1. لي خادمٌ لا أزال أحتسِبُهْ

    يغيب حتى يردَّه سغَبُهْ

    I have a servant I keep giving up for dead;

    he disappears until his hunger brings him back.

  2. نُرسله لاشتراء فاكهةٍ

    فقَصْرُنا أن تجيئَنا كتُبُهْ

    We send him to buy fruit,

    and all we can hope for is that his letters reach us.

  3. كم قال ضيفي وقد بعثت به

    هيهات يوم الحساب منقلبُهْ

    How often my guest has said, after I sent him off:

    "Far off indeed! His return will be on the Day of Reckoning!"

  4. وخلتُهُ قَدْ سما إلى كَرمْ رض

    وانَ لكي يُجْتَنَى له عنبُهْ

    And I thought he had ascended to the vineyard of Riḍ—

    —wān, so that its grapes might be picked for him.

  5. وإنما زار مالكاً فرأى

    زَقُّومَ صدقٍ فظل ينتخبُهْ

    But he had only visited Mālik, and seen

    genuine zaqqūm, and kept selecting it.

  6. ثم أتاني وقد طما غضبي

    عليه والضيفُ قد طما غضبُهْ

    Then he came to me, my anger already overflowing

    at him, and the guest's anger overflowing too.

  7. فقال هاكم وليس في يده

    إلا نوى كان مرة رُطَبُهْ

    He said, "Here you are!"—yet in his hand was

    nothing but date stones—their ripe dates a thing of the past—

  8. أو عَجْمُ رمَّانة وقشرتها

    بغير ماء لقد خلا عجبُهْ

    or a pomegranate's pips and rind,

    without juice—its marvel had indeed vanished.

  9. ضل فما يهتدي لطيِّبَةٍ

    كأنما مُجتناه مُحتطبُهْ

    He goes astray and cannot find good fruit,

    as though his gathered fruit were gathered firewood.

  10. غَيْبتُهُ سَرْمَدٌ وخيبتُهُ

    لا تنقضي أو يَغوله عطبُهْ

    His absence is eternal, and his failure

    never ends until his doom overtakes him.

  11. يبطىءُ حتى أكاد أحسبه

    صادف تيساً فظلّ يحتلبُهْ

    He dawdles till I almost think he has

    met a billy goat and kept on milking it,

  12. أو عرض الرَّدمُ دون حاجته

    أو لقِيَ الليثَ هائجاً كَلَبُهْ

    or the barrier has stood between him and his errand,

    or met a lion in a raging frenzy,

  13. أو لَكَمَتْ لَقْوَةٌ لَهَازِمَهُ

    أو سقطت من زَمانةٍ رُكَبُهْ

    or facial palsy has punched him in the jaws,

    or his knees have collapsed from chronic infirmity.

  14. هل مشتر والسعيدُ بائِعُهُ

    هل قابِلٌ والسعيد من يهبُهْ

    Is there a buyer? Fortunate is whoever sells him!

    Is there a taker? Fortunate is whoever gives him away!

  15. أساء بالمسلمين جالبُهُ

    لا كان من جالب ولا جَلَبُهْ

    The man who brought him has wronged the Muslims;

    would that neither the trader nor his wares had ever existed!