إِلى كَم إِذا ما غِبتُ تُرجى سَلامَتي
وَقَد قَعَدَت بي الحادِثاتُ وَقامَتِ
How long when I am absent is my safety hoped for,
When misfortunes have beset me and arisen?
وَعُمِّمتُ مِن نَسجِ القَتيرِ عِمامَةً
رُقومُ البِلى مَرقومَةٌ في عِمامَتي
And I have been generally given a turban to wear,
Of coarse fabric - decrepitude is marked upon my turban.
وَكُنتُ أَرى لي في الشَبابِ عَلامَةً
فَصِرتُ وَإِنّي مُنكِرٌ لِعَلامَتي
And I used to see for myself in youth a sign,
So I have become, though I deny, my sign.
وَما هِيَ إِلّا أَوبَةٌ بَعدَ غَيبَةٍ
إِلى الغَيبَةِ القُصوى فَثَمَّ قِيامَتي
It is only a returning after an absence
To the uttermost absence, then the arising of my end.
كَأَنّي بِنَفسي حَسرَةً وَنَدامَةً
تَقَطَّعُ إِذ لَم تُغنِ عَنّي نَدامَتي
It is as if I see myself in regret and remorse
Cut to pieces when my remorse does not avail me.
مُنى النَفسِ مِمّا يوطِئُ المَرءَ عَشوَةً
إِذا النَفسُ جالَت حَولَهُنَّ وَحامَتِ
The soul's wish from what treads a man down in passion
When the soul circles about them and is inflamed.
وَمَن أَوطَأَتهُ نَفسُهُ حاجَةً فَقَد
أَساءَت إِلَيهِ نَفسُهُ وَأَلامَتِ
And he whom his soul treads down in need has indeed
His soul done evil to him and pained him.
أَما وَالَّذي نَفسي لَهُ لَو صَدَقتُها
لَرَدَّدتُ تَوبيخي لَها وَمَلامَتي
But, by Him to whom my soul belongs, if I had obeyed it
I would have turned back my rebuke to it and blamed it.
فَلِلَّهِ نَفسٌ أَوطَأَتني مِنَ العَشا
حُزوناً وَلَو قَوَّمتُها لَاستَقامَتِ
So God curse a soul that has trodden me down in passion
Grieving, and had I corrected it, it would have become upright.
وَلِلَّهِ يَومٌ أَيُّ يَومِ فَظاعَةٍ
وَأَفظَعُ مِنهُ بَعدُ يَومُ قِيامَتي
And God curse a day, what day of exceeding vileness!
And more vile than it hereafter the day of my standing again.
وَلِلَّهِ أَهلي إِذ حَبَوني بِحُفرَةٍ
وَهُم بِهَواني يَطلُبونَ كَرامَتي
And God curse my people when they encompassed me with a pit
And they seek my glory through my abasement.
وَلِلَّهِ دُنيا لا تَزالُ تَرُدُّني
أَباطيلُها في الجَهلِ بَعدَ استِقامَتي
And God curse a world that still turns me back
From its vanities, in ignorance after my uprightness!
وَلِلَّهِ أَصحابُ المَلاعِبِ لَو صَفَت
لَهُم لَذَّةُ الدُنيا بِهِنَّ وَدامَتِ
And God curse the comrades of frivolities! If they were characterized
By them, the pleasure of life would have lasted with them and continued.
وَلِلَّهِ عَينٌ أَيقَنَت أَنَّ جَنَّةً
وَناراً يَقينٌ صادِقٌ ثُمَّ نامَتِ
And God curse an eye that was certain that gardens
And fire - a true, veracious certainty - then slept!
