ضُعْفُ العزيمَةِ لَحْدٌ في سَكينَتِهِ

تقضي الحَيَاةُ بَنَاهُ اليأسُ والوجلُ

Weak resolve is a flaw in his tranquility

Weakness of will is a grave of silent dust,

Life is spent in despair and anxiety

Where life expires, built of despair and dread.

وفي العَزيمَةِ قُوَّاتٌ مُسَخَّرَةٌ

يَخِرُّ دونَ مَدَاها الشَّامِخُ الجَبَلُ

Yet resolve has subjugated forces

Yet in resolve, great harnessed forces lie,

Before which even mountains bow

Before whose might the towering mountains fall.

والنَّاسُ شَخْصانِ ذا يَسْعى بهِ قدَمٌ

من القُنُوطِ وذا يَسْعَى بهِ الأَمَلُ

People are of two kinds: one led

Two kinds of men exist: one guided forth

By despair, the other by hope

By deep despair; the other led by hope.

هذا إلى الموتِ والأَجداثُ ساخِرةٌ

وذا إلى المجدِ والدُّنيا لَهُ خَوَلُ

One walks towards death though life still beats

The first to death, while mocking graveyards laugh,

The other seeks glory which remains his goal

The next to glory, with the world in thrall.

مَا كلُّ فِعْلٍ يُجِلُّ النَّاسُ فاعِلَهُ

مَجْداً فإنَّ الوَرَى بي رأْيِهِمْ خَطَلُ

Not every act that people glorify

Not every deed the people celebrate

Truly deserves glory or is sublime

Is true renown; for crowds are prone to err.

ففي التَماجُدِ تَمْويهٌ وشَعْوَذَةٌ

وفي الحقيقَةِ مَا لا يُدْرِكُ الدَّجِلُ

Vainglory is illusion and sorcery

In false acclaim lie fraud and sorcery,

Reality is beyond the fool's paradigm

But in the truth, what charlatans cannot see.

مَا المَجْدِ إلاَّ ابْتِساماتٌ يَفيضُ بها

فمُ الزمَّان إِذا مَا انسدَّتِ الحِيَلُ

Glory but smiles that time bestows

Glory is but the smiles that overflow

When strategies and plans decompose

From Time’s own mouth when every path is barred.

وليسَ بالمجدِ مَا تَشْقَى الحَيَاةُ بهِ

فَيَحْسُدُ اليَوْمَ أَمْساً ضَمَّهُ الأَزَلُ

True glory makes not life agonize

That is not glory which brings life misery,

Nor makes today envy timeless joys

Making Today envy the Yesterday now gone.

فما الحُرُوبُ سِوَى وَحْشيَّةٍ نَهَضَتْ

في أَنْفُسِ النَّاسِ فانْقادَتْ لها الدُّوَلُ

Wars are but barbarity that dwelled

For wars are merely savagery aroused

In men's souls and nations it held

Within men’s souls, to which whole nations bow.

وأَيْقَظَتْ في قُلوبِ النَّاسِ عاصِفَةً

غامَ الوُجودُ لها وارْبَدَّتِ السُّبُلُ

Raising in hearts a storm that drew

They wake a tempest in the hearts of men,

The world to darkness on paths askew

Dimming existence, darkening every path.

فالدَّهْرُ مُنْتَعِلٌ بالنَّارِ مُلْتَحِفٌ

بالهوْلِ والويلِ والأَيامُ تَشْتَعِلُ

Time is aflame with fires that swell

Time is shod in fire, and cloaked around

And days burn in a holocaust hell

With dread and woe, while days burn fiercely on.

والأَرضُ داميةٌ بالإِثْمِ طامِيَةٌ

ومارِدُ الشَّرِّ في أَرْجائِها ثَمِلُ

Earth is bloody, sins a flood

The earth is bloody, submerged in rising sin,

And evil roams where goodness stood

While Evil’s titan staggers drunk throughout.

والموتُ كالمَارِدِ الجبَّارِ مُنْتَصِبٌ

في الأَرضِ يَخْطُفُ من قَدْ خانَهُ الأَجَلُ

Death like a tyrant stands erect

And Death stands like a giant, erect and vast,

Snatching those whose life clocks defect

Snatching from earth those whom their time betrays.

وفي المَهَامِهِ أَشلاءٌ مُمَزَّقَةٌ

تَتْلو على القَفْرِ شِعْراً لَيْسَ يُنْتَحَلُ

Limbs lie shattered 'cross the span

And in the wilds lie torn and scattered limbs,

Of waste, bereft of soul or man

Reciting to the void a verse unfeigned.