1. دعوا اليومَ ما عُوِّدتُمُ من تصبُّرٍ

    فإنّ نزاعي غالبٌ لنزوعي

    Leave aside today the patient endurance you have been taught,

    For my longing defeats my efforts to turn away.

  2. فما القلبُ منّي فارغاً من تذكّرٍ

    ولا العينُ منّي غيرَ ذات دموعِ

    My heart is never free of remembrance,

    Nor is my eye anything but full of tears.

  3. ولو كنتُ مسطيعاً جعلتُ صبابةً

    مكان دموعي في البكاءِ نجيعي

    Had I the power, out of longing I would set

    My lifeblood in place of my tears when I weep.

  4. ففيما تركتُ لا يُخاف تردُّدي

    وفيما وهبتُ لا يُخاف رجوعي

    In what I have left behind, there is no fear of my wavering,

    And in what I have given, no fear of my taking it back.

  5. وكيف بقائي لا أموت وإنّما

    ربوعُ الأنامِ الهالكين ربوعي

    How can I live on without dying, when

    The dwellings of departed mortals are my dwellings?

  6. وما أنَا إلّا منهُمُ وعليهِمُ

    إِذا ما اِنقضى عمري يكون طلوعي

    I am but one of them, and among them

    I shall appear when my lifetime ends.

  7. أَلَمْ ترَ هذا الدّهرَ كيف أَظَلّنا

    على غفلةٍ منّا بكلِّ فظيعِ

    Have you not seen how this age has overshadowed us,

    Unawares, with every horror?

  8. وكيفَ اِنتقى عَظمِي وشرّد صَرْفُهُ

    رُقادي وأودى عَنْوَةً بهجوعي

    And how it hollowed my bones, and its reversals drove away

    My slumber and forcibly destroyed my sleep,

  9. وجرّ على شوك القَتادِ أخامِصِي

    وأضرم ناراً في يبيسِ ضلوعي

    And dragged the hollows of my feet over qatad thorns,

    And kindled fire in my parched ribs?

  10. وأكرعنِي حزناً طويلاً ولم أكنْ

    لغيرِ الّذي أختاره بكَروعِ

    It made me gulp down lasting sorrow, though I was never

    A drinker of anything but what I chose.

  11. رمانِي بخطبٍ لا يكفكفُ وَقعهُ

    سوابقُ أفراسِي ونسجُ دروعي

    It struck me with a calamity whose impact cannot be checked

    By my swiftest steeds or the weave of my armor.

  12. وما عاصِمي منه حُسامي وذابِلِي

    ولا ناصري رَهْطِي به وجميعي

    Neither my keen sword nor my slender spear shields me from it,

    Nor do my clan and all my company aid me against it.

  13. أتانِي ضُحىً لا دَرَّ دَرُّ مجيئه

    فعاد وما هاب النّهارَ هزيعي

    It came to me at midmorning—may its coming yield no blessing—

    And my stretch of night returned, unafraid of daylight.

  14. وضاعَفَ من شَجْوِي ورادف حزنَهُ

    خضوعي عليه راغماً وخشوعي

    My grief was doubled, its sorrow compounded,

    By my unwilling submission to it and my abasement.

  15. وصيّر في وادي المصائبِ مسكني

    وفي جانب الحزنِ الطّويل ربوعي

    It made my home in the valley of calamities,

    And my dwellings beside lasting sorrow.

  16. وقالوا بركن الدين ولّتْ يدُ الرَّدى

    فخرّ صريعاً وهو خيرُ صريعِ

    They said death's hand had carried off Rukn al-Din,

    And he fell stricken, the noblest of the fallen.

  17. فشبّوا لهيبَ النّارِ بين جوانحي

    وجثّوا أُصولي بالجَوى وفروعي

    They kindled a blaze of fire between my ribs,

    And tore out my roots and branches with anguish.

  18. ومرّوا وقد أبقوا بقلبِيَ حَسْرةً

    وذرّوا طويلَ اليَأس منه بروعي

    They passed on, leaving a bitter pang in my heart,

    And sowed lasting despair over him within my soul.

  19. فلو كنتُ أسطيع الفداءَ فديتُهُ

    وأعيا بداء الموت كلُّ جميعي

    Had I been able to ransom him, I would have done so,

    But my whole being was helpless before death's disease.

  20. وشاطرتُهُ عمري الّذي كان طالعاً

    عليه بما أهواه خيرَ طلوعِ

    And I would have shared my life with him, who had dawned

    Upon it with what I desired, in the fairest dawning.

  21. وَقالوا اِصطَبر والصّبرُ كالصّبر طعمُهُ

    إذا كان عن خَرْقٍ بغير رَقوعِ

    They said, 'Be patient'—yet patience tastes like bitter aloes

    When it is for a rent left without mending,

  22. وَعَن رَجلٍ لا كالرّجالِ فضيلةً

    وعن جبلٍ عالِي البناءِ رفيعِ

    And for a man unlike other men in virtue,

    And for a mountain, lofty in structure and towering.

  23. وعزّاك مَن سقّاك كلَّ مرارةٍ

    وحيّاك مَن لقَّاك كلَّ وجيعِ

    He who made you drink every bitterness consoled you,

    And he who brought you every pain greeted you.

