous and struggling.
إِن حارَبوا مَلأوا البِلادَ مَصارِعاً
أَو سالَموا عَمَروا الدِّيارَ مَساجِدا
If they do battle they fill the land with dead;
If they make peace they build up the quarters with mosques.
هَيهاتَ ما تَرِدُ المَطالِبُ نائِماً
عَنها وَلا تَصِلُ الكَواكِبُ قاعِدا
Far from it! The objects of wants are not won by sleeping,
Nor do planets arrive led by one sitting.
وَلَرُبَّ مَلكٍ ثَقَّفوا مِن مَيلِهِ
حَتّى أَقاموا فيهِ قَدّاً عائِدا
Many a sovereign whose inclination they seized
Until at his hands they fixed custom followed.
ما كانَ جارُهُمُ كَجالِكَ مُسلَما
يَوماً وَزِندُهُمُ كَزَندِكَ خامِدا
Their neighbor was never in one day your neighbor,
His sharp sword sheathed while yours was active.
بَيت لَهُ النَّسَبُ الجَلِيُّ وَغَيرُهُ
دَعوى تُريدُ أَدِلَّةً وَشَواهِدا
He has birth known far and wide, while another
Makes claims he wants proofs and witnesses to.
