أَقاتِلِيَ الزَمانُ قِصاصَ عَمدٍ

لِأَنّي قَد قَتَلتُ بَنيهِ خُبرا

Time takes revenge on me for a deliberate crime,

For I have killed its children in full knowledge.

وَلَم أَسفِك دِماءَهُمُ وَلَكِن

عَرَفتُ شُؤونَهُم كَشفاً وَسَبرا

And though I did not shed their blood,

I came to know their affairs completely and probed them.

غَدَوتُ وَرَيبَهُ فَرَسَي رِهانٍ

يُجيدُ نَوائِباً وَأُجيدُ صَبرا

I went out early while my steed Rihān was a pledge,

Skillful in difficulties, and I am patient.

كَأَنَّ نُفوسَنا إِبلٌ صِعابٌ

بُراها عَقلُها وَالعيسُ تُبرى

It is as though our souls are unruly camels

Whose intellect controls them while the verse is elucidated.

وَكَم ساعٍ لِيُحبَرَ في بِناءٍ

فَلَم يُرزَق بِما يَبنيهِ حَبرا

How many hours one longs to build in construction

Yet is not granted what he would build in verse!

كَأُمِّ القَزِّ يَخرُجُ مِن حَشاها

ذُرى بَيتٍ لَها فَيَعودُ قَبرا

Like the mother ostrich who comes out of her nest

With chicks of a house that will return to being a grave.

لَعَلَّكَ مُنجِزي أَغبارَ ديني

إِذا قُمنا مِنَ الأَجداثِ غُبرا

Perhaps you will fulfill the dust of my religion

When we rise from the graves covered in dust.

وَحافِرِ مَعدِنٍ لاقى تَباراً

وَكانَ عَناؤُهُ لِيُصيبَ تِبرا

And the digger of a mine met with ruin

Though his toil was to obtain sulfur.

تَوافَقنا عَلى شِيَمٍ خِساسٍ

فَما بالُ الجَهولِ يُسِرُّ كِبرا

We agreed upon a despicable disposition.

So why does the ignorant take pride in greatness?

فَهَذا يَسأَلُ البُخَلاءَ نَيلاً

وَهَذا يَضرِبُ الكُرَماءَ هَبرا

For this one asks the misers for attainment

While that one beats the generous out of insolence.

جُلوسُ المَرءِ في وَبَرٍ مَليكاً

نَظيرُ طُلوعِهِ في الهَضبِ وَبرا

A man sitting proudly in a wasteland

Is like his rising in the plateau in the early dawn.

وَدَعواكَ الطَبيبَ لِجَبرِ عُضوٍ

أَخَفُّ عَلَيكَ مِن دَعواكَ جَبرا

And calling you a doctor to mend a limb

Is lighter for you than calling you an undertaker.

وَما يَحمي الفَتى كِبَراً وَزَرداً

بِمَوتٍ لِبسُهُ زَرداً وَكِبرا

Neither advanced age nor youth protects the young man

With a death wrapping him in advanced age and youth.

نُقَضّي وَقتَنا بِغِنىً وَعُدمٍ

وَنُنفِقُ لَفظَنا هَمساً وَنَبرا

We spend our time in wealth and poverty

And expend our words whispering and yelling.

إِلى الخَلّاقِ أَبرَأُ مِن لِسانٍ

تَعَوَّدَ أَن يَروعَ الناسَ أَبرا

I disavow, before the Creator, a tongue

That grew accustomed to frightening people, by God!

وَمَن يُبدِع طَوِيّاً في سُهولٍ

فَلا يَترُك مَعَ الطارينَ زُبرا

And he who innovates lengthy poetical pieces in plains

Should not leave the birds behind with the ants.

كَأَنّا في بِحارٍ مِن خُطوبٍ

وَلَيسَ يَرى لَها الراؤونَ عِبرا

It is as though we are in seas of calamities

And the seers do not perceive a moral for them.