1. يا أصدقَ الناس وأوفى مَن وعَد

    ما أنتَ من أعطى الجميلَ واسترد

    O most truthful of people and most faithful of those who promise,

    you are not one who gives kindness, then takes it back.

  2. أبعِد بها طارِيةً بذكرها

    يُخزى أخو المجدِ إذا النادي انعقد

    Away with such a calamity, at whose mention

    a man of glory is shamed when the assembly convenes;

  3. وخطّةً شنعاءَ لا يَركبُها

    إلاَّ الذي في عود علياهُ أود

    and a hideous course that none undertakes

    except one whose stem of greatness is crooked;

  4. وسُبَّةً تَثلِم مِن مجدِ الفتى

    ثلمةَ نقص ضلَّ من قال تُسَد

    and a disgrace that chips a young man's glory,

    a diminishing breach—he errs who says it can be mended.

  5. لم يرضَها إلاَّ الوضيعُ همَّةً

    أو مَن على أخلاقِه الذمُّ حشد

    None accepts it but one of low ambition,

    or one against whose character censure has gathered.

  6. لا مَن سما لمَّا سما مفرداً

    بل هو والحمدُ على النجمِ صَعد

    Not one who soared—not alone when he soared;

    rather, he and praise climbed above the star.

  7. يا جامعاً بالمنعِ شملَ وفرِه

    لا ترمِ شملَ المكرُماتِ بالبَدد

    O you who keep your wealth together by withholding,

    do not cast the unity of noble deeds into disarray.

  8. مجدٌ أبوكَ بالسماحِ شادَه

    حاشاكَ أن تهدِمَ منه ما وطَد

    A glory your father built through generosity—

    far be it from you to demolish what he made firm.

  9. ذاكَ الذي كانت سمات فخره

    في جبهةِ الدهرِ سناها يتَّقد

    That man, whose marks of pride

    blazed with radiance upon the brow of time,

  10. يمدُّ كفًّا نشأت من رحمةٍ

    في الله تُعطي ولها منه المَدد

    would extend a palm born of mercy,

    giving for God's sake, its support coming from Him.

  11. لوَ انَّ فيها كان رملُ عالج

    يُنفِقُ ما أنفقَ منه لَنَفد

    Had the sands of ʿAlij been in it,

    with all he spent from it, they would have run out.

  12. حتَّى مضى تلفُّه مطارفٌ

    من الثنا تَبقى على الدهر جُدد

    Until he passed away, wrapped in robes

    of praise that remain forever new.

  13. فقمتَ أنت بعدَه مقامَه

    فقيل هذا الشبلُ من ذاك الأسد

    Then you took his place after him,

    and they said, ‘This cub comes from that lion.’

  14. لا مثلَ مَن مجدُ أبيه بعده

    أضاعهُ فقيل بئس ما وَلَد

    Not like one who, after his father, his father's glory

    squandered, so they said, ‘What a wretched son he begot!’

  15. كنتَ لعمري ديمةً وإنَّما

    ذاب زماناً عُرفُها ثم جمد

    You were, by my life, a steady rain—but

    its bounty flowed for a time, then froze.

  16. ولجةً بالأمس عادت وَشَلاً

    واردُها اليومَتمنَّى لا ورَد

    And a deep sea yesterday became a trickle,

    whose water-seeker today wishes he had never come.

  17. كم قلتَ لستُ حالفاً مُوريّاً

    بأنَّ هذا جهدُ ما عندي وجد

    How often you said—I do not swear equivocally—

    ‘This is all that can be found in my possession.’

  18. ثمَّ شفعتَ الوعدَ في إيصاله

    مُكرِّراً لم لا عليَّ تَعتمد

    Then you reinforced your promise to deliver it,

    repeating, ‘Why do you not rely on me?’

  19. ولم أخل أنَّ السرابَ صادقٌ

    حتَّى غدا وعدُك منه يَستمِد

    I never thought a mirage truthful,

    until your promise came to draw from it.

  20. نعم صَددتَ إذ بَخِلتَ مُوهِماً

    فابخل أبا الهادي وسمِّ البخل صَد

    Yes, you turned away when you withheld, misleading me;

    so be stingy, Abu al-Hadi, and call stinginess ‘turning away.’

