سَلِ القَصرَ أَودى أَهلُهُ أَينَ أَهلُهُ

أَكُلُّهُمُ عَنهُ تَبَدَّدَ شَملُهُ

Ask the palace: its people have perished—where are its people?

Have they all departed from it, their company scattered?

أَكُلُّهُمُ حالَت بِهِ الحالُ وَانقَضَت

وَزَلَّت بِهِ عَن حَومَةِ العِزِّ نَعلُهُ

Has changing fortune overtaken them all and run its course,

making each foot slip from the arena of glory?

أَكُلُّهُمُ فَضَّت يَدُ الدَهرِ جَمعَهُ

وَأَفناهُ نَقضُ الدَهرِ يَوماً وَفَتلُهُ

Has Time’s hand dispersed the whole of their gathering,

until one day Time’s twisting and unraveling destroyed it?

أَكُلُّهُمُ مُستَبدَلٌ بَعدَهُ بِهِ

سِواهُ وَمَبتوتٌ مِنَ الناسِ حَبلُهُ

Has every one of them been replaced, after his passing,

by another, his cord to humankind cut through?

أَكُلُّهُمُ لا وَصلَ بَيني وَبَينَهُ

إِذا ماتَ أَو وَلّى امرُؤٌ بانَ وَصلُهُ

Is every one of them now beyond all bond between us,

so that when a man’s loved ones die, his ties are plainly severed?

خَليلَيَّ ما الدُنيا بِدارِ فُكاهَةٍ

وَلا دارِ لَذّاتٍ لِمَن صَحَّ عَقلُهُ

My two companions, this world is no house of amusement,

nor a house of pleasures for one whose reason is sound.

تَزَوَّدتُ تَشميرَ المَشيبِ وَجِدَّهُ

وَفارَقَني زَهوُ الشَبابِ وَهَزلُهُ

I have provisioned myself with gray age’s girded resolve and earnestness,

while youth’s vainglory and frivolity have left me.

وَكَم مِن هَواً لي طالَ ما قَد رَكِبتُهُ

وَمِن عاذِلٍ لي رُبَّما طالَ عَذلُهُ

How many passions of mine I rode for so long,

and how many reprovers of me whose reproach came to nothing.

وَعَذلُ الفَتى ما فيهِ فَضلٌ لِغَيرِهِ

إِذا ما الفَتى عَن نَفسِهِ ضاقَ عَذلُهُ

Another’s reproach can add nothing to a young man

if his own self-reproach is too feeble to restrain him.

لَعَمرُكَ إِنَّ الحَقَّ لِلناسِ واسِعٌ

وَلَكِن رَأَيتُ الحَقَّ يُكرَهُ ثِقلُهُ

By your life, truth is spacious enough for all people,

yet I have seen that truth is hated for its weight.

وَلِلحَقِّ أَهلٌ لَيسَ تَخفى وُجوهُهُم

يَخِفُّ عَلَيهِم حَيثُ ما كانَ حَملُهُ

Truth has people whose faces cannot be hidden;

its burden sits lightly on them wherever they bear it.

وَما صَحَّ فَرعٌ أَصلُهُ الدَهرَ فاسِدٌ

وَلَكِن يَصِحُّ الفَرعُ ما صَحَّ أَصلُهُ

No branch has ever flourished when its root is corrupt,

but a branch flourishes when its root is sound.

وَما لِامرِئٍ مِن نَفسِهِ وَتَليدِهِ

وَطارِفِهِ إِلّا تُقاهُ وَبَذلُهُ

A man has nothing—from himself or his inherited wealth,

or from newly acquired wealth—except his piety and generosity.

وَما نالَ عَبدٌ قَطُّ فَضلاً بِقُوَّةٍ

وَلَكِنَّهُ مَنُّ الإِلَهُ وَفَضلُهُ

No servant ever won glory through might;

it comes only from God and His bounty.

لَنا خالِقٌ يُعطي الَّذي هُوَ أَهلُهُ

وَيَعفو وَلا يَجزي بِما نَحنُ أَهلُهُ

We have a Creator who gives what befits Him,

and pardons, not requiting us for what we deserve.

أَلا كُلُّ شَيءٍ زالَ فَاللَهُ بَعدَهُ

كَما كُلُّ شَيءٍ كانَ فَاللَهُ قَبلُهُ

Behold, everything is passing; God remains after it,

just as God preceded everything that ever came to be.

أَلا كُلُّ شَيءٍ ما سِوى اللَهِ زائِلٌ

أَلا كُلُّ ذي نَسلٍ يَموتُ وَنَسلُهُ

Behold, everything other than God is passing.

Behold, every bearer of descendants will die, and so will his descendants.

أَلا كُلُّ مَخلوقٍ يَصيرُ إِلى البِلى

أَلا إِنَّ يَومَ المَيتِ لِلحَيِّ مِثلُهُ

Behold, every created being will come to decay.

Behold, the day of death is every living creature’s match.

أَلا ما عَلاماتُ البِلى بِخَفِيَّةٍ

وَلَكِنَّما غَرَّ ابنَ آدَمَ جَهلُهُ

Behold, the signs of decay are not hidden,

but the son of Adam has been deluded by his ignorance.

أُخَيَّ أَرى لِلدَهرِ نَبلاً مُصيبَةً

إِذا ما رَمانا الدَهرُ لَم تَخطُ نَبلُهُ

My little brother, I see Time with a curved fang:

when Time shoots at us, its arrow never misses.

فَلَم أَرَ مِثلَ المَرءِ في طولِ سَهوِهِ

وَلا مِثلَ رَيبِ الدَهرِ يُؤمَنُ خَتلُهُ

I have seen nothing like man in the length of his heedlessness,

nor anything like Time’s reversals, whose treachery is trusted as safe.

وَحَسبُكَ مِمَّن إِن نَوى الخَيرَ قالَهُ

وَإِن قالَ خَيراً لَم يُكَذِّبهُ فِعلُهُ

Enough for you is one who, when he intends good, speaks it,

and when he speaks good, his deed does not give his word the lie.