عاد المهنا بحمد الله واختلفت

رواية السلك بعد الهم والحزن

Al-Muhanna has returned, praise be to God, and altered is

The wire's report, after worry and sorrow.

قد يخطيء النقل والتحقيق يعكسه

والعين أصدق أنباء من الأذن

A report may err, and verification overturns it;

And the eye is truer in its tidings than the ear.

تجري المقادير لا تدبير يعقلها

ولا امرء من هواديها بمحتصن

Fate's decrees run their course; no planning can hobble them,

Nor is anyone shielded from their vanguard.

تأتي السلامة والأسواء محدقة

ويهلك المرء والأسواء لم تكن

Safety comes with calamities all around,

And a person perishes though no calamities were present.

وربما كان بالمحذور مغتبطاً

إذا أتاه وعقبى الخير في قرن

And sometimes one rejoices in what was feared,

When it comes to him, with a good outcome yoked to it.

وربما جزعت نفس لنازلة

وأصلها كخيال طاف في وسن

And sometimes a soul is distraught at a calamity,

Yet at root it is like a phantom passing through a doze.

وربما سلم العصفور في شرك

وربما جاءه السكين في الوكن

And sometimes a sparrow remains safe in a snare,

And sometimes the knife reaches it in its nest.

قد يأخذ المرء في أمر بجنته

فيذهب القدر المحتوم بالجنن

A person may take up his shield in some affair,

Then inevitable fate sweeps the shields away.

ويشرب المرء من كأس تلذ له

وربما اشتار شهد النحل من حبن

And a person drinks from a cup that delights him,

And sometimes he gathers the bees' honey from boils.

والسر في الشأن تنبيه اللبيب على

أن المقادير لا تقتاد بالرسن

And the secret of the matter is to make the discerning aware

That fate's decrees cannot be led by a halter.

وإن أمراً قضاه الله منحتم

في الأمن والخوف والأسفار والوطن

And indeed, a matter God has decreed is inevitable,

In safety and fear, in travel and in the homeland.

وإن عافية الانسان غايتها

أخذ على الحذر أو أخذ على السكن

And indeed, a person's well-being has this final end:

Being taken while on guard, or being taken while at rest.

وإننا بين أيام مروعة

تبدى قبائحها في صورة الحسن

And indeed we are amid terrifying days,

That display their ugliness in the guise of beauty.

فليبق ذو اللب فيها غير مرتقب

عهداً سوى عهدها المعروف بالدخن

So let the discerning remain amid them, not expecting

A covenant other than their own, known for its taint.