  21. فيا فداءً لك مَن كان له

    وجهٌ من الصخر وعِرضٌ من سرد

    Then may he be your ransom who has

    a face of rock and honor of chainmail.

  22. تذكر كم فيك القوافي فاخَرت

    مَن سجد الناسُ له حتَّى سَجد

    Remember how often the rhymes, boasting of you, vied with

    one before whom people bowed down, until he too bowed.

  23. فكيف تُقذي عينَها بجفوةٍ

    مِن أجلها طرفُ المعالي قد رَمد

    So how can you put grit in their eye with coldness,

    because of which the eye of high honor has grown inflamed?

  24. إن يغرِك الحاسدُ فيها فلقد

    أغراك في مجدِك من فرط الحسد

    If an envious man incites you against them, he has indeed

    incited you against your own glory through excessive envy.

  25. أبعدَ ما مدَّ الثنا طِرافَه

    عليك حتَّى قيل بالحمدِ انفرد

    After praise has stretched its leather tent

    over you, till they said, ‘He is unrivaled in praise,’

  26. عنك كما الحاسدُ فيك يشتهي

    يصبحُ في كفيك منزوعَ العَمد

    shall it be taken from you, as the envious man wishes,

    and left in your hands with its poles torn out?

  27. فقُل لمن يرغبُ عن كسبِ الثنا

    مَن فَقدَ المدحَ ترى ماذا وجد

    So tell whoever shuns the winning of praise:

    ‘What, do you think, has one found who has lost praise?’

  28. أَهوِن بمنشورٍ دفينٍ ذكرُه

    فذاك مفقودٌ وإن لم يُفتَقد

    How worthless is a living man whose memory lies buried!

    For he is lost, even if no one misses him.

  29. صابتكَ مِن بَوارقي مُرِشَّةٌ

    من عَتبٍ شُؤبُوبُها لا من بَرد

    A sprinkling from my lightning clouds has fallen on you,

    its downpour made of reproach, not hail.

  30. في عدةٍ نومُك عن إنجازِها

    غيظاً له قامَ القريضُ وقَعد

    Over a promise whose fulfillment you slept through,

    in anger at that, poetry rose and sat down.

  31. ترقدُ عنها والقريضُ حالفٌ

    بمجدِك الشامخِ عنها ما رَقد

    You sleep through it, while poetry swears

    by your towering glory that it has not slept through it.

  32. ما الخُلفُ في الوعدِ اكتساب شَرفٍ

    وليس في منع الندى فخرُ الأبد

    Breaking a promise does not earn honor,

    nor does withholding bounty bring everlasting glory.

  33. تلك اليدُ البيضاءُ بعد بسطها

    عن السماحِ كفُّها كيف انعقد

    That white hand, after it was stretched out—

    how was it decided to withhold it from generosity?

  34. وذلك الوجهُ الكريمُ مالَهُ

    مِن بعد ما ماءُ الحيا فيه اطرد

    And that noble face—what has happened to it,

    after the water of modesty had flowed through it?

  35. أسفرَ بين الناسِ لا يخجلُه

    خلفُ المواعيدِ ولا منعُ الصفَد

    It shows itself among people, unashamed

    by broken promises or the withholding of gifts.

  36. فعُد كما كنت وإلاّ انبعثَت

    تَترى إليك النافثاتُ في العقد

    So return to what you were, or there will rise

    toward you in succession those who blow upon knots,

  37. مِن اللواتي إن أصاب سهمُها

    عِرضَ لئيمٍ طُلَّ من غير قَود

    among those whose arrow, if it strikes

    a base man's honor, leaves his blood unavenged, without requital.

  38. وهي على عِرضِ الكريمِ نثرةٌ

    ما النثرةُ الحصداءُ منها بأرّد

    Yet over a noble man's honor they are a coat of mail:

    no tightly woven mail is more protective than they.

  39. تبدو فإمَّا هي في جيدِ الفتى

    طوقٌ وإمَّا هيَ حبلٌ من مَسد

    They appear: either they are about a young man's neck

    a collar, or else a rope of twisted palm fiber.

  40. فعِش كما تهوى العُلى مُمدَّحاً

    لا خيرَ في ميتِ العُلى حيِّ الجسد

    So live as high honor desires, much praised;

    there is no good in one dead in honor but alive in body.