يَا مَصنعاً قَد تَرَدّى حُلّة الهَرَم

مَشهودُ حالِهِ عُنوَانٌ عَنِ القِدَمِ

O ancient edifice whose vestments of elegance have crumbled

Its current state bears witness to its antiquity

كَم طَافَ حَولَكَ مِن حَافٍ وَمُنتَعِل

بَادوا وَأَنتَ حَبِيسُ الدَّهرِ لَم تَرمِ

How many nobles and lords have circled around you

While you remained imprisoned by time without decay

وَكَم تَأَلَّفَ فِيكَ الرُّومُ وَاجتَمَعُوا

وَأَنتَ فِي أَنفِ ذَاكَ الجَمعِ كَالشّمَمِ

And how the Romans congregated within you

Yet to them you were like a poisonous sting

والدَّارُ دَارُهُمُ وَالأَمرُ أمرُهُمُ

وَصِيتُهُم فِي الوَرَى نَارٌ عَلَى عَلَمِ

It was their abode and their command

And their legacy in the land was like a flag on a banner

حَتَّى انتَحَتهُم صُرُوفُ الدَّهرِ فَانقَرَضُوا

فَأَينَ رِمَّتُهُم فِي جُملَةِ الرّمَمِ

Until the vicissitudes of fate made them disappear

So where are their remnants among the debris?

يَا مُشبِهَ القَوسِ إِلا أَنَّ أَسهُمَهُ

قَضَت عَلَى مَن تَبَنَّاهُ مِنَ الأُمَمِ

O resembling a bow except that its arrows

Vanquished those nations who sought to possess it

قَالُوا هُوَ المَلعَبُ البَادِي فَقُلتُ لَهُم

نَعَم وَلَكِن لِخَيلِ الرِّيحِ وَالدِّيَمِ

They said it is a dilapidated playground, so I told them

Yes, but for the steeds of wind and Eternity

يَا هَيكَلاً أَخبَرَت عَنهُ مَنَاظِرُهُ

بِأنَّهُ نُقطَةٌ فِي أَبحُرِ الهِمَمِ

O temple, its façade tells

That it is but a speck in the oceans of ambitions

يَا لَيتَ شِعرِي عَن أَهلِيكَ كَيفَ غَدَت

أَشلاؤُهُم لِلرَّدَى لَحماً عَلَى وَضَمِ

Oh how I wish I knew what became

Of its people, their limbs scattered as meat on bone

فَحِينَ ذَكَّرتُهُ أَهلِيهِ طَارَحَنِي

عَنهُم وَحَاوَرَنِي نُطقاً بِغَيرِ فَمِ

When I recalled its people to it, they shunned me

And conversed with me in speech without mouths

وَقَالَ وَلَّوا وَخَلَّونِي وَرَاءَهُمُ

وَاستَودَعُونِي حُسنَ الرَّعيِ لِلذّمَمِ

And they turned away, left me behind them

Entrusting me to virtuously guard their possessions

فَجَيبُ سُورِيَ قَد مَزَّقتُهُ أَسَفاً

وَسِنُّ صَخرِيَ مَقرُوعٌ مِنَ النَّدَمِ

So I tore my fences in sorrow

And my rocky teeth are broken by regret

آلَيتُ أَسلُوهُم رَعياً لِعَهدِهِم

أَلَيسَ رَعيِي لِذَاكَ العَهدِ مِن كَرَمِ

Shall I tend to their covenant faithfully

Is not my tending of that covenant but generosity?

فأودعَ السَّمعَ قُرطاً مِن حَدِيثِهِمُ

يَا مَن رَأى أَعجَماً يُنبِي عَنِ العَجَمِ

So the hearing has preserved a pendant

From their conversation, O you who saw the incomprehensible elucidate the cryptic