غَزاكَ الشَّيْبُ مِنْ لَوٍّ ولَيْتا

وما قالَتْ لَكَ الأيَّامُ هَيْتَا

Old age has overcome you with grief and woe

Yet the days have not said "Alas!" to you

"لأينِكَ" قَدْ سَعى رَكْبُ المآسي

كأنَّكَ للمآسي صِرتَ بَيْتًا

The caravan of sorrows has striven

As though for sorrows you were made a home

وأسقتك الحياةُ ذؤاف سمٍّ

بِميْسمِ جمرها يا ما اكتويتا

And life has let you drink a fiery poison

With the seasons of its embers, oh how you have been seared!

تُغادِرُكَ الأماني مُقْفِراتٍ

وَيَنْتَزِعُ الرَّصيفُ خُطًى مَشَيْتا

Hopes abandon you, empty-handed,

And the pavement wrests away steps you have walked

طويتَ مِنَ الهُمومِ لَظى حَريقٍ

فأعلنَ كَهْلُ قلبِكَ ما طَويْتا

You have folded the flames of worries

So the old age of your heart reveals what you have folded

مَدَدْتَ يَدَ الرَّجاءِ إلى سَرابٍ

وقَدْ خَلاكَ مَنْ كُنتَ ارْتَجَيْتا

You have extended the hand of hope to a mirage

And those you hoped for have left you behind

وكَمْ نادَيْتَ ما أسْمَعْتَ حَيًّا

فَكَيْفَ سَيَسْمَعُ الأحْيــــاءُ مَيْتًا؟

And how you called but did not hear the living

So how will the living now hear you, who are dead?