1. Do not blame him for loving, and excuse him,
Does blame benefit one who cannot comprehend it?

2. Love responds to blame as an inviter, so if you say,
"Abandon the inviter," then abandon him.

3. The hearts of the infatuated are burning embers, otherwise
They are solid stone in the breasts of those you meet.

4. And love in hearts is a condition - for if it is not
For the desired, then for the hated.

5. We all seek a way of life,
And the joy of a young man is in what he seeks.

6. We only differ in our minds,
Just as we differ in our faces.

7. One may find pleasant what we hate
And dislike what we desire.

8. If tastes were equal, there would not be
In the world a wretched one, nor one held in high esteem.

9. I protected my soul from an ignorant one who protected
His soul from me, complaining of me as I complain of him.

10. And if I did not meet the fool with forbearance
My forbearance would be lost, and I would be the fool.

11. Knowledge once had a status among people
Who knew it, and so honored those who knew it.

12. Among us there is none who accepts knowledge freely,
So if you sell it, who will buy it?

13. The people of our time satirized us, so we obtained
A share of satire, for we are among their people.

14. The sword of poets is satire, but few
Wield this sword and cut with it.

15. The experiences of fate taught me what
I did not know of its family and relatives.

16. And I gave up poetry to seize upon
Opportunities, when I saw who seeks them.

17. An attribute I described creativity until
It facilitated in rhetoric the composition of extempore verse.

18. Marvels in deed are possible in words, but are
Distant in simile.

19. The deputy of a minister is a minister
Who has assumed excellence, though he does not claim it.

20. The discourse of the incapable is words, but for the
Capable, deeds render words unnecessary.

21. It burdened people to describe it, yet if it
Were tasked to describe itself, it could not enumerate it.

22. Its chest can contain a kingdom, like an eye
That contained all the sparks that flash in it.

23. A writer who wields swords, a watchman
With weapons in his hands, though no blows follow them.

24. An ascetic wearing black, walking
In white, though his gait is one of confusion.

25. And when books disappear from him
Tablets follow, tracking him.

26. The sword knew it earns whiteness,
So it came to him to scrape it.

27. Often, a generous one embarrassed the noble ones -
God multiplied in the earth his enviers.

28. They were amazed at the smallness of what appeared of
His deeds, though the great does not satisfy him.

29. What sufficed the commoner does not suffice the prince,
So he gives beyond what is hoped of him.

30. That one hopes according to his measure, and this one
Gives according to the measure of his soul.

31. The rain boasts when it is likened in
Generosity to it, denying those who described it.

32. One flows with water for a time, while the other
With freshness lasting for those who seek it.

33. With the beauty of its smiling and the blossoming
Of stars - nothing can portray it.

34. The sword is forged from the brightness of his hands,
And jewelry fashioned from the eloquence in them.

35. O pillar of a state, scrutinize those you appoint,
Scrutinizing them before selecting them.

36. You are the one poetry befits, but for you
Is a right - not all poetry fulfills it.