رَضيتَ لِنَفسِكَ سَوءاتِها
وَلَم تَألُ حُبّاً لِمَرضاتِها
You have accepted for yourself her wrongs,
And have not wearied of loving her flaws.
وَحَسَّنتَ أَقبَحَ أَعمالِها
وَصَغَّرتَ أَكبَرَ زَلّاتِها
You have made beautiful her ugliest deeds,
And made small her greatest mistakes.
وَكَم مِن سَبيلِ لِأَهلِ الصِبا
سَلَكتَ بِهِم في بُنَيّاتِها
How many paths of youthful folly,
Have you led them down with her fabrications.
وَأَيُّ الدَواعي دَواعي الهَوى
تَطَلَّعتَ عَنها لِآفاتِها
And which temptations, temptations of passion,
Have you overlooked for her harm.
وَأَيُّ المَحارِمِ لَم تَنتَهِك
وَأَيُّ الفَضائِحِ لَم تاتِها
And which taboos have you not violated,
And which disgraces have you not visited upon her.
كَأَنّي بِنَفسِكَ قَد عوجِلَت
عَلى ذاكَ في بَعضِ غِرّاتِها
As if, verily, you hastened with your soul
To that, in one of her delusions.
وَقامَت نَوادِبُها حُسَّراً
تَداعى بِرَنَّةِ أَصواتِها
And her wailers stood up mourning,
Collapsing with the clamor of their voices.
أَلَم تَرَ أَنَّ دَبيبَ اللَيالي
يُسارِقُ نَفسَكَ ساعاتِها
Do you not see that the creeping of nights
Steals your soul in its hours.
وَهَذي القِيامَةُ قَد أَشرَفَت
عَلى العالَمينَ لِميقاتِها
And this resurrection has verily drawn near,
To the two worlds in its appointed time.
وَقَد أَقبَلَت بِمَوازينِها
وَأَهوالِها وَبِرَوعاتِها
And it has come with its scales,
And its terrors, and its splendors.
وَإِنّا لَفي بَعضِ أَشراطِها
وَأَيّامِها وَعَلاماتِها
And we are in some of its conditions,
And its days, and its signs.
رَكَنّا إِلى الدارِ دارِ الغُرو
رِ إِذ سَحَرَتنا بِلَذّاتِها
We have inclined toward the abode, the abode of delusion,
When it has captivated us with its pleasures.
فَما نَرعَوي لَأَعاجيبِها
وَلا لِتَصَرُّفِ حالاتِها
So we do not heed its wonders,
Nor the changes of its states.
نُنافِسُ فيها وَأَيّامُنا
تَرَدَّدُ فينا بِآفاتِها
We vie in it while our days
Circle back to us with their harms.
وَما يَتَفَكَّرُ أَحياؤُها
فَيَعتَبِرونَ بِأَمواتِها
Yet the living among them do not contemplate,
And take heed from the dead among them.
