1. شَطّتْ عليك لُبانةُ الصّدرِ

    وحُرِمتَها من حيثُ لا تدري

    Your breast's desire has grown far from you,

    and you were deprived of it unawares.

  2. وطلبتَ عذراً للزّمان فلمْ

    تعرف له شيئاً من العذرِ

    And you sought an excuse for time, but could not

    find it any excuse at all.

  3. وفجعتَ في ظلماءَ داجيةٍ

    بالنيّراتِ معاً وبالفجرِ

    And in a dark, murky night you were bereft

    of the luminaries all at once, and of dawn.

  4. وَمَضى الّذي طَمس الحِمامُ به

    وَضَحَ الصّباح وغُرّةَ البدرِ

    And he has gone, with whose loss death effaced

    morning's brightness and the full moon's radiant brow.

  5. وطوى الرَّدى رغماً لآنِفِنَا

    كلَّ المحاسن منه في القبرِ

    Death folded away, in defiance of our pride,

    all his beauties in the grave.

  6. فَكَأنّنا مِن بعدِ مَصرعهِ

    سَفْرٌ بلا زادٍ ولا ظهرِ

    So after his fall, we are like

    travelers without provisions or mounts,

  7. أَو مُرهَقون بكلِّ بائقةٍ

    غُلبوا وقد جَهَدوا على الصَّبرِ

    or men worn down by every calamity,

    overcome despite their striving to be patient;

  8. هِيمٌ يماطِلها الورودُ وقد

    بَعُدَ المدى عشراً إلى عشرِ

    thirst-maddened camels, their watering delayed, while

    the stretch grows longer, ten days upon ten.

  9. من ذا لمرْغَبةٍ ومَرْهَبَةٍ

    فينا ومن للنّهي والأمرِ

    Who will answer our hopes and fears

    among us, and who will forbid and command?

  10. ومُرَوّعِ شرد الحِذارُ به

    ملآن من خوفٍ ومن ذُعْرِ

    And who will aid the frightened man whom dread drives astray,

    filled with fear and panic?

  11. ومكارمٍ تدعُ الزَّمان بلا

    شيءٍ من الإملاقِ والفقرِ

    And who will do noble deeds that leave time without

    any destitution or poverty?

  12. والخيلُ تنزو في الأعنّةِ كال

    سيدان في دَيْمومةٍ قَفْرِ

    And the horses leap against their reins like

    wolves in a barren wasteland,

  13. معروقةً بالشَّدِّ تحسبها ال

    أشطانَ هاويةً إلى جَفْرِ

    made lean by galloping: you would take them for

    ropes plunging into a broad well.

  14. أُثنِي عَلَيكَ بِما صَنعتَ وكمْ

    فاتَ الصّنيعُ مواقعَ الشّكرِ

    I praise you for what you did—how often

    your beneficence exceeded the reach of thanks!

  15. وأكفُّ غَرْبَ الدمع مصطبراً

    لو كان دمعٌ كُفَّ لا يجري

    And I restrain the torrent of tears, striving for patience,

    if tears, once restrained, could cease to flow.

  16. أَنتَ الّذي لَم تَرضَ في شرفٍ

    إلّا بِغُرِّ عقائلِ الفخرِ

    You are the one who, in nobility, would accept

    only the brightest treasures of glory.

  17. ومحوتَ محوَ الطِّرْسِ عن زمنٍ

    أصبحتَ فيه مجاثمَ العُسرِ

    And you erased, as one erases a writing-sheet, from an age

    in which you lived, the lairs of hardship.

  18. وجعلتَ مُعدِمَه كواجده

    ومُقِلّه بالفضل كالمثري

    And you made its destitute like its men of means,

    and through bounty its poor like the wealthy.

  19. مِن مَعشرٍ لَم يَرتَضوا وَطَراً

    في العزِّ إلّا قِمَّةَ النَّسْرِ

    From a people who would accept no goal

    in honor but the eagle's highest summit.

