1. ما للحياة وراء الموت تجديد

    فلا يقوم من الاجداث ملحود

    Life has no renewal beyond death;

    So no one entombed rises from the graves.

  2. فيها النهار كليل لا صباح له

    اما الليالي فتلكم كلها سود

    In them, day is like a night with no morning;

    As for the nights, they are all black.

  3. القبر آخر بيت للألى هلكوا

    والحس في الهالك الملحود مفقود

    The grave is the last home of those who have perished;

    And the entombed dead have no sensation.

  4. فليس يدرى الذي هيل التراب على

    جثمانه ان ما يحويه اخدود

    For he does not know—the one who had earth heaped upon

    His body—that what encloses him is a trench.

  5. ولي الشتاء وانواء الشتاء وقد

    جاء الربيع ولما يورق العود

    Winter and winter's storms have passed, and already

    Spring has come, but the bough has not yet sprouted leaves.

  6. هناك جذع على الارض الخلاء لقى

    كأنه في مهب الريح جلمود

    There lies a tree trunk, discarded on the barren ground,

    As though it were a boulder in the wind's path.

  7. وهكذا المرء شلو في نهايته

    وهكذا المرء منه الركن مهدود

    And thus man is a carcass at his end;

    And thus man's supporting pillar is broken down.

  8. اما القصور فتلكم في مناكبها

    مثل القبور عباديد عباديد

    As for palaces, there they are across the earth's reaches,

    Like graves—scattered, scattered.

  9. للحي جهد جهيد للحياة وما

    للميت كيما يدوم الموت مجهود

    The living labor strenuously for life, but no

    Effort is needed from the dead for death to endure.

  10. سل الجماعات من عرب ومن عجم

    هل بينهم واحد في العيش مسعود

    Ask the multitudes of Arabs and non-Arabs:

    Is even one among them fortunate in life?

  11. اشكوا الى اللَه تعساً لا يفارقني

    كأنه بي حتى الموت معقود

    I complain to God of misery that never leaves me,

    As though it were bound to me until death.

  12. داء عقام واوجاع مبرحة

    وفوقهن من الاشرار تهديد

    An incurable disease and excruciating pains,

    And on top of them, threats from the wicked.

  13. لم يبق لي غير باب الموت منفتحا

    وكل باب سواه فهو مسدود

    Only the door of death remains open to me;

    And every door besides it is barred.

  14. اليوم التمس اللذات كاذبة

    في ذكر عهد به انصاعت لي الغيد

    Today I seek illusory pleasures

    In recalling a time when graceful women yielded to me.

  15. لقد تلقص ظل كنت الزمه

    من الشباب زمانا وهو ممدود

    Indeed, the shade has shrunk; I used to cling to it—

    Youth's shade—for a time while it was outspread.

  16. لا خمرة منه لي احسو سلافتها

    ولا على كرمة الآمال عنقود

    No wine from it is left for me to sip its choicest draught,

    Nor is there a grape cluster on the vine of hopes.

  17. كان الشباب ربيعاً فيه تطربني

    من العصافير في الصبح الاغاريد

    Youth was a springtime in which I was gladdened

    By the birds' songs in the morning.

  18. مات الشباب وافراح الشباب معاً

    الا هموما بهن الروح مكدود

    Youth and the joys of youth died together,

    Save for cares that leave the soul worn out.