يَمشي الزَمانُ بِمَن تَرقَّبَ حاجَةً

مُتَثاقِلاً كَالخائِفِ المُتَرَدِّدِ

Time walks slowly for one who awaits a need

Time walks slowly for the one who awaits a need,

Moving heavily like a hesitant, frightened man

Moving heavily, like the fearful and hesitant.

حَتّى لِيَحسَبَهُ أَسيراً موثَقاً

وَيَراهُ أَبطَأَ مِن كَسيحٍ مُقعَدِ

Until one would think it shackled and chained

Until he deems it a prisoner bound fast,

And see it slower than a crippled lizard

And sees it slower than a cripple fixed in place.

وَيَخالُ حاجَتَهُ الَّتي يَصبو لَها

في دارَةِ الجَوزاءِ أَو في الفَرقَدِ

And imagines that his awaited desire

He imagines the desire he yearns for

Is in the constellation Lyra or Cygnus

To be as distant as the halo of Gemini or the star Pherkad.

وَيَكونُ ما يَرجوهُ زَورَةَ صاحِبٍ

وَيَكونُ أَبعَدَ ما يُرَجّي في غَدِ

And that what he hopes for is a mirage

Though what he hopes for may be but a friend's visit,

And is farther than what he wishes tomorrow

It becomes the furthest thing to hope for tomorrow.

فَإِذا تَوَلّى النَفسَ خَوفٌ في الضُحى

مِن واقِبٍ تَحتَ الدُجى أَو مُعتَدِ

So when the soul turns fearful in the morning

But when fear seizes the soul in the morning light,

Of an outcome in the gloom or an assailant

Of a calamity approaching in the dark or an aggressor,

طارَت بِها خَيلُ الزَمان وَنوقُهُ

نَحوَ الزَمانِ المُدلَهِمِّ الأَسوَدِ

The steeds of time and its camels bolt

Then the horses and camels of Time fly with the soul,

Toward the violent, pitch-black time

Rushing toward the gloomy, blackened future.

فَكَأَنَّها مَحمولَةٌ في بارِقٍ

أَو عارِضٍ أَو عاصِفٍ في فَدفَدِ

As if it is carried on a lightning bolt

As if it is borne upon a bolt of lightning,

Or a storm or gale in tumult

Or on a rain-cloud, or a gale in a barren waste.

وَيَكونُ أَقصَرَ ما يَكونُ إِذا الفَتى

مَدَّت لَهُ الدُنيا يَدَ المُتَوَدِّدِ

And it becomes as short as can be when the youth

And Time is at its shortest when a youth

Is indulged by the world with friendliness

Finds the world extending the hand of friendship,

فَتَوَسَّطَ اللَذاتِ غَيرَ مُنَفِّرٍ

وَتَوَسَّدَ الأَحلامَ غَيرَ مُنَكَّدِ

So he enjoys pleasures without disdain

When he sits amidst pleasures, repelling none,

And dreams without distress

And pillows his head on dreams, untroubled.

فَإِذا لَذيذُ العَيشِ نَغبَةَ طائِرٍ

وَإِذا طَويلُ الدَهرِ خَطرَةَ مَرودِ

Then the sweet life is the whim of a bird

Then the sweetness of life becomes brief as a bird's sip,

And the long epoch but the bound of a lion

And the long age passes like the swipe of a kohl-stick.

وَإِذا الفَتى لَبِسَ الأَسى وَمَشى بِهِ

فَكَأَنَّما قَد قالَ لِلزَمَنِ اِقعُدِ

And when the youth wears sorrow and walks with it

But if the youth wears sorrow as a garment and walks in it,

It is as if he told time itself: “Sit still!”

It is as though he has commanded Time: "Sit down."

فَإِذا الثَواني أَشهُر وَإِذا الدَقا

إِقُ أَعصُر وَالحُزنُ شَيءٌ سَرمَدي

So hours become months and moments

Then seconds turn into months, and minutes

Centuries, and grief everlasting

Become eras, and grief is an eternal thing.

وَإِذا صَباحُ أَخي الأَسى أَو لَيلُهُ

مُتَجَدِّدٌ مَعَ هَمِّهِ المُتَجَدِّدِ

And the morn or night of my brother sorrow

And the morning of the sorrowful brother, or his night,

Renew themselves with unceasing worry

Is ever-renewed alongside his renewing worry.

