لا تَأسَفَنَّ لِفائِتٍ ما واحِدٌ
يُقضى لَهُ في نَفسِهِ إيثارُ
Never grieve for anything lost: no one
is granted special favor where his own life is concerned.
وَيَوَدُّ أَن لا تَنقَضي آثارُهُ
وَلتُدرَسَنَّ كَشَخصِهِ الآثارُ
Each would surely wish that his traces never fade,
yet the traces shall surely be effaced, as his person is.
تَمشي عَلَينا الحادِثاتُ وَوَطؤُها
كَسَنا البَوارِقِ لَيسَ فيهِ عِثارُ
Calamities march over us, and their tread
is like lightning’s flash: there is no stumbling in it.
أَظَنَنتَ دَهرَكَ عَن خِطابِكَ صامِتاً
وَإِذا أَبَهتَ فَإِنَّهُ مِكثارُ
Did you think Time had fallen silent, ceasing to address you?
Try to strike it speechless, and it proves prodigiously talkative.
هَذا اِمرُؤُ القيسِ بنُ حُجرٍ في الثَرى
دَثَرَت مَعالِمُهُ فَأَينَ دِثارُ
Here lies Imruʾ al-Qays ibn Hujr in the dust;
his landmarks have vanished—where, then, is his mantle?
إِن كانَ مَن قَتَلَ المُحارِبَ مُجبَراً
يُسطى عَلَيهِ فَأَينَ يُبغى الثارُ
If the man who killed the warrior acted under compulsion,
and is then set upon—where, then, is vengeance to be sought?
تُلفي الكَبيرَ عَلى تَقادُمِ سِنِّهِ
وَالطَبعُ فيهِ طَماعَةٌ وَكِثارُ
You find the old man, though his years have long advanced,
his nature still greedy within him, eager to amass more.
وَتَخافُ مِن كَونِ الرَدى وَكَأَنَّهُ
صَيدٌ لِضارِيَةِ الخُطوبِ مُثارُ
You dread the very occurrence of death, as though it were
quarry flushed for the ravening hound of calamities.
فَاِبعِد مِنَ الثَرثارِ حَتّى الوِردَ
مِنَ نَهرٍ عَلى الظَمَإِ اِسمُهُ الثَرثارُ
So shun the Chatterer—even forgo drawing water
from a river fed by rainclouds whose name is al-Tharthār.
Sol 5.6