1. أَخُو ظَمَأٍ يَمُصُّ حَشاهُ سَبْعٌ

    وأَرْبَعَةٌ وكُلُّهُمُ ظِماءُ

    A thirst-stricken man—seven suck at his innards,

    and four more, and all of them are thirsty.

  2. كَأَنْجُمِ يوسُفٍ عَدَداً ولكِنْ

    بِرؤْيَا هَذِهِ بَرِحَ الخَفاءُ

    Like Joseph's stars in number, but

    in the vision of these, concealment falls away.

  3. خطوبٌ خاطَبَتْهُمْ من دَوَاهٍ

    يموتُ الحزمُ فِيهَا والدَّهاءُ

    Calamities have addressed them, born of disasters

    in which resolve and cunning perish.

  4. تراءَتْ بالكواكِبِ وَهْيَ ظُهْرٌ

    وآذَنَ فِيهِ بالشَّمْسِ العِشاءُ

    They appeared with stars, although it was noon,

    and nightfall announced the sun within it.

  5. فَهَلْ نَظَرِي تَخَفَّى أَوْ بِصَدْرِي

    وضاقَ البَحْرُ عَنْها والفَضَاءُ

    Could they hide from my sight, or in my breast,

    when the sea and open space were too narrow for them?

  6. وكُلُّهُمُ كَيُوسُفَ إِذْ فَدَاهُ

    مِنَ القَتْلِ التَّغَرُّبُ والجَلاءُ

    And all are like Joseph, when he was ransomed

    from death by living abroad and exile.

  7. وإِنْ سجنٌ حواهُ فكَمْ حواهم

    سجونُ الفُلْكِ والقفرُ القَواءُ

    Though a prison enclosed him, how often have they been enclosed

    by the prisons of ships and the barren wilderness!

  8. وأيَّةُ أُسوةٍ فِي الحسنِ منهُ

    لإِحسانِي إِذَا ارْتُخِصَ الشِّراءُ

    And what consolation there is in his beauty

    for my good deeds, when the purchase price is cheapened!

  9. وَفِي باكيهِ من بُعدٍ وصدري

    وأَجفانِي بِمَنْ أبكي مِلاءُ

    And in the one who wept for him from afar; yet my breast

    and my eyelids are filled with those whom I mourn.

  10. وأَوْحَشُ من غروبِ الشمس يوماً

    كسوفٌ فِي سَناها وامِّحاءُ

    And more dreadful than the sun's setting one day

    are an eclipse of its radiance and its effacement.

  11. وأَفلاذُ الفؤادِ أَمَضُّ قَرْحاً

    إِذَا رَمَتِ العيونَ بما تُساءُ

    And fragments of the heart wound more painfully

    when they strike the eyes with what grieves them.

  12. فما كسرورِهِمْ فِي الدهر حُزْنٌ

    ولا كشِفائِهم فِي الصدْرِ داءُ

    For no sorrow in all time is like their joy,

    nor any illness in the breast like their healing.

  13. نَقَائِذُ فتنةٍ وخُلوفُ ذُلٍّ

    أَلَذُّ من البقاءِ بِهِ الفَناءُ

    Those rescued from upheaval, survivors of humiliation,

    in which extinction is sweeter than survival.

  14. فإِن أَقْوَتْ مغاني العِزِّ منهمْ

    فكم عَمِرَتْ بِهِم بِيدٌ خلاءُ

    If the dwellings of glory have been emptied of them,

    how many empty wastelands have flourished through them!

  15. وإِنْ ضاقَتْ بِهِم أَرضٌ فأَرضٌ

    فما بَكَّتْ لمثلِهِمُ السَّماءُ

    And if one land proved too narrow for them, another land awaits:

    the sky has never withheld rain from their like.

  16. وإِنْ نَسِيَ الرَّدى منهم ذَماءً

    فأَعْذَرَ زاهِقٌ عنه الذَّماءُ

    And if death has overlooked a last spark of life in them,

    then one whose last spark is departing has every excuse.

  17. فكَمْ تركوا معاهِدَ مُوحشاتٍ

    عَفَتْ حَتَّى عفا فِيهَا العفاءُ

    How many desolate haunts they left behind,

    effaced until even effacement itself was effaced there!

