إني موصيك فاحفظ عن أخي ثقة

راض الزمان وراضته تجاربه

I counsel you; so remember the words of a trustworthy brother,

who has tamed Time, and whom his experiences have tamed.

غضّ الزمان على عودي فقوّمَه

غضّ الثقاف ألان الحدّ جانبُه

Time bit down [reading uncertain] on my shaft and straightened it,

like a shaft-straightener's bite; its side softened the edge [wording uncertain].

صاحبت دهري بفكر ثاقب وعنى

راق إذا لسبت قلبي عقاربه

I kept company with my time through piercing thought, and had [reading uncertain]

a spell-healer whenever its scorpions stung my heart.

كم مرّة رعت خوفا من مخالبه

وكم سطا فنكت قلبي مخالبه

How often I took fright, fearing its claws,

and how often it attacked, its claws gouging my heart!

كأنني منه في بحر تلاطمني

أمواجه وتوافيني عجائبه

It is as though, because of it, I were in a sea, battered

by its waves, while its wonders come upon me.

ما تبتديني بإحسان مواهبه

إلا تلتها وبتنعيص نوائبه

No sooner do its gifts first treat me kindly

than its calamities follow them with embitterment [reading uncertain].

لكل أحواله عندي مغالبة

صبرا وللموت خطب لا أغالبه

For every turn it takes, I have resistance,

through patience; but death brings an ordeal I cannot overcome.

فاقبل وصية من ناجاك عن فطن

ناجاه عن غيبها فكر يخاطبه

So accept the counsel of one who confides in you with insight,

to whom thought, addressing him, has whispered of its hidden depths.

سلم إلى الدهر واسمح ما استطعت وكن

ممّن إذا سامه أمرا يقاربه

Submit to Time, be generous as far as you can, and be

one who accommodates a demand when Time imposes it on him.

لا تبق يوما ليوم أنت خائفه

فكلّ يوم له رزق يصاحبه

Do not save one day's share for a day you fear;

for each day has sustenance that accompanies it.

لا يدفع الفقر تقتير يواظبه

بل يكسف الفقر إقبال يشاغبه

Poverty is not warded off by penny-pinching one persists in;

rather, good fortune eclipses poverty, contending with it.

إن الفقير إذا نالته موهبة

من يومه فله يوم يحاسبه

Indeed, when a poor man receives a gift

from his day, he has another day that calls him to account.

إن زيد بالأمس فضلا في معيشته

فاليوم يسلبه ما الأمس واهبه

If yesterday his livelihood was increased by a surplus,

then today strips him of what yesterday bestowed.

كن كيسا فطنا جزلا تجد وزر

فالكيّسُ النحد قد تصفو مشاربه

Be shrewd, perceptive, and sound in judgment; you will find refuge.

For the shrewd, able man [reading uncertain], his drinking places may run clear.

إن فاته المال فالتدبير صاحبه

والعقل كاتبه والحلم حاجبه

If wealth eludes him, resourcefulness is his companion,

and reason his secretary, and forbearance his chamberlain.

لا يؤيسنّك لفظ من أخي ملق

أرضاك حاضره وازور غائبه

Do not let a flattering man's words make you despair:

he pleased you when present, but turned away when absent.

فالسيف في غمده كفت مكارهه

وحدذه فيه إن غابت مضاربُه

For a sword's harms are held back in its sheath,

and its edge remains inside [reading uncertain], though its striking edges are hidden.

ألن جناحا وكن كالأفعون إذا

لأنت ملامسه أردت عواقبه

Soften your wing, and be like the viper: when

you indeed touch it, its consequences prove fatal.

ألق العدو بوجه ضاحك وأقم

في القلب منك له جيشا يحاربه

Meet your enemy with a smiling face, and station

in your own heart an army to fight him,

حتى إذا ظفرت يوما يداك به

فابعث عليه حنى سوط يعاقبه

until, when one day your hands gain mastery over him,

then unleash a curved whip upon him [reading uncertain] to punish him.

ادفع عليه حدارا أو أذقه ردى

مكر تقوم له فيه نوادبه

Push a wall down upon him [reading uncertain], or make him taste death

through a plot in which his mourning women rise to lament him.

سالم أخا السلم واغفر للصديق وكن

ممّن إذا عدّ لم تذكر معايبه

Make peace with a man of peace, forgive your friend, and be

one whose faults go unmentioned when he is reckoned up.

دع المطامع إن لاحت كواذبها

تعش عزيزا فشر الفكر كاذبه

Abandon desires when their deceptions become apparent;

you will live with dignity, for the worst thought is a lying one.

لا تكشفنّ سفيها عن مقاولة

وكن وقورا فخير الدر راسبه

Do not lay a fool bare through argument;

and be dignified, for the best pearls are those that lie deep.

إن السفية كحش غاب أنته

إن أنت حرّكته هاجت غوائبُه

Indeed, a fool is like a privy whose stench has faded [reading uncertain];

if you stir it, its hidden contents surge up.

اجعل شعارك سوء الظن تنح به

من كان مستيقظا قلت مصائبه

Make mistrust your watchword; keep clear by its aid.

Whoever stays alert has fewer misfortunes.

لا تشرهنّ فكم من أكلة قتلت

فالطير في الجو ترديه مناصبه

Do not be gluttonous: how many a mouthful has killed!

For the bird in the air is brought down by the snares set for it,

والحوت يخرجها الصياد عن شره

فيها عن البحر في شص يحاذبه

and the fisherman draws the fish out because of the greed

within it, from the sea, on a hook that tugs at it [reading uncertain].

وكن جوادا فإن فاتتك مكرمة

عن عسرة في معاش شط غاربه

And be generous; if a noble deed eludes you

because of hardship in a livelihood whose crest lies far away,

وخالق الناس خلقا يحمدوك به

فالبشر نائل من قلت مواهبه

and treat people in a manner for which they will praise you;

for a cheerful face is the gift of one whose gifts are few.

لا تحتقر أحدا غالته نائبة

من دهره فتأبته مكاسبه

Do not despise anyone whom a calamity has assailed

from his time, leaving his means of earning closed to him.

فربما دالت الدنيا له فغدا

بعد الوضاعة قد زادت مراتبه

For the world's fortunes may turn in his favor, and he may become,

after lowliness, one whose station has risen.

كم عاجز جاءه مالا يؤمّله

وكيس فطن سدّت مذاهبه

How many a helpless man has received what he never hoped for,

and many a shrewd, perceptive man has had his paths blocked!