1. إِن كانَ غيّبك الترابُ الأحمرُ

    وحَلَلْتَ مَرْتاً لا يزورك زُوَّرُ

    If the red earth has hidden you away,

    And you have settled in a barren waste where no visitors visit you,

  2. فلقد جَزِعتُ على فراقك بعدما

    ظنّوا بأنّي عنك جهلاً أصبِرُ

    Then I have indeed grieved over parting from you, after

    They ignorantly thought I could endure without you.

  3. فالنّارُ في جَنْبَيَّ يوقدها الأسى

    والماءُ من عينيَّ حُزناً يقطرُ

    The fire in my sides is kindled by sorrow,

    And water drips from my eyes in grief.

  4. كم في التّرابِ لنا محيّاً مشرقٌ

    بيد المواحِي أو جبينٌ أزهرُ

    How many a radiant face of ours lies in the earth,

    In the hands of effacing forces—or a luminous brow;

  5. ومرفّعٌ فوق الرّجال جلالةً

    ومتوّجٌ ومطوّقٌ ومسوّرُ

    And one exalted above men in majesty,

    And one crowned, one necklaced, and one adorned with bracelets.

  6. أَعيَتْ على طلبِ الرّدى نُجُبُ السُّرى

    وخُطا المَهارى والجيادُ الضُّمَّرُ

    The noble mounts of night journeys have wearied under death's pursuit,

    And the strides of Mehri camels, and slender steeds.

  7. وَمَضى الأنامُ تكنّهمْ آجالهمْ

    فمغصّصٌ ومنغّصٌ ومُحَسّرُ

    And mankind passed away, their appointed ends concealing them:

    One choked with grief, one embittered, one left bereft;

  8. ومُخالَسٌ ما كان يُحذر هُلْكُه

    ومتارَكٌ ومُقدّمٌ ومؤخّرُ

    And one snatched away whose death had never been feared,

    And one left alone, one taken early, and one delayed.

  9. وكأنّهمْ بيد الحِمامِ يلفُّهمْ

    عَصْفٌ تصفِّقُهُ خَريقٌ صَرْصَرُ

    As though, in the hand of death that gathers them, they were

    Chaff buffeted by a fierce, howling wind.

  10. وَمواطنٌ لِترنّمٍ وتنعّمٍ

    ومواطنٌ فيها الزّوافر تزفِرُ

    And places for song and pleasure,

    And places where the sighers sigh.

  11. لو كان في خُلدٍ لحيٍّ مَطمعٌ

    فيها وروّادِ المنيّةِ مَزْجَرُ

    If any living being had hope of immortality

    There, and a deterrent against death's scouts,

  12. لنجا المنونَ مغامرٌ في حومةٍ

    وخطا المنيّةَ في العرين القَسْوَرُ

    A daring fighter in battle's thick would have escaped death,

    And the lion in its lair would have stepped past death.

  13. ولَسَدّ طُرْق الموتِ عن أبوابه

    كِسرى وحاد عن المنيّةِ قيصرُ

    And death's paths would have been barred from his gates

    By Kisra, and Caesar would have turned away from death.

  14. وَلكانَ مَن ولدتْ نِزَارٌ في حمىً

    منه ودفّاعُ العظيمةِ حِميَرُ

    And those born of Nizar would have been in sanctuary

    From it, as would Himyar, repeller of great calamity.

  15. ولما مضى طوعَ الرّدى متكبّرٌ

    سكن القلاعَ ولا مضى متجبّرُ

    Nor would a proud man have gone at death's bidding,

    Who dwelt in fortresses; nor would a tyrant have passed away.

  16. ولما خلا عن أهله ووفودِه

    وضيوفِه فينا مكانٌ مُقفِرُ

    Nor would there have stood, bereft of its people and delegations

    And its guests, a deserted place among us.

  17. فَاُنظُرْ بِعينك هل ترى فيما مضى

    عنّا وصار إلى التّرابِ مخبّرُ

    Look with your own eyes: do you see, among those who passed

    From us and went into the earth, a bearer of news?

