أطلت انتقادي

فمه يا فؤادي

My criticism prolonged

You have complained too long,

O my heart be silent

So hush now, O my heart.

لقد ذدت عني

لذيذ الرقاد

I have warded off from myself

You have banished from me

The sweetness of sleep

The sweetness of slumber,

بوخزك جنبي

كوخز القتاد

With your pricks in my side

By piercing my side

Like the pricks of Tatad

Like the sting of thorns,

ووريك نفسي

كوري الزناد

And your rousing of my soul

And striking fire within my soul

Like the rousing of Zanad

As sparks are struck from flint.

أفي كا ليل

بويل تنادي

Is it like some night

Must it be that every night

You moan and call

You cry out in anguish?

كأنك ثكلى

غلت في الحداد

As if you are bereaved

As though you were a bereaved mother

Engrossed in mourning

Excessive in her mourning.

أبى الله إلا

بلاء العباد

God willed only

God has decreed nothing

The affliction of servants

But trial for His servants,

بخلف التمني

وعكس المراد

Contrary to wishes

Through the thwarting of hopes

And opposite of intentions

And the reversal of desires.

فما باختياري

ضياع اجتهادي

So it was not my choice

It was not by my own choice

The loss of my endeavor

That my efforts went to waste;

وثقت بدهري

لسخف اعتقادي

And my trust in my fate

I placed my trust in fate

Due to my foolish belief

Out of the foolishness of my belief,

ومن فرط حمقي

سخائي بزادي

And from the excess of my idiocy

And out of my sheer folly,

My generosity with my provision

I gave away my provisions freely.

وقصدي صلاحا

بأرض الفساد

And my seeking righteousness

I sought to establish good

In the land of corruption

In a land of corruption,

وعرضي نفيسا

بسوق الكساد

And my exposing myself

And offered my precious wares

In the market of recession

In a market of stagnation.

هي الأرض مهد

لشتى العوادي

This is the land, cradle

The earth is but a cradle

Of all maladies

For all manner of misfortunes.

أرى ضر زيد

بها من زياد

I see the harm of Zayd in it

I see the harm done to Zayd

More than the increase of Ziyad

Comes from the hand of Ziyad,

وتفكيرسعد

بها في سعاد

And Sa'd's thinking in it

And Sa'd's only thought therein

Of happiness

Is occupied with Su'ad.

أرى الغي يفشو

بها في ازدياد

I see misguidance spreading

I see transgression spreading

In it, on the rise

And constantly increasing therein,

وفي الدين داع

إلى الرشد هادي

And in religion an invitation

Yet in religion there is a caller,

To the right guide

A guide to the right path.

ولله لطفان

خاف وبادي

And for Allah two kinds of kindness

God possesses two mercies:

Feared and far-reached

One hidden, and one revealed.

فماخاب ملق

له بالقياد

So no seeker of Him

He is never disappointed who surrenders

Has missed His company

The reins of his life to Him.

لك الله فاصحبر

بدار النكاد

To Allah belongs the affair so be patient

God is your aid, so be patient

In the abode of trials

In this abode of vexation,

فكل متاع

بها للنفاد

For all belongings in it

For every worldly pleasure within it

Are prone to loss

Is destined to vanish.

زماند حرب

لحر المبادي

Time's war is

Your era is at war

Against the free spirits

With those of noble principles,

وجيلك مغرى

بجحد الأيادي

And your generation is tempted

And your generation is obsessed

To reject favors

With denying favors received.

خف الله وارقب

ثواب المعاد

Fear God and watch over

Fear God, and await

The reward of the Hereafter

The reward of the Hereafter.