أصخ لمقالتي واسمع — Abn Zaydun

أَصِخ لِمَقالَتي وَاِسمَع

وَخُذ فيما تَرى أَو دَع

Lend an ear to my speech and listen.

And take it as you see fit, or leave it.

وَأَقصِر بَعدَها أَوزِد

وَطِر في إِثرِها أَو قَع

And after it, desist or go further.

And fly in its wake, or fall.

أَلَم تَعلَم بِأَنَّ الدَه

رَ يُعطي بَعدَما يَمنَع

Did you not know that time

Gives after it withholds,

وَأَنَّ السَعيَ قَد يُكدي

وَأَنَّ الظَنَّ قَد يَخدَع

And that striving may prove fruitless,

And that conjecture may deceive?

وَكَم ضَرَّ اِمرِأً أَمرٌ

تَوَهَّمَ أَنَّهُ يَنفَع

And how often has a thing harmed a man

Who imagined it would benefit him!

فَإِن يُجدِب مِنَ الدُنيا

جَنابٌ طالَما أَمرَع

So if there grows barren in the world

A tract that long was lush,

فَما إِن غاضَ لي صَبرٌ

وَما إِن فاضَ لي مَدمَع

Still, my patience has by no means ebbed,

Nor has my eye overflowed with tears.

وَكائِن رامَتِ الأَيّا

مُ تَرويعي فَلَم أَرتَع

And how often have the days sought

To frighten me, yet I took no fright!

إِذا صابَتنِيَ الجُلّى

تَجَلَّت عَن فَتىً أَروَع

When a great calamity strikes me,

It lifts from a gallant young man,

عَلى ما فاتَ لا يَأسى

وَمِمّا نابَ لا يَجزَع

Who grieves not for what is lost,

Nor is dismayed by what befalls him.

تَدِبُّ إِلَيَّ ما تَألو

عَقارِبُ ما تَني تَلسَع

Toward me, sparing no effort, creep

Scorpions that never cease to sting.

كَأَنّا لَم تُؤالِفنا

زَمانٌ لَيِّنُ الأَخدَع

As though we had never been befriended

By an age with a yielding neck,

إِذِ الدُنيا مَتى نَقتَد

أَبِيَّ سُرورِها يَتبَع

When the world was such that, whenever we led

Its headstrong joy, it would follow;

وَإِذ لِلحَظِّ إِقبالٌ

وَإِذ في العَيشِ مُستَمتَع

And when fortune turned our way,

And when there was enjoyment in life,

وَإِذ أَوتارُنا تَهفو

وَإِذ أَقداحُنا تُترَع

And when our strings quivered,

And when our goblets were filled to the brim,

وَأَوطارُ المُنى تُقضى

وَأَسبابُ الهَوى تَشفَع

And the objects of desire were attained,

And love's bonds interceded,

فَمِن أُدمانَةٍ تَعطو

وَمِن قُمرِيَّةٍ تَسجَع

Now from a pale gazelle reaching out,

And now from a turtledove cooing.

أَعِد نَظَراً فَإِنَّ البَغ

يَ مِمّا لَم يَزَل يَصرَع

Look again, for wrongdoing

Is something that has never ceased to bring men down.

وَلا تَطِعِ الَّتي تُغوي

كَ فَهِيَ لِغِيِّهِم أَطوَع

And do not obey the one who misleads

You, for she is readier to obey their waywardness.

تَقَبَّل إِن أَتى خَطبٌ

وَأَنفُ الفَحلِ لا يُقرَع

Accept it, should a calamity come,

And the stud's nose is not struck.

وَلا تَكُ مِنكَ تِلكَ الدا

رُ بِالمَرأى وَلا المَسمَع

And let that house be neither

Within your sight nor within your hearing;

فَإِنَّ قُصارَكَ الدِهلي

زُ حينَ سِواكَ في المَضجَع

For your furthest reach is the vestibule,

While another is in the bed.