1. أحس لو ينفعني حسي

    تهكما للشيب في رأسي

    I feel—if only my feeling could avail me—

    mockery of the gray hair on my head.

  2. لا يعترضني أحد إنني

    غضبان في يومي على أمسى

    Let no one oppose me, for I

    am angry today with my yesterday.

  3. ان اموري اليوم في موطني

    يجرين بعد النور في دمس

    My affairs today, in my homeland,

    proceed through darkness after light.

  4. وليس يجرين كما اشتهى

    بل انما يجرين بالعكس

    They do not proceed as I desire;

    rather, they proceed only in reverse.

  5. قد اخذت تغرب شمسي به

    شاحبة صفراء كالورس

    My sun has begun to set there,

    pale, yellow as wars dye.

  6. لو كان امسى سيره صالحا

    لم يجتلب لي اليوم من بؤس

    Had my yesterday followed a sound course,

    it would not have brought me misery today.

  7. عتبي على نفسي فلو احمدت

    ما كان في شيبي من بأس

    My reproach is for myself; had I done well,

    there would have been no harm in my gray hair.

  8. وليس في شيبي من علة

    بل انما العلة في نفسي

    There is no defect in my gray hair;

    rather, the defect lies only in myself.

  9. نظمت شعري من شعور له

    اخلصت من مشاعري الخمس

    I composed my verse from a feeling

    I distilled for it from my five senses.

  10. غرسته في عدوتي دجلة

    فلم يرق ابناءها غرسي

    I planted it on the Tigris's two banks,

    but my planting did not please her sons.

  11. كأنهم اذ قلعوا خير ما

    غرسته قد قلعوا ضرسي

    As though, when they uprooted the best of what

    I had planted, they uprooted my molar.

  12. كنت شريكا بينا صدقه

    للقوم في المأتم والعرس

    I was a companion whose sincerity was clear

    to the people, in mourning and at weddings.

  13. امقت من قومي ومن خيمهم

    تعصب الاغرار والحمس

    I detest in my people and their character

    the fanaticism of the naive and the zealots.

  14. يحاسبون الحر في امره

    حتى على النبأة والهجس

    They hold the free man to account in his affairs,

    even for a faint utterance and a passing thought.

  15. باعوا من الجهل الذي عندهم

    دنياهم بالثمن البخس

    Out of the ignorance they possess, they sold

    their world for a paltry price.

  16. واجهزوا على عقول سمت

    طمساً لها والموت في الطمس

    And they dealt a deathblow to minds that rose high,

    obliterating them—and in obliteration lies death.

  17. اجتمعوا البا يريدون ان

    يحاربوا الالباب بالدس

    They united as a hostile band, seeking to

    combat intellects through intrigue.

  18. لست ابالي القوم فليجمعوا

    علي كل الجن والانس

    I care nothing for the people; let them rally

    all jinn and humankind against me.

  19. تحسبهم اما النهار عتلى

    ملائكا في حضرة القدس

    By day you take them—brutes though they are—

    for angels in the holy presence.

  20. وان اتى الليل فهم اذؤب

    والليل يوم الاذؤب الطلس

    But when night comes, they are wolves;

    and night is the day of the dusky wolves.

  21. لم ينزعوا الا الى مثلهم

    كذلك الجنس الى الجنس

    They gravitate only toward their own kind;

    so does kind draw toward kind.

  22. وانما اغراؤهم فتنة

    كالنار تحت الحطب اليبس

    Their incitement is nothing but strife,

    like fire beneath dry firewood.

  23. لا بد من كنس لادرانهم

    لا تنظف الارض بلا كنس

    Their filth must be swept away;

    the earth cannot be cleansed without sweeping.

  24. تاللَه ان القوم في حاجة

    الى طيب حاذق نطس

    By God, the people are in need

    of a skilled, discerning physician,

  25. الى طبيب علمه وافر

    يعرف سير اداء بالجس

    of a physician whose knowledge is abundant,

    who knows the course of disease by touch.

