لا كانَتِ الدُنيا فَلَيسَ يَسُرُّني
أَنّي خَليفَتُها وَلا مَحمودُها
May the world cease to be; it gives me no pleasure
To be its ruler or its praised one.
وَجَهِلتُ أَمري غَيرَ أَنّي سالِكٌ
طُرقاً وَخَتها عادُها وَثَمودُها
I do not know my fate, except that I tread
Paths once trodden by its ʿĀd and Thamūd.
زَعَموا بِأَنَّ الهَضبَ سَوفَ يُذيبُه
قَدَرٌ وَيَحدُثُ لِلبِحارِ جُمودُها
They claim that fate will dissolve the hills
And that the seas will freeze.
وَتَشاجَروا في قُبَّةِ الفَلَكِ الَّتي
مازالَ يَعظُمُ في النُفوسِ عَمودَها
And they quarrel over the dome of heaven,
Whose pillar has long loomed large in people's minds.
فَيَقولُ ناسٌ سَوفَ يُدرِكُها الرَدى
وَيَمينُ قَومٌ لا يَجوزُ هُمودُها
Some say destruction will overtake it;
Others swear that it cannot die out.
أَتُدالُ يَوماً فِضَّةٌ مِن فِضَّةٍ
فَيَصيرُ مِثلَ سَبيكَةٍ جُلمودُها
Will one piece of silver someday replace another,
So that its boulder becomes like an ingot?
إِن فَرَّقَت شُهُبَ الثَرَيّا نَكبَةٌ
فَلِجُذوَةِ المِرّيخِ حُقَّ خُمودُها
If calamity scatters the bright stars of the Pleiades,
Then Mars's ember, too, ought to go out.
وَإِذا سُيوفِ الهِندِ أَدرَكَها البِلى
فَمِنَ العَجائِبِ أَن تَدومَ غُمودُها
And if decay overtakes the swords of India,
It would be a wonder if their sheaths endured.
Sol 6