1. يا ظلام النفس رفقاً بالأولى

    ظلم الدهر وقدما ظلموا

    O darkness of the soul, be gentle with those

    whom Time has wronged, though once they wronged others.

  2. رقدوا في ساحة الهم وقد

    كانت الدنيا لهم تبتسم

    They lay in sorrow's courtyard, though

    the world had once smiled upon them.

  3. قد طوى الدهر سماء لمعت

    لهم من قبل فيها أنجم

    Time has folded away a sky in which there shone

    stars for them in former days.

  4. جفت الخمر ففي الكأس دم

    وكذا الدنيا خمور فدم

    The wine has dried up; there is blood in the cup.

    And so is the world: wines, then blood.

  5. نكسوا الطرف وقد لاحت لهم

    صور عن سعدهم تزدحم

    They lowered their gaze as there appeared to them

    images of their happiness, crowding together.

  6. ندموا عما جنت أيديهم

    حيث لا ينفع يوما ندم

    They regretted what their hands had wrought,

    where regret will never avail.

  7. فهمو كالليث يبكي يائسا

    وحرام أن يضام الضيغم

    For they are like a lion weeping in despair,

    and it is forbidden to wrong the mighty lion.

  8. انما الدمع لسان ناطق

    يتولى قلب من لا يرحم

    Tears are but a speaking tongue,

    holding sway over the heart of one who shows no mercy.

  9. غير أن الدهر سيف حده

    قاطع فيه القضاء المبرم

    But Time is a sword whose edge

    is sharp; within it lies irrevocable fate.

  10. وقفت في ساحة القصر وقد

    وقفت فيه قديماً تظلم

    She stood in the palace courtyard, where

    she had once stood, inflicting wrong.

  11. ترسل الدمع على الخد دما

    والأسى في رأسها يرتطم

    She sheds tears upon her cheek as blood,

    and sorrow crashes about inside her head.

  12. لا ترى في يومها السعد وقد

    حجب السعد غمام مرزم

    She sees no happiness in her day, for

    a thundering cloud has veiled happiness.

  13. فإذا الصبح أتاها ضاحكا

    هالها منه سواد أقتم

    And when dawn comes to her laughing,

    its murky blackness appalls her.

  14. وغذا الزخر رنا مبتسما

    وجدت في الزهر ناراً تضرم

    And when the flowers gaze, smiling,

    she finds a fire blazing among the flowers.

  15. تسمع الجيش يلبى ربه

    ليس في الجيش أصم أبكم

    She hears the army answer its lord;

    none in the army is deaf or mute.

  16. كل مغوار يرى الروح فدى

    لبلاد في حماها يكرم

    Every valiant warrior deems his life a ransom

    for a land in whose shelter he is honored.

  17. وترى الأعداء هبوا للوغى

    وعلى النصر جميعاً أقسموا

    And she sees the enemies rise to battle,

    and all have sworn to achieve victory.

  18. زمر ماجت كبحر مزبد

    قادها من للردى يقتحم

    Bands surged like a foaming sea,

    led by one who plunges into death:

  19. اسد لا يرهب الموت وهل

    يرهب الموت الجرىء المقدم

    a lion who does not fear death—and does

    a bold, intrepid man fear death?

  20. فكأن الأرض ميدان به

    كل حي ثائر منتقم

    It is as though the earth were an arena where

    every living being is a rebel bent on vengeance.

  21. خافت العقبى وما الخوف سوى

    صارم يقطر منه الألم

    She feared the outcome, and fear is nothing but

    a sharp sword from which pain drips.

  22. هي بين النصر والأسر غدت

    شبحاً قد غاب عنه الكلم

    Between victory and captivity she became

    a specter from which speech had fled.

  23. أسلمت للشك قلباً هالعاً

    فهو من أظفاره لا يسلم

    She surrendered a terrified heart to doubt,

    so it cannot escape doubt's claws.

  24. نادت الموت وما هابته إذ

    كل عيش بالردى يختتم

    She called to death and did not fear it, since

    every life ends in death.

  25. كان أنطنيوس صباً مغرما

    فانقضى الحب ومات المغرم

    Antony was a passionate, enamored lover;

    then love ended, and the lover died.

  26. مات والآلام تستهدفه

    والأسى يلهو به والتهم

    He died with pains taking him as their target,

    and sorrow and accusations toyed with him.

  27. مات مكلوم الحشا منتحراً

    ناقماً طورا وطورا يندم

    He died, wounded at heart, by his own hand,

    resentful one moment, repentant the next.

  28. هو والخنجر في أحشائه

    شبح للياس يعلوه الدم

    With the dagger in his entrails, he was

    a specter of despair, covered in blood.

  29. جاءه نعى التي فارقها

    حية يسعى اليها الكرم

    News came to him of the death of the woman he had left

    alive, with nobility hastening toward her.

  30. لم تكن ماتت ولكن هالها

    موتها والصب حي ينعم

    She had not died, but she dreaded

    her own death while her lover lived in ease.

  31. أين من ضحى لها أوطانه

    لم يعض القلب منه الندم

    Where is the man who sacrificed his homelands for her,

    whose heart remorse had never gnawed?

  32. صائخا للحب لا يرعى سوى

    عهده ذاك الاثيم المجرم

    Listening to love, he heeded nothing but

    its pledge—that sinner, that criminal—

  33. ان روما مستبدا ناسيا

    أن ركن الحق لا ينهدم

    [Opening unclear] Rome, acting as a tyrant, forgetting

    that the pillar of justice does not fall.

  34. كيف تحيا ربة الحسن وقد

    مات من كانت به تعتصم

    How can the mistress of beauty live, when

    he in whom she sought refuge has died?

  35. عقها الاعوان في نكبتها

    مثلا للغدر يا ويحهم

    Her helpers betrayed her in her calamity,

    a model of treachery—oh, woe to them!

  36. ليس في الناس وفيّ صادق

    فهم إن ماتت الدنيا هم

    Among people there is none faithful and true;

    for if the world dies, they are sorrow.

  37. ايه كليو بطره اليوم انقضت

    عنك آمال وزالت أمم

    Ah, Cleopatra, today there have come to an end

    your hopes, and nations have vanished.

  38. أنت في القصر خيال زائل

    وهو في العين مخيف مظلم

    In the palace you are a fading phantom,

    and to the eye it is frightening and dark.

  39. أنت والارقم يرنو جائعاً

    حية يرنو إليها أرقم

    You, with the spotted serpent gazing hungrily,

    are a snake at which a spotted serpent gazes.

  40. لا تظنى أن في حسنك ما

    يسجد الليث له يسترحم

    Do not think your beauty holds anything

    before which the lion would bow and beg for mercy.

  41. إن أوكتاف جرىء قادر

    وله النيل ومصر مغنم

    Octavian is indeed bold and powerful,

    and the Nile and Egypt are his spoils.

  42. وجمال العهر ماض ذاهب

    وجمال الطهر لا ينعدم

    And the beauty of wantonness passes and fades,

    but the beauty of purity never vanishes.

  43. وابتداء الحي منا عدم

    وختام الحي منا عدم

    And each living one of us begins in nothingness,

    and each living one of us ends in nothingness.