أَنْتَ تَبْغِي السِّيَرَا

شَاغِلاً عَمَّا تَرَى

You seek out tales,

Preoccupied with what you see,

مُؤْثِراً أَنْ تَعْلَمَ الـ

ـجَارِي مِمَّا قَدْ جَرَى

Preferring to know the

Flow of events to what has passed,

رَاضِياً مِنْ خِبْرَةٍ

أَنْ لا تَجُوزَ الخَبَرَا

Content with knowledge

That does not exceed the news.

فَإِذَا مَا كَانَ لِي

حُسْنُ حَظٍّ قُدِّرَا

So if I chance to have

Good luck one day,

طِبْتَ نَفْساً لِحَدِيـ

ـثٍ سُقْتُهُ مُعْتَذِرا

You’d enjoy a tale whose

Telling I’d excuse

عَاطِلٍ يَحْلَى مَتَى

تُلْقِي عَلَيْهِ نَظَرَ

As time sweetly passed whenever

You cast your eyes upon it.