مَرَّت لَيالٍ وَقَلبِيَ حائِرٌ قَلِقٌ

كَالفُلكِ في النَهرِ هاجَ النَوءُ مَجراهُ

Nights have passed while my heart bewildered, anxious

Nights have passed while my heart is bewildered and anxious,

Like a boat in the river, the stars trouble its course

Like a ship in the river whose course is churned by the storm,

أَو كَالمُسافِرِ في قَفرٍ عَلى ظَمَإٍ

أَضنى المَسيرُ مَطاياهُ وَأَضناهُ

Or a traveler in a desert, thirsty

Or like a traveler in a barren wasteland, parched with thirst,

The journey made the camels tired and made him tired

Whose journey has exhausted his mounts and worn him down.

لا أُدرِكُ الأَمرَ أَهواهُ وَأَطلُبُهُ

وَأَبلُغُ الأَمرَ نَفسي لَيسَ تَهواهُ

I cannot attain what I love and seek

I cannot attain the thing I desire and seek,

And I attain what my soul does not desire

While I reach the very fate my soul does not desire.

عَجِبتُ مِن قائِلٍ إِنّني نَسَيتُكُمُ

مَن كانَ في القَلبِ كَيفَ القَلبُ يَنساهُ

I am surprised by one who said I forgot you

I marvel at the one who claims that I have forgotten you;

Who was in the heart, how could the heart forget them

How can the heart forget the one who dwells within it?

إِن كُنتُ بَِلأَمسِ لَم أَهبِط مَربَعَكُم

فَالطَيرُ يَقعُدُ مَوثوقاً جَناحاهُ

If yesterday I did not descend to your dwellings

If yesterday I did not descend upon your dwelling place,

Then a bird perches with its wings folded

It is because a bird sits still when its wings are bound.

فَل يُقَرِّبُهُ شَوقٌ إِلى نَهرٍ

وَلَيسَ تنقُلُهُ في الرَوضِ عَيناهُ

So no yearning brings it near to a river

No longing can bring it any closer to the river,

Nor do its eyes roam in the meadow

Nor can its gaze transport it through the gardens.

وَلَيسَ يَشكو وَلا يَبكي مَخافَةَ أَن

تُؤذي مَسامِعَ مَن يَهوى شَكاواهُ

It does not complain or cry fearing that

He does not complain, nor does he weep, for fear that

Its lamentations would hurt the one it loves

His lamentations might hurt the ears of the one he loves.

إِنّي لَأَعجَبُ مِنّا كَيفَ تَخدَعُنا

عَنِ الحَقائِقِ أَمثالٌ وَأَشباهُ

I wonder how we are deceived

I am truly amazed at us, how we are deceived

By parables and metaphors from the truth

From the truth by mere semblances and illusions.

وَإِذا بَنى رَجُلٌ قَصراً وَزَخرَفَهُ

سُقنا إِلَيهِ التَهاني وَاِمتَدَحناهُ

And if a man builds a palace and decorates it

If a man builds a palace and adorns it with ornament,

We congratulate him and praise him

We rush to offer him congratulations and sing his praises;

وَما بَنى قَصرَهُ إِلّا لِيُحجَبَ عَن

أَبصارُنا في زَواياهُ خَطاياهُ

Yet he only built his palace to veil from

Yet he built his palace only so that his sins

Our sights within its corners his sins

Might be veiled from our eyes within its corners.

وَنَمدَحُ المَرءَ مِن خَزِّ مَلابِسِهِ

وَذَلِكَ الخَزُّ لَم تَنسُجُهُ كَفّاهُ

We praise a man for the quality of his clothes

We praise a man for the silk of his garments,

Yet those clothes his hands did not weave

Though his own hands did not weave that silk.

وَإِن أَتانا أَخو مالٍ يُكاثِرُنا

بَِلتِبرِ تيهاً رَجَوناهُ وَخِفناهُ

And if a brother of wealth rivals us

And if a man of wealth comes to us, boasting against us

With scraps we hope for him and fear him

With gold in his arrogance, we court his favor and fear him.

وَقَد يَكونُ نُضارٌ في خَزائِنِهِ

دَماً سَفَكناهُ أَو جَهداً بَذَلناهُ

Yet gore may be fresh within his treasures

Yet the pure gold stored within his vaults may be

Blood we spilled or effort we spent

The very blood we have shed or the labor we have spent.

لا تَحسَبِ المَجدَ ما عَيناكَ أَبصَرَتا

أَو ما مَلَكتَ هُوَ السُلطانُ وَالجاهُ

Think not glory what your eyes have seen

Do not deem glory to be what your eyes behold,

Or what you possessed, it is not might and fame

Nor think that possession is true authority and status.

المالُ مَولكَ ما أَمسَكتُهُ طَمَعاً

فَأَنفِقهُ في الخَيرِ تُصبِح أَنتَ مَولاهُ

Wealth makes you owner of what you grasped in greed

Wealth is your master so long as you hoard it in greed,

So spend it in good and you will be its master

But spend it for good, and you become its master.

ما دامَ قَلبُكَ فيهِ رَحمَةٌ لِأَخٍ

عانٍ فَأَنتَ اِمرُؤٌ في قَلبِكَ اللَهُ

As long as your heart holds mercy for a brother

As long as your heart holds mercy for a brother in distress,

In need, then you are a man, in your heart is God

Then you are a man who carries God within his heart.