زَعَمَ المَرءُ إِنَّما هُوَ رَبٌّ

كَم يَلوكُ الكَلامَ هَذا الإِلَهُ

Man claimed that he alone is lord

Man claimed that he is a god,

How much this claim of godhood lies!

How often this deity chews on words!

يَلفُظُ البَحرُ وَهوَ مُلحٌ أُجاجٌ

لُؤلُؤً يُبهِرُ العُيونَ سَناهُ

The sea spews out salt bitter brine

The sea casts forth, though salty and bitter,

Yet gives forth pearls that dazzle eyes

Pearls whose brilliance dazzles the eyes.

ما اِدَّعى الدُرُّ أَنَّةَ صورَةُ البَح

رِ وَلا قالَ إِنَّني إِيّاهُ

The pearl itself does not pretend

The pearl did not claim to be the image of the sea,

It is the sea’s wondrous guise

Nor did it say, "I am the sea itself."

لا وَلا قالَ كُلُّ شَيءٍ إِلى المَح

وِ وَما خَصَّ بِالخُلودِ سِواهُ

Nor does all things to death portend

No, nor did it say that all things drift toward oblivion,

Except the One who never dies

And that eternity is reserved for it alone.

إِن تَكُن لِلخُلودِ ذاتَكَ في الدُن

يا فَماذا الأَمرُ الَّذي تَهواهُ

If you yourself had eternity

If your essence is meant for eternity in this world,

What then is this you idolize?

Then what is it that you truly desire?

وَإِذا صِرتَ غَيرَ شَخصِكَ في الءُ

خرى فَهَذا الفَنا الَّذي تَخشاهُ

When you become another entity

And if you become other than yourself in the hereafter,

Is not that the death you so despise?

Then that is the annihilation which you dread.

في التُرابِ الَّذي تَدوسُ عَلَيهِ

أَلفُ دُنيا وَعالَمٍ لا تَراهُ

Beneath the soil your feet tread on

In the dust upon which you tread,

Are worlds you cannot realize

Are a thousand worlds and a universe you do not see.

أَنتَ جُزءٌ مِنَ الكَيانِ وَفيهِ

كَثَراهُ كَنَبتِهِ كَحَصاهُ

You are a fragment of all that is

You are a part of existence, and within it,

As numerous as its grains of sand

Like its soil, like its plants, like its pebbles.

كَالوَردِ الَّتي تُحِبُّ شَذاها

وَالبَعوضُ الَّذي تَخافُ أَذاهُ

As the rose whose fragrance you treasure

Like the rose whose fragrance you love,

As the gnat whose sting you despise

And the mosquito whose harm you fear.

ما لِحَيٍّ بِالمَوتِ عَنهُ اِنفِصالٌ

إِنَّ دُنياهُ هَذِهِ أُخراهُ

No separation of death can measure

No living thing is separated from existence by death,

For life itself is made of goodbyes

Indeed, this world of his is his hereafter.