الحمد للَه على ماق ضى

والشكر للَه على ما أمر

Praise be to Allah for what He has ordained

And thanks be to Allah for what He has commanded

فما أظنّ الأرض تحوى فتى

وجوده قد كان إحدى الكبَر

I don't think the earth can contain a young man

Whose existence was one of the greatest

مثل فتى يدعونه شاعرا

وما بغير الموت يوماً شعر

Like a young man they call a poet

Who has never sensed poetry except through death

حياته ليل دميمُ الرؤى

مروّع الأشباح كابى الصوَر

His life is a gloomy night of visions

Terrifying ghosts, intense images

تفترس الأحداث آماله

وترتوى من دمها المنهمر

Events devour his hopes

And their pouring blood is saturated

أحمق منه وهو يبنى المنى

تلك المنى إذ تتحدّى القدر

Foolish is he who builds wishes

Those wishes that challenge fate

أتى فلم يفرح بميلاده

إلا نديماه الأسى والفكر

He came but no one rejoiced at his birth

Except his friends sorrow and reflection

حيران لا يعرف عن نفسه

إلا كما يعرف هذا الحجر

Perplexed, not knowing himself

Like how this stone knows

يبكى بلا دمع وفي قلبه

ما يغرق الدنيا إذا ما انفجر

He cries without tears and in his heart

Is enough to flood the world if it erupted

وربّما زان له ضعفه

أن يشتكى آلامه للبشر

And perhaps his weakness adorns him

To complain of his pain to people

لكنّه يخشى مواساتهم

في محنةٍ الصبر فيها انتحر

But he fears their solace

In an ordeal where patience has committed suicide

فينطوى والله أدرى بما

يثور في بركانه من شرر

So he recoils and Allah knows best what

Rages in his volcano of embers

لا يعرف الصبر ولكنه

لمّا رأى طول الظلام اصطبر

He knows no patience, but when

He saw the long darkness, he was patient

بين أمانيه وبين الردى

عهد قديم العهد باقي الأثر

Between his hopes and havoc

An old covenant remains in effect

فكلما رفّ على أفقه

ضياؤُها عاجله فاندثر

So whenever its light looms on his horizon

It is soon extinguished

وكل يوم مدّ من عمره

مقبرة في صحراء العمر

And each day of his life extended

Is a cemetery in the desert of life

أجداثها الملقاة في جوفها

أحلامه المحترقات الزهر

Its dead buried in its depths

Are his burnt up dreams

وكل حينٍ عنده مأتم

لميت في قلبه يحتضر

And at all times he has a funeral

For someone dying in his heart

يمضى كما يأتي فلا نأمة

يبكى لها أو نغمة تدّكر

He goes on as he comes with no elegy

Cried for him or a melody to commemorate

يهفو إلى النسيان في عالم

ليس من الأحزان فيه مفر

He yearns for oblivion in a world

Where there is no escape from sorrows

أخلاقه البيضاء ميراثه

عن الكرام الوالدين الغرر

His virtuous morals are his inheritance

From his noble parents, the precious pearls

فهي الثراء الضخم إن فاقةٌ

حلّت به ومجده إن فخر

It is great wealth if poverty

Befalls him and his pride if he boasts

وفي حنايا صدره خافقٌ

دقّاته ثرثارة لا تقر

And in the recesses of his heart beats

Frantic pulses that do not settle

تدقّ باب القبر مجنونة

وتؤذن الثاوى بقرب السفر

Knocking the door of the grave, crazed

And informing the one who has passed of nearing travel

كم عاش للناس بأحلامه

وآب لم يحمد ولم يفتكر

How he lived for people in his dreams

And woke up with no praise or memories

يرثى لكل الناس في حزنهم

ويحتفى بعرسهم إن عبر

He is mourned for everyone in their grief

And celebrated at their weddings if they passed

حتى غدا في موجهم ذائبا

كأنه سمع لهم أو بصر

Until he dissolved among them

As if he had sight or hearing for them

لكنهم والطين معبودهم

وأمهم أم الخنا والدفَر

But they whose idol is clay

And their mother is the mother of malice and harm

هدّوا عليه ما بناه لهم

ولم يراعوا قلبه المنكسر