  18. فأَظْلَمَ بعدَنا الإِصباحُ فِيهَا

    وكم دهرٍ أَضاءَ بِهَا المساءُ

    After us, daybreak grew dark within them,

    though for many an age evening shone there.

  19. وجَدَّ بِهَا البِلى فحكتْ وجُوهاً

    نأَتْ عنها فَجَدَّ بِهَا البَلاءُ

    Decay was renewed in them, and they resembled faces

    that had left them, with affliction renewed upon them.

  20. وَهَوْنُ هَوَانِها فِي كلِّ عَيْنٍ

    جديرٌ أن يعِزَّ لَهُ العزاءُ

    And that their humiliation seems so slight to every eye

    is reason enough for consolation to be hard to find.

  21. بَسَطْنَ لكلِّ مقبوضٍ يداهُ

    فما فِيهِنَّ غيرُ الدَّمْعِ ماءُ

    They gave freely to all whose hands were bound,

    yet in them there is no water but tears.

  22. شُموسٌ غالها ذُعْرٌ وبَيْنٌ

    فهُنَّ لكلِّ ضاحيةٍ هَباءُ

    Suns ravaged by terror and separation,

    now dust in every sunlit expanse.

  23. وكم لبسُوا من النُّعمى بُروداً

    جلاها عن جسومِهِمُ الجلاءُ

    How many robes of bliss they wore,

    which exile stripped from their bodies!

  24. مَلابِسُ بامة لَمْ يَبْقَ منها

    لهم إِلّا ابْنُ يَحْيى والحياءُ

    Garments—[bāma, unclear]—none of which remains

    for them except Ibn Yahya and modesty.

  25. فإِنْ كشفوا لَهُم منه غطاءً

    ففيهِ وفيكَ لي ولهم غِطاءُ

    If they lift a covering from him for themselves,

    in him and in you there is shelter for me and them.

  26. شفيعٌ صادِقٌ منه الوفاءُ

    ومولىً صادقٌ فِيهِ الرَّجاءُ

    An intercessor whose fidelity is true,

    and a patron in whom hope is well founded.

  27. وإِنْ دَجَتِ الخُطوبُ بِهِم عَلَيْهِ

    فأَنْتَ لكُلِّ داجيةٍ ضِياءُ

    And if their calamities cast darkness over him,

    you are a light for every darkness.

  28. وإِنْ طَوَتِ الرَّزايا من سَناهُمْ

    فلحظُكَ منه يتَّضِحُ الخَفاءُ

    And if disasters have folded away some of their radiance,

    your glance brings what is hidden into view.

  29. وإِنْ أَخفى نِداءهُم التَّنائِي

    فسمعُكَ منه يُستمعُ النِّداءُ

    And if distance has concealed their call,

    through your hearing that call is heard.

  30. وإِنْ وَرَدُوا قليبَ الجود عُطْلاً

    فأَنت الدَّلْوُ فِيهَا والرِّشاءُ

    And if they approach generosity's well empty-handed,

    you are its bucket and its rope.

  31. وَقَدْ شاءَ الإِلَهُ بأَنَّ أندى

    بحارِ الأَرضِ يَسقي من تشاءُ

    And God has indeed willed that the most bountiful

    of earth's seas should water whomever you wish.

  32. فَنَبِّهْ فادِيَ الأَسْرى عَلَيْهِمْ

    نفوسُهُمُ لَهُ ولَكَ الفِداءُ

    So draw the captives' ransomer's attention to them:

    their souls are ransom for him and you.

  33. غصونٌ عندَ بحرِ نداهُ أَوْفَتْ

    بِهَا كَحْلٌ وَقَدْ شَذَبَ اللِّحاءُ

    Branches beside the sea of his bounty: there loomed

    over them Kahl—famine—and their bark had been stripped.

  34. وآواها الرَّبيعُ وكلَّ حين

    يعيثُ القيظُ فِيهَا والشتاءُ

    Spring sheltered them, yet at every turn

    summer's heat and winter ravage them.

