لَم يَبقَ لِلصَيفِ لا رَسمٌ وَلا طَلَلُ
وَلا قَشيبٌ فَيُستَكسى وَلا سَمَلُ
The summer left no trace or ruins,
No dry stalks to be gleaned, no chaff.
عَدلٌ مِنَ الدَمعِ أَن يُبكى المَصيفُ كَما
يُبكى الشَبابُ وَيُبكى اللَهوُ وَالغَزَلُ
It is right for the autumn to be wept
Like youth, play, and flirtation weep.
يُمنى الزَمانِ طَوَت مَعروفَها وَغَدَت
يُسراهُ وَهيَ لَنا مِن بَعدِها بَدَلُ
Time has turned good fortune to ill,
Making what was once right, now wrong.
ما لِلشِتاءِ وَما لِلصَيفِ مِن مَثَلٍ
يَرضى بِهِ السَمعُ إِلّا الجودُ وَالبَخَلُ
Winter and summer can find no words
To please the ear save bounty and dearth.
أَما تَرى الأَرضَ غَضبى وَالحَصى قَلِقٌ
وَالأُفقَ بِالحَرجَفِ النَكباءِ يَقتَتِلُ
See how the earth scowls, the pebbles quake,
The horizon brawls with swelling storm clouds.
مَن يَزعَمُ الصَيفَ لَم تَذهَب بَشاشَتُهُ
فَغَيرُ ذَلِكَ أَمسى يَزعُمُ الجَبَلُ
Who claims summer’s brightness is undimmed?
Even the mountains now make no such claim.
غَدا لَهُ مِغفَرٌ في رَأسِهِ يَقَقٌ
لا تَهتِكُ البيضُ فَودَيهِ وَلا الأَسَلُ
Tomorrow it will wear a coat of fur on its head,
Not torn by flints or by the twisting thongs.
إِذا خُراسانُ عَن صِنِّبرِها كَشَرَت
كانَت قَتاداً لَنا أَنيابُها العُصُلُ
When the Khurasan night unveils her teeth,
Bared at us, they snatch limbs for gnawing.
يُمسي وَيُضحي مُقيماً في مَبائَتِهِ
وَبَأسُهُ في كُلى الأَقوامِ مُرتَحِلُ
Glowering, he rises and sleeps in his lair,
Moving from tribe to desolated tribe.
مَن كانَ يَجهَلُ يَوماً حَدَّ سَورَتِهِ
في القَريَتَينِ وَأَمرُ الجَوِّ مُكتَهِلُ
Who did not know the span of his wall in both settlements
And the full reach of his tempest stirring the sands?
فَما الضُلوعُ وَلا الأَحشاءُ جاهِلَةٌ
وَلا الكُلى أَنَّهُ المِقدامَةُ البَطَلُ
His ribs and entrails know this, as his kidneys do –
That he is the intrepid hero and brave warrior.
هَذا وَلَم يَتَّزِر لِلحَربِ دَيدَنَهُ
فَأَيُّ قِرنٍ تَراهُ حينَ يَشتَمِلُ
He girded himself for battle without his armor –
What era shall we see him then in full array?
إِن يَسَّرَ اللَهُ أَمراً أَثمَرَت مَعَهُ
مِن حَيثُ أَورَقَتِ الحاجاتُ وَالأَمَلُ
When God gives success attending a thing,
Sprouting from the needs and hopes that flourish,
فَما صِلائِيَ إِن كانَ الصِلاءُ بِها
جَمرَ الغَضا الجَزلِ إِلّا السَيرُ وَالإِبلُ
My prayers, if prayers can temper hot outrage,
Are nothing but riding and high-humped camels.
المُرضِياتُكَ ما أَرغَمتَ آنُفَها
وَالهادِياتُكَ وَهيَ الشُرَّدُ الضُلُلُ
You tame the willful, gently lead the strayed,
Bring far exile home to safe return.
تُقَرِّبُ الشُقَّةَ القُصوى إِذا أَخَذت
سِلاحَها وَهُوَ الإِرقالُ وَالرَمَلُ
You draw the distant raider near when you don
Take up your arms of sifting sands and shifting dunes.
إِذا تَظَلَّمتَ مِن أَرضٍ فُصِلتَ بِها
كانَت هِيَ العِزُّ إِلّا أَنَّها ذُلُلُ
Find yourself suddenly bereft of a land?
Be steadfast. All honour except in abasement.
