1. تمايلَ دهرُكَ حتى اضطربْ

    وقد ينثني العطفُ لا من طربْ

    Your age swayed until it reeled;

    And one's side may bend, though not from delight.

  2. ومرَّ زمانٌ وجاءَ زمان

    وبينَ الزمانينِ كلُّ العجبْ

    An age passed, and an age came,

    And between the two ages lies utter wonder.

  3. فقومٌ تدلوا لتحتِ الثرى

    وقومٌ تعالوا لفوق الشُّهبْ

    So some people descended beneath the earth,

    And others rose above the shooting stars.

  4. لقد وعظتنا خطوبُ الزمان

    وبعضُ الخطوبِ كبعضِ الخطبْ

    The calamities of time have indeed admonished us,

    And some calamities are like some sermons.

  5. ولو عرف الناسُ لم تهدهمْ

    سبيلَ المنافعِ إلا النوبْ

    And if people understood, nothing would guide them

    To the path of benefit except calamities.

  6. فيا ربَّ داء قد يكونُ دواءً

    إذا عجز الطبُّ والمستطب

    So, ah, many an illness may become a cure,

    When medicine and the physician fail.

  7. ومن نكد الدهر أن الذي

    أزاح الكروب غدا في كُرَبْ

    And among time's miseries is that he who

    Dispelled afflictions now lives in affliction.

  8. وإن امرءاً كان في السالبين

    فأصبحَ بينهُمُ يستَلبْ

    And indeed, a man once among the plunderers

    Has come to be plundered among them.

  9. ألست ترى العربَ الماجدين

    وكيفَ تهدمَ مجد العربْ

    Do you not see the noble Arabs,

    And how the Arabs' glory has crumbled?

  10. فأينَ الذي رفعتهُ الرماح

    وأين الذي شيدتهُ القضبْ

    Where, then, is what the spears raised,

    And where is what the swords built?

  11. وأين شواهق عزٍ لنا

    تكادُ تمسُّ ذراها السحبْ

    And where are our lofty heights of glory,

    Whose summits almost touch the clouds?

  12. لقد أشرقَ العلم لما شرقنا

    وما زال يضؤل حتى غَرَبْ

    Knowledge indeed shone when we rose,

    And kept dwindling until it set.

  13. وكنا صعِدنا مراقي المعالي

    فأصبحَ صاعدنا في صببْ

    And we had climbed the stairways to greatness,

    But our climber is now on a downward slope.

  14. وكم كان منا ذَوو همةٍ

    سمتْ بهم لمعالي الرُّتبْ

    And how many among us possessed resolve

    That lifted them to the loftiest ranks!

  15. وكم من هزبرٍ تهزُ البرايا

    بوادرهُ إن ونى أو وثبْ

    And how many a lion shakes all creation

    With his outbursts, whether he slackens or springs!

  16. وأقسمُ لولا اغترارُ العقول

    لما كفَّ أربابها عن أربْ

    And I swear, were it not for minds' self-delusion,

    Their owners would not have abandoned their aims.

  17. ولولا الذي دبَّ ما بينهم

    لما استصعبوا في العلا ما صعب

    And were it not for what crept among them,

    They would not have deemed the difficulties of greatness too hard.

  18. ومن يطعم النفس ما تشتهي

    كمن يطعمُ النار جزلَ الحطبْ

    And whoever feeds the soul whatever it craves

    Is like one feeding the fire with thick logs.

  19. الا رحمَ اللهُ دهراً مضى

    وما كاد يبسمُ حتى انتحبْ

    Ah, may God have mercy on an age gone by,

    And scarcely had it smiled before it sobbed.

  20. وحيى لياليَ كنا بها

    رعاةً على من نأى واقترَب

    And may He bless the nights when we were

    Shepherds over those far away and near;

  21. فملكاً نقيل إذا ما كبا

    وعرشاً تقيمُ إذا ما انقلب

    So we helped a king up whenever he stumbled,

    And you set a throne upright whenever it toppled.

  22. سلوا ذلكَ الشرق ماذا دهاه

    فأرسلهُ في طريق العطبْ

    Ask that East what befell it,

    And sent it down the road to destruction.

  23. لو أن بنيه أجلوا بنيه

    لأصبحَ خائبهم لم يخبْ

    If its sons had honored its sons,

    Even their unsuccessful one would not have failed.

  24. فقد كانَ منهمْ مقرُّ العلوم

    كما كان فيهم مقرُّ الأدب

    For among them was the seat of the sciences,

    As among them was the seat of letters.

  25. وهل تنبتُ الزهرُ أغصانهُ

    إذا ماءُ كلِّ غديرٍ نضَب

    And can its branches bring forth blossoms

    When the water in every pool has run dry?

  26. وكم مرشدٍ بات ما بينهم

    يُسامُ الهوانَ وسوء النصب

    And how many a guide spent the night among them,

    Subjected to humiliation and bitter toil,

  27. كأن لم يكن صدرهُ منبعاً

    لما كانَ من صدرهِ ينسكبْ

    As though his breast had not been a spring

    Of what once poured forth from his breast.

  28. ومن يستبقْ للعلا غايةً

    فأولى به من سواه التعبْ

    And whoever races toward a goal of greatness,

    Toil is more fitting for him than for others.

  29. وليس بضائرِ ذي مطلبٍ

    إذا كفهُ الناسُ عما طلبْ

    And it does no harm to one pursuing a goal

    If people hold him back from what he seeks.

  30. فكم من مصابيحَ كانت تضيء

    بين الرياحِ إذا لم تهبْ

    For how many lamps once shone

    Amid the winds when they did not blow.

  31. وما عِيْبَ من صدفٍ لؤلؤٌ

    ولا عابَ قدْرَ الترابِ الذهبْ

    And no pearl was faulted for coming from a shell,

    Nor did gold diminish the worth of dust.

  32. بني الشرقِ أينَ الذي بيننا

    وبينَ رجالِ العلا من نسبْ

    Sons of the East, where is our bond

    Of kinship with the men of greatness?

  33. لقد غابتِ الشمسُ عن أرضكم

    إلى حيثُ لو شئتُم لم تغبْ

    The sun has indeed vanished from your land

    To where, had you wished, it would not have vanished:

  34. إلى الغرب حيث أولاءِ الرجال

    وتيكَ العلومِ وتلك الكتبْ

    To the West, where these men are,

    And those sciences and those books.

  35. وإن كان مما أردتم فما

    تنال العلا من وراءِ الحجبْ

    And if it is among your aims, you cannot

    Attain greatness from behind veils.

  36. فدوروا مع الناسِ كيف استداروا

    فإن لحكم الزمان الغلبْ

    So turn with people however they turn,

    For time's rule has the upper hand.

  37. ومن عاند الدهر فيما يحب

    رأى من أذى الدهرِ ما لا يُحبْ

    And whoever defies time in what he loves

    Will see harm from time that he does not love.