Al-Ma'arri

“Methink I am thrice-imprisoned—ask not meOf news that need no telling—By loss of sight, confinement in my house,And this vile body for my spirit’s dwelling.”

“We laugh, but inept is our laughter;We should weep and weep sore,Who are shattered like glass, and thereafterRe-moulded no more!”

“Whenever I reflect, my reflecting upon what I suffer only rouses me to blame him that begot me.And I gave peace to my children, for they are in the bliss of non-existence which surpasses all the pleasures of this world.Had they come to life, they would have endured a misery casting them to destruction in trackless wildernesses.”

“Some worse people than I have entered Paradise! But it is not everybody’s fortune to be granted forgiveness, it is like wealth in the Fleeting World.”

“Men of acute mind call me an ascetic, but they are wrong in their diagnosis. Although I disciplined my desires, I only abandoned worldly pleasures because the best of these withdrew themselves from me.”

“{{lang|ar|هذا جَنَاهُ أَبي عَلَيَّ     وما جَنَيْتُ عَلَى أَحَدْ}}”