1. He shortened ignorance and lengthened wisdom,
And stripped the folly from his saddlebags,

2. And old age clothed him in the garb of prohibition,
And lusts fended off his union.

3. Nor did censers of aloes wood please him,
Not until his locks turned grey.

4. And youth was his companion
In jest and earnest,

5. But disobeyed him when he obeyed decrepitude
And youth ceased to be one of his people.

6. And time estranged him by its vicissitudes
As it used to wreck his rope.

7. And it changed his condition to a condition
That followed him, as did those before him.

8. So is the case of the bachelor
Whose sandals brush away both footprints.

9. And what barefoot or well-shod brother
Did new clothes fail to wear out?

10. New clothes wear out and the worn wears away
And what was of his descendants passes.

11. Reproach me little, for I am a man
At feud with tears along their course.

12. And I lived well and ill, detesting
Both fertile and barren states.

13. And I tasted with my hands, in my two states,
The honeycomb and the bees’ harvest.

14. So I was neither saddened during tribulations
Nor overjoyed at the easy life.

15. Thus was I like one who gains favors
And traces noble lineage to its root.

16. I love the generous and requite the vile
With the register of meanness for their acts.

17. And every man finds beneath his palm
What was inscribed in his register.

18. Blame returns to its people,
And praise reverts to its people.

19. This is for this, and that is for that,
For generosity or stinginess.

20. With a swipe of the canines or back molars
Fangs are bared by lions for the kill.

21. When worries rouse him,
For these taxes from his wrangling,

22. I saw him having the sheen like bracelets
On the arm, telling of his virtue.

23. Wolves contend with him, rending the bonds
Of union from his union.

24. When you strengthen him, be as he whose conscience
Built him upon his burnishing.

25. Bolder than he when the bold
Cannot withstand the might of his kicking.

26. He has a dwelling in the abode of guardians
To ward off the hand of fate from his transfer.

27. Impregnable protector, preventing
Time from one worthy of protection.

28. A brother's brother, if his call extends him
And if miserliness shortens him from a roast, it shortens him.

29. So is the noble, brother of the generous,
Who gathered glory from its plains.

30. O protected treasures and most generous
Squared in liberality in his giving!

31. Son of the rain-shower's brother Thabit
Whose like is never pointed to.

32. Munificent, honored, and most generous,
The halters show his saddlebags.

33. Nobly named, and in his palm
A brother of fate gains sanctuary through him.

34. To you, a reply cloaked by a man
Who loves the noble for his excellence.

35. So I am not like one who seeks dew extending
To state a matter to its settlement.

36. Rather, I saw you worthy
Of my solid love for bearing it.

37. For the love of the noble returns to the vile
And enfeebles his shoulder for bearing it.

38. And I, from God, enjoy favor
And Him I ask for His bounty.