المَرءُ في غَفَلاتِه وَسُباتِهِ
وَالدَهرُ كَالرِئبالِ في وَثَباتِهِ
Man in his heedlessness and slumber
Man lies deep in his heedlessness and slumber,
While time races on in leaps and bounds
While Time is like a lion in its pouncing.
وَالعُمر وَالزَمانُ يَجِدُّ في
إِخفائِه وَالمَرءُ في إِثباتِهِ
Life and age conceal themselves
Life passes, and Time strives earnestly to
While man asserts himself
Conceal it, while man persists in asserting his presence.
وَالحَربُ لا تَنفَكُّ بَينَهُما وَلا
يَنفَكُّ هَذا المَرءُ في حَسَراتِهِ
The war between them is endless
The war between them never ceases, nor
And so is man's remorse
Does this man ever cease to dwell in his regrets.
لا تَعجَبوا مِن جَهلِه وَغُرورِهِ
وَتَعَجَّبوا إِن حالَ عَن حالاتِهِ
Do not wonder at his ignorance and conceit
Do not marvel at his ignorance and delusion,
But wonder if he changes his ways
But marvel indeed if he ever changes his ways.
يَسعى وَلا يَدري إِلى حَيثُ الرَدى
وَكَذا الفَراشُ يَحومُ حَولَ مَماتِهِ
He strives though he knows not his end
He rushes blindly toward the place of his ruin,
Like the moth circling the flame that kills it
Just as the moth hovers around its own demise.
وَتُحَبِّبُ الدُنيا إِلَيهِ نَفسَهُ
فَيُطيعُها وَالنَفسُ مِن آفاتِهِ
His own soul makes the world pleasing to him
The world endears his own soul to him,
So he follows it though it leads him astray
So he obeys it, though the soul is among his deadly afflictions.
وَيُضيرُها إِفلاتُهُ مِن قَيدِها
وَسَعادَةُ الإِنسانِ في إِفلاتِهِ
To be free of its chains brings him bliss
It harms the soul for him to escape its shackles,
For man's joy lies in this freedom
Yet the happiness of man lies in that very escape.
يَلقى الضَراغِمَ غَيرَ مُكتَرِثٍ بِها
فَإِذا سَطَت ضَرَبَت عَلى سَطَواتِهِ
He faces misfortunes uncaring
He meets the lions without a care for them,
Till they grow strong and assault his power
But when they strike, they crush his might.
وَما قاتَلَ البَطَلَ النَجيدَ غَضَنفَرٌ
إِنَّ الغَضَنفَرَ مَن عَصى شَهَواتِهِ
The hero fights no more fierce a foe
No lion has ever truly challenged the valiant hero;
Than his own desires that disobey him
The true lion is he who disobeys his own desires.