They destroyed what he built for them

And did not heed his broken heart

هذا يهوذاه الذي باعه

وذاك بيلاطسه المحتقر

This is his Judas who betrayed him

And that his Pilate who scorned him

في عمره حقل فسيح المدى

لم يدر ساقين ولا من بذر

In his life is an expansive field

That did not know any cultivators or planting

حقل من الأوهام تنمو به

أشجارها مختلفات الثمر

A field in which illusions grow

Trees bearing diverse fruits

الموت في زقّومها كامنٌ

والجنة الحمراء فيها سقر

Death lies dormant in their hellishness

And hellfire burns bright in them

نهاره قزمٌ سريع الخطى

معذب الآصال داجى البُكَر

His days are dwarves, quick moving

Tormented, miserable, grieving

والليل وحشٌ فوقه جاثم

مشوّه الخلقة دامى الظُفُر

And the night is a monster looming over him

Deformed, bloody claws

يظل يسقيه بلا رحمة

ويقرع الكاس له إن فتر

It stays saturating him without mercy

And clinks cups for him if it rested

فإن غفا مدّ له مسرحا

حدوده فوق مرامى النظر

If he slept, it staged a theater for him

Its realms beyond perceptions’ reaches

تمثل الأحلام في سجنه

رواية الماضي الذي قد غبر

Dreams play out in his prison

The story of the past now buried

رواية الماضي وفي بعثها

بعثٌ لتاريخ الأسى والسهر

The story of the past, and in reliving it

Reliving the history of sorrows and wakefulness

قال وقد ضاقت به نفسه

وعاودته الذكريات النكر

He said, as his soul constricted around him

And unknown memories returned to him

ربّاه هذا زورقي حائر

معطّل المجداف لا يستقر

“My Lord this is my boat, confused

Its oars broken, unable to settle

كأن هذا البحر في جوفه

معربد الأمواج طاغٍ عكر

As if this sea is in my heart

Tempestuous, turbulent, foaming waves”

ظلت رياح الدهر تلهو به

وهو لها مستسلم لم يثر

The winds of time kept toying with him

While he surrendered to them without resisting

لا يبلغ القاع وإيمانه

بالسطح لا يدفع عنه الخطر

He cannot reach the bottom and his faith

In the surface cannot save him from danger

أرثى لنفسي وله كلّما

شارفت منجاةً هوى وانحدر

I pitied myself and him whenever

I neared deliverance, it declined and retreated

وكلما حنّ إلى شاطىءٍ

صاحت به الأعماق لا تنتظر

And whenever I longed for a shore

The depths called to me, “Do not wait”

ربّاه هذا أنا في زورقي

عبدك فاصفح إن لساني عثر

My Lord this is me in my boat

Your servant, forgive me if my tongue stumbled

أفرغت كأسي من رحيق المنى

فقد وجدت اليأس عين الظفر

I emptied my cup of the wine of wishes

For I found despair to be the eye of attainment

كانت لنفسي مثل غيري منى

يتيمة عذراء مثل الدرر

My soul was once like others’ souls

An orphaned virgin girl like pearls

أفنيت عمري أتغنى لها

ما تلهم الشمس ويوحى القمر

I wasted my life singing for her

What the sun inspires and the moon intimates

حتى جرى ما أنت أدرى به

استغفر الله وأشكو القدر

Until what You know better occurred

I seek God’s forgiveness and complain of fate

فعدت والحسرة في أضلعي

محطّمَ العود عيّ الوَتر

So I returned while regret fills my ribs

Broken lutenist, defective string

ألتهم اليأس وأحشو به

فم النصيح الفدم إمّا هذر

I swallow despair and with it stuff

The mouth of advice—empty or nonsense

وكلما ساءَلني صاحب

ماذا ترجى في الغد المنتظر

And whenever a friend asks me

What do you expect from the coming tomorrow

أقول ما يرضيك يا خالقي

ويسحق الوهم ويفنى الضجر

I say what pleases You my Creator

And defeats illusion and undoes frustration

الحمد لله على ما قضى

والشكر للَه على ما أمر

Praise be to Allah for what He has ordained

And thanks be to Allah for what He has commanded