1. تضاءلَ الدهرُ حتى ضاعَ في هممى

    واستفحلَ الهمُّ حتى صار من شيمي

    Time dwindled until it vanished amid my ambitions,

    and care grew mighty until it became one of my traits.

  2. ولو يكون سوادُ الشعر في ذممى

    ما كان للشيب سلطانٌ على اللمَمِ

    And were the blackness of hair under my protection,

    gray hair would have no dominion over the locks.

  3. فالعيشُ من نِعَمى والموتُ من نقمى

    وحكمةُ الفلكِ الدوارِ من حِكمِي

    So life is among my favors, and death among my punishments,

    and the revolving sphere's wisdom comes from my wisdom.

  4. والحزم والعزم في الاقوام من خُلقى

    كما الفصاحةُ في الاقوالِ من كَلِمَي

    And prudence and resolve among peoples come from my character,

    just as eloquence in speech comes from my words.

  5. ما يَشبعُ الدهرُ يا هندُ ابنةَ الحكمِ

    من غيرِ لحمى ولا يَرويه غيرُ دمي

    Time is never sated, O Hind, daughter of al-Hakam,

    by anything but my flesh, nor does anything but my blood slake it,

  6. ولو أَراقَ دماءَ الناسِ كلهِم

    ولم يدع لهم لحماً على وضمِ

    even if it shed the blood of all people

    and left them no flesh upon a butcher's block.

  7. انَّ الليالى والايامَ لو علَقتْ

    جرينَ في الخلقِ عن رمحى وعن قلمي

    Indeed, if the nights and days were to cling,

    they would flow through creation from my spear and my pen,

  8. عن أَسبقِ الناسِ للاقدارِ في مَهَلٍ

    منه وأكرمَ في الدنيا من الكَرَمِ

    from the man quickest of all to meet destiny, with unhurried ease

    on his part, and nobler in this world than nobility itself.

  9. أَعلى من النجم بل أَهدى بغرته

    للمهتدينَ وأَسرى منه في الظلمِ

    Higher than the star—nay, a better guide by his bright brow

    for those seeking guidance, and farther-ranging than it in darkness.

  10. لو يعرف الناسُ قدرى في زمانهم

    صلوا لوجهيَ أَو باسوا ثَرى قَدَمي

    If people knew my worth in their time,

    they would pray toward my face or kiss the dust beneath my foot.

  11. ما زلت اعطف أَيامى فتمنُحني

    نيلا أَدقَّ من المعدومِ في العدمِ

    I have never ceased coaxing my days, and they grant me

    a gain finer than the nonexistent in nothingness.

  12. وأَستكين لها طوراً وارهبها

    فلا تزيد مقالاتى على الصممِ

    And at times I yield to them, and I threaten them,

    but my words meet nothing beyond deafness,

  13. حتى تخوف صرفُ الدهرِ بادرتى

    فرد كفى وأَما أَنْ يسُدَّ فَمي

    until Time's vicissitudes feared my sudden attack

    and checked my hand; but as for shutting my mouth...

  14. العمر يمضى وما أَمضيت همتَه

    أَأَنتَ منتبهٌ أَم أَنت في الحُلُمِ

    Life passes, yet you have not fulfilled its ambition.

    Are you awake, or are you in a dream?

  15. فَوّق سهامَكَ وارمِ الناسِ عن عَرضٍ

    واركبْ من الامرِ أَدناه الى الأَلَمِ

    Nock your arrows and shoot at people at random,

    and pursue the course of action nearest to pain.

  16. أَصبحتَ بين رجالٍ كل تجربةٍ

    تضل فيهم من المستبصرِ الفَهِمِ

    You now stand among men: every test

    by the clear-sighted, discerning man goes astray among them.

  17. لا تبقِ منهم على شخصٍ ظفرتَ به

    انْ كانَ رأيكَ سَلُّ السيفِ في الاممِ

    Spare not one of them whom you overcome,

    if your judgment is to draw the sword among nations.

  18. أَذُمُّ كلَّ خليلٍ باتَ يحمَدُنى

    أنا الذي ماله خِلٌّ سِوى النَّدمِ

    I condemn every friend who has spent the night praising me;

    I am the one who has no friend but regret.

  19. وَأتَهَمَتْني المعالى في مودتها

    انْ كنتُ أعرف خلقاً غيرَ متهمِ

    And may lofty honors suspect me in my love for them,

    if I know any person beyond suspicion.

  20. طلبتُ صحةَ وُدِّ الناسِ واعجباً

    أَمراً طلبتُ ولا يخلو من السقمِ

    I sought soundness in people's affection—how strange!

    I sought a thing that is never free of sickness.

  21. وليس سؤلكَ يا قلبى سِوى رَهَجٍ

    تجوره من دمِ الفرسانِ بالديمِ

    And your wish, O my heart, is nothing but a dust cloud

    that you wrong with steady rains of horsemen's blood.

  22. كَمْ كَمْ تحنُّ الى الارواحِ من ظمأٍ

    وكم تَتُوقُ الى الاجسامِ من قَرمِ

    How often, how often you yearn for souls out of thirst,

    and how often you crave bodies out of hunger for flesh!

  23. ااذ منحتُ ثنياتِ اللوى كَتِفى

    فابشرْ بألهوبِ نارِ الفتنةِ العرمِ

    When I turn my shoulder away from the bends of al-Liwa,

    then rejoice in the fierce blaze of strife's fire.

  24. مَنْ أَحسنَ السعيَ فيما شاءَ فهو لهُ

    الرزقُ بالسعي ثم الرزق بالقَسَمِ

    Whoever strives well for what he desires shall have it.

    Livelihood comes through striving, then livelihood through allotment.

  25. مالى رضيتُ بقعرِ البيتِ منزلةٍ

    وليسَ ترضى سيوف الهندِ عن هِمَمِي

    Why have I accepted the depths of the house as a dwelling,

    while India's swords are not content with my ambitions,

  26. حتى أُعيدَ الدُّجى صبحاً برونقها

    وأُلبِسَ الشمسَ أَثواباً من القَتَمِ

    until I turn darkness into dawn with their gleam

    and clothe the sun in robes of dark dust?

  27. لولاى لم تسكنِ الحياتُ من حَذَرِ

    بَطْنَ الترابِ ولا الاسادُ في الأجَمِ

    Were it not for me, snakes would not dwell, out of fear,

    in the belly of the earth, nor lions in the thickets.

  28. من للرماحِ اذا القيتُ في الرَّجمِ

    ومن يُحكمُ بيضَ الهندِ في القِمَمِ

    Who will be there for the spears when I am cast into the grave-mound,

    and who will wield India's white blades upon the crowns of heads?

  29. ومن تُرَوّعُ قلبَ الليل خيفَتُه

    اذا رماه بحدِّ الانيق الرُسَمِ

    And whose dread will terrify the heart of night

    when he strikes it with the sharp pace of swift-trotting she-camels?

  30. يحملنَ كلَّ بعيدِ الهمِ مشتَرِقٍ

    ينامُ دهرُكَ عنه وهو لم ينمِ

    They carry every man of far-reaching ambition, choked with care;

    your Time sleeps heedless of him, while he has not slept.

  31. يَرمى بعزمِتهِ أَطرافَ هِمَّته

    ويأخذَ الامرَ أَخذَ الموتِ بالكَظمِ

    He shoots with his resolve at the farthest reaches of his ambition,

    and seizes affairs as death grips the throat.