أأغفُلُ والدّهرُ لا يغفُلُ

وأنسى الّذي شأنُه أعضلُ

Shall I forget while time forgets not

Or forget Him whose affair is most complex?

ويطمعني أنّني سالمٌ

وداءُ السّلامة لِي أقتَلُ

And I hope that I am safe

Though the safety of the secure slays me

ويمضي نهاري وإظلامُهُ

بما غيرُه الأحسنُ الأجملُ

My day passes and its darkness

Passes with what is fairer and lovelier than it

وآمُلُ أنّي أفوتُ الحِمامَ

أمانٍ لعَمْرُك لِي ضُلَّلُ

And I hope to elude sorrow

By my life! For me it is delusion

وكيف يرى آخِرٌ أنّه

مُبَقّىً وقد هلك الأوّلُ

And how can another see he will remain

When the first has perished?

ولمّا بدا شَمَطُ العارضين

لمن كان من قبله يَعذُلُ

And when the signs of old age appeared

On him who before was rejected

تناهَوْا وقالوا لسانُ المشيب

له من جوارحنا أعذَلُ

They consulted and said, “The tongue of old age

Of our members is the most feeble”

فقلتُ لهمْ إنّما يعذُلُ ال

مَشيبَ على الغيِّ مَن يُقبِلُ

So I said to them, “It is old age that enfeebles

Only him who faces wrong and accepts it

فحتّى متى أَنَا لا أرعوِي

ولِمْ لا أقولُ ولا أفعلُ

So for how long do I not act wisely

And why do I not speak and act?

وكم أنَا ظمآنُ طولَ الحياةِ

وفي كفِّيَ الباردُ السّلْسَلُ

And how thirsty I have been throughout life

While in my palm the icy chain!

أمانٍ ولا عملٌ بينهنَّ

كجوٍّ يَغيمُ ولا يَهطِلُ

No safety and no deed among them

Like a cloud that threatens but does not give rain

وَما الناسُ إلّا كبهمِ المضي

عِ يُحْزِنُ في الأرضِ أو يُسهِلُ

Men are but like insects of the night

Vexing the earth or making it easy

فمن عاملٍ ما له خِبرةٌ

وآخرَ يدري ولا يعملُ

So he that has no experience of it

And another who knows yet does not act!

فيا ليتَ مَن علم الموبِقاتِ

وقارفَها رجلٌ يجهلُ

Would that he who knows the ways of destruction

And pursues them were an ignorant man!

أمِن بعد أنْ مضت الأربعون

سراعاً كسربِ القطا يَجفلُ

Do you feel secure after the forties

Have sped like a flock of startled crows?

ولم يبق فيك لشرخ الشّبابِ

مآبٌ يرجّى ولا مَوْئِلُ

And there remains in you no trace

Of the rending of youth to be hoped for or sought

تَطامحُ نحو طويلِ الحياةِ

ويوشِك أنْ ما مضى أطولُ

Yet you aspire to length of life

When soon that which is past will be longer!

ألا إنّما الدّارُ دار البلاءِ

ففي شهدها أبداً حَنْظَلُ

Know that the house is but the house of affliction

So that in its honey there is always bitter aloe.

يعافى من الدّاءِ مَن يُبتَلى

وينجو من الموتِ مَن يُقتَلُ

He is healed of disease who is afflicted

And he escapes death who is killed

وسُقمٌ أقام جميعَ الأُساةِ

على أنّه سَقَمٌ يقتلُ

And a sickness that settled all the calamities

As though it was a sickness that kills

أيا ذاهلاً ونداءُ الحتو

فِ في النّاسِ يوقظ مَن يذهَلُ

O heedless one, the voice of him who warns

Awakens in men one who slumbers!

طريقٌ طويلٌ وأنتَ اِمرؤٌ

لعلّك في زادِهِ مُرْمِلُ

A long road and you a feeble man

Perhaps in your provisions you are scant

أليس وراءَك مُزْوَرَّةٌ

عليها الصَّفائحُ والجَندلُ

Is there not behind you an oft-visited house

Full of winding sheets and shrouds?

بها الصّبحُ ليلٌ وليلُ البِلا

دِ ليلٌ بساحتها ألْيَلُ

By it the dawn is night, by it the night

Of departure is a night serene

إذا ما أناخ الفتى عندها

مقيماً فيا بعدَ ما يَرحَلُ

When the youth alights near it

Intending to stay, how far is his removal!

وإنْ جاءها فوق أيدي الرّجال

فبالرّغم من أنفِهِ ينزلُ

And if he comes to it urged by men

Then in spite of him he will descend

على أنّه ليس عنها له

وإنْ حاصَ مَنْجىً ولا مَرْحَلُ

Yet from it he has no escape

Even if he attains deliverance and departure

مَنازلُ ليس لحيٍّ بها

معاجٌ ولا وسْطَها منزلُ

Stages where no living man has

A resort, no middle part a halting place

خَلَتْ غيرَ ذئبٍ تراه بها

يُعاسِلُ أو صُرَدٍ يَحْجِلُ

Empty save for a wolf you see in it

Howling or a screeching owl

وإلّا ترنُّمُ حنّانَةٍ

تئطُّ كما زَفَرَ المِرْجَلُ

Or a cooing gazelle

Murmuring as the sound of the threshing sledge

تَريمُ وتقفُل مجتازةً

بمن لا يَريمُ ولا يَقفُلُ

Murmuring and bolting the door

Against one who neither murmurs nor bolts the door!

ألا أين أهلُ النّعيمِ الغزيرِ

وأين الأجادل والبُزَّلُ

Where are the possessors of abundant ease

And where the braves and champions?

وأين الغطارفُ من حِمْيَرٍ

وما مُلِّكوه وما خوّلوا

And where are their spirited horses?

And what they ruled and what they appropriated?

وَأَين الّذين إِذا ما اِنتَجَوْا

أَزَمَّ بنجواهمُ المحفلُ

And where are those who when they spoke

Their eloquence made the assembly tremble?

وأَطْرَقَ كلُّ طويلِ اللّسانِ

صَموتاً يُجيبُ ولا يَسألُ

And all men of lengthy tongue fell silent

Answering not nor questioning!

إِذا ما مشوا يسحبون البُرودَ

فلِلرَّشفِ ما مَشَتِ الأرجلُ

When they walked they dragged their robes

So that the ground was swept for the hems

وقومٌ إذا ما سَرَوْا زعزعوا

قَرَا الأرضِ بالخيلِ أو زلزلوا

A people, when they journeyed shook

The rocky hills or caused them to slip

تقام ممالكُهمْ بالقنا

ويَجبِي خراجَهمُ المُنْصلُ

With their spears they overturned empires

And their swords levied tribute

وكم قلّبوا في العبادِ العيونَ

فلم يُبصروا غيرَ ما أفضَلوا

And how many glances they turned in men

Yet saw nothing but their own bounty!

وتلقاهمُ عند خوفِ البلادِ

وبين بيوتهمُ المَعْقِلُ

And when the lands feared calamity

Their homes were the refuge

مضوا مثلما مضت السّاريا

تُ أثنى بها الوطنُ المُبقلُ

They have gone like the winds that bear

The homeland they adorned and made gentle

وأزعجهمْ من قِلالِ القصور

فلم يلبثوا المُزعجُ المُعجِلُ

And roused them from the repose of their castles

So they tarried not, the rousing vexation!