1. ألا أيُّها المَوْسُوم باسم وكنيةٍ

    وجدناهما اشتُقَّا من الحمد والحُسنِ

    Hear me, you who bear a name and a byname,

    both of which we found derived from praise and beauty.

  2. أَتَبْخلُ بالقرطاسِ والخطِّ عن أخٍ

    وكفَّاك أنْدَى بالعطايا من المُزنِ

    Would you withhold paper and writing from a brother,

    though your palms shower gifts more freely than rainclouds?

  3. لعمري لقد قوَّى جفاؤك ظِنَّتي

    وأوهن تَأْميلي وما كان ذا وهْنِ

    By my life, your coldness has indeed strengthened my suspicion

    and weakened my hope, which had not been weak.

  4. ولِمْ لا وقد ألغيتَ شأْني مُخسِّساً

    بذلك قَدْرِي مُسْتَخِفّاً به وزني

    And why not, when you have dismissed my standing, diminishing

    my worth thereby, making light of my weight?

  5. أبا حسنٍ يا إلفَ نفسي وأُنْسَها

    ويا سندي في النائبات ويا رُكني

    Abu Hasan, companion and comfort of my soul,

    and my support in calamities, my pillar!

  6. أمثلك بعد الحِلم والعِلم والنُّهَى

    يَبَرُّ ويَجفُو للإقامةِ والظَّعْن

    Can one like you, after such forbearance, learning, and reason,

    be kind to those who stay and cold to those who depart,

  7. ويأْتَمُّ بالأيامِ وهْي ذميمةٌ

    فينْسَى الذي تُقْصي ويَرْعَى الذي تُدْني

    and take his lead from the days, though they are blameworthy,

    thus forgetting those they drive away and tending those they bring near?

  8. إذا كنتَ خُلْصاني من الناس كُلِّهِمْ

    وأعْرضْتَ عن ذكراي إعراض مُسْتغني

    If you are my closest friend among all people,

    yet turn from remembering me like one who has no need of me,

  9. فياليتَ شِعْري ما تركتَ لمُبْغِضٍ

    يُصَرِّحُ بالبَغْضاءِ لي ثم لا يَكْني

    then I wish I knew what you have left for an enemy

    who proclaims hatred for me openly, then uses no veiled words.

  10. ألا أيُّها الحكامُ أعْدُو مُظَلَّماً

    على بطلٍ في ظلمِه غيرِ ذي قِرن

    Hear, judges! I come running, wronged,

    against a champion without a rival in his injustice.

  11. أيعرضُ عني باخلاً بكتابهِ

    أخٌ ليَ قلبي عندَهُ غَلِق الرَّهن

    Does he turn away from me, grudging his letter—

    a brother of mine, with whom my heart is pledged beyond redemption?

  12. لك الخيرُ كم من لوعةٍ قد جنيْتَها

    عليَّ وما تَدْري هنالك ما تجني

    May good be yours! How many burning griefs you have inflicted

    upon me, not knowing in doing so what you inflict!

  13. جفوتَ فجافيتَ الجفون عن الكرى

    وعَرَّضْتَ رأيي للزِّرايةِ والطَّعْن

    You were cold, and so kept my eyelids away from sleep,

    and exposed my judgment to contempt and attack.

  14. ومن يتَخَيَّرْ صاحباً غير عاطفٍ

    عليه فمنسوبٌ إلى الجهل والأفْنِ

    And whoever chooses a companion who feels no sympathy

    for him is reckoned ignorant and foolish.

  15. وكم قائلٍ قد قال لي متمثّلاً

    ليوهِنَ مني أو يشدَّ قوى متني

    And many a speaker has told me, quoting a saying,

    to weaken me or strengthen the sinews of my back:

  16. ألا إنَّ من يدعو مَودَّةَ مُعْرضٍ

    ويَعْنِي بصِدْقِ الوجد من غير ما يَعْني

    Know that whoever seeks the affection of one who turns away,

    and lavishes sincere passion without receiving care in return,

  17. لكالمرتجي أنْ يقطعَ البحر فارساً

    أو المُبْتَغِي أن يقطعَ البرَّ في سفن

    is like one hoping to cross the sea on horseback,

    or one seeking to cross dry land in ships,

  18. أو المبتنِي بنيانَه فوق هائلٍ

    من الرَّمْلِ لا ينفك يهوي بما يَبْني

    or one building his structure atop a loose heap

    of sand that never stops collapsing with what he builds.

