1. O Abu Ja'far, a curse on misfortune
And relief, for my heart knows no peace

2. My master, hear your servant Yahya's tale
Of amusing news and events

3. My father was a man
Who in our time farmed for his living

4. Lacking in wisdom, trading goods by land and sea
Yet a skilled horseman in business

5. As the ardent pursues the peaceful
And I after him follow his way

6. So does the noble walk, following
In the footsteps of his forebears

7. Had the seas poured forth, I'd seek water
Though before pouring the seas ran dry

8. Had I grasped tender wood in my palm
Where later grew lush greenery

9. Had my power cast stars from the sky
Their light would not dim for eyes to see

10. Had I sold lamps in the market one day
I'd meld the night into daylight's glow

11. He bought without consulting the heavens
In an inauspicious rising sign

12. A barren field, some plots thrived
While others declined into fallow debris

13. Long has he sowed it with a donkey's load
And from it reaped but half a mule's yield

14. I'm saddened by what befell it, but
Its tax collector's loss delights me

15. What care I, for it's now become
A pillar for the kind master builder