  18. ولقد فقدتُ معاشراً ومعاشراً

    ويسرّني أنْ لم يكن لِيَ معشَرُ

    I have indeed lost company after company,

    And it would please me to have had no companions.

  19. وَاِشتَطّ روّادُ الحمامِ عليَّ في

    أهلي وقومي فاِنتقَوْا وتخيَّروا

    Death's scouts dealt harshly with me among

    My family and my people, selecting and choosing.

  20. فمجدّلٌ وسْطَ الأسنّةِ بالقنا

    ما كان يوماً للّباسِ يُعَصفِرُ

    One felled amid spearheads by the lances,

    Who had never once dyed his clothing with safflower;

  21. وَمُعَصفرٌ أَثوابهُ طعن القَنا

    ما كان يوماً للّباس يُعَصفرُ

    And one whose garments lance-thrusts dyed safflower-red,

    Who had never once dyed his clothing with safflower;

  22. وَمُقطّرٌ لولا القضاءُ تقطّرتْ

    فينا النجومُ ولم يكن يتقطّرُ

    And one cast down—were it not for fate, there would have fallen

    Among us the stars, and he would not have been cast down;

  23. ومُعفّرٌ دخل السّنانُ فؤادَه

    ما كان يألفه الترابُ الأحمرُ

    And one laid in the dust, whose heart the spearhead entered,

    Whom the red earth had never known.

  24. والذّاهبون من الّذين ترحّلوا

    ممَّنْ أقام ولم يفتنِي أكثرُ

    And those who have gone, among those who departed,

    Are more numerous than those who stayed and whom I have not lost.

  25. خذ بالبنانِ من الحياة فإنّما

    هو عارضٌ متكشّفٌ مُتحسّرُ

    Take from life with your fingertips, for it is but

    A passing cloud, dispersing and receding.

  26. وَدعِ الكثيرَ فإنَّما لِهمومِه

    جمع النُّضارِ إلى النُّضارِ مُبَدَّرُ

    And leave abundance aside, for on its cares

    The heaping of gold upon gold is squandered.

  27. وكأنّما ظلُّ الحياةِ على الفتى

    ظلٌّ أتاهُ في الهجير مُهجّرُ

    And life's shade over a man is like

    A shade a noonday traveler comes upon in the midday heat.

  28. ما لِلفَتى في الدّهرِ يومٌ أبيضٌ

    ووراءَه بالرّغم موتٌ أحمرُ

    No man has a white day in this world,

    With red death behind it, against his will.

  29. ولِمنْ تراهُ ساكناً في قصره

    مُتنعّماً هذِي الحفائرُ تُحفرُ

    And for the one you see dwelling in his palace,

    In luxury, these grave-pits are being dug.

  30. وعلى أبي الفتح الّذي قنص الرّدى

    ماءُ الأسى من مقلتي يتحدّرُ

    And for Abu al-Fath, whom death hunted down,

    The water of sorrow streams from my eye.

  31. قد كان لِي منه أنيسٌ مُبهِجٌ

    فالآن لِي منه وَعوظٌ مُذكِرُ

    Once in him I had a companion who brought joy;

    Now in him I have an admonisher who reminds me.

  32. إن لم يكن من عُنصري وأرومتِي

    فلحُرمةِ الآدابِ فينا عنصرُ

    If he was not of my stock and lineage,

    Yet the sacred bond of letters gives us a shared lineage.

  33. أو لم تكن للعُربِ فيك ولادَةٌ

    فالمعربون كلامهمْ بك بُصِّرُوا

    Or if the Arabs had no part in your birth,

    Those who inflect their speech correctly were enlightened through you.

  34. ما ضَرّ شَيئاً مَن نَمَتْه أعاجمٌ

    وَلَديهِ آدابُ الأعاربِ تُسطَرُ

    A man descended from non-Arabs suffers no harm at all,

    With the learning of the Arabs written down in his keeping.

