1. صبراً على أشياءَ كُلِّفْتُها

    أُعْقِبْتُها الآنَ وسُلِّفْتُها

    Patience with the things laid upon me,

    imposed on me now and allotted to me before.

  2. ويح القوافي ما لها سَفْسَفتْ

    حَظِّي كأَنِّي كنتُ سَفْسَفْتُها

    Alas for the rhymes! Why have they debased

    my fortune, as though I had debased them?

  3. ألمْ تكُن هوجاً فسدَّدْتُها

    ألم تكن عوجاً فَثَقَّفْتُهَا

    Were they not wayward until I aimed them true?

    Were they not crooked until I straightened them?

  4. كم كلماتٍ حكْتُ أبْرادَهَا

    وَسَّطْتُها الحسْنَ وطَرَّفْتُهَا

    How many words whose striped robes I wove,

    placing beauty in their centers and along their borders!

  5. ما أحْسَنَتْ إن كنتُ حَسَّنْتُهَا

    ما ظَرَّفَتْ إن كنت ظرَّفْتُها

    They did me no good, though I made them beautiful;

    they showed no grace, though I made them graceful.

  6. أنْحتْ على حظِّي بمِبْرَاتِهَا

    شكراً لأني كنتُ أرهَفْتُهَا

    They assailed my fortune with their paring knife,

    in thanks for my having sharpened them.

  7. فرقَّقَتْهُ حين رقَّقْتُها

    وهفْهَفَتْهُ حين هفهَفْتُهَا

    They thinned it when I refined them,

    and made it frail when I made them delicate.

  8. وكثَّفتْ دون الغنى سدَّها

    حتّى كأنِّي كنتُ كثَّفْتُها

    They thickened their barrier against wealth,

    until it was as though I had made them dense.

  9. أحلِفُ باللَّه لقد أصْبَحتْ

    في الرزق آفتي وما إفْتُها

    I swear by God, they have become

    my bane in livelihood, though I never harmed them.

  10. لمْ أُشكِهَا قطّ بِتَقْصِيرَةٍ

    فيها ولا من حَيْفَةٍ حِفْتُهَا

    I never gave them cause to complain of any failing

    in them, nor of any injustice I dealt them.

  11. حُرِمتُ في سنِّي وفي مَيْعَتي

    قِرَايَ من دنيا تَضيَّفْتُها

    At my age, and in my prime, I was denied

    my guest's fare by a world whose hospitality I sought.

  12. لَهْفي على الدنيا وهل لهفةٌ

    تُنْصِفُ منها إن تلهَّفْتُهَا

    Alas for the world! Can any lament

    win redress from it, if I lament it?

  13. كم أَهَّةٍ لي قد تأوَّهْتُهَا

    فيها ومن أُفٍّ تأففتها

    How many an 'ah!' have I sighed

    over it, and how many an 'ugh!' have I uttered!

  14. أغدُو ولا حالَ تَسَنَّمْتُها

    فيها ولا حال تَرَدَّفْتُهَا

    I go forth, having mounted no station

    within it, nor any station I rode behind upon.

  15. أوسعتُها صبراً على لؤْمِها

    إذا تَقَصَّتْهُ تَطرَّفْتُهَا

    I lavished patience upon it despite its baseness;

    when it exhausted that patience, I sought its outer reaches.

  16. فَيُعْجِزُ الحيلةَ منْزُورُها

    إلا إذا ما أنا لطَّفْتُها

    So its meager bounty defeats resourcefulness,

    unless I myself make the stratagem subtle.

  17. قُبحاً لها قبحاً على أنَّهَا

    أقبحُ شيءٍ حين كشَّفْتُها

    Ugliness upon it, ugliness! Although it is

    the ugliest thing when I lay it bare.

  18. تَعَسَّفَتْني أنْ رَأتْني امرَأً

    لم ترني قَطُّ تَعَسَّفْتُها

    It mistreated me because it saw me as a man

    whom it had never seen mistreat it.

  19. تَضَعَّفَتْني ومتَى نالني

    عونُ أبي الصَّقْرِ تَضَعَّفْتُهَا

    It deemed me weak; whenever there reaches me

    Abu al-Saqr's aid, I shall deem it weak.

