خُلقَ الإنسانُ من حَمأٍ

فإذا حرّكتَهُ نفَحا

Man is created of haste

When you move him, he stinks

وبعيدٌ أن ترى أحداً

بعد أصلِ فاسدٍ صلُحا

It is far-fetched that you see

Anyone good after a rotten origin

والفتى لولا تأدّبُه

كان منسيّاً ومطّرَحا

And the youth, if not disciplined

Would be forgotten and discarded

وزمانٍ ساقَ لي مِحَناً

ظنّها الأقوامُ بي منَحا

And a time that brought me tribulations

That people thought were gifts to me

زعموا أني انخفَضْتُ به

وهو وزنُ الفضلِ قد رجَحا

They claimed that I was lowered by it

While it is the weight of virtue that tipped the scale

وصديقٍ بتّ أُلبِسُه

عندما يهجوني المِدَحا

And a friend who I clothe

When they praise me excessively

إن رأى المكروهَ يقصدُني

هزّ عِطفَيْهِ له فرَحا

If he sees something objectionable aiming at me

He shakes his sympathy towards it, happy

ويكَ إن الحُرّ يُقنِعُهُ

من طفيفِ الرّزْقِ ما سنَحا

And you, if the free man satisfies himself

With the little livelihood he grabbed

لا أحب النّخْلَ ذا سعَفٍ

قد حَماني شوكُه البلَحا

I do not like the palm tree with leaves

Whose thorns scratched me with unripe dates