أفيقا خُمارُ الهمِّ نغَّصَني الخَمرا

وسكري من الأيامِ جنّبني السُكرا

The wine of sorrows intoxicated me, not the forbidden drink,

Awake! For the hangover of grief has embittered my wine,

And my intoxication with life kept me from sweetness.

And my intoxication from the days has kept me from the vine.

تَسُرُّ خليلَيَّ المدامَةُ والذي

بقَلبيَ يَأبى أن أُسَرَّ كَما سُرّا

My friend finds pleasure in wine, but my heart

The draught delights my two companions, yet the burden

Refuses to be made happy as he was made happy.

Within my heart forbids that I rejoice as they have done.

لبستُ صروفَ الدهرَ أخشَنَ ملبَسٍ

فعَرَّقنَني ناباً ومزَّقنني ظُفرا

I wore the vicissitudes of fate like a rough garment

I have worn the turns of Fate like the roughest of cloaks,

That chafed me with thorns and tore me with claws.

Till they stripped my flesh with fangs and tore me with claws.

وفي كُلِّ لحظٍ لي ومَسمَعِ نغمَةٍ

يُلاحظُني شَزراً ويوسِعني هُجرا

And at every moment I hear a melody

In every glance I cast, in every melody I hear,

That wounds me with sparks and expands me with estrangement.

Fate glares at me askance and heaps upon me scorn.

سدِكتُ بصَرفِ الدهرِ طفلاً ويافِعاً

فأفنَيتُهُ عزماً ولم يُفنني صبرا

I struggled with the twists of fate as a child and youth

I grappled with the turns of Time as child and as youth,

So it destroyed my resolve, though it did not destroy my patience.

I wore it down with resolve, yet it wore not down my patience.

أريدُ من الأيام مالا يريدُهُ

سوايَ ولا يجري بخاطرهِ فكرا

I want from life what it does not want from me,

I seek from the days what is sought by none,

Nor does the thought of it cross its mind.

Save me, a prize that crosses no other mortal's mind.

وأسألُها ما أستحقُّ قضاءَهُ

وما أنا ممّن رام حاجَتَهُ قسرا

And I ask of it what I deserve its decree,

I demand from Fate the decree I truly deserve,

Not what I, who sought my need by force, deserve.

Though I am not one to seize his aims by brutish force.

ولي كبدٌ من رأيِ همِّتِها النوى

فتُركِبُني من عزمِها المركبَ الوعرا

And I have a liver spot from the pith of its determination,

I possess a spirit whose sole intent is distant lands,

So it makes me ride the rugged ship of its resolution.

Driving me, by its resolve, to ride the rugged path.

تروق بني الدنيا عجائبُها ولي

فُؤادٌ ببيضِ الهند لا بيضها مغرى

The wonders of the world tempt me, but I have

The world's wonders delight the common sons of earth,

A heart that is not tempted by its white henna.

But I have a heart seduced by Indian steel, not fair maids.

أخو همَمٍ رحّالَةٌ لا تزالُ بي

نَوىً تقطع البيداءَ أو أقطعَ العُمرا

I am a fellow of lofty aspirations, ever moving

A brother of ambitions, a wanderer whom distance

With determination to traverse the desert or shorten my life.

Compels to cross the wasteland, or else cut short my life.

ومَن كان عزمي بين جنَبيهِ حثَّهُ

وخيَّلَ طول الأرضِ في عينه شِبرا

Whoever had my determination between his ribs

Whosoever holds a resolve like mine within his ribs,

Goaded him and made the length of the earth seem to him a span.

Finds the vastness of the earth shrink to a mere span.

صحِبتُ ملوكَ الأرضِ مغتبِطاً بهم

وفارقتُهم ملآنَ من شنفٍ صدرا

I kept company with the kings of the earth, rejoicing in them,

I kept company with the kings of earth, delighting in them,

And left them with a breast full of disdain.

Yet I departed them with a bosom brimming with disdain.

ولمّا رأيتُ العبدَ للحُرِّ مالِكاً

أبيتُ إباء الحُرِّ مسترزقاً حُرّا

And when I saw the slave possessing the freeman,

And when I saw the slave become master over the free,

I refused with the refusal of the freeman to live as a hireling, even a free one.

I scorned, with a free man's pride, to seek my bread from such.

ومصرُ لعمري أهل كلِّ عجيبَةٍ

ولا مثل ذا المخصِيِّ أعجوبَةً نُكرا

By my life, Egypt is the land of every wonder,

Egypt, by my life, is the home of every wonder,

And nothing rivals this wondrous Obelisk.

Yet no marvel is so vile as this eunuch in his state.

يُعَدُّ إذا عُدَّ العجائِبُ أوّلاً

كما يُبتدى في العدِّ بالأصبَعِ الصُغرى

It is counted first among wonders

He is reckoned the first when monstrosities are tallied,

As counting starts with the little finger.

Just as the count begins with the smallest finger's place.

فيا هِرمَلَ الدنيا ويا عبرَة الورى

ويا أيُّها المخصِيُّ مَن أُمُّكَ البظرا

O hoary pillar of the world, lesson to all!

