حللت مكانا في الكهولة بعدما

حللته طفلا منذ حين ويافعا

I surveyed a place in old age after

Surveying it as a child long ago as a youth

فأذكرني تلك السنين التي انقضت

وقد كان فيها العمر في العد تاسعا

So remind me of those years that have passed

When life was counting to nine in age

تشخصته حتى تخيلتني به

ولن يرجع التخييل ما ليس راجعا

I pictured it until I imagined myself in it

And imagination will not bring back what is not returning

مضت حجج سبع وعشرون خيلت

الي خيالات ومرت سوائعا

Twenty seven pilgrimages have passed since

I imagined and they slipped by

أنا هو ذاك الطفل الأم ووالد

ومن بأخيه كان في الأهل رابعا

I am that child, mother and father

And among the family I was the fourth brother

هو اليوم ذو بنت وذو الأخت من أب

وعم اثنتين عد بالزوج سابعا

Today he has a daughter and a sister from a father

And two aunts, count with his wife as the seventh

ولا والدان أيها الربع فيك قد

قضت أمة والدهر ينسي الفجائعا

And no parents, O quarter in you, have

Fulfilled their nation and time makes one forget tragedies

تذكرتها والمرء يحيي بذكره

فمالي أستبكي وأبكي المرابعا

I remembered them and man revives with his remembrance

So why do I cry and lament the quarters

ذكرت بها أمي ذكرت بها أبي

ذكرت بها دهرا مضى متتابعا

I remembered my mother with it, I remembered my father with it

I remembered with it an era that passed consecutively

ذكرت بها ذاك الغلام ولم يكن

سواي وقد أبصرته اليوم شاسعا

I remembered with it that boy and he was

None other than me, and today I saw him grown up

تقمص في شخصي فما أنا غيره

ولا هو غيري فاختفى وبدا معا

He embodied in my persona so I am none but him

And he is none but me, so he vanished and appeared together

كأني وإني في الكهولة ناظر

أمامي ذاك الشيخ إن عشت طالعا

As if, though I am in old age watching

That old man in front of me, if I live longer

وما بعده إلا التوسد في الثرى

ويوم تراه للخليفة جامعا

And after it is nothing but resting in the soil

And a day you will see it as a successor for the caliph