جَماجِمُ أَمثالُ الكُراتِ هَفَت بِها

سُيوفٌ ثَناها الضَربُ وَهيَ صَوالِجُ

Skulls are like balls that swords have bent, wielding blows,

While they remain weapons' scabbards.

وَقَد يُغلِقُ الإِنسانُ مِن دونِ شَخصِهِ

وِلاجاً وَهَمُّ القَلبِ في النَفسِ والِجُ

A man may confine himself away from others

With anguish in heart and soul churning.

لَعَمري لَقَد حَلَّت وُكوراً حَمائِمٌ

لَيالِيَ ضاقَت عَن ظِباءٍ تَوالِجُ

By my life! Doves have nested in the courtyards

Of nights too narrow for wandering wild animals.

أُؤَمِّلُ عَفوَ اللَهِ وَالصَدرُ جائِشٌ

إِذا خَلَجَتني لِلمَنونِ الخَوالِجُ

I hope for God's pardon, while my chest burns,

Whenever the pangs of death seize me.

هُناكَ تَوَدُّ النَفسُ أَنَّ ذُنوبَها

قَليلٌ وَأَنَّ القِدحَ بِالخَيرِ فالِجُ

There the soul wishes its sins were few

And its measure of good great.

وَيُنسي أَخا الأَشواقِ رَملَةَ عالِجٍ

وَيَبرينَ مِن هَولِ الرَدى ما يُعالِجُ

And forgets a lover's ashes in the sand dunes,

And is saved from the horror of rejection by what it treats.

سَيَأكُلُ هَذا التُربُ أَعضاءَ بادِنٍ

وَتورَثُ أَحجالٌ لَها وَدَمالِجُ

This dust will eat the limbs of one who decays,

While generations inherit what he assembled and collected.

وَيُصمي الفَتى سَهمٌ مِنَ الدَهرِ صائِبٌ

وَإِن صُرِفَت عَنهُ السِهامُ الزَوالِجُ

And an arrow of fate, precisely striking, fells the youth,

Even if arrows of demise are deflected from him.