سَأَلَتني وَقَد رَجَعتُ إِلَيها

وَعَلى مَفرِقي غُبارُ السِنينا

She asked me, when I returned to her,

She asked me when I had returned to her,

And the dust of years was on my parting,

With the dust of the years upon my brow:

أَيُّ شَيءٍ وَجَدتَ في الأَرضِ بَعدي

قُلتُ إِنّي وَجَدتُ ماءً وَطينا

"What did you find on earth after me?"

"What have you found in the world since I was gone?"

I said, "I found only water and clay."

I said: "I found only water and clay,"

جَمَعَ الحُسنَ وَالدَمامَةَ وَالإِق

دامَ وَالخَوفَ وَالنُهى وَالجُنونا

It gathered beauty and shyness, steadfastness,

"Combining beauty, ugliness, and daring,"

Fear and prohibition and madness,

"Along with fear, wisdom, and madness;"

وَالرَجاءَ الَّذي يَصيرُ بِهِ لفُد

فُدُ رَوضاً وَشَوكُهُ نِسرينا

And hope that makes thorns into meadows,

"And hope, which transforms the barren waste"

And despair that strips the branches of spring of leaves.

"Into a garden, and turns thorns to wild roses;"

وَالقُنوطَ الَّذي يُعَرّي مِنَ الأَو

راقِ في نَشوَةِ الرَبيعِ الغُصونا

And I found love as it was before,

"And despair, which strips the leaves"

Trusting at times, at times suspecting,

"From the boughs in the very ecstasy of spring;"

وَوَجَدتُ الهَوى كَما كانَ قِدماً

ثِقَةً تارَةً وَطَوراً ظُنونا

And youth drunk from the wine of illusion,

"And I found passion just as it was of old,"

Deeming the impossible a certainty.

"Certainty at times, and at others, mere suspicion;"

وَشَباباً سَكرانَ مِن خَمرَةِ الوَهمِ

يَخالُ المُحالَ أَمراً يَقينا

So when views mature and diminish,

"And youth, drunk on the wine of illusion,"

And sober they become guesses,

"Mistaking the impossible for a distinct truth;"

فَإِذا شاخَتِ الرُأى وَتَلاشَت

وَصَحا باتَ جَزمُهُ تَخمينا

Faith remains a kind of

"But when visions grow old and fade away,"

Apprehension, and beauty the cheek of deceit.

"And he sobers, his conviction turns to conjecture;"

لا يَزالُ الإيمانُ نَوعاً مِنَ

الرَهبَةِ وَالحُسنُ لِلغُرورِ خَدينا

The rich still strut on earth,

"Faith continues to be a form of"

Even if they are ignorant fools.

"Dread, and beauty a companion to vanity;"

لا يَزالُ الغَنِيُّ يَختالُ في الأَر

ضِ وَإِن كانَ جاهِلاً مَأفونا

All whom I met, my soul, whether you reveal or hide,

"The rich man still struts upon the earth"

Are like you in what you show or conceal.

"Even if he be ignorant and foolish;"

كُلُّ مَن قَد لَقيتُ مِثلُكِ يا نَف

سي في ما تُبدينَ أَو تُخفينا

Look once at yourself steadily,

"All whom I met are like you, O my soul,"

You see the first and the last.

"In what you reveal or what you conceal;"

فَاِنظُري مَرَّةً إِلَيكِ مَلِيّاً

تُبصِري الأَوَّلينَ وَالآخَرينا

"So look closely at yourself but once,"

"And you shall see the ancients and the generations to come."