يا أُمَّةً ما لَها عُقولٌ
وَفَقدُ أَلبابِها دَهاها
O people with no reason,
the loss of your understanding has ruined you.
تَسَلَّتِ النَفسُ كُلَّ شَيءٍ
إِلّا نُهاها وَما نَهاها
The soul has found consolation for everything
except its reason and what restrains it.
فَحَدِّثوني بِغَيرِ مَينٍ
عَنِ الثُرَيّا وَعَن سُهاها
So tell me, without falsehood,
about the Pleiades and about Suha.
أَتَعلَمُ الأَرضُ وَهيَ أُمٌّ
خَفَّ زَمانٌ فَما اِزدَهاها
Does the earth know, though she is a mother,
that an age grew frivolous yet did not beguile her?
بِأَيِّ جُرمٍ وَأَيِّ حُكمٍ
سُلِّطَ لَيثٌ عَلى مَهاها
For what crime, and by what judgment,
was a lion set upon her oryx?
وَعُذِّرَت حاجَةٌ بِعُسرٍ
عَلى عَليلٍ قَدِ اِشتَهاها
And a longing was excused despite the hardship
it brought an ailing man who desired it.
وَظالِمٌ عِندَهُ كُنوزٌ
مِن أُمِّ دَفرٍ وَمِن لُهاها
Yet a tyrant has treasures
from Mother Stench and from her pleasures.
كانَ إِذا ما دَجا ظَلامٌ
صاحَ بِأَجمالِهِ وَهاها
Whenever darkness deepened, he would
cry to his camels, “Wahāhā!”
Sol 6