أَسيتُ إِذا غابَتِ الأَحجالُ وَالغُرَرُ

وَإِنَّما الناسُ في أَيّامِهِم عُرَرُ

I despair when the encampments and lovely maidens depart,

For people in their days are but frail.

وَعُذتُ بِاللَهِ مِن عامٍ أَخي سَنَةٍ

نُجومُهُ في دُخانٍ ثائِرٍ شَرَُر

I seek refuge in God from a year, my brother, worse than last,

Its stars arising in smoke that sparks and smolders.

كَأَنَّما بُرُّهُ دُرٌّ لِعِزَّتِهِ

وَكَيفَ تُؤكَلُ عِندَ المُعدِمِ الدُرَرُ

Its prosperity is pearls in honor,

Yet how can pearls be consumed in destitution?

وَطَرَّةُ الرَوضِ يُدمي الرِجلَ مَوطِئُها

يُنسيكَ ما جَنَتِ الأَصداغُ وَالطُرَرُ

Dewdrops on meadows wound the feet that tread them.

You forget the fantasies dreams and visions stirred.

أَدرِر يَمينَكَ بِالجَدوى إِذا قَدَرَت

إِنَّ المَنايا لَعَمرِيَ مَنهَجٌ دَرَرُ

Let your hand flow with bounty when you are able,

For death's sure path, I swear, sows only seeds.

وِقابُ أَسماعِنا جاءَت بِمَنفعَةٍ

وَما أَتَتنا بِشَيءٍ يُحمَدُ السُرَرُ

Our ears came round to benefit:

They brought us nothing for which joy is famed.

سَرّاءُ دَهرِكَ لَم تَكمُل لَدى أَحدٍ

فَلَيتَ طِفلَكَ لَم تُقطَع لَهُ سُرَرُ

The bliss of your world was incomplete for anyone.

Would that as a child your crib were never strewn.

أَسَرَّكَ الآنَ أَن تُلقى عَلى قَلَقٍ

مِثلَ الأَسَرِّ حَماهُ نَومَهُ السُرَرُ

It saddens you now to meet disquiet

Like sorrow, guarded in its sleep by bliss.

لَم نَهجُرِ الماءَ إِلّا بَعدَ تَجرِبَةٍ

لَقَد شَرِبنا فَلَم تَذهَب بِها الحِرَرُ

We shunned not water until after trying it—

We drank, yet still the heat remained unquenched.

سَرارَةُ الوَهدِ يَلقى الجَنبُ مَضجَعَها

خَيرٌ مِنَ التِبرِ مَنسوجاً بِهِ السُرُرُ

The soft sands where the gazelle finds repose

Are better than a mattress richly furnished.

ما قُرَّةُ العَينِ ذاتُ الوِردِ مَعوِزَةٌ

وَغُيِّبَت عَن بَواكي الأَعيُنِ القُرَرُ

Solace of the eye is not in flowers

That disappear from tearful eyes' lament.

فينا التَحاسُدُ مَعروفٌ فَهَل حَسِدَت

مُجتَرَّةُ الإِبلِ أُخرى ما لَها جِرَرُ

Among us envy is well known. Did she

Who trails behind envy the others' litters?

ما شِرَّةٌ مِن خَليلِ النَفسِ واحِدَةٌ

لا بَل تُوافيكَ مِن تِلقائِهِ شِرَرُ

No friendship thrives with the carnal soul,

But enmity comes to you of its own accord.

نَهاكَ ناهيكَ عَن بَيعٍ عَلى غَرَرٍ

وَأَنتَ كُلُّكَ فيما بانَ لي غَرَرُ

You forbid and yet you are immersed

In what has plainly been revealed as fraud.

أَمّا عُقَيلٌ فَما عَن ظُلمِها عُقُلٌ

تِلكَ الصَريراتُ فيهِمِ ضاعَت الصُرَرُ

As for Uqayl, no mind restrains their tyranny—

Those hissing snakes in them have lost all track.

مَرُّ اللَيالي إِذا اِستَولى عَلى مَرَسٍ

تَقَضَّبَت مِنهُ بِالمُستَمسَكِ المِرَرُ

When night prevails over a tender sprig,

It withers, sucked by clinging cankerworms.

وَالشَرُّ في الإِنسِ مَبثوثٌ وَغَيرِهِمُ

وَالنَفعُ مُذ كانَ مَمزوجٌ بِهِ الضَرَرُ

Evil in men is sown, and elsewhere too,

While benefit, since it began, with harm is mixed.

تَشاكَلوا في سَجِيّاةٍ مُذَمَّمَةٍ

وَأَشبَهَت لَبواتِ الغابَةِ الهِرَرُ

They resemble each other in odious, loathsome traits,

And the howls of beasts echo from their dens.

تَناقُضٌ في بَني الدُنيا كَدَهرِهِمُ

يَمضي المَقيظُ وَتَأتي بَعدَهُ القِرَرُ

Contradiction lives in worldly men like their fate—

The watchful wakeful passes, and then drowsiness prevails.

لِلَّهِ دُرُّ شَبابٍ سارَ ظاعِنُهُ

لَو رَدَّهُ مِن دُموعِ الآسِفِ الدَرَرُ

By God, the pearly shine of youth once glided by,

As though its flowing tears could bring it back again.