يقولُ وأبصرَ حالي الحَسودُ

يقولُ وأبصرَ حالي الحَسودُ

فأنكرَ منها الذي ينكرُ

فأنكرَ منها الذي ينكرُ

The envious man says, having seen my condition

The envious one says and sees my state,

and objected to what he found objectionable in it:

So he denies what he would deny.

ألستَ تقولُ مدحتَ الأجل

ألستَ تقولُ مدحتَ الأجل

شجاعاً وقدّمني عنْبَرُ

شجاعاً وقدّمني عنْبَرُ

Do you not say you praised the most illustrious

Don't you say you praised the glorious one,

Shujāʿ, and say, ‘ʿAnbar put me forward’?

And 'Anbar presented me first?

فما بالُ عارضِ إحسانِه

فما بالُ عارضِ إحسانِه

على روضِ شعرِك لا يمطرُ

على روضِ شعرِك لا يمطرُ

Why, then, does the cloud of his bounty

So why does the critic of his kindness

not rain upon the meadow of your poetry?

Not rain on the garden of your poetry?

فقلتُ رويدَك أوردتَني

فقلتُ رويدَك أوردتَني

مواردَ ما دونَها مصدرُ

مواردَ ما دونَها مصدرُ

So I said: Take it easy—you have led me

I said, gentle friend, you have led me

to watering places with no way back.

To springs beyond which there is no source.

وإني غداً سائلُ عنبراً

وإني غداً سائلُ عنبراً

ومستمعٌ منه ما يذكرُ

ومستمعٌ منه ما يذكرُ

And tomorrow I shall indeed ask ʿAnbar,

And tomorrow I will ask 'Anbar

and listen to what he has to say.

And listen to what he recalls.

وها أنا قد جئتُ مسترشِداً

وها أنا قد جئتُ مسترشِداً

لك الفضلُ فاصدعْ بما تؤمرُ

لك الفضلُ فاصدعْ بما تؤمرُ

And here I am, having come to seek guidance:

You have virtue, so speak what you command.

Yours is the bounty; so proclaim what you are commanded.