شَيئان أَثارا لَوعَةَ الأَحزان
سَهم القَدر
Two things stirred the pangs of sorrow -
The arrow of destiny among people, and their wretched livelihood.
في الناس وَسوء عيشة الإِنسان
بَينَ البَقَر
Alas for the refined and the knowledgeable!
They are the best of humankind.
يا وَيح ذَوي الآداب وَالعرفان
خَير البَشَر
Yet they are humiliated while the ignoble looks on gleefully,
One of life's great injustices.
هانوا فَشؤونهم يَراها الشاني
إحدى الكبر
O ignorance! By you they judged pain,
Yet ignorance is blindness.
يا جَهل أَما
بِكَ اِستَحسّوا ألما
Alas! Ignorance has not silenced the prattle,
Nor has talk subsided.
وَالجَهل عَمى
هَيهات فما
O worst of gangs who act like savages,
Rising and retiring,
أخرست يا جهل فما
وَالخَطب نَما
Boasting of vulgarity and rude nature
Like one deranged.
يا شرَّ عِصابة غَدَت كَالهمج
تَغدو وَتجي
They care not for propriety atop the dunes,
Bearers of pearls.
تَزهو بِفَظاظة وَطَبع سَمج
كَالمُبتهجِ
Yet I wonder at the gilding of gold,
Scorched by flames,
ما كانَ عَلى أَمثالهم مِن حَرَج
يا ذا الأَرجِ
And at time's idiocy
Giving the lowborn
لا يَعبأ بِالغثاء فَوقَ اللجج
حاوي الدُرر
The highest positions.
Some claimed wealth is the highest honor,
لَكن عجبي
مِن اِصطلاءِ الذهب
While knowledge to those fools
Is the lowest profession.
حرَّ اللَهب
وَالدَهر غَبي
Damn them and the hated slanderer,
Perpetrator of violence.
يُعطي خَسيس النسب
أَعلى الرُتب
The ignorant cannot be compared to the virtuous,
The lofty and eminent.
قَوم زَعَموا أنّ الغنى بِالمال
أَعلى الشَرَف
Wealth, by God, and knowledge
Are self-sufficiency.
وَالعلم لَدى أَولائك الجهال
أَدنى الحرف
They bring you glory,
A harvest you reap.
تَبّاً لَهُم وَللبَغيض القالي
قاني العنف
By God, when the sky of rule is illuminated
By every wise person,
فَالجاهل لا يُقاس بِالمفضال
سامي الخَطَر
None but the blind deny their brilliant merit -
And excellence is bountiful.
المال عَنا
وَالعلم واللّه غنى
How many learned men among the people
Whose knowledge is supreme,
يوليك ثَنا
وَالمَجد جَنى
Yet are diminished by the lowliest ignorant one in the nations,
Like the despised!
غَرس بِهِ نلت منى
يَأتي بِهَنا
No blame upon a family of low status
If they increased your paucity.
تَاللَه إِذا ضاءت سَماء الحكم
مِن كُل حَكيم
Does an empty house not
Become fuller if the youth in it thrives?
لا ينكر نور فَضلهم غَير عَمي
وَالفَضل عَميم
Journey on, O dwelling of sighs,
Among the ruins,
كَم مِن علَم في الناس سامي العلم
وَاللَه عَليم
I will not alight except in a populated place,
Filled with jinn.
أَزراه أَخسّ جاهل في الأُمم
كَالمحتقر
Jinn appeared in human form -
The matter is clear.
لا عتب عَلى
أَهيل بيت سفلا
No descendants of Adam are devoid of jinn
Of hideous form.
زادوك قلى
هَل بَيت خَلا
If you experience it, seek refuge in the Lord of the Dawn
At daybreak,
إِذا الفَتى فيه خلا
يَزداد عُلى
And beware, be prudent,
Lest an evil one touch you in anxiety.
سر بي كَرَماً يا موقف الأَظعان
عِندَ الطللِ
A monkey shedding decency sheds stench,
Garment of vileness.
لا أنزل مَنزِلاً بِلا سُكّان
بِالجنّ ملي
Boasting with the adornment of profligacy, the boasting of mischief,
Above inequity.
جنٌّ ظَهرت بِصورة الإِنسان
وَالأَمر جَلي
The ignorant in our time, full of troubles,
Above the perceptive.
ما خَلف نسل آدم مِن جان
شنع الصُور
The reasonable one from the fluctuations of time
Under danger.
إِن كُنت تَفي
فَعُذ بربّ الفلقِ
Tears and restraint,
Though the state of affairs lacks concealment,
عِند الفَرق
وَاِحذَر لِتقي
And time is heedless.
O Time, enough!
حجاك عِند القلق
مِن مسّ شقي
You have accustomed us to your abandonment,
But patience is pardon.
قرد خَلع الحَياء خَلع العفن
ثَوب الدَرنِ
How foolish is one who exalts the steed of folly
For racing,
يَزهو بِحلى المجون زَهو الفنَن
فَوق الدمنِ
Tempted by his awful deed, the pretentious one,
Evil in nature.
فَالجاهل في زَماننا ذي المِحَن
فَوقَ الفطنِ
The owl in the darkness is not recalled
With dawn's light
وَالعاقل مِن تَقَلُّباتِ الزَمَن
تَحتَ الخَطَرِ
Except exposing it at daybreak
With bitter boredom.
دَمع وَكَفا
وَالحال ما فيه خفا
Thus the sun when it rises
And there is a speck in the eye
وَالدَهر غَفا
يا دَهر كَفى
Increases pain.
The rose too
تَسومنا مِنك جفا
فَالصَبر عَفا
Has a beautiful fragrance
None would deny.
ما أَحمَق من علا جَواد الحمق
للمستبق
أَغراه بِسوء فعله المختلق
سوء الخلق
ما اِستذكر طائر الدُجا في الغَسَق
نور الفَلَق
إِلّا وَعراه مِن طُلوع الشَفَق
مرُّ الضَجر
فَالشَمس إِذا
بَدَت وَفي العين قذى
تَزداد أَذى
وَالورد كَذا
لَهُ مِن الطيب شذا
من يُنكر ذا
