1. The folly of passion has made me suffer from the withdrawal of companions,
So I moan because of a wanton or sullen companion.

2. I am not to blame for what I have endured,
Except for weeping when homes are deserted.

3. If the vestige of home makes me yearn, Mustafa
Revived the sciences of our homes for students.

4. Eloquence and rhetoric are his miracle,
And they are the lamps of guidance for the learner.

5. They are the signs of the Chosen One, the best of mankind,
Rather, the miracle of the Quran against rivals.

6. So Allah said in a chapter the like of which
Cannot be made by human reckoning or astrology.

7. Leave me with the astronomer who watches his star
And says “This is the time for the ill-omened sneezer.”

8. And the geometrician who, lying in his bed, claims
What lies between him and the sun is nonsense.

9. And the one who spends nights calculating
And gives a number that divides into another.

10. And judgments and analogies—how many of them
Are really nothing but random conjectures?

11. These are myths buzzing in the ear of one
Who knows a thousand statements with the buzzing of a fly.

12. Yet in debate how they strut
And spew frothily with incoherent prattling,

13. With every word scarcely leaving their lips
The camel's back arches, rough and peevish.

14. As if a boulder which a torrent struck
But could find no weak point by which to dislodge it.

15. For your sake, leave me their sciences which, by God,
Were nothing but deluded ravings.

16. This is my doctrine since my portion was
A sip from the Nile of Egypt, though I was no cupper.

17. Let not him who has not tasted the comfort of rhetoric
Ever be your boon companion and sit in your gatherings.

18. Eloquence in the time of a poet of the age
Is superior to the sciences of predecessors, however diligent.

19. It is their abundant sea, the sea of Salama,
You will find it enough to cure disharmony and discord.

20. If you meet him one day, then kiss his earth
And seek his pleasure, for that is the treasure of the destitute.

21. And say your infatuation with rhetorical ornament made you forget
The proper arrangement, so he showed who the arranger was.

22. O people of Egypt, I seek refuge for you with God from
The envious, hostile, slothful eye.

23. You are illuminating lanterns of knowledge for people
Amid gloom and shelters.

24. He whom your radiant discourse does not guide
Will not be guided by the light of the brilliant dawn.

25. You have my yearning—not for a despairing lover—
And through you my relationship—not with a drowsy eye.