رَجاءٌ دُونَ أَقْرَبِه السَّحابُ

وَوَعْدٌ مِثْلُ مَا لَمَعَ الْسَّرَابُ

Hope without its nearest cloud,

And a promise like the mirage's gleam,

وتَسويفٌ يَكِلُّ الصَّبر عَنْهُ

وَمَطْلٌ مَا يَقُومُ لَهُ حِسَابُ

And dallying that makes patience fail regarding it,

And a delay for which no reckoning can avail,

وَدَهْرٌ سَادَتِ الْعُبدانُ فِيهِ

وَعاثَتْ في جَوَانِبِهِ الذِّئابُ

And a time wherein the servants had mastery therein,

And on its sides the wolves were prowling free,

وأَيَّامٌ خَلَتْ مِنْ كُلِّ خَيْرٍ

وَدُنَيا قَدْ تَوَزَّعَهَا الكلَابُ

And days that have gone from all good lacking,

And a world which the dogs have shared among them,

كِلابٌ لَوْ سَأَلْتَهُمُ تُرَاباً

لَقالوا عِنْدَنا انْقَطَعَ التُّرَابُ

Dogs, were you to ask them dust,

They would say "With us dust has failed and ceased."

يُعَاقَبُ مَنْ أَسَاءَ الْقَوْلَ فِيهِمْ

وَإِنْ يُحْسِنْ فَلَيْسَ لَهُ ثَوَابُ

He who spoke evil of them is chastised,

And though he speak good thereof no reward has he.