طالَ النَّوى وتَوالَى الدَّهرُ والأمَدُ

بعدَ الفراقِ وقلَّ الصَّبرُ والجَلَدُ

The intention lengthened, and time kept going,

After separation, patience and composure diminished.

والصّبرُ لو أنَّهُ في ذاتهِ عَسَلٌ

لصارَ كالصبرِ مِمَّا طالتِ المُدَدُ

If patience itself were honey,

It would become, like patience, when situations prolong.

تَعَمَّدَ الدَّهرُ لي سُوءاً بُلِيتُ بهِ

والدَّهرُ ليسَ بناجٍ عِندَهُ أحَدُ

Time intentionally did me wrong, and I was afflicted by it,

And time is not a confidant for anyone.

قد كان لي جَسَدٌ قبلاً أعيشُ بهِ

واليومَ قد صار نصفاً ذلِكَ الجَسَدُ

I used to have a body I lived with,

And today it has become half that body.

والحمدُ للهِ شكوَى الجسمِ هيِّنهٌ

ما دامَ يَسلَمُ منَّا العقلُ والرَّشدُ

Thanks to God - complaining of the body is easy

As long as the mind and wisdom remain sound from us.

فليس يَجزَعُ من في كفِّهِ شَلَلٌ

وليس يَجزَعُ من في عينهِ رَمَدُ

So one with paralysis in his hand does not despair,

Nor one with conjunctivitis in his eye despair.

لنا بذي الأرضِ أيَّامٌ تَمرُّ بنا

أحداثُها كبريدِ الخيلِ تَطَّرِدُ

We have days on earth that pass by us,

Whose events chase like the running of horses.

وكلُّ أمرٍ لهُ في دهرنا أجَلٌ

فلا يدومُ بهِ صفوٌ ولا كَمَدُ

And everything, in our time, has an end,

So neither purity nor eternity remains with it.

حُلْمٌ تَروَّعَ تحتَ اللَّيلِ ناظِرُهُ

فزالَ عندَ انجلاءِ الصُّبحِ ما يَجِدُ

A dream that terrified its beholder at night,

Dissipated at the clarity of dawn what it yielded.

من ليسَ يَملِكُ في دفعِ البَلاءِ يداً

فما لهُ سِوَى الصَّبرِ الجميلِ يَدُ

One who does not own a hand to ward off affliction,

Then he has nothing but beautiful patience as a hand.