تمايلَ دهرُكَ حتى اضطربْ

وقد ينثني العطفُ لا من طربْ

Your fate sways until it becomes turbulent

And tenderness may bend, not due to rapture

ومرَّ زمانٌ وجاءَ زمان

وبينَ الزمانينِ كلُّ العجبْ

Time has passed and time has come

And between the two times lies all strangeness

فقومٌ تدلوا لتحتِ الثرى

وقومٌ تعالوا لفوق الشُّهبْ

Some have descended beneath the soil

And some have ascended above the clouds

لقد وعظتنا خطوبُ الزمان

وبعضُ الخطوبِ كبعضِ الخطبْ

The vicissitudes of time have advised us

Some of the vicissitudes are like some sermons

ولو عرف الناسُ لم تهدهمْ

سبيلَ المنافعِ إلا النوبْ

Had people known the path of benefits

They would not take it except out of shame

فيا ربَّ داء قد يكونُ دواءً

إذا عجز الطبُّ والمستطب

Oh Lord, an illness may become a cure

When medicine fails and the healer despairs

ومن نكد الدهر أن الذي

أزاح الكروب غدا في كُرَبْ

Among the woes of fate is that one who

Relieved anguish becomes embroiled in worries

وإن امرءاً كان في السالبين

فأصبحَ بينهُمُ يستَلبْ

And if a man was among the despoiled

He wakes among them despoiling

ألست ترى العربَ الماجدين

وكيفَ تهدمَ مجد العربْ

Do you not see the glorious Arabs

And how the glory of the Arabs collapsed

فأينَ الذي رفعتهُ الرماح

وأين الذي شيدتهُ القضبْ

Where is the one spears raised

And where is the one huts built

وأين شواهق عزٍ لنا

تكادُ تمسُّ ذراها السحبْ

Where are the lofty pillars of our might

That almost touch their peaks to the clouds

لقد أشرقَ العلم لما شرقنا

وما زال يضؤل حتى غَرَبْ

Knowledge shone when we shone

And it continues to fade as we fade

وكنا صعِدنا مراقي المعالي

فأصبحَ صاعدنا في صببْ

We climbed the steps of greatness

But our climb ends in a stumble

وكم كان منا ذَوو همةٍ

سمتْ بهم لمعالي الرُّتبْ

And how many great-souled men were among us

Whose ambition reached to the highest positions

وكم من هزبرٍ تهزُ البرايا

بوادرهُ إن ونى أو وثبْ

And how many resolute men shake the lands

With their first movements, whether in rest or leaping

وأقسمُ لولا اغترارُ العقول

لما كفَّ أربابها عن أربْ

I swear had minds not been deluded

Their owners would not cease from achieving

ولولا الذي دبَّ ما بينهم

لما استصعبوا في العلا ما صعب

And were it not for what came between them

They would not have found the heights difficult

ومن يطعم النفس ما تشتهي

كمن يطعمُ النار جزلَ الحطبْ

Whoever feeds his soul its desires

Is like one who feeds the fire ample timber

الا رحمَ اللهُ دهراً مضى

وما كاد يبسمُ حتى انتحبْ

Except God have mercy on a time now past

That barely smiled before it wept

وحيى لياليَ كنا بها

رعاةً على من نأى واقترَب

And bring to life nights when we were in them

Shepherds over those near and far

فملكاً نقيل إذا ما كبا

وعرشاً تقيمُ إذا ما انقلب

Kings when they grew old

And thrones when they collapsed

سلوا ذلكَ الشرق ماذا دهاه

فأرسلهُ في طريق العطبْ

Ask the East what brought it down

And sent it on the path of decay

لو أن بنيه أجلوا بنيه

لأصبحَ خائبهم لم يخبْ

If only its sons had succeeded its sons

Its disappointed ones would not have been disappointed

فقد كانَ منهمْ مقرُّ العلوم

كما كان فيهم مقرُّ الأدب

Among them were the homes of knowledge

As among them were the homes of literature

وهل تنبتُ الزهرُ أغصانهُ

إذا ماءُ كلِّ غديرٍ نضَب

Can branches yield flowers

When the water of each brook is dried up

وكم مرشدٍ بات ما بينهم

يُسامُ الهوانَ وسوء النصب

And how many guides spent the night among them

Bearing debasement and evil plotting

كأن لم يكن صدرهُ منبعاً

لما كانَ من صدرهِ ينسكبْ

As if his chest had not been a wellspring

For what flowed from his chest

ومن يستبقْ للعلا غايةً

فأولى به من سواه التعبْ

Whoever races to the heights

Most deserves fatigue over others

وليس بضائرِ ذي مطلبٍ

إذا كفهُ الناسُ عما طلبْ

It is no loss to one with ambition

If people prohibit what he demands

فكم من مصابيحَ كانت تضيء

بين الرياحِ إذا لم تهبْ

How many lamps shone light

When the winds did not blow

وما عِيْبَ من صدفٍ لؤلؤٌ

ولا عابَ قدْرَ الترابِ الذهبْ

No fault in an oyster lacking pearls

Nor flaw in dust lacking gold

بني الشرقِ أينَ الذي بيننا

وبينَ رجالِ العلا من نسبْ

Sons of the East! Where are those between us

And the men of knowledge, by lineage

لقد غابتِ الشمسُ عن أرضكم

إلى حيثُ لو شئتُم لم تغبْ

The sun has disappeared from your lands

To where, had you wished, it would not have disappeared

إلى الغرب حيث أولاءِ الرجال

وتيكَ العلومِ وتلك الكتبْ

To the West, where are those men

And those books and that knowledge

وإن كان مما أردتم فما

تنال العلا من وراءِ الحجبْ

And if you want what I want, still,

You will not attain the heights behind barriers

فدوروا مع الناسِ كيف استداروا

فإن لحكم الزمان الغلبْ

Turn with the people, see how they turned

For the law of time is to overcome

ومن عاند الدهر فيما يحب

رأى من أذى الدهرِ ما لا يُحبْ

Whoever defies time in what it loves

Sees from time's harm what he does not love