1. ذَريني إنَّ أَمرَكِ لَن يُطاعا

    وما أَلفَيِتني حِلمي مُضاعا

    Leave me be: your bidding shall not be obeyed,

    nor have you ever found my forbearance squandered.

  2. وما دَهري اطبَأَنَّكِ غيرَ أَنيِّ

    بَنَى لي والدي بَيتاً يَفاعا

    Never in my life have I hidden from you this:

    my father built me a house upon the heights.

  3. أَخَذتُ بِدَأبِه فَوَرِثتُ عنهُ

    مَكارِمَ لَم تكُن منهُ ابتِداعا

    I followed in his way and inherited from him

    noble virtues that were no invention of his.

  4. أَلاَ تِلكَ الثَّعالبُ قد تَوالَت

    عَلَّي وحالفَت عُرجاً ضِباعا

    Behold, those foxes have come one after another against me

    and allied themselves with limping hyenas,

  5. لتَمضُغَني العُداةُ فَمَرَّ لَحمي

    وأَفرَقَ مِن حِذاري أو أَتَاعا

    so that my enemies might chew me; but my flesh proved bitter,

    and each, wary of me, either fled in fright or vomited.

  6. فأَن لَم تَندَمُوا فَثَكِلتُ عَمراً

    وهاجَرتُ الُمؤرِّقَ والسَّماعا

    If you do not rue this, then may I be bereft of ʿAmr,

    and may I forsake al-Muʾarriq and al-Sammāʿ;

  7. ولا مَلَكَت يَدايَ عِنانَ طِرفٍ

    ولا أَبصَرتُ مِن شَمسٍ شُعاعا

    may my hands never command the reins of a noble steed,

    nor may I behold a single ray of sunlight,

  8. ولا وَضَعَت إليَّ عَلَى خَلاَءٍ

    حَصَانٌ يومَ جِلوتَها قِناعا

    nor may a chaste woman, alone with me, lower

    her veil on the day I unveil her as my bride.

  9. وخطَّةَ ماجِدٍ كَلَّفتُ نَفسي

    إذا ضاقُوا رَحِبتُ بِهُم ذِراعا

    I have charged myself with every noble undertaking;

    when others were straitened, I opened my arms wide to them.