فهم في بطون الأرض بعد ظهورها

محاسنهم فيها بوال دوائر

So they lie in the earth's depths after dwelling on its surface;

Their beauties there are decayed and effaced.

خَلَت دورهم منهم وأقوت عراصهُم

وساقتهُمُ نحو المنايا المقادرُ

Their homes are empty of them, their courtyards deserted,

And fate's decrees drove them toward their deaths.

وخلوا عن الدنيا وما جمعوا لها

وضَمّهُمُ تحت التراب الحفائر

They departed from the world and what they had amassed for it,

And burial pits enclosed them beneath the dust.

وأنت على الدنيا مكبّ منافسٌ

لخُطّابها فيها حريصٌ مكاثر

Yet you are bent upon the world, competing

With its suitors, eager for it, vying for more.

على خطرٍ تمسي وتصبح لاهباً

أتدري بماذا لو عقلت تخاطرُ

In peril you pass your evenings and mornings, ablaze;

Do you know what you are risking, if you had sense?

وإن امرءاً يسعى لدنياهُ دائباً

ويذهلُ عن أخراهُ لا شكّ خاسرُ

Surely a person who labors tirelessly for his worldly life

And neglects his hereafter is, without doubt, a loser.

وفي ذكر هول الموت والقبر والبلى

عن اللهو واللّذاتِ للمرء زاجر

In remembering the terror of death, the grave, and decay

Lies a deterrent for man from diversion and pleasures.

أبعد اقتراب الأربعين ترَبُّصٌ

وشيبُ قذال منذر لك ظاهر

After nearing forty, will you still delay,

While gray hair at the back of your head is a plain warning to you?

كأنّك معنيٌّ بما هو ضائرٌ

لنفسك عمدا وعن الرشد جائرُ

As though you were intent upon what is harmful

To your soul, deliberately straying from right guidance.

أمسوا رميماً في التراب وعطّلت

مجالسهُم منهم وأخلى مقاصرُ

They became decayed remains in the dust, and deserted lay

Their gathering places, bereft of them, and their chambers stood empty.

وحلوا بدار لا تزاور بينهُم

وأنّى لسكّان القبور التزاورُ

They settled in an abode where none visit one another;

How can the dwellers in graves visit one another?

فما أن ترى إلّا قبوراً ثووا بها

مسطّحةً تسفي عليها الأعاصرُ

You see nothing but graves in which they have settled,

Flat-topped, with whirlwinds scattering dust over them.

فما صرفت كفّ المنية إذ أتت

مبادرة تهوي إليها الذخائر

Death's hand, when it came, was not turned aside

By treasures, as it hastened, swooping toward them.

ولا دفعت عنك الحصون التي بنى

وحفّ بها أنهارهُ والدساكر

Nor did the fortresses he built defend you,

Surrounding them with his rivers and estates.

ولا قارعت عنك المنية حيلةٌ

ولا طمعت في الذبّ عنه العساكرُ

No stratagem fought death off on your behalf,

Nor did armies hope to ward it off from him.

مليكٌ عزيزٌ لا يردّ قضاؤه

حكيمٌ عليمٌ نافذُ الأمرِ قاهر

A mighty sovereign whose decree cannot be repelled,

Wise, all-knowing, irresistible in command, all-subduing.

عنى كل ذي عزّ لعزّه وجهه

فكم من عزيز للمهيمنِ صاغرُ

Every mighty one's face is humbled before His might;

How many a mighty one is abased before the Guardian!

لقد خضعت واستسلمت وتضاءلت

لعزّة ذي العرش الملوكُ الجبابر

Indeed, they have bowed, surrendered, and dwindled—

The tyrant kings—before the might of the Lord of the Throne.

وفي دون ما عاينت من فجعاتِها

إلى دفعها داع وبالزهد آمرُ

In even less than what you witnessed of its calamities

Is a call to reject it and a command to renunciation.

فجُدّ ولا تغفل وكن متيقظاً

فعمّا قليل بترك الدار عامر

Be earnest, do not be heedless, and stay alert;

For soon the dweller must leave the abode.

فشمّر ولا تفتر فعمرك زائلٌ

وأنت على دار الإقامة صائر

Gird yourself and do not slacken, for your life is passing away,

And you are bound for the abode of permanence.

ولا تطلب الدنيا فإن نعيمها

وإن نلت منها غبّه لك ضائر

Do not seek the world: its delight,

Even if you attain it, has an aftermath that harms you.

ألا لا ولكنّا نغرّ نفوسنا

وتشغلنا اللّذاتُ عما نحاذرُ

Indeed, no! Yet we deceive ourselves,

And pleasures distract us from what we dread.

وكيف يلَذّ العيش من هو موقفٌ

بموقف عدل يوم تبلى السرائرُ

How can one relish life who will be made to stand

At a just tribunal on the day when secrets are laid bare?

كأنّا نرى أن لا نشور وأنّنا

صدىً ما لنا بعد الممات مصادر

As though we believed there were no resurrection, and that we

Were lifeless remains, with no return for us after death.

أما قد نرى في كل يوم وليلة

يروح علينا صرفها ويباكرُ

Do we not see, every day and night,

Its vicissitudes come upon us at evening and at dawn?

تعاورنا آفاتها وهمومها

وكم قد ترى يبقى لها المتعاورُ

Its afflictions and cares assail us in turn;

And how long, do you think, can one thus assailed remain in it?

