Sol 6.1

  1. لا عينَ يَبْقى منَ الدنيا ولا أثرَا

    فكيفَ تسمَعُ إن دُكَّتْ وكيف تَرَى

    No substance of this world remains, nor any trace.

    So how will you hear if it is crushed, and how will you see?

  2. حسبُ الفتى نظرةً في كلِّ عاقبةٍ

    لولا تمنُّعُهُ عَنّتْ له نَظَرا

    A glance into every outcome is enough for a man;

    but for his resistance, it would present itself to his scrutiny.

  3. ما أشبهَ الموتَ بالمحيا وأجدرَ مَن

    لا يعرفُ الوِردَ أن لا يعرف الصَّدرا

    How like life death is—and how fitting that one

    who knows not the coming to water should know not the leaving.

  4. أعدَّ زادَيْكَ من قولٍ ومنْ عَمَلٍ

    إنَّ المُقامَ إذا طال اقتضى السَّفرا

    Prepare your two provisions, from words and from deeds.

    Indeed, when a stay grows long, it calls for departure.

  5. وافرُغْ لشانيك من قولٍ ومن عملٍ

    كلٌّ سيجري مَداهُ طالَ أو قَصُرا

    And devote yourself to your two concerns, words and deeds;

    each will run its course, whether long or short.

  6. وسلْ عن الناسِ هل صاروا مَصيرَهُمُ

    فما أظنُّكَ ممنْ يجهلُ الخبرا

    Ask about people: have they reached their destined end?

    For I do not think you one who is ignorant of the news.

  7. قضيتُ حاجة نفسي غيرَ مشكلة

    في الموتِ لم أَقْضِ من علمٍ بها وطرا

    I fulfilled my soul's need, except for one perplexity

    concerning death: I have not satisfied my desire to understand it.

  8. أدنو إليها فتنأى لا تلوحُ سوى

    لبسٍ من الظنِّ لا عُرْفاً ولا نُكُرا

    I draw near to it, but it recedes; it appears only as

    a confusion of conjecture, neither familiar nor strange.

  9. وقد أصيحُ بمثل النفسِ من شَفَقٍ

    ودونها ما يفوتُ السمَ والبصرا

    Sometimes, in dread, I cry out to the soul itself,

    yet before it lies what eludes hearing and sight.

  10. هيهات أعياكَ ما أعيا الزمانَ فلا

    تَرْتَبْ وإنْ تستطعْ فاقدرْ كما قدرا

    Beyond reach! What baffled Time has baffled you; do not

    doubt; if you can, ordain as it has ordained.

  11. يا منْ رأى البرقَ بات الليلُ يكلؤُهُ

    كأنه من ضُلوعي مُشبِهٌ سَعَرا

    O you who saw the lightning—the night kept watch over it,

    as though it mirrored a blaze from within my ribs.

  12. نازعتُهُ السُّهدَ حتى كدتُ أَغلبُهُ

    والليلُ عنديَ قد أَوْفَى بما نَذَرا

    I vied with it in sleeplessness until I nearly overcame it,

    and the night, for me, had fulfilled what it vowed.

  13. والنجمُ حيرانُ منْ أَيْنٍ ومن ضَجَرٍ

    فلو هوى أو عَدا مجراه ما شَعَرا

    The star was bewildered by weariness and restlessness;

    had it fallen or strayed beyond its course, it would not have noticed.

  14. والصبحُ يطلبُ في جُنْح الدجى خَلَلاً

    يَلوحُ منه ولو أَلفاه ما جسرا

    Dawn sought a gap in the dark night's wing

    through which to gleam; even had it found one, it would not have dared.

  15. مُزْجَىً أحمُّ النواحي كلما عَرَضَتْ

    له الرُّبى باتَ يُغْشِيهَا ربىً أُخَرا

    Driven onward, black along its edges—whenever

    hills rose before it, it spent the night cloaking them in other hills,

  16. من كلِّ وطفاءَ لم تكذِبْ مخيلتُها

    لو أنها شيمةٌ للدهر ما غدرا

    from every thick-fringed cloud whose promise of rain never lied.

    Had that been Time's character, it would never have betrayed.

  17. سَدَّتْ مهبَّ الصَّبا أعجازُ ريقها

    عن سُدْفَةٍ دونها من هوله غررا

    The rear of its leading clouds barred the east wind's path

    from a darkness, before which lay peril from its terror.

  18. بحرٌ ولا شكَّ إلا لمعَ بارقةٍ

    يكاد يَفْرَقُ منها كلما خَطَرا

    A sea, beyond doubt, except for a lightning flash

    that it almost fears whenever it appears.

