فَهَل بِلادٌ يُعَرّي المَوتُ ساكِنَها

فَهَل بِلادٌ يُعَرّي المَوتُ ساكِنَها

فَيُبتَغى في الثُرَيّا ذَلِكَ البَلَدُ

فَيُبتَغى في الثُرَيّا ذَلِكَ البَلَدُ

Is there, then, a land whose inhabitant death spares,

Is there a country whose people death lays bare,

that this land might be sought among the Pleiades?

So that country may be sought in luxuriant wilds?

يَشقى الوَليدُ وَيَشقى والِداهُ بِهِ

يَشقى الوَليدُ وَيَشقى والِداهُ بِهِ

وَفازَ مَن لَم يُوَلِّه عَقلَهُ وَلَدُ

وَفازَ مَن لَم يُوَلِّه عَقلَهُ وَلَدُ

The newborn suffers, and his parents suffer because of him;

The newborn is wretched, his parents wretched because of him,

fortunate is he whose mind no child has driven to distraction.

And he prospers who was not misled by his mind into having a child.

أَِذا تَلَبَّسَ بِالشُجعانِ جَنبَهُمُ

أَِذا تَلَبَّسَ بِالشُجعانِ جَنبَهُمُ

وَبِالكِرامِ أَسَرُّ الضَنِّ أَو صَلَدوا

وَبِالكِرامِ أَسَرُّ الضَنِّ أَو صَلَدوا

When their [cowardice] clings to the brave,

When he joins the brave, their neighbors,

and the most hidden avarice to the generous—or they grow unyielding—

Or the generous, whether miserly or destitute,

عَظمٌ وَنَحضٌ تَبَنّى مِنهُما طَلَلٌ

عَظمٌ وَنَحضٌ تَبَنّى مِنهُما طَلَلٌ

كَأَنَّها الأَرضُ مِنها السَهلُ وَالجَلَدُ

كَأَنَّها الأَرضُ مِنها السَهلُ وَالجَلَدُ

they are bone and flesh, a bodily frame built from the two,

Greatness and leanness have built from them ruins

as though it were the earth, with its soft ground and its hard.

As though the land, the plain, and the hill were made from it.