أَخنى عَلَيَّ الدَّهرُ كَلكَلَهُ

وَعَدا عَلى عَيشي فَبَدَّلَهُ

Time has burdened me with its afflictions,

And passed vicissitudes over my life.

وَكأَنَّما جَهِدَت أَلِيَّتُهُ

أَن لا يَرى خَيراً فَيَفعَلَهُ

As if its calamities were determined

Never to let good befall me that it might do.

ما إِن يَزالُ يُجِدُّ داهِيَةً

تَحدو بِها نَحوي رَواحِلُهُ

Unceasingly it renews my troubles,

Urging my journeys with them apace.

وَيَنوبُني مِنهُ بِمعضِلَةٍ

يَرمي بِها جِسمي لِيُنحِلَهُ

And besets me with an obstacle

Wherewith my body it would debase.

فَإِذا رَتَقتُ الأَمرَ بادره

بِالفتقِ إِصراراً وَعاجلَهُ

When I come to terms with an affair

It destroys that with haste.

لَو كانَ يُعقِبُ مَرَّةً فَرَحاً

وَيَسوءُ أُخرى لاحتَمَلتُ لَهُ

Had it but joy succeeding sorrow

I could bear that; it were not a disgrace;

وَلَخلتُ مِنهُ ذاكَ فائِدَةً

لكِن أَبى إِلَّا تحاملَهُ

And therein some benefit have traced;

But nay, save tribulation, its rule.

فَلَئِن ذَمَمتُ العَيشَ آخِرَهُ

فَلَقَد حَمِدتُ العَيشَ أَوَّلَهُ

And if I decry living at its end,

I praised living at its start.

لِلَّهِ أَوَّلُنا وَآخِرُنا

ما كانَ أَجوَدَهُ وَأَعدَلَهُ

To God belong our beginnings and ends,

However generous or unjust His part.

يا لَيتَ هذا كانَ أَوَّلنا

يَعدو لِآخِرنا فَيَقتُلَهُ

Would that this were our beginnings,

Speeding to kill our ends!