  20. أرجوه عن أشياء جرَّبتُهَا

    وليس عن طير تَعَيَّفْتُهَا

    I hope in him because of things I have tested,

    not because of birds from which I read omens.

  21. مقدارُ ما يُلْبِثُ عنِّي الغِنَى

    إشارةُ الإصْبع أوْ لَفتُهَا

    The delay before wealth reaches me is but

    a finger's gesture, or its turn.

  22. سَلَّيْتُ نفسي بأفاعِيله

    من بعد ما قد كنت أسَّفْتُهَا

    I consoled my soul with his deeds,

    after having filled it with sorrow.

  23. وقد يعزّيني شباباً مضى

    ومدَّةً للعيشِ أسلفْتُهَا

    He may console me for youth now gone

    and a span of life I spent before.

  24. فكَّرتُ في خمسين عاماً خَلَتْ

    كانتْ أمامي ثم خلَّفْتُهَا

    I pondered fifty years now gone,

    once before me, then left behind.

  25. تَبَيَّنَتْ لي إذ تَذَنَّبْتُهَا

    ولم تَبيَّنْ إذا تأنَّفْتُهَا

    They became clear to me when I reached their end,

    but were not clear when I began them.

  26. أجهلتها إذ هي موفورةٌ

    ثم نَضَتْ عني فعُرِّفْتُها

    I failed to know them while they were abundant;

    then they slipped away from me, and I was made to know them.

  27. ففرحَةُ الموهوب أعدِمتُها

    وترحةُ المسلوب أردفْتُها

    So I was denied the joy of one granted a gift,

    and added afterward the sorrow of one bereft.

  28. لو أن عمري مائةٌ هَدَّني

    تذكُّري أنِّيَ نَصَّفْتُها

    Even if my life were a hundred years, I would be crushed

    by remembering that I had spent half of them.

  29. فكيف والآثارُ قد أصبحت

    تُرجف بالعمر إذا قِفْتُها

    How much more, when the signs have now begun

    to raise alarms about my lifespan as I trace them!

  30. كنزُ حياةٍ كانَ أنفقتُهُ

    على تصاريفَ تصرَّفْتُها

    There was a treasure of life; I spent it

    on vicissitudes I passed through.

  31. لا عُذر لي في أسفي بعدها

    على العطايا عفتها عفْتُها

    I have no excuse, after those years, for grieving

    over gifts I spurned—spurned—

  32. إلا بلاغاً إن تأبَّيتَهُ

    أشقيت نفسي ثم أتلفْتُها

    except subsistence: if you refuse it,

    I would make my soul wretched, then destroy it.

  33. قوتٌ يُقيم الجسم في عفّةٍ

    أشعِرتُها قِدْماً وألحفْتُها

    Food to sustain the body in restraint,

    which I long ago wore as inner garment and cloak.

  34. وقد كددتُ النفس من بعدما

    رفَّهتها قدماً وعَفَّفْتُها

    I have worn my soul down with toil, after

    once pampering it and keeping it restrained,

  35. لا طالباً رزقاً سوى مُسْكةٍ

    ولو تعدّت ذاك عنَّفْتُها

    seeking no livelihood beyond bare sustenance;

    if it went beyond that, I would rebuke it.

  36. طالبتُ ما يمسكها مُجملاً

    فطفتُ في الأرض وطوَّفْتُها

    I sought, with moderation, what would sustain it,

    and roamed the earth, making my soul roam as well.

  37. وناكدَ الجَدُّ فمنّيتُها

    وماطلَ الحظ فسوَّفْتُها

    Good fortune turned grudging, so I held out hopes to it;

    fate delayed, so I put it off with promises.

  38. وإن أراد اللَّهُ في ملكهُ

    جاوزت خَمْسِيَّ فأضعفْتُها

    And if God wills it in His dominion,

    I shall pass my fifty years and double them,

  39. بقدرة اللَّه ويُمْنِ امرئٍ

    نعماه عُمْرٌ إن تَلَحَّفْتُها

    by God's power and the auspiciousness of a man

    whose favors are life, if I wrap myself in them.

