إنَّ النَّوائبَ في جوا

إنَّ النَّوائبَ في جوا

رِك قد جَرَت وعَلى مَنِ

رِك قد جَرَت وعَلى مَنِ

Indeed, calamities within your protection

The vicissitudes of fate in your life have run their course, and on whose head

have struck—and upon whom?

Whoever is loud-tongued against you

مَن طالَ فيكَ لِسانُهُ

مَن طالَ فيكَ لِسانُهُ

فأَطالَ شُغلَ الألسُنِ

فأَطالَ شُغلَ الألسُنِ

The man whose tongue spoke at length of you,

Only elongates the tongues’ preoccupations

and so kept tongues long at work.

And I see you obsessed with your glory, wandering, never bending,

وأراكَ مَشغُوفاً بِمَج

وأراكَ مَشغُوفاً بِمَج

دِكَ هائِماً لا تَنثَني

دِكَ هائِماً لا تَنثَني

And I see you enamored of your glory,

So if you build, the constructed will not be wasted, what was erected,

enraptured, never turning aside.

And if you look to a neighbor seeking refuge from the vicissitudes of time

فإِذا بَنَيتَ فَلا يُضَي

فإِذا بَنَيتَ فَلا يُضَي

يِع ما يُشيّدُ ما بُنِي

يِع ما يُشيّدُ ما بُنِي

So when you build, let not

Laying his saddlebags at your door,

what is being raised undo what was built.

Then look upon the servant of the beneficent

وإذا نَظَرتَ لمُستَجِي

وإذا نَظَرتَ لمُستَجِي

رٍ من صُروفِ الأَزمُنِ

رٍ من صُروفِ الأَزمُنِ

And when you look to one seeking refuge

from the vicissitudes of the ages,

مُلقٍ بِبابِكَ رَحلَهُ

مُلقٍ بِبابِكَ رَحلَهُ

فانظُر لِعَبدِ المُحسِنِ

فانظُر لِعَبدِ المُحسِنِ

laying his saddle at your door,

then look to Abd al-Muhsin.