  19. قد طبَّقَ الأرضَ منها عارضٌ غَدِقٌ

    ما غضَّ من طله أنْ لم يكنْ مَطرا

    A rain-laden cloudbank from it has covered the earth;

    not being rain diminished none of its dew.

  20. إذا انتحى بلداً أَبْصَرْتَ ساحتَه

    كأنَّه وجهُ معروفٍ إذا شُكِرا

    Whenever it headed toward a land, you saw its open ground

    as though it were the face of a good deed receiving thanks.

  21. فذاك أسْقِي به قبراً بقرطبةٍ

    شهدتُهُ فرأيتُ الفضلَ قد قُبرا

    With that I water a grave in Cordoba,

    which I witnessed, and saw excellence itself buried.

  22. قبرٌ تضمَّنَ من آلِ الربيع سناً

    شمسٍ توارتْ تروقُ الشمسَ والقمرا

    A grave that held, from the family of al-Rabiʿ, the radiance

    of a sun now hidden, that charms the sun and moon.

  23. قبرٌ تركنا به العليا مغمَّسَةً

    ما بين قَسْوَةِ أحجارٍ ولين ثرَى

    A grave in which we left lofty greatness immersed

    between the hardness of stones and the softness of earth.

  24. قبرٌ تركنا به روضَ المنى خَضِلاً

    والشمسَ طالعةً والدمعَ منهمرا

    A grave in which we left the garden of hopes fresh and dewy,

    the sun rising, and tears pouring down.

  25. فقلْ لطلاّبِها والسائلين لها

    ولو حَثَوْنا عليها الأنجمَ الزُّهُرا

    Tell those who seek her and ask after her—

    even if we had heaped the shining stars upon her—

  26. سحُّوا عليه سجالَ الدمع مُتْرَعَةً

    فربما انشقَّ عما يفضحُ الزَّهَرا

    pour over it brimming buckets of tears:

    perhaps it will split open to reveal what puts flowers to shame.

  27. وآبْكُوا به كعبةً أمسَتْ مناسكُها

    ساكنةَ القبر لا حِجْراً ولا حَجَرا

    And weep there for a Kaaba whose sacred rites have come to

    dwell in the grave, not in the Hijr enclosure or the Stone.

  28. ولا تخافُوا عليها أن تضيعَ به

    فإنما هو جَفْنٌ وهي فيه كرى

    Do not fear that she will be lost within it;

    it is only an eyelid, and she is sleep within it.

  29. بالنسك إذ كلُّ أرْضٍ روضةٌ أُنُفٌ

    حُسْناً وكلُّ سماء حُلّةٌ سِيَرا

    In devotion, when every land is a fresh, untouched garden

    in beauty, and every sky a robe of striped silk;

  30. بالحِلْمِ حينَ نَطيشُ الهُضْبُ من نَزَقٍ

    وَتَسْقُطُ الشهبُ من آفاقِها ضَجَرا

    in forbearance, when the hills reel with recklessness

    and shooting stars fall from their horizons in restlessness;

  31. بالجودِ إذ لا تُوَاسي العينُ ناظرَهَا

    ولو أتَى يَجْتَديها السمعُ والبصرا

    in generosity, when the eye will not share with its own pupil,

    even if hearing and sight came begging from it.

  32. يا حسرةً ملأتْ صدرَ الزمانِ أسىً

    أَمْسَى وأصْبَحَ عنها ضيّقاً حَصِرا

    O grief that filled Time's breast with sorrow,

    leaving it, morning and evening, cramped and constricted.

  33. زالتْ جبالُ سروري مِنْ مَواضِعِها

    واستشعرَ الخوفَ منها كلُّ ليثِ شرى

    The mountains of my joy moved from their places,

    and every lion of Shara felt fear of them.

  34. وزالتِ الأرض أو زَلَّتْ بساكنها

    هَبي فقد كاد يَمْضي الليلُ وابتدري

    The earth shifted—or slipped beneath its inhabitant.

    Awake! The night has nearly passed; hasten

  35. مداكِ منه فلو يَسْطيعُ لابتدرا

    وكم أصاخَ المُصَلَّى لو شعرتِ به

    your course through it; if it could, it would have hastened.

    How often the prayer-place listened, if only you knew,

  36. إلى تلاوتِك الآياتِ والسُّوَرَا

    وكم أتاهُ العَذارَى يلتقطْنَ به

    to your recitation of the verses and the surahs.

    How often maidens came to it, gathering there

  37. من دَمْعِ أجفانِكِ المرجانَ والدُّرَرَا

    وَفينَهُ كُنْهَهُ وانظمنها سُبَحاً

    coral and pearls from the tears of your eyelids.