  19. وقلَّبْتُ أمري كي أرى لي إساءةً

    فلم أرها في الظهر منه ولا البطنِ

    And I turned my conduct over, seeking some offense of mine,

    but saw none, on its back or in its belly.

  20. سألتُك بالبيتِ الممسَّحِ ركنُهُ

    وبالمشهدِ المشهود مِن مَنْحرِ البُدْن

    I adjure you by the House whose corner is stroked,

    and by the thronged site where sacrificial camels are slaughtered:

  21. أرقَّى إليكَ الكاشحونَ نميمة

    طويتَ لها كَشْحَيْكَ مني على ضِغن

    Have ill-wishers carried slander to you,

    making you fold your flanks around a grudge against me?

  22. فيا عجباً إن كان ذاك وقد طوت

    عجائب هذا الدهر قرناً إلى قرن

    How strange, if that is so, though they have swept away—

    the marvels of this age—generation after generation!

  23. عهدتُك لا تَعْتَدُّ بالعين شاهداً

    عليَّ فلمْ أصبحتَ تَعْتَدُّ بالأذن

    I knew you would not count the eye as a witness

    against me; why do you now count the ear?

  24. أم استفسدتْ ذاك الوفاء ملالَةٌ

    فأصبحتَ لا يُثني عليكَ به المُثْني

    Or has weariness corrupted that loyalty,

    so that no praiser now praises you for it?

  25. حبَسْتَ أخاً في سجن هَمٍّ وما جَنَى

    فأطْلِقْهُ بالإعتاب من ذلك السجن

    You imprisoned a brother in a prison of anguish, though he did no wrong;

    so release him from that prison by making amends.

  26. ولا تَكُنِ المبذولَ لِلَّوْم سَمْعُه

    وقرْطاسهُ بين الصِّيانةِ والحزن

    And do not be one whose ear is freely offered to blame,

    while his paper lies between safekeeping and sorrow.

  27. أجِرنِيَ مِنْ حُزْنِي لرفْضِكَ حُرْمتي

    فَحُزْنِي لِشَحْطِ الدَّار ناهيك من حُزن

    Give me refuge from grief at your rejection of my claim to respect;

    for my grief at the distance of home is grief enough.

  28. كأني وقد فارقتُ داراً وبَلْدَةً

    تحلُّهُمَا أُخْرِجْتُ من جَنَّتَيْ عَدن

    It is as though, having left a home and a town

    that you inhabit, I had been cast out of two gardens of Eden.

  29. وما العيشُ إلا تارتانِ فتارةٌ

    مناخٌ على سهلٍ وأُخرى على حَزْن

    And life is nothing but two turns: one turn

    is a camp on level ground, the other on rugged ground.

  30. أتذكُرُ أيَّاماً بها وليالياً

    محاسنُها كالروضِ في صُبْحَةِ الدَّجن

    Do you remember days there, and nights

    whose beauties were like a meadow on an overcast morning?

  31. عهودٌ خَلَتْ محمودةً وكأنَّها

    مُعانَقَةُ اللَّذاتِ في حُلَّة الأمن

    Times that passed, cherished, as though they were

    an embrace of pleasures in a robe of safety.

  32. عطفناك فاعطف إنَّ كل ابنِ حُرَّةٍ

    أخو مَكْسَرٍ صُلْب وذو معطف لَدْن

    We have sought to sway you; bend, then, for every freeborn man

    has a hard core and a supple place to bend.

  33. وإنْ سَقَطاتي في كتابي تَتَابَعَتْ

    فلا تَلْحنِي فيما جنيتُ على ذهني

    And if my slips in my letter have come one after another,

    then do not blame me for what I have done to my mind.

  34. ظَلمْتَ فإنْ ألْحَنْ فظلمُك خُلَّتي

    جَنَى زلَّتِي والظُّلْمُ شَرٌّ من اللحن

    You wronged me; if my grammar falters, your wrong against my friendship

    has caused my slip—and injustice is worse than faulty grammar.