  35. وَلَكَمْ لَنا عُربُ الأصولِ تراهُمُ

    عُمْياً عَنِ الإِعرابِ لم يَستَبصِروا

    And how many among us are Arab by descent, whom you see

    Blind to grammatical inflection, never gaining insight!

  36. وَلَقد حذرتُ من التفرّق بيننا

    شُحّاً عَليك فَجاءني ما أحذرُ

    I indeed feared the separation between us,

    Loath to lose you—and what I feared has come to me.

  37. وَذخرتُ منكَ على الزّمانِ نفيسةً

    لَو كانَ يَبقى لِلفَتى ما يذخرُ

    And from you I laid up a precious treasure against time,

    If only what a man stores could remain his.

  38. وَنَفضتُ بعدك راحتي من معشرٍ

    لو سابقوك إلى الفضيلةِ قصّرُوا

    And after you I shook my palm free of a company

    Who, had they raced you toward virtue, would have fallen short.

  39. فَمَتى حَزِنتُ عُذِرتُ فيك على الأسى

    وإذا سلوتُ فإِنّني لا أُعذَرُ

    Whenever I grieve, I am excused for sorrow over you;

    But if I cease to mourn, I am not excused.

  40. وَالغَدرُ سُلوانُ الفَتى لِحَميمِه

    بعد الحِمامِ وليس مِثلِي يغدُرُ

    And a man's forgetting his intimate friend is betrayal

    After death; and one like me does not betray.

  41. وَلَقد رَأيتك مطفئاً من لوعتِي

    والحزن يُملي منه ما أنا أسطُرُ

    I have indeed seen you quenching some of my anguish,

    While grief dictates from itself what I set down.

  42. فَاِفخَرْ بها ميتاً فكم لمعاشرٍ

    من بعد أن قبروا بقبر مَفخرُ

    So glory in it, though dead; how many a company

    Has glory in a grave after being buried!

  43. كَلِماً يُعِرْن الشِّيبَ أرديةَ الصِّبا

    فكأنّهمْ طرباً بها لم يكْبَرُوا

    Words that lend gray hair the robes of youth,

    So that, delighted by them, they seem never to have grown old.

  44. وَتراهُ طلّاعاً لكلِّ ثنيّةٍ

    يسري بأفواه الورى ويُسيَّرُ

    And you see it climbing every mountain pass;

    It travels on people's lips and is carried onward.

  45. يَصفو بِلا كدرٍ يشين صفاءَه

    والشّعر يصفو تارةً ويُكدَّرُ

    It is clear, with no murk to mar its clarity,

    While poetry is clear at times and muddied at others.

  46. وكأنّه في ليلِ أقوالٍ مضتْ

    قمرٌ بدا وسْطَ الدُّجُنَّةِ أنورُ

    And amid the night of sayings gone before, it is like

    A moon appearing more radiant amid the darkness.

  47. فَإِليهِ مِنّا كلُّ طَرفٍ ناظرٌ

    وعليه مِنّا كلُّ جِيدٍ أَصْوَرُ

    So every eye among us looks toward it,

    And every neck among us bends toward it.

  48. وَسَقاكَ ربّك ماءَ كلّ سحابةٍ

    تهمي إذا وَنَت الغيوم وَتمطُرُ

    And may your Lord water you with every cloud's rain,

    That pours when clouds falter, and rains.

  49. وإذا طَوَتْ عنك العُداةُ كَنَهْوَراً

    وافى ترابَك بالعشيّ كنَهْوَرُ

    And if the foes fold a towering cloud away from you,

    A towering cloud will reach your earth at evening.

  50. وكأنّه والبرقُ ملتمعٌ به

    بُرْدٌ على أيدي الرّياحِ مُحبَّرُ

    And it is, with lightning flashing within it, like

    An ornamented mantle upon the hands of the winds.

  51. وَمَتى ذهبتَ بزلّةٍ فإلى الّذي

    يمحو جرائر مَن يشاء ويغفِرُ

    And if you departed bearing a fault, it was to Him who

    Erases the sins of whomever He wills, and forgives.