لي أربعون من السِّنيـ

ـن وأربعون من الولدْ

I have reached forty years,

And forty children as well.

لا بل عَلَيَّ وليس لي

ما بانَ منِّي فانْفَرَدْ

No, but I am burdened with more,

Beyond what's been counted and told.

أو ليس ما عدَّتْهُ لي

أيدي الحساب من العَدَدْ

As if what was tallied for me

By the hands of accountants,

مُتَخَوَّناً مُتَنَقَّصاً

منِّي مزيداً في الأبَدْ

Was stored and diminished

With more from me through the ages.

أو ما أرى ولدي قُوىً

منِّي بنقْضي تُسْتَجَدْ

Or as if I don't see my children

Supported by my demise.

جُعِلَتْ وكانت كلُّها

حَبْلاً حِبَالاتٍ بَدَدْ

They were all but ropes and cords

Scattered, divided and frayed.

كم من سُرورٍ لي بِمَوْ

لُودٍ أُؤمِّلُهُ لِغَدْ

How much joy I had for a newborn

I waited for in hopes one day,

وبأن يَهُدَّنيَ الزما

نُ رأيت مُنَّتَهُ تُشَدْ

And that time would guide me to see

Its gifts stretched before me to display.

ومن العجائب أن أُسَر

رَ بما يُشَدُّ بأَنْ أَهَدْ

It's strange that I'm made happy

By what makes me most decay.

دع ذا فَخَلْفَك أربعو

ن ضحى طويلاتُ المُددْ

Leave this, for past you remains

Forty dawnings, long in their stay,

تلْتجُّ فيها نفخةٌ

للصور تَنخب ذا الجلدْ

In which a blow is released

For the horn, emptying all breath and health away.

شنعاءُ في الآذان تُق

لق كلَّ روحٍ في جسدْ

O you racing in vanity,

Wait, for you have reached your lifespan.

يا راكضاً في لهوه

مهلاً فقد جُزْتَ الأمَدْ

In your forties three times over

Are lessons for those bound in shackles.

في الأربعينات الثلا

ث مَواعظ لذوي العُقَدْ

How many forties and forty years again

Will say, the misguided must now be led?

كم أربعين وأربعيـ

ـن وأربعون تقول قدْ

In them are advices

That call the straying to righteousness instead.

في كلهنَّ مواعظٌ

تدعو الغَوِيَّ إلى الرشدْ

With sincere repentance

To the One, the Single, the Eternal Head.

فَقَدٍ بتوبةٍ مخلصٍ

للواحد الأحد الصَمَدْ