أَمَسعودُ هَل غاداكَ يَوماً بِفَرحَةٍ

أَمَسعودُ هَل غاداكَ يَوماً بِفَرحَةٍ

وَأَمسَيتَ لَم تَعرُض لَها التَرَحاتُ

وَأَمسَيتَ لَم تَعرُض لَها التَرَحاتُ

O Mas‘ud, have you ever been greeted one morning with joy,

Has your joy ever departed, Mansour

and reached evening without sorrows intruding upon it?

And you faced tribulations at night?

وَهَل نَحنُ إِلّا أَنفُسٌ مُستَعارَةٌ

وَهَل نَحنُ إِلّا أَنفُسٌ مُستَعارَةٌ

تَمُرُّ بِها الرَوحاتُ وَالغُدَواتُ

تَمُرُّ بِها الرَوحاتُ وَالغُدَواتُ

And are we anything but borrowed souls,

Are we not borrowed souls

over whom evenings and mornings pass?

That spirits and dawns pass through?

بَكَيتَ وَأَعطَتكَ البُكاءَ مُصيبَةٌ

بَكَيتَ وَأَعطَتكَ البُكاءَ مُصيبَةٌ

مَضَت وَهيَ فَردٌ ما لَها أَخَواتُ

مَضَت وَهيَ فَردٌ ما لَها أَخَواتُ

You wept, and a calamity gave you cause to weep—

You cried and crying brought you calamity

one that passed alone, with no sisters.

That passed - solitary, without sisters -

كَأَنَّكَ فيها لَم تَكُن تَعرِفُ العَزا

كَأَنَّكَ فيها لَم تَكُن تَعرِفُ العَزا

وَلَم تَتَعَمَّد غَيرَكَ النَكَباتُ

وَلَم تَتَعَمَّد غَيرَكَ النَكَباتُ

As though, in it, you had never known consolation,

As if amidst it you didn't know consolation

and calamities had never deliberately targeted anyone else.

And no one else deliberately met with misfortunes

سَقى الضاحِكُ الوَسمِيُّ أَعظَمَ حِفرَةٍ

سَقى الضاحِكُ الوَسمِيُّ أَعظَمَ حِفرَةٍ

طَواها الرَدى في اللَحدِ وَهيَ رُفاتُ

طَواها الرَدى في اللَحدِ وَهيَ رُفاتُ

May the smiling autumn rain water the bones within a grave;

The laughing branded one watered the greatest pit

death enfolded them in the burial niche, and they are crumbled remains.

That decay in the grave and remains covered

أَرى بَهجَةَ الدُنيا رَجيعَ دَوائِرٍ

أَرى بَهجَةَ الدُنيا رَجيعَ دَوائِرٍ

لَهُنَّ اِجتِماعٌ مَرَّةً وَشَتاتُ

لَهُنَّ اِجتِماعٌ مَرَّةً وَشَتاتُ

I see the world's splendor tossed back and forth by turns of fortune,

I see the pleasure of life as declining cycles

which gather at one time and scatter at another.

That gather once and then disperse

طَوى أَيدِيَ المَعروفِ مَصرَعُ مالِكٍ

طَوى أَيدِيَ المَعروفِ مَصرَعُ مالِكٍ

فَهُنَّ عَنِ الآمالِ مُنقَبِضاتُ

فَهُنَّ عَنِ الآمالِ مُنقَبِضاتُ

Malik's death folded the hands of benevolence,

The hopes folded their outstretched hands at the death of Malik

so they are withdrawn from hopes.

And recoiled from aspirations