1. He who accustoms people to harm, though intending good
I grant him favors, though he makes me weep

2. A master is not blamed for his servant's faults
Though he casts him into the sea's depths, bound

3. The man who harms another sleeps accused
Though his benefits to people are well known

4. O you who spurned a lowly man, is it not true
Your scorn diminished you, though he was lowered?

5. You knew me truly; if after stringent tests
You still mistrust me, count me lightly tried

6. A touchstone is no touchstone if refiners' hands
After assaying, counterfeit its work

7. They said: "Ibn Isma'il disdained you"; I replied:
"Whoever thought so thought the sea already drained"

8. For all the deeds of his you know I have,
Then who bestows, and who deserves to be repaid?

9. May he who deemed this estrangement yours redeem
A soul on whom your love has steeped in sleepless care

10. Your nature holds not an iota's weight of fault
Rather, your soul took up a task beyond its wont

11. The soul is quickest to return when pressed
To undertake unaccustomed works before

12. Let no one's turning from you bring you grief
For those whose love leaves you in misery enthralled

13. An apparition may have substance in its end
And sons may torment fathers with rebuke and blows

14. The fool who knows not the intent of one in power
To injure him, though blindly served with hands outspread

15. Thanks be to God! If harmed, it is not as oppressor
For wealth is loaned, not owned, and apt to disappear

16. A man's disaster lies in loss of wealth and child
If faith remains, no cause for heavy mourning shows

17. Think not, because remote, while others closer ranked
I'm like a morsel that birds of prey have seized and borne

18. My ties to rulers have not yet been severed, so
Beware, inform the ignorant, lest they transgress

19. Still the Possessor of authority makes right
Whatever harm proceeds from me, and reunites

20. All that disunity tore apart; my plumes He trims
Without my leave - then how could plumes plucked out regrow?

21. Tomorrow to the markets I made stagnant flows
Abundant bounty, profit heaped for all who come

22. With my own soul I'd ransom him - no property
Or child - until in him Fate's blows have temper lost

23. As for good tidings, they will come in steady stream
Still victory's friend, always with throngs engulfed

24. God tore apart the mass His enemies had massed
So evil from their scheme was turned back and dispersed

25. All thanks to God, Who sent them back before the fray
While foes prepared for war still mumbled and confused

26. Grieve not their rout routed them more than death
And meaner end; their hoarded riches spent and strewn

27. You left them bankrupt, let their treasures drain
Until they held not even drams for basic needs

28. You drained them with your lack of interest, till they wished
Themselves in prison to be safe from your assaults

29. O stumbling-block! How quick you hastened those who strayed
Nor heeded counsel that they should repent and wait!

30. It's said: Oh, would that you had dawned on those who wake
At daybreak's summons, mindfulness and grace their way

31. With what face will you meet mankind tomorrow, who
Rejected bounty and honor in debased display?

32. Go lick the hands you kept from them, and murdered quick
And scattered corpses, rotting where they lay

33. Thanks unto Abraham, singled out above you all
Who cleansed his honor of the shame you threw his way

34. Whoever heeds his soul in its disputing path
Though noble, ends up hollowed out in every trait

35. Whoever defies it, shuns desire's demand
Will sleep and wake with praise still on his head outpoured