أَخوكِ مُعَذَّبٌ يا أُمَّ دَفرٍ
أَظَلَّتهُ الخُطوبُ وَأَرهَقَتهُ
Your brother is tormented, O Mother of Stench,
calamities have overshadowed and overburdened him.
وَما زالَت مُعاناةُ الرَزايا
عَلى الإِنسانِ حَتّى أَزهَقَتهُ
The endurance of disasters has never ceased
to press upon a human being until it destroys him.
كَأَنَّ حَوادِثَ الأَيّامِ آمٌ
تُريقُ بِجَهلِها ما أَدهَقَتهُ
It is as though the vicissitudes of the days were brimful vessels,
spilling in ignorance what they had filled to overflowing.
تَروقُكَ مِن مَشارِبِها بِمُرٍّ
وَكُلُّ شَرابِها ما رَوَّقَتهُ
She pleases you with a bitter draught from her springs,
and every drink of hers is one she has made seem clear.
وَنَفسي وَالحَمامَةُ لَم تُطَوَّق
مُيَسَّرَةٌ لِأَمرٍ طَوَّقَتهُ
My soul, like the dove, though never ringed,
stands ready for a matter that has ringed it round.
أَرى الدُنيا وَما وُصِفَت بِبِرٍّ
مَتى أَغنَت فَقيراً أَوهَقَتهُ
I see the world—though never described as kind—
whenever she enriches a poor man, she ensnares him.
إِذا خُشِيَت لِشَرٍّ عَجَّلَتهُ
وَإِن رُجِيَت لِخَيرٍ عَوَّقَتهُ
If evil is feared from her, she hastens it;
if good is hoped from her, she delays it.
حَياةٌ كَالحِبالَةِ ذاتُ مَكرٍ
وَنَفسُ المَرءِ صَيدٌ أَعلَقَتهُ
Life is a cunning snare,
and the human soul the prey it catches.
وَأَنظُرُ سَهمَها قَد أَرسَلَتهُ
إِلَيَّ بِنَكبَةٍ أَو فَوَّقَتهُ
I see that she has loosed her arrow
at me with disaster—or has set it to the bow.
فَلا يُخدَعُ بِحيلَتِها أَريبٌ
وَإِن هِيَ سَوَّرَتهُ وَنَطَّقَتهُ
No wise man should be duped by her trickery,
even if she decks him with bracelets and a girdle.
تَعَلَّقَها اِبنُ أُمِّكَ في صِباهُ
فَهامَ بِفارِكٍ ما عُلَّقَتهُ
Your mother’s son became attached to her in youth,
and raved for a faithless woman who bound him.
أَجَدَّت في مُناهُ وُعودَ مَينٍ
إِلى أَن أَخلَفَتهُ وَأَخلَقَتهُ
She renewed in his hopes her lying promises
until she broke faith and wore him threadbare.
يُطَلِّقُ عِرسَهُ إِن مَلَّ مِنها
وَيَأسَفُ إِثرَ عِرسٍ طَلَّقَتهُ
He divorces his bride when he tires of her,
then grieves in the wake of a bride he divorced.
أَكَلَّتهُ النَهارَ وَأَنصَبَتهُ
وَأَشكَتهُ الظَلامَ وَأَرَّقَتهُ
She wearied him by day and exhausted him,
made him complain of darkness, and kept him awake.
سَقَتهُ زَمانَهُ مِقراً وَصاباً
وَكَأسُ المَوتِ آخِرُ ما سَقَتهُ
All his years she gave him colocynth and bitter poison;
the cup of death is the last she gives him.
وَما عافَتهُ لَكِن عَيَّفَتهُ
وَماِنتَقَت عُلاهُ بَلِ اِنتَقَتهُ
She did not leave him be, but made him loathe her;
she did not choose his heights—she chose him.
نُبَكّي لِلمُغَيَّبِ في ثَراهُ
وَذَلِكَ مُستَرَقٌّ أَعتَقَتهُ
We weep for the one hidden in his earth,
yet he was an enslaved captive whom she freed.
عَجوزُ خِيانَةٍ حَضَنَت وَليداً
فَلَدَّتهُ الكَريهَ وَشَرَّقَتهُ
A treacherous old woman nursed a newborn,
fed him what was hateful, and made him choke.
أَذاقَتهُ شَهِيّاً مِن جَناها
وَصَدَّت فاهُ عَمّا ذَوَّقَتهُ
She let him taste sweetness from her fruit,
then turned his mouth from what she let him taste.
