تَأَمَّلَ في أَمسِهِ الدابِرِ

فَكادَ يُجَنُّ مِنَ الحاضِرِ

He contemplated his departed past,

And nearly went mad from the present.

أَهاجَ التَذَكُّرُ أَشجانَهُ

وَكَم لِلسَعادَةِ مِن ذاكِرِ

Memory stirred up his sorrows,

For how often is happiness remembered.

فَتىً كانَ أَنعَمَ مِن جاهِلٍ

فَأَصبَحَ أَتعَسَ مِن شاعِرِ

A youth who once lived softer than the blissfully ignorant,

Then became more wretched than a poet.

أَضاعَ الغِنى وَأَضاعَ الصِحابَ

وَرُبَّ مَريضٍ بِلا زائِرِ

He lost his wealth and lost his companions,

And oh, how many a sick man lies without a visitor.

وَيا طالَما أَحدَقوهُ بِالفَتى

كَما تُحدِقُ الجُندُ بِالظافِرِ

For so long they thronged around the lad,

As soldiers surround a victorious conqueror.

فَلَمّا اِنقَضى مَجدُهُ أَعرَدوا

وَما الناسُ إِلّا مَعَ القادِرِ

But when his glory faded, they turned away,

For people stand only with the powerful.

وَما الناسُ إِلّا عَبيدُ القَوي

فَكُن ذاكَ أَو كُن بِلا شاكِرِ

And people are but slaves to the strong,

So be that strong one, or go unthanked.

أَشَدُّ مِنَ الدَهرِ مكراً بَنوهُ

فَوَيلٌ لِمَن لَيسَ بِالماكِرِ

More cunning than Fate itself are Fate's children,

So woe to him who possesses no guile.

فَكُن بَينَهُم خاتِلاً غادِراً

وَلا تَشتَكِ الغَدرَ مِن غادِرِ

Be a deceiver and a traitor among them,

And never complain of treachery from the treacherous.

تَعيسٌ تُعانِقُهُ النائِباتُ

عِناقَ الحَبائِلِ لِلطائِرِ

A wretched soul, embraced by calamities,

As the snare embraces the bird.

كَثيرُ الهُمومِ بِلا ناصِرٍ

كَسيرُ الفُؤادِ بِلا جابِرِ

Burdened with cares, without a defender;

Broken of heart, with no one to mend it.

قَضى لَيلَهُ ساهِياً ساهِراً

إِلى كَوكَبٍ مِثلَهُ ساهِرِ

He passed his night distracted and sleepless,

Gazing at a star as sleepless as he.

يُفَتِّشُ عَن آفِلٍ في الثَرى

وَما كانَ في الأُفقِ بِالسافِرِ

Searching the dust for something vanished,

While nothing unveiled showed upon the horizon.

وَتَاللَهِ يُجدي فَتىً بائِساً

كَلامُ المُنَجِّم وَالساحِرِ

By God, of what avail to a wretched youth

Are the words of the astrologer and the sorcerer?

وَلَمّا تَوَلَّت دَراري السَماءُ

وَغابَ الهِلالُ عَنِ الناظِرِ

And when the pearls of the heavens retreated,

And the crescent moon vanished from sight,

بَكىثُمَّ صاحَ أَحَتّى النُجومُ

تَصُدُّ عَنِ الرَجُلِ العاثِرِ

He wept, then cried out: "Do even the stars

Turn away from the stumbling man?"

إِلى ما أُعانِدُ هَذا الزَمانَ

عِنادَ السَفينَةِ لِلزاخِرِ

"How long must I battle this age,

As a ship battles the swelling sea?"

وَأَدعو وَما ثَمَّ سامِعٍ

وَأَشكو وَلَكِن إِلى ساخِرِ

"I call out, yet there is no one to hear;

I complain, but only to those who mock."

وَأَرجو الوَفاء وَتَأبى النُفوسُ

وَأَنّى الوُلاةُ لِلعاقِرِ

"I hope for loyalty, but souls refuse it;

For how can the barren give birth?"

سَإِمتُ الحَياةَ فَلَيتَ الحِمامَ

يُعيدُ إِلى أَصلِهِ سائِري

"I have wearied of life; would that Death

Return my spirit to its origin,"

فَتَنطَلِقُ النَفسُ مِن سِجنِها

وَيُسجَنُ تَحتَ الثَرى ظاهِري

"That the soul might break free from its prison,

And my shell be imprisoned beneath the dust."

وَزادَ سَوادَ الدُجى يَأسَهُ

وَقَد كادَ يُسفِرُ عَن باهِرِ

The blackness of the night deepened his despair,

Just as the dazzling dawn was about to break.

فَشاءَ التَخَلُّصَ مِن دَهرِهِ

الخَأون وَمِن عَيشِهِ الحاذِرِ

So he sought deliverance from his fate—

That traitor—and from his fearful life.

فَأَغمَدَ في صَدرِهِ مُديَةً

أَشَدُّ مَضاءً مِنَ الباتِرِ

He plunged a blade deep into his chest,

Sharper than the keenest sword.

وَكَم مِثلَهُ قَد قَضى نَحبَهُ

شَهيدَ التَأَمُّلِ في الغابِرِ

And how many like him have met their end,

A martyr to the contemplation of the past.