1. وكيف قرّت لأهل العلم أعينهم

    أو استلذوا لذيذ نوم أو هجعوا

    And how could the eyes of the learned be at peace,

    or could they savor sweet sleep, or slumber,

  2. والموت ينذرهم جهرا علانية

    لو كان للقوم أسماع لقد سمعوا

    while death warns them aloud and openly?

    Had those people ears, they would surely have heard.

  3. والنار ضاحية لا بدّ موردهم

    وليس يدرؤن من ينجو ومن يقع

    And the Fire is in plain sight, their inevitable destination,

    yet they do not know who will escape and who will fall.

  4. قد أمست الطير والأنعام آمنة

    والنون  في البحر لم يخش لها فزع

    The birds and livestock have reached evening safe,

    and the fish in the sea have no terror to fear.

  5. والآدمي بهذا الكسب مرتهن

     له رقيب على الأسرار يطلع

    And the human being is held in pledge for these deeds;

    he has a watcher who looks into secrets,

  6. حتى يوافيه يوم الجمع منفردا

    وخصمه الجلد والأبصار والسمع

    until he meets him on the Day of Gathering, alone,

    and his accusers are his skin, his eyes, and his hearing,

  7. إذ النبيون والأشهاد قائمة

    والإنس والجن والأملاك قد خشعوا

    when the prophets and witnesses stand,

    and humankind, jinn, and angels have bowed in awe,

  8. وطارت الصحف في الأيدي منشرة

    فيها السرائر والأخبار تطّلع

    and the written sheets have flown into hands, spread open,

    in which secrets and tidings come to light.

  9. يودّ قوم ذوو عز لو أنهم

    هم الخنازير كي ينجو ـ أو الضبع

    People of high standing wish that they

    were swine, so they could escape—or hyenas.

  10. كيف شهودك والأنباء واقعة

    ـ عما قليل ـ ولا تدري ما يقع

    What will your witnessing be like, when these tidings come to pass

    —before long—and you do not know what will happen?

  11. أفي الجنان وفوز لا انقطاع له

    أم الجحيم فما تبقي ولا تدع

    Will it be in the Gardens, with a triumph that never ends,

    or Hell, which leaves nothing and spares nothing?

  12. تهوى بهلكاتها طورا وترفعهم

    إذا رجوا مخرجا من غمّها وقعوا

    At times it plunges them into its deadly depths, then raises them;

    when they hope for a way out of its anguish, they fall.

  13. طال البكاء فلم ينفع تضرّعهم

    هيهات لا رقة تغني ولا جزع

    The weeping has lasted long, but their pleading has not helped.

    Far from it! Neither tenderness nor anguish avails.

  14. هل ينفع العلم قبل الموت عالمه

    قد سال قوم بها الرجعى فما رجعوا

    Does knowledge benefit the one who knows it before death?

    People have asked there to return, but they did not return.