1. تبغي حياة لا تحس صروفها

    وتذم طول تصوبٍ وتصعد

    You seek a life whose vicissitudes you do not feel,

    And deplore the drawn-out descents and ascents.

  2. لهفي عليك وقد تخالجك الأسى

    وعلي من خلق الهموم الأوغد

    Alas for you, as sorrow stirs within you,

    And for me, at the vile nature of cares.

  3. إنا كلينا واجدٌ متجلد

    يخطو إلى الغايات خطو مقيد

    Indeed, we are both grief-stricken, yet steadfast,

    Walking toward our goals with a fettered man's tread.

  4. وكأنما كتب الزمان حياتنا

    بدمٍ كحاشية الظلام الأربد

    And it is as though Time had written our lives

    In blood like the fringe of dusky darkness.

  5. وكأن أسطرها لشدة هول ما

    يوين مرهوب الصلال الشرد

    And as though its lines, from the sheer horror of what

    They [recount?], were dreaded, roaming vipers.

  6. قد كنت أؤمن بالحياة وطيبها

    في ظل أيام الشباب الأبرد

    I once believed in life and its sweetness,

    In the shade of youth's cool days.

  7. فاليوم أكفر بالنعيم كأنني

    أعمى يظل بما به قد يهتدي

    But today I disbelieve in bliss, as though I were

    A blind man who remains blind with what might guide him.

  8. وأمد للدنيا يداً مبتورةً

    وأزل حيث ثبت عثر مصفد

    And I stretch out to the world a severed hand,

    And slip where a stumbling man in fetters stood firm.

  9. وأروح أجني الشوك غير مقلم

    ولكم قطفت جنى الغصون الميد

    And I go gathering thorns left unpruned,

    Yet how often I plucked the fruit of swaying boughs!

  10. عادت ليالينا خريفاً كلها

    لهفي على ورق المنى المتبدد

    Our nights have all become autumn;

    Alas for the scattered leaves of hope!

  11. ما خير عيش صوحت أفنانه

    وتساقطت أوراقهن على اليد

    What good is a life whose boughs have withered,

    And whose leaves have fallen upon the hand?

  12. لكأن من شمل الوجود بعدله

    ما إن يبالينا كأن لم نوجد

    Indeed, it is as though he who encompassed existence with his justice

    Cares nothing for us, as though we had never been.

  13. ماذا يفيد تسخطي وتبرمي

    بالعيش أم ماذا يفيد تجلدي

    What use are my resentment and my discontent

    With life—or what use is my fortitude?

  14. فاردد على مكروهها النفس التي

    ماتت وأنفاس لها لم تخمد

    So bring back to life's hardships the soul that

    Has died, though its breaths have not gone out.

  15. واقر الهموم إذا حضرن قوافيا

    تنسيك ثقل ظلالهن الركد

    And when cares come, treat them to rhymes

    That make you forget the weight of their motionless shadows,

  16. كالطفل يصرخ في الظلام لعله

    ينسى مخاوفه إذا لم تطرد

    Like a child who cries out in the dark, hoping

    To forget his fears if they are not driven away.