رشيتك يا دهر لو كنت تُرشا

واخشاك والدهر يرجى ويخشى

I wish you well, O Time, if you could wish well,

And I fear you, though Time is hoped for and feared.

طرحت الحبائل مبثوثة

على الأرض تسعى افاعي رقشا

I have cast my traps scattered

On the ground, snakes slithering.

رواعش تهتز مثل الصلال

تعضُّ عضاضا وتنهش نهشا

Tremors quiver like elflocks,

Biting and rending bite by bite.

يناقش مني نحاس الزمان

فرنداً ترقرق في السيف نقشا

Time scratches copper from me,

A coat of mail clanging from the sword's engraving.

فمالي اكتِّم سرَّ الزمان

وكم قد اباح بسري وافشي

Why should I hide the secret of Time

When it has unveiled my secret and broadcast it?

تعبت اماشي زماني ومن

يماشي الزمان اذا اعوجَّ ممشى

I grew tired walking my Time, and he who

Walks Time, when it twists, how can he walk straight?

فما قيل قد شاد حتى أماد

فكم ثلَّ عرشا واثَّل عرشا

What was said it built up until it towered,

So it diminished thrones and multiplied thrones.

فيحسن طوراً وطورا يسيء

ولم يأت بالنصح الا وغشَّا

It is fine a while, then does ill,

And it came with no counsel but deceit.

يقطِّب وجهاً اذا المرء هشَّ

وان قطَّب المرء هش وبشا

It frowns if a man grows meek,

And if a man frowns, it grows meek and gentle.

اذا ضنَّ ضنّ سجال القطار

وان جاد جاد رذاذا ورشا

If it is miserly, it is miserly towards the flowing rain,

And if it is generous, it is generous with drizzling and spraying.

اسرّح فيه اللحاظ الصحاح

فترجع مرضى دوامع عُمشا

I set forth in it sincere intercession,

Yet it sent back clouded insights.

وما زال ازلمه اذرمى

فتى الحزم من كان يخشى ويغشى

Still it throws its trimmed one

When a resolute man who fears and covers is thrown.

تشوش وشيُ طراز العلى

بفقديَ ذاك الطراز الموشى

It disturbed and discolored the embroidery of the eminent

With the loss of that embroidered brocade.

فقدتك فقد الشمال اليمين

بسطاً وقبضا وفتكا وبطشا

I lost you and lost the right hand of the North,

Grasping and drawing back, killing and crushing.

فقدتك فقد امرئ كفه

وقد يفقد المرء كفيه دهشا

I lost you and lost a man whose palm

Could be lost in wonder.

فقدتك فقد الفتى عينه ال

طموحة لمحاً ولحظا ورمشا

I lost you and the youth lost his ambitious eye,

Aspiring, glancing, and batting.

فما دنَّست عرضك المخزيات

ولا ضمَّ برد علائك فحشا

You were not disgraced by disgraces,

Nor did the cold include you in anything indecent.

وفي الناس من ان تفتِّش حشاه

جرابٌ به الريح والبويحشى

Among the people are those, if you search their thoughts,

Whose bags contain only wind and emptiness.

تبصّر فدهرك غير البصير

فلاتكُ انت مع الدهر اعشى

You look, but other than the perceptive, your Time

So do not you be blind with Time.

هو الموت يدرك حتى العقاب

ولو قد بنت في ذرى الجو عشا

It is death that takes even the eagle

Though it builds in the sky’s orbit a nest.

فلم يبقِ انساً ولا جنة

ولم يبقِ طيراً ولم يبق وحشا

No human remains nor jinn,

No bird remains nor beast.

ولا من اذا انصاع ينحو الكفاح

يناطح كبش الكتيبة كبشا

None remains who, when urged, inclines towards struggle,

Butting the ram of the battalion like a ram.

سقته من الغر غر السحاب

سحابة لطف على القبر تنشى

It gave him to drink from the pitcher of pitchers of clouds

A cloud of subtle rain over the grave that grows.

وروّى ثراه ملث الرباب

بشوء بوب مزن يصون اجشَّا

It watered his earth with poured heavy rain,

Preserving it with rain keeping corruption away.