أَيا مَن حَمَّلَ الذَر

رَةَ ما لا يَحمِلُ الفيلُ

O you who burdened the atom

Oh you who burdened the tiny ant

With what even the elephant cannot bear

With weights the elephant cannot bear,

أَما تَعلَم أَنَّ المَر

ءَ مَبعوثٌ وَمَسؤولُ

Do you not know that man

Do you not know that every soul

Is sent forth and will be questioned?

Shall rise and answer for its deeds?

وَمَن أَنصَتَ لِلواشي

نَ هَزَّتهُ الأَقاويلُ

And he who lent ear to the slanderers

For he who heeds the slanderer's voice

Was shaken by rumors

Is shaken by the rumors spread.

فَلَو قُلتَ لَهُم مَهلاً

كَما قُلتَ لَهُم قولوا

If only you had said to them, "Wait!"

Had you but said to them, "Desist,"

As you had said to them, "Speak!"

Just as you bid them, "Speak your fill,"

لَما كانَ عَلى عَبدِ

كَ لا قالٌ وَلا قيلُ

No saying about your servant

There would remain upon your slave

Nor telling would have been

No gossip nor such idle talk.

وَلَكِنَّكَ لِلواشي

عَلى الطاعَةِ مَخبولُ

But you to the slanderer

But you, regarding him who lies,

In obedience stupified

Are madly driven to comply.

وَقَد أَسقَطَني الحَقُّ

وَأَعلَتهُ الأَباطيلُ

And the truth has dropped me

Though truth has cast me to the ground,

While falsehoods have lifted it

Falsehoods have raised him to the heights.

فَمَوتٌ لِيَ مَذخورٌ

وَمَوتٌ بِيَ مَفعولُ

So a death is destined for me

So there is death reserved for me,

And a death has been brought about by me

And death inflicted on me now.

فَعَلَّلَني بِوَعدٍ مِن

كَ تَكفيني التَعاليلُ

So you have excused me with a promise from you

Assuage me with a promise, then;

That will suffice me of analyses

Even false hopes suffice my heart.

فَما لِلأَرضِ مُذ صارَم

تَني عَرضٌ وَلا طولُ

Thus for the ground since I became

For earth, since you have severed ties,

Neither breadth nor length has it

Has left me neither length nor breadth.