1. يُنبيكَ عن صِحَّةِ أخباري

    عُسري من العِشقِ وإيساري

    What tells you that my accounts are true

    Is my hardship and my prosperity, born of love.

  2. وسُوقَةٌ أفضلُهم مُرتَدٍ

    نَقْصاً ففخري بينَهم عاري

    And commoners, whose best is clad

    In deficiency—so my glory is naked among them.

  3. وكانتِ الإبرَةُ فيما مضَى

    صائنةً وجهي وأشعاري

    And the needle, in days gone by,

    Kept my face and my verses safe.

  4. فأصبحَ الرِّزقُ بها ضيِّقاً

    كأنَّه من ثُقبِها جاري

    So the livelihood it brings has grown narrow,

    As though it flowed from its eye.