1. A sorrow seized him in the darkness of night,
So he kept his eyelids from sleep.

2. A soul whom grief settled between his ribs,
And grief is a fire without light.

3. He herds the stars of the night, though he has no desire for them,
And he sees them reluctantly with sleepy eyes.

4. In his heart is the fire of anguish, yet
On his cheeks are the tears of despair.

5. Sever despair has bitten him with its fangs,
In his soul and in his bowels is hunger.

6. He cries the cry of a child parted from his mother,
What recourse has the sorrowful but crying?

7. So he sat keeping vigil in the house, as if
He had no companions in that lonely place.

8. Bewildered, not knowing whether to take his own life
Deliberately, so he might be free of the harm of this world,

9. Or to persist in distress and torment,
Though life cannot be sweet with adversity,

10. He drove away his concerns and continued lamenting his night:
“O night, you have been long during which my troubles multiplied!

11. O night, you have weakened my body with gloom
Until missing him hurts my limbs.

12. And you have afflicted me, O night, with cares
That rend the ribs – and care is the most difficult malady.

13. O night, why do you not have mercy on my condition,
When I see you, though days are my enemies?

14. O night, enough of what I have borne of misery
To make even a rock, not I, lament.

15. Disappear, O darkness, from the eyes, perhaps
The dawn will come and bring me solace.

16. Have mercy on the wretched, for they
Are dead though reckoned among the living.

17. I have seen their fortunes written in black,
As if dictated by the dark.

18. Never do the people of the age rejoice, nor do they
Have a share like others of good fortune.

19. In their palms is nothing of the world but
To multiply dreams of blessings.

20. Their hopes come near to attainment
In their imagination, but remain remote.

21. People gloat in joy, yet to them
Joy is synonymous with disaster.

22. I am saddened that their souls should be
The prey of misfortunes and the target of calamities.

23. I do not stand today among you to fancy
The coquettish and white-skinned maidens.

24. Ask me not for praise or description of beauties,
For I have discarded the rabble of poets.

25. They sold the water of their dignity for money
And praise, but I protect the water of my dignity.

26. They did not understand that poetry is nothing
But a means to enrichment.

27. Thus I have met none but the debauched
And seekers of reward.

28. Though the world be spacious, it narrowed around them,
So they begged its fair ladies with verse.

29. Poetry was ruined by them, and they gained no good from it;
Without them, it would be one of the fortunate.

30. They called us to love and passion, yet their hearts
Are imprinted with hatred and loathing.

31. They have accustomed themselves to hypocrisy,
So the Guardian cursed each hypocrite.

32. If they are angry at what I say, often
The literary man is hated by the foolish mob.

33. Or if they deny my literary merit, be not surprised,
For the blind are pained by the rising of brilliance.

34. Or whenever a worthy person supports the truth,
The rabble rises against him.

35. I stand before you today in my stance
Only to lament the state of the wretched.

36. Perhaps I may stir your hearts with verse,
For hearts are the abode of passions.

37. I yearn for the needy among you,
Who wakes and sleeps fettered by misery.

38. His night and morning are equal,
So different are morning and evening!

39. Despair has cut off the thread of his hopes,
And man cannot live without hope.

40. I yearn, and if my yearning could avail the miserable,
I would shed my tears over him along with my blood.

41. Say to the wealthy man arrogant with his money:
Gently! You have been excessive in your conceit!

42. The destitute was created from clay and from
Water, and from clay and water you were created.

43. How cruel that you should enjoy plenty
While he is captive to afflictions and tribulation,

44. That you remain reveling in silk before him
While he passed the night without a garment!

45. Are you miserly in giving him relief,
Yet spend thousands on immorality?

46. Help your brother, for if you do, you will spare him
The humiliation of begging and the grace of the miserly.

47. Bring ease to the prosperous, but prosperity benefits not
Unless its people are endowed with generosity.

48. What ingratitude is this, when your wealth is hostage to misfortune,
And why such pride, when all of you are unto annihilation?

49. The frail are in need of your vigor;
Do not refrain from aiding the weak.

50. I do not remind the genteel people among you,
For the healthy have no need of medicine.

51. If the destitute do not recompense you,
Then God will recompense you for the destitute.