  20. وَإِذا دَعوتهُمُ لنازلةٍ

    حشدوا عليك بقُرَّحٍ ضُمْرِ

    And whenever you summoned them for a calamity,

    they rallied to you with lean, full-grown steeds,

  21. وَبِكلّ مُلتَهبِ العزيمة في ال

    بأساء صبّارٍ على الضُّرِّ

    and with every man of blazing resolve in

    adversity, steadfast in affliction.

  22. لَم يَمتَطوا كَتَدَ المَعابِ ولا

    عقدوا مآزهم على وِزْرِ

    They never mounted the withers of disgrace, nor

    fastened their girdles over a sin.

  23. وإذا علا لهبُ الجمال بهمْ

    وهبوا رُواءَ الحسن للبدرِ

    And when beauty's flame rises high in them,

    they lend beauty's radiance to the full moon.

  24. يُعطون في الإعسار من كَرَمٍ

    مِثلَ الّذي يُعطونَ في اليُسرِ

    In hardship, out of generosity, they give

    as much as they give in prosperity.

  25. وهّابُ مَشْبَعةٍ لمسغَبةٍ

    غازونَ ظلّامونَ للجُزْرِ

    Lavish givers of fullness to hunger,

    raiders, merciless to camels destined for slaughter.

  26. فَتَرى على حسّادِ نعمَتهمْ

    يتلاحظون بأعينٍ شُزْرِ

    So you see them facing those who envy their blessings,

    exchanging fierce, sidelong glances.

  27. يا صاحبيَّ على طَماعِيَةٍ

    في العيش تُركبنا قَرا وَعْرِ

    O my two friends, out of a craving

    for life, we are made to ride a rugged ridge.

  28. لا تَحسبا في الدّار عدْوَتَهُ

    إنّ الرّدى أعدى من العُرِّ

    Do not think its contagion is confined to the house:

    death is more contagious than mange.

  29. هي عادةٌ للدّهر واحدةٌ

    فَاِصبِرْ لمُرِّ عوائد الدّهرِ

    It is time's one unchanging habit;

    so endure the bitter habits of time.

  30. بَقّى الّذي يبقى ويرجع في

    كلّ الّذي أولى من البِرِّ

    It has spared what remains, and takes back

    all the kindness it bestowed.

  31. إنْ كان سرّ فقد أساء شجىً

    أو كان راش فإِنّه يَبْرِي

    If it once brought joy, it has inflicted grief;

    or if it feathered the shaft, it now whittles it away.

  32. سوّى الرَّدى بين المطاح على

    طرق الرَّدى ومشيّد القصرِ

    Death made no distinction between the man cast upon

    the paths of death and the builder of a palace.

  33. يا من يُقيل عِثارَ أرحُلِنا

    كيفَ اِستَجبتَ لزلَّة العَثْرِ

    O you who righted our stumbling saddles,

    how did you succumb to a stumbling fall?

  34. ألّا دَفعتَ وَقَد دَفعت إلى

    وِرْدِ المنون بمالك الأَثْرِ

    Why did you not ward it off, when driven to

    death's watering-place, with a blade of patterned sheen,

  35. وَبأذرعٍ تَهوي بمُصْلَتَةٍ

    بيضٍ وطائشةِ الخُطا سُمْرِ

    and with arms that strike with unsheathed

    white swords and brown spears whose steps fly wild?

  36. أَوَلستَ ولّاجاً على حَذرٍ

    تكفيه خرّاجاً مِنَ القَهرِ

    Were you not one who charged into danger,

    warding it off, and escaped oppression?

  37. هَيهاتَ لَيسَ لِمن يُطيف بهِ

    جيشُ المنيَّةِ عنه من فَرِّ

    Alas! No one whom

    death's army surrounds can flee it.

  38. ما لي أراك بدار مَضْيعةٍ

    تسري الرّفاقُ وأنت لا تسري

    Why do I see you in an abode of abandonment,

    while the companions journey by night, and you do not?

