العالَمُ العالي بِرَأيِ مَعاشِرٍ

كَالعالَمِ الهاوي يُحِسُّ وَيَعلَمُ

The lofty world in the view of a society

Is like a lowly world that feels and knows

زَعَمَت رِجالٌ أَنَّ سَيّاراتِهِ

تَسِقُ العُقولَ وَأَنَّها تَتَكَلَّمُ

Men claimed that their cars

Quench minds and that they speak

فَهَلِ الكَواكِبُ مِثلُنا في دينِها

لا يَتَّفِقنَ فَهائِدٌ أَو مُسلِمُ

Do the planets have a religion like us

Where signs don't align or a Muslim concurs?

وَلَعَلَّ مَكَّةَ في السَماءِ كَمَكَّةٍ

وَبِها نِضادِ وَيَذبُلٌ وَيَلَملَمُ

And perhaps Mecca in the sky is like Mecca

With a slaughterhouse, debris, and throngs

وَالنورُ في حُكمِ الخَواطِرِ مُحدَثٌ

وَالأَوَّلِيُّ هُوَ الزَمانُ المُظلِمُ

Light, by whims' rule, is modern

And the early is the dark time

وَالخَيرُ بَينَ الناسِ رَسمٌ دائِرٌ

وَالشَرُّ نَهجٌ وَالبَرِيَّةُ مَعلَمُ

Good amongst people is a fleeting symbol

And evil a path, the wilderness a guide

طَبعٌ خُلِقتَ عَلَيهِ لَيسَ بِزائِلٍ

طولَ الحَياةِ وَآخَرٌ مُتَعَلَّمُ

A nature you're created with that doesn't change

For life, and the other learned

إِن جارَتِ الأُمَراءُ جاءَ مُؤَمَّرٌ

أَعتى وَأُجورُ يَستَضيمُ وَيَكلِمُ

If rulers feud, a schemer comes

Fiercer whose hire grieves and talks

كَحَمائِمٍ ظَلَمَت فَنادى أَجدَلٌ

إِن كُنتِ ظالِمَةً فَإِنّي أَظلَمُ

Like doves in the dark, so a nightjar called

"If you've wronged, I've wronged still more"

أَرَأَيتَ أَظفارَ الضَراغِمِ عُوِّدَت

فِرَةً وَأَظفارَ الأَنيسِ تُقَلَّمُ

Have you seen how claws of beasts of prey were trained

To claw, and claws of companions trimmed?

وَكَذاكَ حُكمُ الدَهرِ في سُكّانِهِ

عَيرٌ لَهُ أُذُنٌ وَهَيقٌ أَصلَمُ

So too is the way of fate with its dwellers

A blind ass whose handler is blind

إِن شِئتَ أَن تُكفى الحِمامَ فَلا تَعِش

هَذي الحَياةُ إِلى المَنِيَّةِ سُلَّمُ

If you want to avoid anguish don't live

This life leads straight to demise

ماذا أَفَدتَ بِأَنَّ دَهرَكَ خافِضٌ

وَغِناكَ مُنبَسِطٌ وَعِرسُكَ غَيلَمُ

What good that your days are low

While your means ample and lineage sublime?

أَحسِن بِدُنيا القَومِ لَو كانَ الفَتى

لا يُقتَضى وَأَديمُهُ لا يَحلُمُ

Do good in people's world, if only youth

Weren't fleeting, its hide didn't rip

وَكَأَنَّما الأُخرى تَيَقُّظُ نائِمٍ

وَكَأَنَّما الأولى مَنامٌ يُحلَمُ

As if the next life wakes a sleeping one

And the first is a dream dreamt in sleep

يَتَشَبَّهُ الطاغي بِطاغٍ مِثلِهِ

وَأَخو السَعادَةِ بَينَهُم مَن يَسلَمُ

The tyrant takes after a tyrant like him

And a brother of fortune between them concedes

في الناسِ ذو حِلمٍ يُسَفِّهُ نَفسَهُ

كَيما يُهابَ وَجاهِلٌ يَتَحَلَّمُ

Among people a wise man acts foolish

So he's feared, and a fool poses wise

وَكِلاهُما تَعِبٌ يُحارِبُ شيمَةً

غَلَبَت فَآضَ بِحَربِها يَتَأَلَّمُ

Both tired, warring with a nature

That prevailed, so they painfully warp

فَاِلزَم ذَراكَ وَإِن تَشَعَّثَ جُدرُهُ

فَالعِسُّ قَد يَرويكَ وَهوَ مُثَلَّمُ

So tend your own plot, and if its walls crumble

Hardship may water you, and it has holes