فَهَل بِلادٌ يُعَرّي المَوتُ ساكِنَها

فَيُبتَغى في الثُرَيّا ذَلِكَ البَلَدُ

Is there a country whose people death lays bare,

So that country may be sought in luxuriant wilds?

يَشقى الوَليدُ وَيَشقى والِداهُ بِهِ

وَفازَ مَن لَم يُوَلِّه عَقلَهُ وَلَدُ

The newborn is wretched, his parents wretched because of him,

And he prospers who was not misled by his mind into having a child.

أَِذا تَلَبَّسَ بِالشُجعانِ جَنبَهُمُ

وَبِالكِرامِ أَسَرُّ الضَنِّ أَو صَلَدوا

When he joins the brave, their neighbors,

Or the generous, whether miserly or destitute,

عَظمٌ وَنَحضٌ تَبَنّى مِنهُما طَلَلٌ

كَأَنَّها الأَرضُ مِنها السَهلُ وَالجَلَدُ

Greatness and leanness have built from them ruins

As though the land, the plain, and the hill were made from it.