فلا هو مغبوط بدنياه آمنٌ

ولا هو عن تطلابها النفسَ قاصرُ

He is neither enviable in his worldly life nor secure,

Nor does he hold his soul back from pursuing it.

بل أوردتهُ بعد عزّ ومنعةٍ

موارد سوء ما لهنّ مصادر

Rather, after might and protection, it brought him

To evil watering places with no way out.

فلمّا رأى أن لا نجاة وأنّه

هو الموت لا ينجيه منه التحاذرُ

When he saw there was no escape, and that it

Was death, from which no caution could save him,

تندّم إذ لم تغنِ عنه ندامةٌ

عليه وأبكتهُ الذنوب الكبائرُ

He felt regret—when regret could not avail him—

Over it, and his grievous sins made him weep.

أحاطت به أحزانه وهمومُهُ

وأبلسَ لما أعجزتهُ المقادرُ

His sorrows and cares surrounded him,

And he despaired when fate's decrees made him powerless.

فليسَ له من كربةِ الموت فارجٌ

وليس له ممّا يحاذرُ ناصرُ

There is none to relieve him of death's anguish,

And he has no helper against what he dreads.

وقد جشأت خوفَ المنيّة نفسهُ

يردّدها بين اللهاة الحناجرُ

And his soul had surged upward in fear of death,

The throats tossing it back and forth beside the uvula.

فكم موجع يبكي عليه مفجّع

ومستنجد صبراً وما هو صابرُ

How many a grief-stricken, bereaved mourner weeps over him,

And one seeks patience for support, yet is not patient;

ومسترجع داع له اللّه مخلصا

يعدّد منه كلّ ما هو ذاكر

And one says, 'To God we return,' praying sincerely to God for him,

Recounting all that he remembers of him.

وكم شامت مستبشر بوفاتهِ

وعمّا قليل للّذي صار صائرُ

And how many a gloater rejoices at his death,

Yet soon will go where he has gone.

وحلّ أحبّ القوم كان بقربهِ

يحثّ على تجهيزه ويبادرُ

The dearest of his people, who had been near him, arrived,

Urging his preparation for burial and hastening.

وشمّر من قد أحضروه لغسلهِ

ووجّه لما فاض للقبر حافرُ

The one they had summoned for his washing girded himself,

And when he expired, a digger was sent to the grave.

وكفّن في ثوبين واجتمعت له

مشيّعةٌ إخوانهُ والعشائر

He was shrouded in two garments, and there gathered for him

As funeral escorts, his brothers and the clans.

لعاينت من قبح المنيّة منظراً

يهالُ لمرآهُ ويرتاع ناظرُ

You would have witnessed a sight of death's ugliness

At whose sight the beholder is horrified and startled:

أكابرُ أولاد يهيج اكتئابهُم

إذا ما تناساه البنون الأصاغرُ

Older children, whose grief is stirred

When the younger sons put him out of mind;

ورنّة نسوان عليه جوازعٌ

مدامعهم فوق الخدود غوازرُ

And the wailing of women, anguished over him,

Their tears flowing abundantly over their cheeks.

فوَلّوا عليه معولين وكلّهُم

لمثل الذي لاقى أخوه محاذرُ

So they turned, wailing over him, and every one of them

Dreads the like of what his brother has met.

كشاءٍ رتاع آمنين بدا لها

بمديتهِ بادي الذراعينِ حاسرُ

Like sheep grazing in safety, before which appears

A man with his knife, both forearms laid bare.

فريعت ولم ترتع قليلاً وأجفلت

فلمّا نأى عنها الذي هو جازرُ

They took fright, ceased grazing briefly, and bolted;

Then, when the butcher moved away from them—

ثوى مفرداً في لحده وتوزّعَت

مواريثهُ أولادهُ والأصاهرُ

He lay alone in his burial niche, while they divided up

His inheritances—his children and his in-laws.

وأحنوا على أمواله يقسِمونها

فلا حامدٌ منهم عليها وشاكرُ

And bent over his possessions, dividing them,

With none among them praising or giving thanks for them.

فيا عامر الدنيا ويا ساعيا لها

ويا آمناً من أن تدور الدوائرُ

O builder of the world, O one striving for it,

And O you who feel safe from reversals of fortune,

ولم تتزَوّد للرّحيل وقد دنا

وأنت على حال وشيكٍ مسافرُ

You have taken no provisions for departure, though it is near,

And you, as you are, will soon be a traveler.

فيا لهف نفسي كم أسوّف توبتي

وعمريَ فانٍ والرّدى لي ناظرُ

Alas for my soul! How often I postpone my repentance,

While my life is passing away and death watches for me.

وكلّ الذي أسلفتُ في الصحف مثبتٌ

يُجازي عليه عادل الحكم قادر

And all that I have sent ahead is recorded in the scrolls,

To be requited by One just in judgment, powerful.

تخرّبُ ما يبقى وتعمر فانياً

فلا ذاك موفورٌ ولا ذاك عابرُ

You ruin what endures and build up what perishes,

So neither is the one preserved nor the other passing.

وهل لك إن وافاك حتفُك بغتةً

ولم تكتسب خيرا لدى اللّه عاذرُ

If your death suddenly overtakes you, will you have

Anyone to excuse you before God, when you have earned no good?

أترضى بأن تفنى الحياةُ وتنقضي

ودينكَ منقوصٌ ومالك وافرُ

Are you content that life should perish and come to an end,

While your faith is diminished and your wealth abundant?