لَعَمرُكَ ما أَبقى لَنا المَوتُ باقِياً
نَقَرَّ بِهِ عَيناً غَداةَ نَأوبُ
By your life! Death did not spare
By your life, Death has left us no remaining kin,
The morning it struck the eye awake
To delight our eyes on the morning of return.
كَأَنّي وَتَرتُ المَوتَ بِابنٍ أَفادَهُ
عَلى حينَ حانَت كَبرَةٌ وَمَشيبُ
As if I had bargained with death for a son
As if I had wronged Death regarding a son he destroyed,
When decrepitude and gray hair beckoned
At the time when old age and gray hair had descended.
