1. في مِثلِها يُستَثارُ الصَّبرُ والجَلَدُ

    وعندها يَتقاضى الحزمُ ما يَجِدُ

    In a calamity like this, patience and fortitude are roused.

    And then resolve demands all it can find.

  2. وَما الرزيَّةُ إلّا أَنْ تُلِمَّ بنا

    وَنَحنُ لاهونَ عنها غُفَّلٌ بُعُدُ

    Calamity is only this: that it should befall us

    while we are heedless of it, unwary and far removed.

  3. مثلُ السّوامِ رَعَى في أرض مَضْيَعةٍ

    نامَ المُسِيمُ بِها وَاِستَيقظَ الأسدُ

    Like grazing beasts that fed in an unguarded land,

    the herdsman slept there, and the lion awoke.

  4. تَمشي الضَّراءَ وهامٌ لا تُخَمِرُّها

    محلّقٌ فوقهنّ العارِضُ البَرَدُ

    You walk under cover, yet leave heads unveiled;

    above them hovers the hail-bearing cloud.

  5. وإنّما المرءُ في الأيّامِ مُحتَبَسٌ

    على المنيّةِ تأتيهِ ومُقتَعَدُ

    Man is but held captive through his days,

    awaiting death to come to him, kept seated.

  6. يَسعى وَلَم يسعَ إلّا نَحوَ حُفرتِهِ

    يخالُ معتمداً أو كيف يعتمدُ

    He strives, yet has striven only toward his grave;

    he seems to act deliberately—or how could he intend it?

  7. جاب البلادَ وعدّى عن مصارعِهِ

    فَاِختطّ مَصرعَه مِنْ بينها بَلدُ

    He traversed the lands and skirted his places of death;

    then one land among them marked out where he would die.

  8. وَكَيف يَنجو حِبالاتِ الرّدى رجلٌ

    مُستَجمعٌ للمنايا بعده بَدَدُ

    How can a man escape the snares of death,

    gathered for death, with scattering to follow him?

  9. وَقَد عَلِمنا بِأنّا مَعشرٌ أُكُلٌ

    للموتِ نُوجَدُ أحياناً ونُفتَقَدُ

    And we have learned that we are a people who are food

    for death: at times we are found, at times we are missed.

  10. يَرتاحُ نحوَ غدٍ من غفلةٍ أبداً

    مَنْ ليس يدرِي بما تجنِي عليهِ غَدُ

    Always, through heedlessness, he looks eagerly toward tomorrow—

    the one who does not know what harm tomorrow will bring him.

  11. كَم ذا فَقَدنا كراماً لا إِيابَ لهمْ

    حُطّوا منَ المَنزلِ الأعلى وَنفتَقِدُ

    How many noble ones we have lost, with no return for them!

    They were brought down from the highest abode, and we miss them.

  12. ذاقَتْ شِفاهُهُمُ طعمَ الرّدى مَقِراً

    وَطالَما كانَ يَجري بينها الشَّهَدُ

    Their lips tasted death's bitter taste,

    though honey had so often flowed between them.

  13. وَكَم وَرَدْنا وَما تُغْنِي ورادَتنا

    إنّا وردنا وأُعْفُوا مُرَّ ما وردوا

    And how often we have come to drink—yet our coming avails nothing:

    indeed, we came to drink, and they were spared the bitterness of what they came to.

  14. لم يُغنِ عنهمْ وقد همّ الحِمامُ بهمْ

    ما جَمّعوا لدفاعِ البُؤْسِ وَاِحتَشدوا

    It did not avail them, when death had set upon them—

    what they amassed to ward off misery, and all their mustering.

  15. وَلَيسَ يُجدِي وَإِنْ أَرْبى بكثرتِهِ

    عَلى الفَتى مَدَداً إِذا اِنقَضتْ مُدَدُ

    Nor does it avail, however great its abundance,

    as aid to a man when his allotted spans have ended.

  16. كَأنّهمْ بَعد ما اِمتدَّ الزّمانُ لَهمْ

    لِما مَضوا في سبيلِ المَوتِ ما وُلِدوا

    It is as though they, after time had stretched on for them,

    once they passed along death's path, had never been born.

  17. فَنَحنُ نَبكي عَلى آثارهمْ جَزَعاً

    نَقولُ لا تبعُدوا عنّا وقد بَعُدوا

    So we weep over their traces in anguish,

    saying, "Do not go far from us," though they have gone far.

  18. قُلْ لِلوَزير سواك المرءُ نوقظُهُ

    وَسمعَ غيرِكَ يَغشى العَذْلُ والفَنَدُ

    Say to the minister: the man we rouse is someone other than you;

    and blame and reproach fall upon another's ears.

  19. حَتّى مَتى أَنتَ فيما فات مُكتئِبٌ

    جَنَى الحِمامُ فلا عَقْلٌ ولا قَوَدُ

    How long will you remain dejected over what is past?

    Death committed the crime: no blood money, no retaliation.

  20. دَعِ التتبّع للعُمرِ الّذي قطعتْ

    عَنه الحياةَ المنايا وَاِنتَهى الأمدُ

    Abandon pursuit of that lifespan

    from which death cut off life, its appointed term now ended.

  21. ما دُمتَ تطمعُ فيه فَاِحزنَنَّ له

    فإنْ يَئِسْتَ فلا حُزْنٌ ولا كَمَدُ

    So long as you hope for it, do grieve for it;

    but if you have lost hope, let there be no sorrow or anguish.

  22. وَاِستبقِ دمعَك لا تذهبْ به سَرَفاً

    فمسرفٌ فيه يُضحِي وهو مقتصدُ

    And save your tears; do not spend them to excess,

    for even the sparing man becomes extravagant with them.

  23. وإنْ جَزِعتَ لأَنْ مدّت إليك يدٌ

    فبالّذي عشتَ ما مُدّت إليك يَدُ

    And if you grieve because a hand was stretched toward you,

    then, by the life you have lived, no hand was stretched toward you.

  24. ومُنيةُ الوالدين الدّهرَ أجمعَهُ

    أنْ يكرعا الموتَ حتّى يسلمَ الولَدُ

    And both parents' wish, throughout all time,

    is to drink death down so that their child may be safe.