1. عينٌ بكت وادي العقيق بمثلِهِ

    دمعاً لأَجل فقيدها لا أَجلهِ

    An eye wept over Wadi al-ʿAqīq, matching it

    in tears—for its lost beloved, not for the valley's sake.

  2. يا عينُ في الوادي الملاحُ كثيرةٌ

    فتعوضي عشراً بها من أَهلهِ

    O eye, the valley's beauties are many;

    so take ten of its people in her place.

  3. هيهاتَ أيُّ فتى أَعاظته العصا

    عن مقلتيه وإِن هدته لسبلهِ

    Impossible! What young man has a staff ever compensated

    for his two eyes, even if it guided him along his paths?

  4. بأبي حبيب ما دعاه إِلى النوى

    بغض ولكن باعث من جهله

    My father be ransom for a beloved, driven to separation not by

    hatred, but by an impulse born of his ignorance.

  5. أَيام صحبتهِ جفاه وزاره

    بعد السقامِ بكتبهِ وبرسلهِ

    In the days of their companionship he shunned him, and visited him

    after he fell ill, through his letters and his messengers.

  6. حذراً عليه وليس يدري أَنه

    بالهجر أَول من سعى في قتلهِ

    Out of concern for him, not knowing that he

    through abandonment was the first to work toward his death.

  7. فاحذر صداقةٍ ذي الجهالة ضعف ما

    تخشى عداوة من يصول بعقلهِ

    So beware an ignorant man's friendship twice as much as

    you fear the enmity of one who attacks with his intellect.

  8. يا مُدنفاً يحييهِ ثم يَميتهَ

    قربٌ وبعدٌ في الضنين بوصلهِ

    O lovesick one, brought to life and then put to death

    by the nearness and distance of one who begrudges his companionship.

  9. يحييه بعد مماته بوعوده

    ويميته بعد الحياة بمطلهِ

    He revives him after his death with his promises,

    and kills him after life by putting him off.

  10. يا من لذي وجد تولى أَمره

    واشٍ يحكُّمَ جوره في عدلهِ

    Oh, who will aid a man in anguish, whose affairs have been taken over

    by a slanderer who gives his injustice sway over his justice?

  11. واش اتيحَ له يرى تفريقَه

    بين الأحبةِ من زيادة فضلهِ

    A slanderer sent his way, who counts his sundering

    of lovers as an increase in his own merit.

  12. أصفيتهُ ودي لأَنقل طبعه

    والطبعُ يعجزُ من يهمُّ بنقلهِ

    I gave him my pure affection to change his nature,

    but nature defeats whoever attempts to change it.

  13. لا ترجونَّ صلاح منهمكٍ يُرى

    في عينه حسناً مساوى فعِله

    Do not hope for the reform of one sunk in vice, whose

    evil deeds appear beautiful in his own eyes.

  14. حملُ الهوى صعبٌ وما كل امرئ

    رشقته ألحاظُ يقومُ بحلمه

    Love's burden is hard, and not every man

    whom glances have pierced can stand firm through his forbearance.

  15. فاربأ بنفسك نحو من حمل العلا

    والمجدُ حالُ تفاوتٍ في نقلهِ

    So lift yourself toward him who bears lofty honor;

    and glory is a matter of differing degrees in how it is borne.

  16. الناصرُ الملك المعود جاره

    ان لا تنام عيونُه عن ذحلِه

    Al-Nāṣir, the king who has accustomed his neighbor

    to knowing his eyes never sleep while his grievance remains unavenged.

  17. ما لي حرامٌ لاَ يحلُّ ومالكم

    مهما أخذتُ أخذتُه من حِله

    What is mine is inviolable, not lawful to take; and your wealth—

    whatever I take, I take it lawfully.

  18. وإذا القريضُ أغار فيه غارةً

    وأخذت فيك أتى عليه كلهِ

    And when poetry launches a raid upon it,

    and I take you as my theme, it carries it all away.

  19. إنَّ المشد وليس يجهل ما هنا

    من وجود مولانا عليَّ وفضله

    Indeed, the overseer—well aware of what is here

    of our master's presence over me and his bounty—

  20. في زرعي وحامي دونه

    كالليث قام محامياً عن شِبلهِ

    is among my crops; and my protector facing him

    stands like a lion defending his cub.

  21. فأشر إِليه إِشارةً يرعى بها

    حقي ويغمد ما انتضى من نصله

    So give him a sign by which he will safeguard

    my right, and sheath the blade he has drawn.

  22. لا زلتَ حصنا يستظلُ بظلهِ

    من خاف من جور الزمانِ وأهلهِ

    May you ever remain a fortress whose shade shelters

    whoever fears the tyranny of time and its people.