تُشَوِّقُهُ إِلَيهِ بِسوءِ طَبعٍ
لِيُشفيهِ عَذابٌ شَوَّقَتهُ
Out of viciousness she makes him yearn for it,
so that a torment she taught him to desire might cure him.
أَضَرَّت بِالصَفا وَتَخَوَّنَتهُ
وَمَرَّت بِالصَفاءِ فَرَنَّقَتهُ
She harmed the solid rock and betrayed its soundness;
she passed over purity itself and clouded it.
عَدَدنا مِن كَتائِبِها المَنايا
وَكَم فَتَكَت بِجَمعٍ فَرَّقَتهُ
We counted deaths among her battalions—
how often she has struck down a host and scattered it.
قَضَت دَينَ اِبنِ آمِنَةٍ وَجازَت
بِإيوانِ اِبنِ هُرمُزَ فَاِرتَقَتهُ
She exacted the debt of the son of Āmina, then passed on,
and mounted the palace of the son of Hormuz.
طَوَت عَنهُ النَسيمَ وَقَد حَبَتهُ
وَحَيَّتهُ بِنورٍ فَتَقَتهُ
She folded the breeze away from him after bestowing it,
and greeted him with a light that she split open.
كَسَتهُ شَبابَهُ وَنَضَتهُ عَنهُ
وَكَرَّت لِلمَشيبِ فَمَزَّقَتهُ
She clothed him in youth, then stripped it from him,
returned with gray age, and tore him apart.
وَعاثَت في قُواهُ فَحَمَّلَتهُ
وَقِدماً أَيَّدَتهُ فَنَزَّقَتهُ
She ravaged his powers and burdened him,
though once she strengthened him—then ripped him through.
تُميتُ مُسافِراً ظُلماً بِهَجلٍ
وَفي بَحرِ المَهالِكِ غَرَّقَتهُ
She kills a traveler unjustly in a wasteland,
and drowns him in the sea of perils.
فَإِمّا في أَريزٍ أَخصَرَتهُ
وَإِمّا في هَجيرٍ حَرَّقَتهُ
In bitter cold she cuts his life short,
and in scorching heat she burns him.
وَما حَقَنَت دَمَ الإِنسانِ فيها
رُموسٌ في الرَغامِ تَفَوَّقَتهُ
Within her, nothing has spared human blood;
not even graves that rise above it in the dust.
وَقَد رَفَعَت غَمائِمَ لِلرَزايا
عَلى وَجهِ التُرابِ فَطَبَّقَتهُ
She has raised clouds of calamity
and spread them across the face of earth.
تُؤَمِّلُ مَخلَصاً مِن ضيقِ أَمرٍ
وَلَيسَ يُفَكُّ عانٍ أَوثَقَتهُ
You hope for escape from a straitened plight,
but no captive she has bound is set free.
هِيَ اِفتَتَحَت لَهُ في الأَرضِ بَيتاً
فَبَوَّتهُ النَزيلَ وَأَطبَقَتهُ
She opened for him a house in the earth,
lodged the guest there, and shut it tight.
وَنَحنُ المُزمِعونَ وَشيكَ سَيرٍ
لِنَسلُكَ في طَريقٍ طَرَّقَتهُ
We are resolved upon a journey soon,
to travel a road she has beaten out.
هَوَت أُمٌّ لَنا غَدَرَت وَخانَت
وَلَم تَشفِ السَليلَ وَلا رَقَتهُ
A mother of ours fell upon us—she betrayed and deceived,
and neither healed her offspring nor showed him tenderness.
إِذا اِلتَفَتَ اِبنُها عَنها بِزُهدٍ
ثَنَتهُ بِزُخرُفِيٍّ نَمَّقَتهُ
If her son turns from her in renunciation,
she bends him back with finery she has adorned.
وَلَو قَدِرَ العَبيدُ عَلى إِباقٍ
لَبادَرَ عَبدُ سوءٍ أَوبَقَتهُ
If slaves possessed the power to flee,
a wretched slave whom she ruined would hasten away.
أُقاتُ الشَيءَ بَعدَ الشَيءِ فيها
لِيُمسِكُني فَليَتي لَم أُقَتهُ
In her I sustain one thing after another
so that she may keep me—would that I had not sustained it.