O senile hag of the world, O warning to all mankind,

And O Obelisk, who was your mother, I wonder?

O eunuch, born of a mother defined by her lust.

نُوَيبيَّةٌ لم تدرِ أن بُنَيَّها الـ

نـُوَيبيَّ بعدَ اللَه يُعبَدُ في مِصرا

A Nubian who did not know that her son

A trivial Nubian wench who knew not that her son,

Would be worshipped in Egypt after God.

That little calamity, would be worshipped in Egypt after God.

ويستَخدمُ البيضَ الكواعِبَ كالدُمى

ورومَ العِبِدَّى والغطارِفَة الغُرّا

He makes concubines serve him like idols

He commands fair, buxom maidens like playthings,

And subjects the Copts and Gyptians by force.

And dominates the Roman thralls and the noble chiefs alike.

قضاءٌ من اللَه العلِيِّ أرادَهُ

ألا رُبَّما كانت إرادتُهُ شَرّا

A decree of God Most High which He willed,

A decree from God the Most High, which He willed;

Though perhaps His will in this was evil.

Yet perchance His will was to visit evil upon us.

وللَه آياتٌ ولَيسَتَ كهَذهِ

أظُنُّكَ يا كافورُ آيتَهُ الكبرى

And God has signs unlike this one.

God possesses signs, yet none resemble this—

I think you, Kafur, are His greatest sign.

Methinks, O Kafur, you are His greatest sign of all.

لعَمريَ ما دهرٌ بهِ أنت طيِّبٌ

أيَحسَبُني ذا الدهرُ أحسَبُهُ دَهرا

By my life, no time with you in it is good,

By my life, no age is wholesome wherein you dwell,

Does this time reckon I reckon it time?

Does this age suppose I reckon it an age at all?

وأكفُرُ يا كافورُ حين تلوحُ لي

ففارَقتُ مُذ فارقتُكَ الشركَ والكُفرا

And I disbelieve, O Kafur, when you appear to me,

I turn infidel, O Kafur, whenever you appear,

So since I left you I have abandoned idolatry and unbelief.

So I abandoned idolatry and sin the moment I abandoned you.

عثَرت بسَيري نحو مصرَ فلا لَعاً

بها ولَعاً بالسيرِ عنها ولا عَثرا

I stumbled in my journey to Egypt - no, not stumbled,

I stumbled in my march toward Egypt—may there be no recovery

Stumbled in leaving it, nor stumbled in reaching it.

For that land—only a passion to depart, and a stumble-free flight.

وفارَقتُ خيرَ الناس قاصِدَ شرِّهِم

وأكرَمَهُم طُرّاً لأنذلِهِم طُرّا

And I left the best of people, bound for the worst;

I forsook the best of men to seek out the very worst,

The noblest people, heading to the lowliest.

The noblest of them all for the vilest of the vile.

فعاقَبني المَخصِيُّ بالغَدرِ جازِياً

لأنَّ رحيلي كان عن حَلَبٍ غَدرا

So the Mukhassi punished me with betrayal in return

So the eunuch punished me with treachery as my wage,

Because my departure was a betrayal of Aleppo.

Since my departure from Aleppo was itself a treachery.

وما كنتُ إلا فائِلَ الرأي لم أُعَنْ

بحزمٍ ولا استصحَبتُ في وجهتي حِجرا

I was but the expresser of an opinion - I did not

I was merely weak of judgment, unaided by prudence,

Act with resolution or take a shield with me on my journey.

Lacking resolve, and taking no wisdom for my guide.

وقد أُرِي الخنزيرُ أنّى مدَحتُهُ

ولو علِموا قد كانَ يُهجى بما يُطرا

I was bold with the vipers of Egypt, so they bit me,

Even the swine was led to think I sang his praise,

And the bold one was none but he who took the risk.

Yet had they known, the very praise was satire in disguise.

جسَرتُ على دهياء مصرَ ففُتُّها

ولم يَكُنِ الدهياءَ إلا من استجرا

I braved the calamity of Egypt and slipped its grasp,

I will exact from them something like what they inflicted

For true calamity befalls only the one who lingers.

سأجلُبُها أشباهَ ما حمَلَتْهُ من

أسنَّتِها جرداً مُقَسطلَةً غُبْرا

Stripped bare from their tongues, grey with dust.

I shall bring against it steeds like the ones it bore,

Lean, dusty chargers, sharp as the spear-points' gleam.

وأُطلِعُ بيضاً كالشموسِ مُطِلَّةً

إذا طلعَت بيضاً وإن غرَبَت حُمرا

And make dawn a white light when it rises

And I shall unsheathe blades that rise like shining suns,

White when it rises, though red when it sets.

Rising in brilliance white, and setting crimson red.

فإن بلَغَت نفسي المُنى فبِعَزمِها

وإلا فقد أبلَغتُ في حرصِها عُذرا

So if my soul attains its wish, by its determination,

If my soul attains its wish, it is by its own resolve,

Or else, I will have conveyed the utmost of its zeal as an excuse.

And if not, I have offered a full excuse in the striving.