  35. وجاوَرَتِ الصَّبا فَغَدَتْ وأَمْسَتْ

    تُجَرْجِرُ فِي حَشاها الجِرْبِياءُ

    They dwelt beside the east wind, yet morning and evening

    the north wind rumbles within their innards.

  36. رَمَتْ بِهِمُ الحوادثُ نحوَ مولىً

    حواها الرِّقُّ منه والولاءُ

    Misfortunes cast them toward a patron;

    servitude to him and allegiance encompassed them.

  37. وقادَهُمُ الكتابُ إِلَى مليكٍ

    تقاضاهُمْ ليمناه القضاءُ

    The written decree led them to a king

    for whose right hand destiny claimed them.

  38. فكم عسفوا إِلَيْهِ لُجَّ بحرٍ

    تَلاقَى الماءُ فِيهِ والسَّماءُ

    How often they traversed toward him the depths of a sea

    in which water and sky met!

  39. وجابوا نحوَهُ من لُجِّ قفرٍ

    يجاوبُ جِنَّهُ فِيهِ الحُداءُ

    And toward him they crossed the depths of a wilderness

    where the camel-drivers' chant answers its jinn.

  40. وكم ناجَتْ نفوسَهُمُ المنايا

    فَلأْياً مَا نجا بِهِم النَّجاءُ

    How often death whispered to their souls,

    and only with difficulty did deliverance save them!

  41. وكم بارَوْا هُوِيَّ النجْم تهوي

    بِهِم فِي البِيدِ أَفئدةٌ هواءُ

    How often they raced the star's descent, borne headlong

    through the wastes by hearts hollow as air!

  42. وكمْ صَحِبُوا نُجُومَ اللَّيْلِ حَتَّى

    جَلاها فِي عُيُونِهِمُ الضَّحَاءُ

    How often they kept company with the stars of night until

    forenoon light swept them from their eyes!

  43. وَرَاعَوْها وَمَا ليَ غَيْرُ جَفْني

    وأَجْفانِي لِسِرْبِهِمُ رِعاءُ

    They watched them, while I have only my eyelid,

    and my eyelids are shepherds of their flock.

  44. هُدىً لَهُمُ إِلَى الآفاقِ حَتَّى

    سَرَتْ وَلَهَا بِسَيْرِهِمُ اهْتِداءُ

    Guides for them toward the horizons, until

    they journeyed, guided in turn by their course.

  45. فما ظَفِرُوا بِمِثْلِكَ نَجْمَ سَعْدٍ

    بِهِ لَهُمُ إِلَى الأَمَلِ انْتِهاءُ

    Yet they found no lucky star like you,

    through which they could attain their hope.

  46. ولكِنْ عَدَّلُوا مِنْها حِساباً

    لَهُ فِيما دَعَوْكَ لَهُ قَضاءُ

    But from them they refined a reckoning

    whose fulfillment lies in what they have asked of you.

  47. كما زَجَرُوا مِن اسْمِ أَبِيكَ فَأْلاً

    فَرُدَّتْ فِيهِ قَبْلَ الزَّايِ رَاءُ

    Just as they divined an omen from your father's name:

    in it, the rāʾ was put before the zāy.

  48. وخَوَّلَ فَأْلُهُمْ بِكَ فَانْتَحاهمْ

    بِهِ أُكُلٌ وظِلٌّ واجْتِنَاءُ

    Their omen in you bestowed gifts, and there came to them

    through it fruit, shade, and a harvest.

  49. فَذَكِّرْ وَادَّكِرْ جِيرانَ بَيْتٍ

    بِبَيْتٍ فِيهِ للكَرَمِ اقْتِداءُ

    So remind him, and remember, the neighbors of a house,

    with a verse that offers generosity a model,

  50. وفيهِ للنُّهى حَكَمٌ وحُكْمٌ

    وللنُّعمى قضاءٌ واقْتِضاءُ

    and in which reason finds an arbiter and a ruling,

    and bounty its fulfillment and its rightful claim:

  51. إِذَا نَزلَ الشتاءُ بِجارِ بَيْتٍ

    تَجَنَّبَ جارَ بَيْتِهِمُ الشِّتاءُ

    When winter descends upon the neighbor of a house,

    winter avoids the neighbor of their house.