1. وسائلةٍ لتعرفَ ما عَراني

    وما جرّتْ إليَّ يَدا زماني

    And a woman asked to learn what had befallen me

    and what the hands of my time had brought upon me.

  2. فَقلتُ لَها لو اِستمليتِ ما بي

    لأَملتهُ عليكِ غُروبُ شاني

    So I said to her: If you sought a dictation of what ails me,

    my foe’s sharp barbs would dictate it to you.

  3. تعمّدني زماناً ريبُ دهري

    فلمّا أنْ تعمّدني رماني

    For a time, my fate’s adversity took aim at me;

    then, having singled me out, it shot me.

  4. ولِي مُتَزَحْزَحٌ عنه لو اِنّي

    أراهُ بناظِريَّ كما يراني

    I would have somewhere to escape it, if only I

    could see it with my two eyes as it sees me.

  5. أقود إلى المقابرِ كلَّ يومٍ

    على رغمي خبيئاً في جَناني

    Every day I lead to the graves,

    against my will, one treasured in my heart,

  6. وأُودِعُهُ على أنّي شفيقٌ

    عليه كلَّ غبراءِ المَحاني

    and consign him, though I care tenderly

    for him, to each dust-gray, winding hollow—

  7. مُطَمِّسَةٍ يضلّ المرءُ فيها

    ضَلالَ العَصْفِ خرّ من الفِنانِ

    a place that effaces all trace, where a man is lost

    like a dry leaf fallen from the boughs:

  8. مُعَرَّسُ كلِّ مملوكٍ ومَلْكٍ

    ومُضطَجَعُ المكرَّمِ والمُهانِ

    the resting place of every slave and king,

    and the bed of the honored and the humiliated.

  9. وفارقني بداهيةِ اللّيالي

    حبيبٌ ما سلَوْتُ ولا سَلاني

    And through a calamity of the nights I lost

    a beloved whom I never forgot, nor did he forget me.

  10. فأُصبح فيه مجتمع الأماني

    وأُمسي حَيث لا تأتي الأماني

    I rise with all my hopes gathered in him,

    and by evening I am where hopes cannot come.

  11. وقالوا قد مَرَنْتَ على الرّزايا

    فقلتُ لهمْ وما يُغنِي مِراني

    They said: You have grown accustomed to calamities.

    I replied: What good is my habituation?

  12. وفي الأيّامِ مُطْرِقةٌ صَموتٌ

    تَقمّصُ بالشّجاعِ وبالجبانِ

    And among the days is a silent one with bowed head,

    that bucks beneath the brave man and the coward.

  13. فهَبْها لم تكن جَذَمَتْ يميني

    ألَيِستْ بالّتي أوْهَتْ بَناني

    So suppose it had not cut off my right hand—

    is it not the one that weakened my fingers?

  14. وهَبْها لم تكن صدعتْ قَناتي

    أَليست بالّتي ثملتْ سِناني

    And suppose it had not split my spear-shaft—

    is it not the one that blunted my spearhead?

  15. أَلا مَن عاذرِي من جار سوءٍ

    إذا لم آتِهِ هَرَباً أَتاني

    Ah, who will excuse me concerning an evil neighbor

    who comes to me when, fleeing, I stay away?

  16. مُعانٍ في الّذي يَبغيهِ منّي

    وإنْ أَرْبى ومدلولٍ مكاني

    He is aided in whatever he seeks from me,

    even if he overreaches, and guided to my whereabouts.

  17. له أَيْدٍ بما أَجنِي عليه

    وما لي بِالّذي يجني يدانِ

    He has strength against whatever I inflict on him,

    yet I have no hands to resist what he inflicts.

  18. أقدّرُه المُسالِمَ وهو حَرْبٌ

    وأحسبُهُ بعيداً وهو دانِ

    I deem him peaceable, though he is an enemy,

    and think him distant, though he is near.

  19. وتعدوني صوائبُهُ لغيري

    وما أعدى حميمي ما عداني

    His well-aimed shots pass me by for others,

    but what spared me did not spare my dear friend.

  20. فيا ليتَ الّذي أقلاهُ منه

    وأجفوه قلاني أوْ جَفاني

    If only that which I hate in him

    and shun would hate or shun me!

  21. تأمّلْ أنتَ أدرَى اليومَ منّي

    أَصَرْفٌ ما سقاني السّاقيانِ

    Consider: today you know better than I—

    was what the two cupbearers gave me unmixed wine?

  22. وهلْ غنّى لِيَ العَصْرانِ فيمنْ

    هويتُ بما سمعتُ ليُطرباني

    And did night and day sing to me of those

    I loved, with what I heard, to delight me?