    Give it its full due, and string them into prayer beads,

  38. فربما ذُمَّ بعضُ الحَلْي أو حُظِرَا

    وإن أبيتنَّ إلا عِقْدَ غانيةٍ

    for some adornment may be censured or forbidden.

    If you insist on a necklace for a lovely woman,

  39. فامنحنهُ الحُوْرَ لا نَمْنَحْنَهُ البَشَرا

    من كلِّ مكنونة كالدرّ آنسةٍ

    give it to the houris; let us not give it to mortals.

    Each is a sheltered maiden, pearl-like and companionable,

  40. تَضْحَى بَهَاءً وإنْ لم تَبْرَحِ الخُمُرا

    لمن تركتِ اليتامى إذ تَرَكْتِهِمُ

    radiant with beauty, though she never leaves her veils.

    To whom did you leave the orphans, when you left them

  41. شُعْثَ المفارقِ لا ماء ولا شجرا

    حَوْلي ذَرَاكِ وكانوا يلبثونَ به

    with disheveled hair, without water or trees,

    around your shelter, where they used to stay?

  42. لا تَبْعَدِي أو فلا يَبْعَدْ ذراكِ ذرا

    يا حاملي نعشها أنَّى لخَطْوِكُمُ

    Do not be far away—or let no shelter be far from yours.

    O bearers of her bier, how can your steps go on?

  43. فقد حملتمْ به أُعجوبةً خَطَرا

    ضَعُوه يحْمِلُهُ من ههنا نَفَسٌ

    For in it you carry a marvel of immense worth.

    Set it down: from here, a breath will carry it,

  44. يُورِي الحنينَ ودمعٌ يُغْرِقُ الذكرا

    قد أُزْلِفَتْ جنةُ الفردوسِ واطَّلَعَتْ

    kindling yearning, and tears drowning remembrance.

    The Garden of Paradise has been brought near, and peering out are

  45. جاراتُكِ الحورُ يستهدينكِ الأثرا

    وبتنَ منتظراتٍ والمدى أمَمٌ

    your houri neighbors, asking for a trace of you as a gift.

    They passed the night waiting, and the distance was near;

  46. وقلَّ ما باتَ مسروراً مَنِ انتظرا

    هلِ الحياةُ وإنْ راقتْ بشاشَتُها

    seldom does one who waits pass the night happy.

    Is life, though its brightness delights,

  47. إلا الغمامُ تَسَرّى والخيالُ سرى

    أما الحياءُ فشيءٌ أنتَ غايتُهُ

    anything but a drifting cloud and a phantom passing by night?

    As for modesty, you are its utmost measure,

  48. وإن تَغَاضَى جهولٌ أو إنِ ائْتَمَرا

    استبقِ قلبكَ إنْ قلبُ الأريبِ هفا

    even if a fool looks away or takes counsel.

    Preserve your heart, if even a shrewd man's heart falters;

  49. وكفَّ دَمْعَكَ إنْ دَمْعُ اللبيبِ جرى

    وعاودِ الصبرَ يوماً منك تحظَ به

    restrain your tears, if even a wise man's tears flow.

    Return one day to your own patience, and benefit from it;

  50. فكم وَسَمْتَ به الآصالَ وَالبُكَرا

    وكن كَعَهْديَ والألبابُ طائشةٌ

    how often you have marked with it the evenings and the mornings.

    Be as I have known you, when minds are distraught

  51. والبيضُ تَلْتهمُ الهاماتِ والقِصرا

    وللرَّدى مأربٌ في كلِّ رابئةٍ

    and bright swords devour heads and necks,

    and death has designs on every high lookout,

  52. وقد دعا الجَفَلى داعبه والنَّقرى

    لا تنسَ حظّكَ منْ حُسْنِ العزاء فما

    and its caller has summoned all together and the chosen few.

    Do not forget your share of noble consolation; for you have not

  53. أبديتَ في مثلها جُبْناً ولا خَورَا

    لم آتِ قاصي ما أوْسعْتُها هممي

    shown cowardice or weakness in a trial like this.

    I have not attained the utmost reach of my aspirations for her

  54. من السُّمودِ ولكن جئتُ معتذرا

    عبدٌ أتى تالياً إذ لم يجدْ فَرَطاً

    in exaltation; rather, I have come apologetically.

    A servant who came after others, finding no chance to precede them—

  55. لعله حينَ لم يحججْ قد اعتمرا

    perhaps, though he did not perform the Hajj, he has performed the ʿumrah.