إن شيب الرأس بعد الشباب

إن شيب الرأس بعد الشباب

لنهى عن جامحات التصابي

لنهى عن جامحات التصابي

Surely the graying of the head after youth

The graying of the head after youth

Is a curb on the headlong impulses of youthful dalliance.

Is a warning against the passions of folly,

إنما الشيب شهام المنايا

إنما الشيب شهام المنايا

ولذي الصبوة أدنى العتاب

ولذي الصبوة أدنى العتاب

Gray hairs are but death’s stalwarts,

For gray hair is the harbinger of death,

And, for one given to youthful passion, the mildest rebuke.

While for the youthful reproach is light.

مرحباً بالشيب من زائرٍ

مرحباً بالشيب من زائرٍ

وسقى الرحمان شرخ الشباب

وسقى الرحمان شرخ الشباب

Welcome to gray hair as a visitor,

Welcome gray hair as a visitor,

And may the All-Merciful water the prime of youth.

Whom the Merciful has watered the cleft of youth.

ما يازال الدهر يرمي الفتى

ما يازال الدهر يرمي الفتى

كل حينٍ بسهام صياب

كل حينٍ بسهام صياب

Time never ceases to shoot at the young man,

Time still casts at the youth

At every moment, with arrows that strike true:

Arrows of calamities at every moment.

ببياض الرأس من بعدما

ببياض الرأس من بعدما

كان عمراً كجناح الغراب

كان عمراً كجناح الغراب

With the whitening of the head, after

With the whiteness of the head after

It had long been like a raven’s wing;

It was for a time like the wing of a raven,

أو بنقض بان في قوةٍ

أو بنقض بان في قوةٍ

بعد تأييد الفتى ذي الشغاب

بعد تأييد الفتى ذي الشغاب

Or with a decline that becomes evident in strength,

Or with something revealed in power

After the contentious young man had been made strong;

After supporting the youth of vigor,

أو بأفراد ارمئٍ ربما

أو بأفراد ارمئٍ ربما

كأن في ما نابه ذا صحاب

كأن في ما نابه ذا صحاب

Or by leaving a man alone who often

Or with hints of a censurer perhaps,

Had companions in whatever befell him.

As if among those who survived were comrades.