Sol 6.1

  1. خَفِّض هُمومَكَ فَالحَياةُ غُرورُ

    وَرَحى المَنونِ عَلى الأَنامِ تَدورُ

    Lighten your cares, for life is a delusion.

    And Death's millstone turns upon humankind.

  2. وَالمَرءُ في دارِ الفَناءِ مُكَلَّفٌ

    لا قادِرٌ فيها وَلا مَعذورُ

    And man, in the abode of transience, is charged with duties,

    with neither power there nor excuse.

  3. وَالناسُ في الدُنيا كَظِلٍّ زائِلٍ

    كُلٌّ إِلى حُكمِ الفَناءِ يَصيرُ

    And people in this world are like a vanishing shadow;

    each comes under the sentence of extinction.

  4. فَالناسُ وَالمَلكُ المُتَوَّجُ واحِدٌ

    لا آمِرٌ يَبقى وَلا مَأمورُ

    So people and the crowned king are one:

    neither ruler nor ruled endures.

  5. عَجَباً لِمَن تَرَكَ التَذَكُّرَ وَانثَنى

    في الأَمنِ وَهوَ بِعَينِهِ مَغرورُ

    How strange the one who forsakes remembrance and turns away,

    in security, though he himself is deluded!

  6. في فَقدِنا المَلِكَ المُؤَيَّدَ شاهِدٌ

    أَلّا يَدومَ مَعَ الزَمانِ سُرورُ

    In our loss of King al-Mu'ayyad lies proof

    that no joy endures through time.

  7. مَلِكٌ تَيَتَّمَتِ المُلوكُ بِرَأيِهِ

    فَكَأَنَّهُ لِصَلاحِهِم إِكسيرُ

    A king whose loss left kings orphaned, bereft of his counsel;

    as though he were an elixir for their well-being.

  8. مِن آلِ أَيّوبَ الَّذينَ سَماحُهُم

    بِحرٌ بِأَمواجِ النَدى مَسجورُ

    From the house of Ayyub, whose generosity

    is a sea filled with waves of bounty.

  9. أَضحَت مَدائِحُهُ الحِسانُ مَراثِياً

    لِلناسِ مِنها رَنَّةٌ وَزَفيرُ

    The lovely poems praising him have become elegies;

    from them come the people's wails and sighs.

  10. وَبَكَت لَهُ أَهلُ الثُغورِ وَطالَما

    ضَحِكَت لِدَستِ المُلكِ مِنهُ ثُغورُ

    The people of the frontier wept for him, though often

    lips had smiled, thanks to him, at the royal throne.

  11. أَمسى عِمادُ الدينِ بَعدَ عُلومِهِ

    وَلِطِبِّهِ عَمّا عَراهُ قُصورُ

    Imad al-Din, after all his learning, was left

    with his medicine unequal to what befell him.

  12. وَإِذا القَضاءُ جَرى بِأَمرٍ نافِذٍ

    غَلِطَ الطَبيبُ وَأَخطَأَ التَدبيرُ

    And when fate proceeds with an irresistible decree,

    the physician errs and planning fails.

  13. وَلَوَ اَنَّ إِسماعيلَ مِثلُ سَمِيِّهِ

    يُفدى فَدَتهُ تَرائِبٌ وَنُحورُ

    And if Isma'il, like his namesake,

    could have been ransomed, breastbones and throats would have ransomed him.

  14. إِن لُمتُ صَرفَ الدَهرِ فيهِ أَجابَني

    أَبتِ النُهى أَن يُعتَبَ المَقدورُ

    If I blamed Time's course for his loss, it answered me:

    "Reason refuses to let destiny be reproached."

  15. أَو قُلتُ أَينَ تُرى المُؤَيَّدُ قالَ لي

    أَينَ المُظَفَّرُ قَبلُ وَالمَنصورُ

    Or if I said, "Where is al-Mu'ayyad, I wonder?" it said to me:

    "Where are al-Muzaffar and al-Mansur of old?

  16. أَم أَينَ كِسرى أَزدَشيرُ وَقَيصَرٌ

    وَالهُرمُزانِ وَقَبلَهُم سابورُ

    Or where are Kisra Ardashir and Caesar,

    and al-Hurmuzan, and Shapur before them?

  17. أَينَ اِبنُ داوُدٍ سُلَيمانُ الَّذي

    كانَت بِجَحفَلِهِ الجِبالُ تَمورُ

    Where is David's son Solomon, whose

    mighty host made the mountains heave,

  18. وَالريحُ تَجري حَيثُ شاءَ بِأَمرِهِ

    مُنقادَةً وَبِهِ البِساطُ يَسيرُ

    and at whose command the wind coursed wherever he wished,

    obediently, while the carpet bore him along?

  19. فَتَكَت بِهِم أَيدي المَنونِ وَلَم تَزَل

    خَيلُ المَنونِ عَلى الأَنامِ تُغيرُ

    The hands of Death struck them down, and still

    Death's cavalry raids humankind.

  20. لَو كانَ يَخلُدُ بِالفَضائِلِ ماجِدٌ

    ما ضَمَّتِ الرُسلَ الكِرامَ قُبورُ

    If a noble man could live forever through his virtues,

    graves would not have embraced the noble messengers.

  21. كُلٌّ يَصيرُ إِلى البِلى فَأَجَبتُهُ

    إِنّي لَأَعلَمُ وَاللَبيبُ خَبيرُ

    All come to decay." So I answered it:

    "Indeed, I do know, and the discerning man is well aware."