I shielded myself from time

with the shadow

of its wings

So my eyes see time

but time sees me not

If the days were asked

about my name

they would not know it

and about my abode

they would not know

where I am

Time (dahr, zamān, zaman) in the Arab mind signifies days, fate, eternity, death, long time or long life, good or bad life. When used in a construct phrase, time means vicissitudes or blows of fate, misfortunes, trials and tribulations, adversities etc. “Days”, which also means life, is used interchangeably with “time”, especially when made necessary by the exigencies of meter and/or rhyme. “fa-law tus’alu ‘l-ayyāmu” can also be read as “fa-law tas’ali ‘l-ayyāma”: Were you to ask the days.

I am but like time–

If it is sober and awake

I am sober and awake,

And if it acts foolishly*

I do the same

“Māqa” (to act foolishly) also means to perish.

Calamities visit us

morning and evening,

so hard and so often,

that even time

is almost felled

by them

The rhyme word “yus.raʿu” (felled by them) can also mean: rendered epileptic. Thus, time is felled or rendered epileptic by its own calamities.

His generosity has made my time

so supple and easy

that I can almost tie such time*

into a knot.

*The first word “time” means life; the second one signifies time that can be measured in passing, as days, years etc.

Ancient people came to life

when time was young and fresh

and it made them happy

But alas! we have come to life

when time is old

and decrepit