ما لي غَدَوتُ كَقافِ رُؤبَةٍ قُيِّدَت
في الدَهرِ لَم يُقدَر لَها إِجراؤُها
Why have I become like Ruʾba’s qāf, shackled—
Through all time, no one has been able to set it running?
أُعلِلتُ عِلَّةَ قالَ وَهيَ قَديمَةٌ
أَعيا الأَطِبَّةَ كُلَّهُم إِبراؤُها
I suffer the infirmity of qāla—an ancient defect;
Every physician has been powerless to cure it.
طالَ الثَواءُ وَقَد أَنى لِمَفاصِلي
أَن تَستَبِدَّ بِضَمِّها صَحراؤُها
Long has my sojourn lasted; the time has come for my joints
To be claimed wholly in the desert’s embrace.
فَتَرَت وَلَم تَفتُر لِشُربِ مَدامَةٍ
بَل لِلخُطوبِ يَغولُها إِسراؤُها
My strength has slackened—not from drinking wine,
But from calamities, whose night journey drains it away.
مَلَّ المُقامُ فَكَم أُعاشِرُ أُمَّةً
أَمَرَت بِغَيرِ صَلاحِها أُمَراؤُها
I am weary of remaining—how long must I live among a nation
Whose rulers command what does not serve its good?
ظَلَموا الرَعيَّةَ وَاِستَجازوا كَيدَها
فَعَدَوا مَصالِحَها وَهُم أُجَراؤُها
They wronged the subjects and deemed it lawful to scheme against them;
They assailed the nation’s interests, though they are its hirelings.
فِرَقاً شَعَرتُ بِأَنَّها لا تَقتَني
خَيراً وَأَنَّ شِرارَها شُعَراؤُها
As for the factions, I perceived that they acquire
No good—and that their worst are their poets.
أَثَرَت أَحاديثَ الكِرامِ بِزَعمِها
وَأَجادَ حَبسَ أَكُفِّها إِثراؤُها
They have handed down tales of noble men, so they claim,
Yet wealth has taught them perfectly to close their hands.
وَإِذا النُفوسُ تَجاوَزَت أَقدارَها
حَذوَ البَعوضِ تَغَيَّرَت سَجَراؤُها
When souls exceed the bounds of their true worth,
Following the gnats’ example, their intimates are changed—
كَصَحيحَةِ الأَوزانِ زادَتها القُوى
حَرفاً فَبانَ لِسامِعٍ نَكراؤُها
Like a poem sound in meter, to which force has added
A letter, making its deformity plain to every listener.
كَرِيَت فَسُرَّت بِالكَرى وَحَياتُها
أَكرَت فَجَرَّ نَوائِباً إِكراؤُها
It grew drowsy and rejoiced in slumber, while its life
Kept it wakeful—and that wakefulness drew calamities.
سُبحانَ خالِقِكَ الَّذي قَرَّت بِهِ
غَبراءُ توقَدُ فَوقَها خَضراؤُها
Glory to your Creator, through whom the dusty earth rests secure
While the green heaven burns above it.
هَل تَعرِفُ الحَسَدَ الجِيادُ كَغَيرِها
فَالبُهمُ تُحسَدُ بَينَها غَرّاؤُها
Do thoroughbred steeds know envy, as others do?
Among the dark beasts, their blaze-faced one is envied.
وَوَجَدتُ دُنيانا تُشابِهُ طامِثاً
لا تَستَقيمُ لِناكِحٍ أَقراؤُها
I have found our world to resemble a menstruating woman
Whose periods never run regularly for one who weds her.
هُوِيَت وَلَم تُسعِف وَراحَ غَنِيُّها
تَعِباً وَفازَ بِراحَةٍ فُقَراؤُها
She is desired but grants no aid; her rich man departs
Weary, while her poor attain repose.
وَتَجادَلَت فُقَهاؤُها مِن حُبِّها
وَتَقَرَّأَت لِتَنالَها قُرّاؤُها
Her jurists argued with one another out of love for her,
And her reciters took up their readings so as to attain her.
وَإِذا زَجَرتُ النَفسَ عَن شَغَفٍ بِها
فَكَأَنَّ زَجرَ غَويِّها إِغراؤُها
Whenever I chide the soul away from passion for her,
It is as though chiding the errant soul only entices it.
