Sol 6.1

  1. أَلا لَيتَ شِعري هَل يَرى الناسُ ما أَرى

    مِنَ الأَمرِ أَو يَبدو لَهُم ما بَدا لِيا

    Ah, would that I knew: do people see what I see

    of things, or does what became clear to me become clear to them?

  2. بَدا لِيَ أَنَّ اللَهَ حَقٌّ فَزادَني

    إِلى الحَقِّ تَقوى اللَهِ ما كانَ بادِيا

    It became clear to me that God is real, and I gained

    greater fear of God, along with that truth, through what became clear.

  3. بَدا لِيَ أَنَّ الناسَ تَفنى نُفوسُهُم

    وَأَموالُهُم وَلا أَرى الدَهرَ فانِيا

    It became clear to me that people's lives perish,

    and their wealth; yet I do not see time perish.

  4. وَأَنّي مَتى أَهبِط مِنَ الأَرضِ تَلعَةً

    أَجِد أَثَراً قَبلي جَديداً وَعافِيا

    And that whenever I descend into a valley in the land,

    I find traces from before my time, fresh and faded.

  5. أَراني إِذا ما بِتُّ بِتُّ عَلى هَوىً

    وَأَنّي إِذا أَصبَحتُ أَصبَحتُ غادِيا

    I find that, when I spend the night, I spend it as I please,

    and that, when morning finds me, it finds me setting out

  6. إِلى حُفرَةٍ أُهدى إِلَيها مُقيمَةٍ

    يَحُثُّ إِلَيها سائِقٌ مِن وَرائِيا

    toward an enduring pit to which I am led,

    while a driver behind me urges me toward it.

  7. كَأَنّي وَقَد خَلَّفتُ تِسعينَ حِجَّةً

    خَلَعتُ بِها عَن مَنكِبَيَّ رِدائِيا

    It is as though, now that I have left ninety years behind,

    I had cast my cloak from my shoulders along with them.

  8. بَدا لِيَ أَنّي لَستُ مُدرِكَ ما مَضى

    وَلا سابِقاً شَيئاً إِذا كانَ جائِيا

    It became clear to me that I cannot recover what has passed,

    nor outrun anything that is yet to come.

  9. أَراني إِذا ما شِئتُ لاقَيتُ آيَةً

    تُذَكِّرُني بَعضَ الَّذي كُنتُ ناسِيا

    I find that, whenever I wish, I encounter a sign

    reminding me of some of what I had forgotten.

  10. وَما إِن أَرى نَفسي تَقيها كَريهَتي

    وَما إِن تَقي نَفسي كَرائِمُ مالِيا

    And I do not see my prowess in battle shielding my life,

    nor do my choicest possessions shield my life.

  11. أَلا لا أَرى عَلى الحَوادِثِ باقِيا

    وَلا خالِداً إِلّا الجِبالَ الرَواسِيا

    Indeed, I see nothing surviving the blows of fate,

    nothing abiding forever, save the firmly rooted mountains,

  12. وَإِلّا السَماءَ وَالبِلادَ وَرَبَّنا

    وَأَيّامَنا مَعدودَةً وَاللَيالِيا

    and the sky, the lands, and our Lord;

    our days are numbered, and so are the nights.

  13. أَلَم تَرَ أَنَّ اللَهَ أَهلَكَ تُبَّعاً

    وَأَهلَكَ لُقمانَ بنَ عادٍ وَعادِيا

    Have you not seen that God destroyed Tubbaʿ,

    and destroyed Luqman son of ʿAd, and ʿAdiya,

  14. وَأَهلَكَ ذا القَرنَينِ مِن قَبلِ ما تَرى

    وَفِرعَونَ جَبّاراً طَغى وَالنَجاشِيا

    and destroyed Dhu al-Qarnayn before what you now see,

    and Pharaoh, a tyrant who transgressed, and the Negus?

  15. أَلا لا أَرى ذا إِمَّةٍ أَصبَحَت بِهِ

    فَتَترُكُهُ الأَيّامُ وَهيَ كَما هِيا

    Indeed, I see no man upon whom good fortune has dawned

    whom the days leave with that fortune unchanged.

  16. أَلَم تَرَ لِلنُعمانِ كانَ بِنَجوَةٍ

    مِنَ الشَرِّ لَو أَنَّ اِمرَأً كانَ ناجِيا

    Have you not seen al-Nuʿman, once on safe high ground,

    beyond harm—if any man could ever be safe?

  17. فَغَيَّرَ عَنهُ مُلكَ عِشرينَ حِجَّةً

    مِنَ الدَهرِ يَومٌ واحِدٌ كانَ غاوِيا

    Yet twenty years of kingship were swept away from him

    by a single day of time, a ruinous day.

  18. فَلَم أَرَ مَسلوباً لَهُ مِثلُ مُلكِهِ

    أَقَلَّ صَديقاً باذِلاً أَو مُواسِيا

    So I have seen no man stripped of a realm like his

    with fewer friends to give freely or offer support.

  19. فَأَينَ الَّذينَ كانَ يُعطي جِيادَهُ

    بِأَرسانِهِنَّ وَالحِسانَ الغَوالِيا

    Where, then, are those to whom he used to give his fine steeds,

    with their halters, and the costly beauties?

  20. وَأَينَ الَّذينَ كانَ يُعطيهِمُ القُرى

    بِغَلّاتِهِنَّ وَالمِئينَ الغَوادِيا

    And where are those to whom he used to give villages,

    with their yields, and camels by the hundred setting out at dawn?

  21. وَأَينَ الَّذينَ يَحضُرونَ جِفانَهُ

    إِذا قُدِّمَت أَلقَوا عَلَيها المَراسِيا

    And where are those who would gather round his great bowls,

    casting their anchors upon them whenever they were brought out?

  22. رَأَيتُهُمُ لَم يُشرِكوا بِنُفوسِهِم

    مَنِيَّتَهُ لَمّا رَأَوا أَنَّها هِيا

    I saw that they would not risk their own lives

    to share his doom, once they saw that death was certain,

  23. خَلا أَنَّ حَيّاً مِن رَواحَةَ حافَظوا

    وَكانوا أُناساً يَتَّقونَ المَخازِيا

    except that a clan of Rawaha kept faith,

    and they were people who guarded against disgrace.

  24. فَساروا لَهُ حَتّى أَناخوا بِبابِهِ

    كِرامَ المَطايا وَالهِجانَ المَتالِيا

    So they journeyed to him, until they made their camels kneel at his gate—

    noble mounts, and white she-camels with their young following.

  25. فَقالَ لَهُم خَيراً وَأَثنى عَلَيهِمُ

    وَوَدَّعَهُم وَداعَ أَن لا تَلاقِيا

    He spoke kindly to them and praised them,

    and bade them the farewell of those who would not meet again.

  26. وَأَجمَعَ أَمراً كانَ ما بَعدَهُ لَهُ

    وَكانَ إِذا ما اِخلَولَجَ الأَمرُ ماضِيا

    And he resolved upon a course whose consequences were his to bear;

    and when affairs grew tangled, he would press on.