لا تحذر البيضَ الصّوارمَ والقنا

لا تحذر البيضَ الصّوارمَ والقنا

واِحذرْ بجُهدك ما يقول المنطقُ

واِحذرْ بجُهدك ما يقول المنطقُ

Do not fear the gleaming, keen-edged swords and spears,

Fear not the swords and spears of war,

but beware with all your might of what the tongue says.

But guard with all your might against what logic says.

يبقى الكلامُ وكلُّ كَلْمٍ مؤلمٍ

يبقى الكلامُ وكلُّ كَلْمٍ مؤلمٍ

يمحوه ليلٌ أو نهارٌ مشرقُ

يمحوه ليلٌ أو نهارٌ مشرقُ

Words endure, while every painful wound

Words remain, though hurtful talk

is erased by a night or a bright day.

Is wiped away by day or radiant night.

والقولُ إمّا كان في عِرْضِ الفتى

والقولُ إمّا كان في عِرْضِ الفتى

كذباً فكم كذب الرّجال وصدّقوا

كذباً فكم كذب الرّجال وصدّقوا

And if what is said against a young man's honor is

A saying was a young man's fault,

a lie—how often men have lied and been believed!

Though men have lied and then believed their lies.

قل للّذي جمع التِّلادَ وعنده

قل للّذي جمع التِّلادَ وعنده

أنّ التِّلادَ ثَنِيَّةٌ لا تُطْرَقُ

أنّ التِّلادَ ثَنِيَّةٌ لا تُطْرَقُ

Tell him who has amassed ancestral wealth and thinks

Say to the one who gathered treasure, thinking

that ancestral wealth is a mountain pass that none can tread:

That treasure is a pair that can't be parted,

إنّ الحِمامَ لِمَا نَظَمْتَ مُشتِّتٌ

إنّ الحِمامَ لِمَا نَظَمْتَ مُشتِّتٌ

ولما جمعتَ مبدّدٌ ومفرّقُ

ولما جمعتَ مبدّدٌ ومفرّقُ

indeed, death scatters what you have strung together,

"The pigeons that you've neatly caged

and disperses and divides what you have gathered.

When freed are scattered, split, and fly apart."

والمالُ بعد الموتِ من خُزّانِهِ

والمالُ بعد الموتِ من خُزّانِهِ

شِلْوٌ على أيدي الرّجالِ يُمزَّقُ

شِلْوٌ على أيدي الرّجالِ يُمزَّقُ

And wealth, after its keepers' death,

And wealth, when one is dead,

is a carcass torn apart at men's hands.

Is from its chests and coffers torn and ripped.