  40. فيها مَرادٌ إن تَرعَّيتُها

    وأيُّ حِرز إن تكهَّفْتُها

    They offer pasture, if I graze in them,

    and what a refuge, if I make them my cave!

  41. يا واحد الناس الذي لم أجد

    شَرواهُ في الأرض التي طُفْتُها

    O peerless man among men, for whom I found no

    equal in the earth that I traveled!

  42. إليك أشكو أنني طالبٌ

    خابت رِكابي منذ أَوجفْتُهَا

    To you I complain that I am a seeker;

    my riding camels have failed since I drove them swiftly.

  43. أصبحتُ أرجوك وأخشى الذي

    جَرَّبتُ من حالٍ تسلَّفْتُها

    I have come to hope in you, yet fear what

    I experienced in a condition I endured before.

  44. فاطرُدْ ليَ الحرفةَ وادعُ الغِنى

    واذكر سُموطاً كنت ألَّفْتُها

    Drive ill fortune away from me, and summon wealth,

    and remember the necklaces I once composed:

  45. مَدائحٌ بالحق نمَّقتُها

    وليس بالباطل زخرفْتُها

    praises I adorned with truth,

    not embellished with falsehood.

  46. أعتدُّها شكوى تشكيتها

    إليك لا زُلفى تَزلَّفْتُها

    I count them as a complaint I have voiced

    to you, not a bid to ingratiate myself.

  47. وكيف أعتدُّ بها زُلفةً

    وإن تعمَّلتُ فأحصفْتُها

    How could I count them a means of favor,

    even if I labored and made them firmly wrought?

  48. ولم أُشرِّفك بها بل أرى

    بالحق أني بك شرَّفْتُها

    I have not ennobled you through them; rather, I see

    in truth that through you I ennobled them.

  49. ومن مَساعٍ لك ألَّفتها

    لا من مساعي الناس لَفَّفْتُها

    From your own achievements I composed them,

    not piecing them together from other men's achievements.

  50. تعاوَرَتْها فِكَرٌ جمةٌ

    أنضيتُها فيك وأزحفْتُها

    Many thoughts took turns working upon them;

    for you I wore those thoughts out and brought them to a crawl.

  51. وأنت لا تَبْخَسُ ذا كُلفةٍ

    لا بَلْ ترى أن الغنى رَفْتُهَا

    You do not stint one who has labored;

    no, rather you see wealth as the remedy for that toil.

  52. بحقِّ من أعلاك فوقَ الورى

    إحلافةً بالحق أحلفْتُها

    By the right of Him who raised you above mankind,

    a true adjuration that I have pronounced—

  53. لا تُخطئَنّي منك في موقفي

    سماءُ معروف توكّفْتُها

    may there not pass me by, from you as I stand here,

    a raincloud of kindness whose drops I await.

  54. أنت المُرجَّى للتي رُمتها

    أنت المرجى للتي خِفْتُها

    You are the one I hope in for what I sought;

    you are the one I hope in against what I feared.

  55. كم بُلغةٍ ما دونها بُلغةٌ

    قد نافرَتْني إذ تألَّفْتُها

    How many a bare sufficiency, with nothing less sufficient,

    has shunned me when I sought its friendship!

  56. فرُحتُ لا أرجو ولا أبتغي

    وتاقت النفسُ فكَفْكَفْتُها

    So I returned, neither hoping nor seeking;

    my soul yearned, and I held it back.

  57. حُملتُ من أمري على صعبةٍ

    خلَّيْتُها إذ عزّني كَفْتُها

    I was borne by my plight upon an unruly mount;

    I let it loose when restraining it proved beyond me.

  58. بل خِفْتُ من كنتُ له راجياً

    ورجَّتِ النفسُ فخوّفْتُها

    Indeed, I feared the very one in whom I hoped;

    my soul hoped, and I frightened it.

  59. ولم أخفْ في ذاك أنّي متى

    وعدتُها رِفدَك أخلفْتُها

    I did not fear, in that, that whenever

    I promised my soul your aid, I would fail it;

  60. لكنني أفرَقُ من حِرْفةٍ

    أنكرتُ نفسي منذ عُرِّفْتُها

    but I fear an ill fortune

    since knowing which I have been a stranger to myself.