  24. ولو كنتُ أرجو عودَه لاِحتسبتُه

    ولكنّه ماضٍ بغير رجوعِ

    Had I hoped for his return, I would have borne his loss in hope of reward,

    But he has gone, with no return.

  25. كأنِّيَ ملسوعٌ وقد قيل لِي مضى

    وما كنتُ من ذي شوكةٍ بلَسيعِ

    I am as one stung, now that they have told me, 'He is gone,'

    Though nothing with a sting had stung me.

  26. فأيُّ اِنتِفاعٍ بالرّبيع وإنّه

    زَماني وقد ولّى الرّدى بربيعي

    What use, then, is spring, though it is

    My season, when death has carried off my spring?

  27. وَبِالعيشِ مِن بعد اِمرئٍ كان طيبه

    ويُبدلُ منه ضيّقاً بوسيعِ

    And life, after a man who was its sweetness,

    And replaced its narrow straits with spacious ease?

  28. وبالمال من بعد الّذي كان مُخْلِفاً

    لِكلِّ الّذي أفْنَته كفُّ مُضِيعِ

    And wealth, after the one who replenished

    All that a squanderer's hand had spent?

  29. وبالعِرْضِ من دون الّذي كان رمحُهُ

    يقارع عنه الدَّهرَ كلَّ قريعِ

    And honor, without him whose spear

    Ever fought every champion in its defense?

  30. ذَمَمْتُ سواك المالكين لأنّهمْ

    تولَّوْا وما أوْلَوْا جميلَ صنيعِ

    I censured rulers other than you, because they

    Turned away and bestowed no gracious favor.

  31. ولم تكُ منهمْ مِنَّةٌ بعد مِنَّةٍ

    ولا نزعوا أثوابهمْ لنزيعِ

    From them there was no bounty upon bounty,

    Nor did they take off their robes for a stranger.

  32. فكم بين مُعطٍ للأمانِي وسالبٍ

    وبين مُجيعٍ لِي وقاتلِ جوعي

    How far apart are a granter of wishes and a despoiler,

    And one who starves me and one who slays my hunger!

  33. ولمّا رأيتُ الفضلَ فيه أطعتُه

    وما زلتُ للأملاكِ غيرَ مطيعِ

    When I saw virtue in him, I obeyed him,

    Though I had always been disobedient to kings.

  34. ألمْ تَرَنِي لمّا بلغتُ فناءَه

    عقرتُ بعيري أو قطعتُ نسُوعي

    Did you not see me, when I reached his courtyard,

    Hamstring my camel, or cut my saddle-straps?

  35. وقد علم الأقوامُ أنَّك فيهم الن

    نفوعُ إذا لم يعثُروا بنفوعِ

    And the peoples knew that among them you were the

    Benefactor, when they could find no benefactor.

  36. وأنّك تُؤوي الخائفين من الورى

    ذُرا كلِّ مَرهوب الشَّذاةِ رفيعِ

    And that you shelter the frightened among humankind

    On the summits of every lofty height whose sting is feared.

  37. وأنّك لمّا صرّح الخوفُ في الوغى

    بيومٍ صقيل الغُرّتين لَموعِ

    And that, when fear showed itself in battle,

    On a flashing day, polished on both its brows,

  38. وللخيلِ من نسج الغبارِ براقعٌ

    وأجلالُها من صوبِ كلِّ نجيعِ

    The horses wore veils woven of dust,

    And their coverings came from every shower of lifeblood,

  39. ولو لمْ تبضّعْ بالطّعانِ لحومُها

    لآبَتْ وما سالتْ لنا ببضوعِ

    Had their flesh not been cut up by spear-thrusts,

    They would have returned without shedding sweat for us.

  40. أخذتَ لواءَ النّصرِ حتّى ركزتَه

    بيُمناك من أرضِ اليقينِ بِقيعِ

    You took the banner of victory, until you planted it

    With your right hand, on an open plain in the land of certainty.

  41. ولم تهبِ البيضَ الصّوارمَ والقَنا

    يَرِدْن إذا أُورِدْنَ ماءَ ضلوعِ

    And you did not fear the white, keen-cutting swords or the spears

    That drink the water of ribs when led to it.

  42. ولمّا ذكرتُ الموتَ يوماً وهَوْلَهُ

    تقاصرَ خَطْوِي واِقشعرّ جميعي

    When, one day, I recalled death and its terror,

    My stride shortened, and my whole being shuddered.

  43. وما أَنَا إلّا في اِنتظارٍ لزائرٍ

    قَدومٍ على رغم الأُلوفِ طَلوعِ

    I am only waiting for a visitor,

    Ever coming, ever appearing, despite the thousands,

  44. يمزّق أَثوابَ الّذي كنتُ أكتسِي

    وينزعها بالرّغمِ أيَّ نزوعِ

    Who tears the garments I used to wear,

    And strips them off by force—what a wrenching away!

  45. ويهدم ما شيّدتُهُ وبنيتُهُ

    ويَحصُدُ من هذي الحياةِ زُروعي

    And demolishes what I erected and built,

    And reaps my crops from this life.