  26. لانهضة من غير حرية

    فهي من البنيان كالأس

    There is no revival without freedom,

    for it is to a building as its foundation.

  27. يئست من قومي حتى لقد

    اوشك ان يقتلني يأسي

    I have despaired of my people so much that

    my despair is close to killing me.

  28. كم من عويص كنت حلاله

    من بعد ما محصه درسي

    How many a knotty problem I have solved

    after my study had thoroughly sifted it!

  29. اثبته من بعد اخلاصه

    حقيقة تلمع في الطرس

    I recorded it, once purified,

    as a truth gleaming on the page.

  30. آنست في طور النهى ناره

    والليل يلقى الرعب في النفس

    I perceived its fire on the mountain of reason,

    while night casts terror into the soul.

  31. فجئته ادنى الخطى قابساً

    ولم اخف صعقي لدى القبس

    So I came to it with short steps, seeking a flame,

    and did not fear being thunderstruck beside the flame.

  32. ورب شخص جاءني حانقا

    لم يتبين كنهه حدسي

    And many a person came to me enraged,

    whose true nature my intuition could not discern.

  33. قد وقع الضوء على وجهه

    فما ازال الضوء من لبس

    Light had fallen on his face,

    yet the light dispelled none of the ambiguity.

  34. وعائب حبي لدنيا بها

    احيا وهل في الحب من رجس

    And someone faults my love for the world in which

    I live—but is there any defilement in love?

  35. دنياي لا ابرح صبا بها

    فانما في ارضها غرسي

    My world—I never cease to be in love with it,

    for in its soil alone is my planting;

  36. وانما في ليلها انجمي

    وانما في يومها شمسي

    and in its night alone are my stars,

    and in its day alone is my sun.

  37. فان اعش كان بها نقلتي

    وان امت كان بها رمسي

    If I live, my travels will be within it;

    and if I die, my grave will be within it.

  38. وطالما قد كلمتني بها

    انجمها بالسن خرس

    And how often, within it, I have been addressed

    by its stars with voiceless tongues.

  39. وطالما قد طلعت شمسها

    موحية شعرا الى نفسي

    And how often its sun has risen,

    inspiring poetry in my soul.

  40. وطالما نبهني من كرى

    مالنسيم الصبح من همس

    And how often I have been roused from slumber

    by the whisper of the morning breeze.

  41. ذكرت ايامي بشرخ الصبا

    اذ انا في لهو وفي انس

    I remembered my days in the bloom of youth,

    when I lived in play and companionship,

  42. اذ كنت والاهواء تقتادني

    اصبح فيها غير ما امسى

    when, with passions leading me,

    amid them I was different at dawn from what I was at dusk.

  43. من عجب اني لم انسها

    وفي هموم النفس ما ينسى

    It is a wonder that I have not forgotten them,

    though the soul has cares that make one forget.

  44. واليوم تلقاني اسعى الى

    سعدي فلا القى سوي نحسي

    And today you find me striving toward

    my happiness, yet finding only my misfortune.

  45. اطال حبسي الدهر في ضيق

    ماذا يريد الدهر من حبسي

    Time has long imprisoned me in distress;

    what does Time want from my imprisonment?

  46. اشربني من خمره حسوة

    وشح ان يملأ لي كأسي

    It made me drink a sip of its wine,

    but grudged filling my cup for me.

  47. الذنب ذنبي انني اخترت من

    نفسي رهبانية القس

    The fault is mine: I chose

    of my own accord the priest's monastic life.

  48. من لي بكأس مرة ثرة

    فالفكر نار وهي في رأسي

    Who will give me a bitter, brimming cup?

    For thought is fire, and it is in my head.

  49. اسعى الى سعدي في خارجي

    وانما سعدي في نفسي

    I seek my happiness outside myself,

    yet my happiness is only within myself.