أَينَ مَن كانَ قَبلَنا أَينَ أَينا
مِن أُناسٍ كانوا جَمالاً وَزَينا
Where are those who were before us? Where—where are we?
Those people who were once beauty and adornment?
إِنَّ دَهراً أَتى عَلَيهِم فَأَفنى
مِنهُمُ الجَمعَ سَوفَ يَأتي عَلَينا
Indeed, the age that came upon them and annihilated
their whole company will come upon us.
خَدَعَتنا الآمالُ حَتّى طَلَبنا
وَجَمَعنا لِغَيرِنا وَسَعَينا
Hopes deceived us until we went in pursuit;
we amassed for others, and we strove.
وَاِبتَنَينا وَما نُفَكِّرُ في الدَه
رِ وَفي صَرفِهِ غَداةَ اِبتَنَينا
We built, never giving thought to Time
or to its reversals on the day we built.
وَاِبتَغَينا مِنَ المَعاشِ فُضولاً
لَو قَنِعنا بِدونِها لَاِكتَفَينا
We sought more than our living required;
had we been content with less, we would have had enough.
وَلَعَمري لَنَمضِيَنَّ وَلا نَم
ضي بِشَيءٍ مِنها اِذا ما مَضَينا
By my life, we shall surely depart, nor shall we take
anything of it with us when we go.
وَاِفتَرَقنا في المَقدُراتِ وَسَوّى ال
لَهُ في المَوتِ بَينَنا فَاِستَوَينا
We differed in what was allotted us, but God made us equal
in death, and so we all became alike.
كَم رَأَينا مِن مَيِّتٍ كانَ حَيّاً
وَوَشيكاً يُرى بِنا ما رَأَينا
How many a dead man have we seen who once was alive;
and soon what we saw will be seen in us.
ما لَنا نَأمَنُ المَنايا كَأَنّا
لا نَراهُنَّ يَهتَدينَ إِلَينا
Why do we feel safe from the Fates, as though
we did not see them finding their way to us?
عَجَباً لِاِمرِئٍ تَيَقَّنَ أَنَّ ال
مَوتَ حَقٌّ فَقَرَّ بِالعَيشِ عَينا
How strange that a man, certain that
death is truth, should find contentment in living.
Sol 5.6