كَأَنّي بِالتُرابِ عَلَيكَ رَدما
بِرَبعٍ لا أَرى لَكَ فيهِ رَسما
As though with dust I see you heaped,
Within a tomb that shows no trace or seam,
بِرَبعٍ لَو تَرى الأَحبابَ فيهِ
رَأَيتَ لَهُم مُباعَدَةً وَصَرما
As though, if here your friends were,
You'd see them shun you as they walk between,
أَلا يا ذا الَّذي هُوَ كُلَّ يَومٍ
يُساقُ إِلى البِلى قِدماً فَقِدما
O fleeting one, whose feet each day,
Nearer death's confines stray and stray!
ضَرَبتَ عَنِ اِدِّكارِ المَوتِ صَفحاً
كَأَنَّكَ لا تَراهُ عَلَيكَ حَتما
You turn your thoughts away from death
As though it had no claim on you, no right to smite;
أَلَم تَرَ أَنَّ أَقسامَ المَنايا
تُوَزَّعُ بَينَنا قِسماً فَقِسما
Do you not see how life's estate
'Mongst us is apportioned share and share?
سَيُفنينا الَّذي أَفنى جَديساً
وَأَفنى قَبلَها إِرَماً وَطَسما
The same destroyer who laid low our sires
And tribes before, us too will end.
وَرُبَّ مُسَلَّطٍ قَد كانَ فينا
عَزيزاً مُنكَرَ السَطَواتِ ضَخما
The mighty ones we knew are gone,
Their prides and powers lost, their names undone.
وَلَو يَنشَقُّ وَجهُ الأَرضِ عَنهُ
عَدَدتَ عِظامَهُ عَظماً فَعَظما
If earth should open up and show
Their bones, how many they would be!
وَكَم مِن خُطوَةٍ مَنَحَتهُ أَجراً
وَكَم مِن خُطوَةٍ مَنَحَتهُ إِثما
So many steps led some man wrong,
So many led another right.
تَوَسَّع في حَلالِ اللَهِ أَكلاً
وَإِلّا لَم تَجِد لِلعَيشِ طَعما
Seek sustenance in ways not banned;
Else life will no more relish or delight.
فَإِنَّكَ لا تَرى ما أَنتَ فيهِ
وَأَنتَ بِغَيرِهِ أَعمى أَصَمّا
You cannot see the state you are in.
Deaf, blind to all but self, your vision's dim.
أَرى الإِنسانَ مَنقوصاً ضَعيفاً
وَما يَألو لِعِلمِ الغَيبِ رَجما
Man is hasty, weak and blind,
To knowledge of the absent little prone.
أَشَدُّ الناسِ لِلعِلمِ اِدِّعاءً
أَقَلُّهُمُ بِما هُوَ فيهِ عِلما
Most loud in claims of knowledge, still
The least equipped with learning of their own.
وَفي الصَمتِ المُبَلِّغِ عَنكَ حُكمٌ
كَما أَنَّ الكَلامَ يَكونُ حُكما
A silent lesson speaks of you.
As speech itself can be a lesson shown.
إِذا لَم تَحتَرِس مِن كُلِّ طَيشٍ
أَسَأتَ إِجابَةً وَأَسَأتَ فَهما
If you do not guard against each urge and whim,
You will misunderstand and fault will seem.
