1. How many eminent poets have passed away,
And how often an unknown versifier has excelled!

2. In every age there is an incomparable genius
Who pours forth eloquent and masterful verse.

3. You are enough for me, O man, when virtuous conduct is shackled,
Either keeping silent or with a mouth full of decayed teeth.

4. I have revived the spirit of poetry with my speech,
And felled the horsemen of injustice with my firm resolve.

5. I have reined in the top of greatness with merit—
They are the stars in the dark of night.

6. Ask Egypt about me, if you do not know my status—
It will inform you of a nobility and honor most ancient.

7. Indeed I was born in its land with its plants
And sucked the lips of its laughing brooks.

8. Its breeze is my spirit, the ore of its soil my body,
And the Nile’s / My blood gushes forth from its springs.

9. So when I speak, it is with praise for Him
Who has granted me favor and blessing.

10. My family and loved ones are enough for me—
The pride I possess has conquered the reins of the stars.

11. The worthiest home to live in
Is where the heart has an unsevered tie.

12. It is the garden of beauty whose flowers
Are the maidens of Paradise, and the chatter their mouths.

13. No sooner have I shed my amulets
Than I don my most resplendent attire,

14. I have dispensed with my worries thanks to a dark-skinned beauty,
And been consoled for my cradle by a tawny-complexioned gazelle.

15. I have unleashed the springs of eloquence with sweet speech
With which I have quenched the thirst of the perturbed.

16. And how often have I disentangled a knotty problem
With my piercing wit and unraveled stubborn complications!

17. At times I strut atop the platform’s pinnacle,
At others I leap over the summit of a towering mountain.

18. Until I climbed from the heights a steep slope
Slippery under the feet of an ambitious climber.

19. I was born to compose poetry with novel charms—
Not the craft of some long-dead poet.

20. The Hakami pours it forth in the ecstasy of a lover,
And Muslim turns aside, overcome by rapture.

21. I set it straight after the twisting of its course,
A spear is not pleasing unless made straight.

22. By it I could almost accomplish some of the wonders
Of sorcery, were that not forbidden.

23. Well-matched on both sides, its meters indicate
What it contains—the meaning is clear.

24. I have expressed it in articulate diction
That awakens intuitive understanding in the ode, artfully composed.

25. It strips away the awe of every conceited horseman
And loosens the glittering armor of the cavalier.

26. From it I have tamed steeds not yet broken in
And left a mark on landmarks never before notched.

27. A poetry that combines types of beauty
Never assembled before in an inspired being.

28. When I attribute it to myself I expose every pretender,
And when I recite it I rout every masked one.

29. It is like a garden from which comes the melody of a bulbul,
While the grove—the roar of a lion can be heard.

30. I have attained the farthest reaches of praise and greatness
And roamed them hunting all desirable game.

31. I am the son of my own soul when I boast; though I am
Prouder in lineage than the noblest ancestors.

32. To pride oneself on one’s forebears brings no benefit
If the descendants are the meanest of all people.

33. And how much pleasure I have experienced
In the shade of the lush trees in the sand groves!

34. The breeze begins to spin its refreshing coolness
With fingers that run the woolen threads.

35. On every horizon stands a shining white cloud,
On every land a brook flows like quicksilver.

36. Yonder they flow in the sky as if they were ships;
The garden amid the robed and the adorned,

37. The blossoms amid the gilded and reddened.
The meadow’s expanse smiles with its flowers

38. With a string of pearls like well-ordered necklaces.
The fragrance of the robe is as though the morning breeze

39. Blew into it the scent of untouched ambergris.
The clouds—their branches swayed and trembled

40. In agitation at the return of the trilling bird.
Its breeze is fragrant, its birds are melodious,

41. Its brook refreshingly cool to drink.
The beauty of its view seizes the mind,

42. And ensnares the eye of the delighted observer.
Man is led by the hand of fate—it guides him

43. To an unknown destination he has not perceived.
A sphere turns while stars that do not disappear

44. Rise and set in a lightless space.
Images which if summoned do not respond,

45. Or if asked to speak, remain silent.
So leave behind the unknown, and take for yourself

46. Whatever appears to you, for it is the greatest prize.
One cannot attain what is far removed from him,

47. Even climbing the sky on a ladder.
While he cuts through the air proudly ascending,

48. He plummets with it into the ruins of a dark home.
Life is sweet unless it becomes

49. The prey of an unjust tyrant who shows no mercy.
I do not approve the life of a coward, nor do I see

50. Virtue in one of noble stock if he does not show valor.
And how often have I torn away the mask of a battle,

51. Exposing a victory obscured in swirling dust!
If man had knowledge of that which lies

52. In the unseen, he would neither rejoice nor regret.
So leave matters to their Disposer of affairs,

53. And turn away from worldly things yourself and be safe.