سُكرُ الشَبابِ جُنونُ

وَالناسُ فَوقٌ وَدونُ

The intoxication of youth is madness

And people are above and below

وَلِلأُمورِ ظُهورٌ

تَبدو لَنا وَظُنونُ

And things appear to us

As guesses and assumptions

وَلِلزَمانِ تَثَنٍّ

كَما تَثَنّى الغُصونُ

And time has its ups and downs

As the branches bend down

مِنَ العُقولِ سُهولٌ

مَعروفَةٌ وَحُزونُ

Of minds there are plains

Known and sad

فيهِنَّ رَطبٌ مُؤاتٍ

مِنهُنَّ كَزٌّ حَرونُ

In them is ripe and obedient fruit

And from them bitter dry dates

إِنّي وَإِن خانَني مَن

أَهوى فَلَستُ أَخونُ

If those I love betray me

I am not treacherous

لاأُعمِلُ الظَنَّ إِلّا

فيما تَسوغُ الظُنونَ

I do not suspect

Except when suspicion is justified

يا مَن تَمَجَّنَ مَهلاً

قَد طالَ مِنكَ المُجونُ

Oh you who lingered awhile

Your lingering has been too long

هَوَّنتَ عَسفَ اللَيالي

هَوَّنتَ ما لا يَهونُ

You made light of the tyranny of nights

You made light of what cannot be made light

يا لَيتَ شِعري إِذا ما

دُفِنتَ كَيفَ تَكونُ

Oh I wish I knew, when

You are buried, how you will be

لَو قَد تُرِكتَ صَريعاً

وَقَد بَكَتكَ العُيونُ

If you were left slain

And eyes had wept for you

لَقَلَّ عَنكَ غَناءً

دَمعٌ عَلَيكَ هَتونُ

Tears shedding for you would have stopped

Songs about you, flowing

لا تَأمَنَنَّ اللَيالي

فَكُلُّهُنَّ خَأونُ

Do not feel secure from nights

For all of them are betrayers

إِنَّ القُبورَ سُجونٌ

ما مِثلُهُنَّ سُجونُ

Graves are prisons

None like them are prisons

كَم في القُبورِ قُرونٌ

مِمَّن مَضى وَقُرونُ

So many centuries

Of those past and centuries

ما في المَقابِرِ وَجهٌ

عَنِ التُرابِ مَصونُ

In graves there is no face

Safe from dust

لَتُفنِيَنّا جَميعاً

وَإِن كَرِهنا المَنونُ

We will all perish

Though we dislike death

أَمّا النُفوسُ عَلَيها

فَلِلمَنايا دُيونُ

As for souls, over them

Deaths have debts

لاتَدفَعُ المَوتَ عَمَّن

حَلَّ الحُصونَ الحُصونُ

Death cannot be avoided by one

Fortresses have besieged fortresses

ما لِلمَنايا سُكونٌ

عَنّا وَنَحنُ سُكونُ

Death has no rest

From us while we have rest