عجنتكَ في صَحْنِ الأسى البَلْواءُ

خَبَزَتْكَ في تنّورِها الأنْواءُ

Sorrow kneaded you in her dark bowl,

And misfortune baked you in her fiery ovens.

وسعيرُ لا جَدوى سَقاكَ أوارَهُ

وتمنَّعَتْ عَنْ وَصْلِكَ التأساءُ

The flames availed you nothing, their burning was in vain,

And grief refused your company.

تمشي غُفاريا،أليلا، مُجْهدا

مُتصارِمًا يغتالُكَ الإعْياءُ

You walk as one lost, night-blinded, exhausted,

Battling relentlessly, worn down by fatigue.

سين السُّؤالِ قَدِ اصطفتْكَ مُبكِّرًا

فتغوَّلَت في روحِكَ البرداءُ

The sighing question chose you early on,

And sadness draped itself about your soul.

جيمُ الجوابِ تضرّمَتْ لَمْ تنطفئْ

نارُ السَّموم تؤُرّها الرَّمْضاءُ

The groaning answer smoldered, its flames unquenched,

Fueled by bitterness’s glowing embers.

وأسى المنافي قد سَقاكَ مِنَ النوى

وتعثّرَتْ في ظلّكَ الأضْواءُ

And the grief of exile gave you poison to drink

While shadows stumbled over your fading light.

قَدْ شابَ قَلبُكَ قَبْلَ رأسِكَ يا فَتى

مُذْ أثقلتْكَ بِعِبْئِها الأعْباءُ

Your heart grew old before your head, o youth,

Ever since burdens weighed heavily upon you.

أنت الطّريدُ عليْكَ قد جَثَمَ العنا

واسْتَفْحَلَتْ في دَرْبِكَ البأساءُ

You are the outcast, doom crouches over you,

And sorrows have taken root along your path.

غَيَّضْتَ دمعكَ في غَرابيبِ الونى

حتى اشْتكَتْ من كأدِكَ الكأداءُ

You hid your tears in the gloaming of woe

Until, constrained, they complained of your restraint.

موتًا كثيرًا قد سُقيتَ مِنَ الرّدى

ومحت ظِلالَ كيانِكَ الظّلماءُ

Much death you drank from the cups of havoc

While shadows erased the marks of your being.

قد أهْلَكْتْكَ لواعجٌ لا تنتهي

وتمنَّعَتْ عَنْ لحدِكَ البَطْحاءُ

Endless disasters have destroyed you,

And the open plains denied you a grave.

ما كنت إبْنًا للحياةِ لأنّها

قد غيّبتكَ بجُبِّها الأرْزاءُ

You were no child of life, for it

Had hid you away in its barren bosom.

قُم مُتْ فمَوْتكَ مُذْ وُلِدْتَ مؤجَّلٌ

فَلعلَّ مَوْتكَ يَشْتهيهِ رِثاءُ

Arise, your death was appointed at birth,

Perhaps your demise is what the elegy desires.