  23. وهلْ أحسستَ يا حادِي المطايا

    عشيّةَ فارقوني باِفتِتاني

    And did you sense, O driver of the mounts,

    my anguish on the evening they left me,

  24. عشيّةَ قلّص المحبوبُ عنّي

    وقام بما كرهتُ النّاعيانِ

    the evening my beloved withdrew from me,

    and the two heralds of death brought what I dreaded?

  25. وقد أرعيتُ نطقي منك سمعاً

    فهل أنكرتَ شيئاً من بياني

    I have entrusted my speech to an ear of yours;

    have you found anything to dispute in my account?

  26. فإنّي مَن ينال الخطبُ منه

    فيأنف أنْ يفوه به لساني

    For I am one whom calamity assails,

    yet my tongue disdains to speak of it.

  27. وغيرُ الذَّوْدِ مُلِّكَ بعد خمسٍ

    جِمامَ الماءِ قُعْقِعَ بالشِّنانِ

    It is not the camel-herd granted, after five days,

    water in plenty that is scared by rattling worn-out waterskins.

  28. وصبراً بالّتي لا أتّقيها

    بضَرْبي في الكريهةِ أوْ طِعاني

    And patience with what I cannot ward off

    by my blows in battle or my spear-thrusts.

  29. ومن طَمَعٍ أُخادع مِنْ يقينِي

    على عَمْدٍ وأُكذِبُ من عِياني

    And out of hope I delude myself about some of what I know,

    deliberately, and deny some of what my own eyes see.

  30. وأُضحِي في بني الدّنيا مقيماً

    وفي أيدي نوائبها عناني

    And I pass the day dwelling among the world’s children,

    while my reins are in the hands of its calamities.

  31. تلاعبُ بي الحوادثُ كلَّ يومٍ

    وتُقْرِئنِي أساطيرَ الزّمانِ

    Events toy with me every day,

    and make me read the tales of time.

  32. وبالزَّوْراءِ أحداثٌ بَناها

    على الإعظامِ والإكرامِ بانِ

    And in al-Zawra stand new structures, raised

    in reverence and honor by a builder.

  33. عَلَون تُقىً على شُرُفاتِ رَضْوى

    وطُلْن عُلاً على هَضْبَيْ أَبانِ

    They rise in piety above the heights of Radwa,

    and tower in eminence over Aban’s two hills.

  34. وهنّ على العراقِ لمن يراها

    وأفنِيةُ الإلهِ لها مَغانِ

    To those who see them, they stand above Iraq,

    and God’s courtyards are their abodes.

  35. فكم سَبَبٍ لهنّ إلى العطايا

    وكم بابٍ لهنّ إلى الجِنانِ

    How many paths they have to gifts,

    and how many gates to the gardens of Paradise!

  36. وللأقوامِ تَطْوافٌ عليها

    طوافَهمُ على الرّكنِ اليَماني

    And peoples circle around them

    as they circle around the Yemeni Corner:

  37. قبورٌ للأجادِلِ من قريشٍ

    ذوي السُّوراتِ تُتْلى والمَثاني

    tombs of the falcons of Quraysh,

    possessors of the recited surahs and oft-repeated verses,

  38. من النّفرِ الأُلى جمعوا المعالي

    وحازوا في العُلا قَصَبَ الرِّهانِ

    among the men who gathered exalted virtues

    and won the victor’s reed in the race for eminence.

  39. أُناسٌ لا يبالون المنايا

    ونارُ الحربِ ساطعةُ الدُّخانِ

    Men who pay no heed to death,

    while war’s fire sends its smoke aloft.

  40. وتلقاهمْ بحربٍ أَوْ بجَدْبٍ

    مطاعيناً مطاعيمَ الجِفانِ

    You meet them in war or drought

    as mighty spear-thrusters, generous feeders from great bowls.

  41. فحُطّا صاحِبَيَّ بهمْ رِحالي

    قُبَيْلَ نزولِ أمرٍ ترقُبانِ

    So, my two companions, set down my baggage among them

    just before the event you both await descends.

  42. أُقِمْ في ظلّهمْ ما دمتُ حيّاً

    ويُدركني بعَقْوَتهمْ أواني

    Let me dwell in their shade as long as I live,

    and let my appointed hour overtake me in their precincts.

  43. لَعلّي أَن أُجاورهمْ صريعاً

    فآخذ من شفاعتهمْ أماني

    Perhaps I may lie dead beside them

    and gain my safety through their intercession.

  44. فقد قضّيتُ بالهفواتِ عمري

    ونلتُ من الخطايا ما كفاني

    For I have spent my life in lapses

    and acquired my fill of sins.