عَذَلَت حُشاشَةً حَرَصَت عَلَيها
فَجاءَتني بِعُذرٍ لَفَّقَتهُ
She reproached a remnant of life I was anxious to preserve,
then came to me with an excuse she had fabricated.
وَتُسأَلُ عَن بَقاءٍ أُعطيتَهُ
غَداً في أَيِّ شَيءٍ أَنفَقتَهُ
You will be questioned about the span you were given:
tomorrow, on what did you spend it?
وَلَستُ بِفاتِحٍ لِلرِزقِ باباً
إِذا أَيدي الحَوادِثِ أَغلَقَتهُ
I cannot open a door to sustenance
when the hands of circumstance have closed it.
تَمَنّى دَولَةً رَجُلٌ غَبِيٌّ
وَلَو حازَ المَمالِكَ ما وَقَتهُ
A foolish man wished for dominion,
yet even if he owned kingdoms, they would not protect him.
وَإِنَّ المُلكَ طَودٌ أَثبَتَتهُ
صُروفُ الدَهرِ ثُمَّتَ أَقلَقَتهُ
Kingship is a mountain the turns of time made firm,
then made it tremble.
وَمَن يَظفَر بِأَمرٍ يَبتَغيهِ
فَأَقضِيَةُ المُهَيمِنِ وَفَّقَتهُ
Whoever gains a thing he seeks,
the decrees of the All-Governing have granted it.
لَنا مُهَجٌ يُمازِجُها خِداعٌ
تَوَدُّ قَسِيَّها لَو نَفَّقَتهُ
We have souls in which deception is mingled,
longing to make even their hardness pass for fair.
وَوالِدَةٌ بَنَت جَسَداً بِنَحضٍ
وَفاءَت فَيئَةً فَتَعَرَّقَتهُ
A mother built a body of flesh,
then returned, stripped its flesh, and gnawed it bare.
تَوَطَّأَتِ الفَطيمَ عَلى اِعتِمادٍ
فَما أَبقَت عَلَيهِ وَلا اِتَّقَتهُ
She trampled the weaned child as he leaned for support,
sparing nothing of him and showing no fear.
وَلَم تَكُ رائِماً ساءَت رَضيعاً
وَحَنَّت بَعدَها فَتَمَلَّقَتهُ
She was no tender mother; she mistreated a suckling,
then afterward yearned for him and coaxed him.
حَياتُكَ هَجعَةٌ سُهدٌ وَنَومٌ
وَرُؤيا هاجِعٍ ما أَنَّقَتهُ
Your life is a doze—sleeplessness and sleep—
and a sleeper’s dream that leaves him wakeful.
فَمِن حُلمٍ يَسُرُّكَ أَبطَلَتهُ
وَمِن حُلمٍ يَضُرُّكَ حَقَّقَتهُ
A pleasant dream she brings to nothing,
and a harmful dream she makes come true.
وَكَم أَدّى أَمانَتُهُ إِلَيها
أَمينٌ خَوَّنَتهُ وَسَرَّقَتهُ
How many have delivered their trust to her—
a trustworthy man whom she branded traitor and thief.
وَقائِمُ أُمَّةٍ زَكَّتهُ عَصراً
فَلَمّا أَن تَمَكَّنَ فَسَقَتهُ
A leader of a nation she praised for an age;
once he was established, she made him corrupt.
وَإِن أَدنَت لَنا أَمَلاً فَقُلنا
أَتانا أَبعَدَتهُ وَأَسحَقَتهُ
If she draws a hope near, we say,
“It has come!”—then she drives it far and farther still.
وَوَقتِيَ كَالسَفينَةِ سَيَّرَتهُ
وَمِن سوءِ الجَرائِمِ أَوسَقَتهُ
My time is like a ship she has set sailing,
and laden with the worst of crimes.
حَثَت يَبسَ الرَغامِ عَلى رَضيعٍ
يَدٌ بِأَبيهِ آدَمَ أَلحَقَتهُ
A hand cast the dry dust
upon a suckling, joining him to Adam his father.
وَكَم صالَت عَلى بَرٍّ تَقِيٍّ
أَكُفٌّ بِالمَواهِبِ أَرفَقَتهُ
How often they have assailed a righteous, God-fearing man—
hands that had treated him gently with gifts.
وَأَنفاسي مُوَكَّلَةٌ بِروحٍ
أَراحَتها وَعُمرٍ أَمحَقَتهُ
My breaths are entrusted with a spirit:
they give it rest, and efface a lifetime.