  61. أقول إذ عنَّفني ناصحٌ

    في رفض أثمادٍ ترشَّفْتُها

    I say, when a counselor reproaches me

    for rejecting the scant pools I had sipped from:

  62. إن أبا الصقر على بُعدِه

    داني العطايا إن تكفَّفْتُها

    Truly, Abu al-Saqr, for all his distance,

    is near in his gifts, if I hold out my palms for them.

  63. ثمارُهُ في شُمِّ أغصانِهِ

    لكنني إن شئتُ عَطَّفْتُها

    His fruits are on his lofty boughs,

    but, if I wish, I can bend them down.

  64. لا كَثمارٍ سُمتُ أغْصانَها

    إدْناءها مني فقصَّفْتُها

    Not like fruits whose boughs I demanded

    be brought near me, only to snap them.

  65. لِبَابِهِ المعمورِ أُسْكُفَّةٌ

    لَتُعْتِبَنِّي إن تسكَّفْتُها

    At his much-frequented door there is a threshold

    sure to grant me redress if I step upon it.

  66. الآنَ أسلمتُ إلى نعمةٍ

    غنّاء نفساً كنت أقشَفْتُها

    Now I have entrusted to a blessing

    rich in bounty a soul I had kept austere.

  67. قد وعدتني النفس جدوى له

    إن شئت بعد اللَّه وظَّفْتُها

    My soul has promised me bounty from him;

    if I wish, after God, I can make it my allotted share.

  68. تاللَّه لا يَقْصُرُ دون المنى

    قِرَى سجاياه التي ضِفْتُها

    By God, there will not fall short of my wishes

    the hospitality of his virtues, whose guest I have been.

  69. نُعمى أبي الصقر التي استبشرتْ

    نفسي بريَّاها وقد سُفْتُها

    The bounty of Abu al-Saqr, which brought gladness

    to my soul through its fragrance, which I have inhaled!

  70. خُذها ولا تَبْرَم بها إنني

    قرَّطتُها الحسنَ وشنَّفْتُها

    Take it, and do not tire of it; I have

    adorned it with earrings and ear-pendants of beauty.

  71. بَيِّنَةً من منطق محكمٍ

    فَنَّنْتُهَا فيك وصرَّفْتُها

    Clear in firmly wrought speech,

    I varied its forms in your praise and turned it every way.

  72. كم نظرةٍ فيها تَقَصَّيتها

    كم وقفةٍ فيها توقَّفْتُها

    How many a scrutiny of it I pursued to the end;

    how many a pause over it I made!

  73. بمجد آبائك أسَّستُها

    ومجدِ آلائك شرَّفْتُها

    I founded it on your forefathers' glory,

    and ennobled it with the glory of your favors.

  74. ضَوَّعتُ فيكم كل مشمولة

    لكنني من مسككُمْ دُفْتُها

    I perfumed every north-wind-cooled wine in your praise,

    yet I blended it with your own musk.

  75. ولم أدعْ في كلّ ما زانها

    فلسفةً إلا تفلسفْتُها

    In all that adorned it, I left no

    philosophy without thinking it through.

  76. إن كنتُ بالتطويل كمَّيتُها

    فليس بالتثبيج كيَّفْتُها

    If I gave it quantity by lengthening it,

    I did not give it quality through slapdash writing.

  77. لو أن خدّي كان أهلاً لهُ

    واستهدفَتْ لي لتَهدَّفْتُها

    If my cheek were worthy of it,

    and it presented itself to me, I would offer myself to it.

  78. يا من إذا صُغتُ أماديحَه

    جَوَّدتُها فيه وزيّفْتُها

    O you whose praises, whenever I fashion them,

    I perfect in his praise, yet find wanting!

  79. لو أنها ليلٌ لَنوَّرتُهُ

    باسمك أو شمسٌ لأَكْسفْتُهَا

    If they were night, I would illuminate it

    with your name; or, were they the sun, I would eclipse it.