قَهَرَ الوَرى وَأَذَلَّهُم أَنَّ الوَرى

مُتَعَلِّلٌ أَو طامِعٌ أَو مُجتَدِ

It has conquered people and humiliated them that people

What conquers mankind and humbles them is that they

Are ailing, ambitious, or avaricious

Are always making excuses, or greedy, or begging.

جَعَلوا رَغائِبَهُم قِياسَ زَمانِهِم

وَالدَهرُ أَكبَرُ أَن يُقاسَ بِمَقصَدِ

They made their wishes the measure of their time

They made their desires the measure of their time,

Yet time is too great to be measured against a purpose

Yet Time is too vast to be measured by human intent.

وَقَتَلتُ في نَفسي الرَغائِب وَالمُنى

فَقَهَرتُهُ بِتَجَرُّدي وَتَزَهُدي

And I have killed in myself wishes and desires

But I have killed desires and wishes within my soul,

So I overpowered it with my detachment and asceticism

And conquered Time through my detachment and asceticism.

يَشكو الَّذي يَشكو السُهادَ جُفونَهُ

لَو لَم يَكُن ذا ناظِرٍ لَم يَسهَدِ

He who complains of his heavy eyelids would not

He who complains of sleeplessness is complaining of his eyelids;

If he had no eyes to begin with

Were he not possessed of sight, he would not lie awake.

إِن كانَ شَيءٌ لِلنَفادِ أُعِدُّهُ

فيما اِنقَضى وَمَضى وَإِن لَم يَنفَدِ

If I expect anything to run out

If a thing is destined for extinction, I count it

I count it in what has passed and gone, even if it hasn’t

Among what has passed and gone, even if it has not yet run out.

ما أَن رَأَيتُ الكُحلَ في حَدَقِ المَهى

إِلّا لَمَحتُ الدودَ خَلفَ الأَثمَدِ

Whenever I saw kohl in the eyes of delight

I have never seen kohl in the eyes of beautiful gazelles,

I glimpsed worms behind the lovely orbs

Without glimpsing the worms behind the antimony.

مَن لَيسَ يَضحَك وَالصَباحُ مُوَرِّدٌ

لِم يَكتَإِب وَالصُبحُ غَيرَ مُوَرِّدِ

Why should one who does not laugh when dawn is joking

He who does not laugh when the morning is rosy,

Become gloomy when dawn is not joking?

Why should he mourn when the dawn loses its color?

سِيّانِ أَحلامٌ أَراها في الكَرى

عِندي وَأَشياءٌ بِها اِشتَمَلَت يَدي

Two things are equal to me: dreams I see

They are equal to me: the dreams I see in slumber,

And things my hands have grasped

And the material things my hand actually grasps.

أَنا في الزَمانِ كَمَوجَةٍ في زاخِرٍ

أَنا فيهِ إِن يُزيد وَإِن لَم يُزيدِ

I am in time like a wave in the roaring sea

I am in Time like a wave in a swelling ocean;

In it, whether it increases or not

I am within it, whether it rises or subsides.

مَهما تَلاطَمَ فَهوَ لَيسَ بِمَغرَقي

أَو مَخرَجي مِنه وَلا بِمُبَدِّدي

However tumultuous, it will not drown me

However much it clashes, it cannot drown me,

Or take me out of it or dissipate me

Nor cast me out from it, nor scatter my essence.

هَيهاتِ ما أَرجو وَلا أَخشى غَداً

هَل أَرتَجي وَأَخافُ ما لَم يوجَدِ

Alas! I neither hope for nor fear tomorrow

Far from it! I neither hope for nor fear tomorrow;

Shall I wish and fear what does not exist?

Do I hope for and fear what does not exist?

وَالأَمسُ فِيَّ فَكَيفَ أَحسَبُهُ اِنتَهى

أَفَما رَأَيتُ الأَصلَ في الفَرعِ النَدي

And yesterday - how could I think it ended

And yesterday is within me, so how can I deem it ended?

When I saw the origin in the fresh branch?

Have I not seen the root existing in the dewy branch?

قَبلٌ كَبَعدٍ حالَةٌ وَهمِيَّةٌ

أُمسي أَنا يَومي أَنا وَأَنا غَدي

Past is like future, an imaginary state

"Before" is like "After"—an illusory state;

Yesterday I was my day, today I am my tomorrow

My yesterday is I, my today is I, and I am my tomorrow.