وَلَو عَلمت حَوّاء أَن اِجتماعَها

بِآدم يَأتيها بشرّ الأَواخرِ

Had Eve known that joining with Adam

Would bring her the worst of calamities later,

لَما سَمحت بِالوَصل يَوماً لبعلها

وَلا حَملت مِنهُ بِأَخبَث فاجر

She would not have allowed her husband to be with her even for a day,

Nor would she have borne from him the most wicked transgressor.

وَلَكنها جاءَت بِهِ رَغم أَنفِها

فَنالَ بِهِ إِبليس كُلَّ المَفاخر

But she brought him into the world against her will,

So Iblis gained all glories through him.

وَكَيفَ وَقَد جاراه في الغَي وَالخَنا

فَأَربى عَلَيهِ في جَميع الكَبائر

How could it be otherwise when they both strayed into sin and deception,

And he raised him in every sort of outrage.

وَما هُوَ إِلا أَشعب في شَراهة

وَفي اللؤم حاشا أَن يُقاس بِمادر

He is but greedy in evil,

Far be it from comparing him with the gentle.

وَما هُوَ إِلا باقلٌ في فَهاهة

وَما هُوَ في الهَيجاء إِلا كَصافر

He is but foolish in wisdom,

And in madness he is but clamoring.

فَما لي أَرى العرفان ذلّ لجاهل

وَما لي أَرى الأَعمى يُعَدّ كَناظر

Why do I see the wise humbled before the ignorant?

Why do I see the blind considered as seeing?

وَما لي أَرى أَهل الرَشاد تَباعَدوا

وَنال الأَماني مُلحد غَير شاكر

Why do I see the enlightened grow distant?

And the atheist gained wishes without gratitude.

وَما لي أَرى أَن العُلوم يَسوسُها

غَبيّ لَها أَمسى كَناهٍ وَآمر

Why do I see sciences governed

By an ignorant one who has become authoritative and commanding?

أَما ليَ عذرٌ حَيث قُلت مُؤرِّخاً

هوَى العلم حقداً في قَرار المَقابر

Do I not have an excuse when I said, chronicling,

That knowledge has maliciously sunk to the bottom of graves?