  39. في هُوَّةٍ ظَلماءَ بين هُوىً

    سُدَّتْ مطالعُهنَّ بالصَّخْرِ

    In a dark pit among pits

    whose openings are sealed with stone.

  40. وَكأنَّما سُقّيتَ مُنعَقِراً

    لا تَستَفيق سلافةَ الخمرِ

    As though, lying stricken, you had been given to drink

    the purest wine, never sobering.

  41. زوَّدتنِي ومضيتَ مُبْتدِراً

    حزّ المُدى ولواذعَ الجمرِ

    You provisioned me, then hurried away,

    with the cuts of knives and the searing of embers.

  42. وَتَركتَني والدّهرُ ذو دُوَلٍ

    أعشى اللّحاظِ مقلَّمَ الظُّفْرِ

    And you left me, while time is full of reversals,

    dim-sighted, with my claw clipped.

  43. أَرمي فَلا أصمي فإنْ رُمِيَتْ

    جهتي رُميتُ معرّضاً نحري

    I shoot, but do not kill; if shots are aimed

    my way, I am shot at with my throat exposed.

  44. وأُصدُّ عن لُقيا العدوِّ وهل

    ألقى العدوّ ولستَ في ظهري

    And I am kept from meeting the enemy; can I

    face the enemy when you are not at my back?

  45. وَإِذا مَضى مَن كانَ يَعضدني

    ويشدّ يومَ كريهةٍ أزْري

    And if the one who used to support me has gone,

    and strengthen my back on a day of hardship,

  46. ويردّ عنِّي كلَّ طارقةٍ

    ويخوض كلَّ ردىً إلى نصري

    and fend off every calamity from me,

    and brave every deadly peril to aid me,

  47. فالحظُّ لِي أنْ لا أهيجَ وغىً

    حتَّى أكون مسالماً دهري

    then my best course is not to stir up war,

    so that I may live at peace with time.

  48. كَيفَ اللّقاء وَأنتَ رَهْنُ بِلىً

    لا يُرتجى إلّا معَ الحَشرِ

    How can we meet, while you lie captive to decay?

    That meeting can be hoped for only at the Resurrection.

  49. هَجرٌ وَلَكن لَيس يُشبِهُهُ

    شيءٌ من الإعراضِ والهجرِ

    A parting—yet it is unlike

    anything of aversion or estrangement.

  50. وَقَطيعةٍ ما كُنتُ أَحذَرها

    إلّا عَليك فلم يَفِدْ حِذْري

    And a severance that I feared

    only for you, but my caution did no good.

  51. لا مُتعةٌ لي في الحَياةِ فَما

    أَحياه بَعدكَ لَيسَ مِن عمري

    There is no pleasure for me in life; what

    I live after you is no part of my lifetime.

  52. إِن لَم يَكُن كُلّي علَيكَ قضى

    لمَّا قضيتَ فقد قضى شطري

    If all of me did not die in grief for you

    when you died, then half of me has died.

  53. فَاِذهَبْ كَما ذَهبَ الغَمام فَقدْ

    مَلأ المذانِبَ منه بالقَطْرِ

    Go, then, as the cloud has gone, for it has

    filled the watercourses with its rain.

  54. وَخَلوتَ مِن عَيني بغير رضاً

    منّي ولمّا تخلُ من سرّي

    And you have vanished from my sight, without consent

    from me, and have not yet left my inmost heart.

  55. ما زلتُ أَكتم منك شاجيةً

    وبلابلاً صُمّاً عن الزّجرِ

    I have kept hiding from you a heart-rending grief,

    and sorrows deaf to rebuke,

  56. وَأُجِلُّه عَن أَن أَبوح بهِ

    في نَظمِ قافيةٍ من الشّعرِ

    and deem it too great to lay bare

    in the composition of rhyming verse.

  57. حَتّى اِنقَضى صَبري وَجاشَ كَما

    جاش الهدير يهدّه صدري

    until my patience ran out and it surged as

    a bellow surges, my breast rumbling it forth.