1. يا دهرُ مالكَ لا تَثني يدَ النوبِ

    إني أخافُ عليْها سورةَ الغَضَبِ

    O Time, why do you not restrain the hand of calamities?

    I fear for it the surge of anger.

  2. ولا تأمَنَنَّ حليماً رمتَ هَضْمَتَه

    أنْ يركبَ الجهلَ عُرياناً بلا قَتَبِ

    And never trust a forbearing man you have sought to wrong

    not to ride recklessness naked, without a camel-saddle.

  3. أَراحَني اللهُ من قلبٍ بُليتُ بهِ

    يهوى القعودَ ويهوَى أشرفَ الرّتبِ

    May God relieve me of a heart with which I have been afflicted:

    it loves sitting idle, yet loves the loftiest ranks.

  4. اطلُبْ لهمكَ بالمُنى كَلِفاً

    وخَلِّ صَدْري فما لي فيكَ من أرَبِ

    Find for your cares someone enamored of wishes,

    and leave my breast, for I have no desire for you.

  5. فالمجدُ يَطلُبُ بالآفاتِ طالبَهُ

    لم يحظَ بالمجدِ من لم يحظَ بالنُكَبِ

    For glory pursues its seeker with calamities;

    no one has shared in glory without sharing in afflictions.

  6. لا يمنَعَنّكَ صدمَ السيفِ رهبتُه

    إنّ المذلّةَ أولى منه بالرّهَبِ

    Do not let fear of the sword deter you from facing its clash;

    humiliation is more deserving of fear than it.

  7. رِد الهجيرَ بثوبِ الشمسِ ملتثماً

    واعقِدْ بطرفكَ سيرَ الأنجمِ الشُّهبِ

    Enter the midday heat, veiled in the sun's robe,

    and bind the course of the bright stars to your gaze,

  8. كيْما تنالَ من الدّنيا نهايتَها

    إمّا حِماماً وإمّا حُسْنَ مُنقَلَبِ

    so that you attain the world's utmost:

    either death or a good return.

  9. سعى رجالٌ فَنالوا قدرَ سَعْيِهُمُ

    لم يأتِ رزقٌ بلا سَعيٍ ولا طلبِ

    Men strove and attained in proportion to their striving;

    no sustenance came without striving or seeking.

  10. حُسْنُ التّأنّي مفاتيحُ الغِنى وعلى

    قَدرِ المطالبِ تَلقى شِدّةَ التّعبِ

    Sound deliberation holds the keys to wealth, and according

    to the scale of your aims, you encounter the severity of toil.

  11. ما بالزمانِ سِوى أولادِهِ طَبَعٌ

    إنْ لم يكونوا بَنيهِ فالزّمانُ أبِي

    Time has no baseness save his own children;

    if they are not his sons, then Time is my father.

  12. تجنّبوني وأطرافُ الظُّبا حُلَلي

    يا للرّماحِ ويا للهنديّةِ القُضُبِ

    They shunned me, while sword-points are my robes.

    O spears, and O keen Indian blades!

  13. ليس المصائبُ عن حالي بمُقْلعة

    أو ترتدي حدَّ سيفِ الدولةِ الذَّرِبِ

    Misfortunes do not withdraw from my plight

    until they don the keen edge of Saif al-Dawla,

  14. بمُسْبَلٍ فوقَ ظهرِ الأرضِ مُنسَحِبٍ

    ومن ترائبها والنّحر مختضِبِ

    with a blade let fall, trailing over the earth's back,

    and stained from her breastbones and throat.

  15. ألا قُبوركَ صَمْصاماً مساكنهُ

    هامُ العِدا بَدَلَ الأجفانِ والقِرَبِ

    Behold your graves—a keen sword whose dwellings

    are the heads of foes, instead of scabbards and sheaths.

  16. ما تكربُ الحربُ أنْ يُستَلَّ مُنصله

    حتى يُمزّقَ قلبَ الجحفلِ اللّجِبِ

    Scarcely is his blade drawn in war

    before it rends the heart of the clamorous army.

  17. يَفري جماجِمَه والموتُ مفترشٌ

    من النّزالِ صدورَ القومِ للركبِ

    It cleaves their skulls, while Death makes a resting-place

    of men's breasts amid combat, for its knees.

  18. مشغوفةٌ بغريبِ الهمِّ همّته

    يَرى السرورَ بعينِ الحزنِ والكَرَبِ

    His ambition is enamored of uncommon cares;

    he sees joy through the eye of grief and anguish.

  19. لا يطمئنُ إلى الدنيا وبَهْجَتِها

    ويطمئنُ إلى الأحْداثِ والنُّوَبِ

    He finds no comfort in the world and its splendor,

    but finds comfort in mishaps and calamities.

  20. لو كانَ شيءٌ من الأشياءِ يُطربُهُ

    كانت مَعاليهِ تحظى منه بالطّربِ

    If anything among all things could delight him,

    his lofty deeds would win his delight.

  21. مهذبٌ يسبِقُ الآمالَ نائلُه

    فَما يكلِّفُ كَفاً أنْ تقولَ هبي

    A refined man, whose bounty precedes hopes,

    he never makes a hand say, “Give!”

  22. لو لم يكُن في الذي يُعطيهِ فائدة

    إلاّ صِيانَتهُ العافي عن الطّلَبِ

    Even if what he gives had no benefit

    except sparing the petitioner the need to ask—

  23. يستكتمُ الرِّفدَ مُعطاهُ فَقاصِدهُ

    يقولُ قد خِبْتُ كي يَرضى ولم يَخِبِ

    he asks his recipient to conceal the gift, so his petitioner

    says, “I have failed,” to please him, though he has not failed.

  24. كأنّهُ حينَ يستخفي مكارمَه

    يَعُدُّ إظهارَها فينا من الرِّيَبِ

    As though, when he conceals his generous deeds,

    he counts revealing them among us as grounds for suspicion.

  25. لا يهتدي الدّهْرُ قَتراً في مسالكِه

    ولا يُدانيه في مجدٍ ولا حَسَبِ

    Time finds no direction along his paths,

    nor approaches him in glory or noble lineage.

  26. خَرستَ يا دهرُ كيما لا تقولُ أجَلْ

    إنْ كنتَ مثلَ أبيه القَرم تنتَسِبِ

    May you be struck dumb, O Time, lest you say, “Yes,”

    if you claim a lineage like his lordly father's.

  27. اللهَ اللهَ يا صَمصامُ في رجلٍ

    ببابِ دارِكَ قد أشفى على العَطَبِ

    For God's sake, O Samsam, have care for a man

    at your house's door, already on the brink of ruin.

  28. أجزلتَ من أدَبِ الدُنْيا عطيتَه

    فهبْ له نَشَباً يا واهبَ الأدَبِ

    You have richly endowed him with the world's learning;

    now grant him wealth, O giver of learning.

  29. ولا تقلْ في الذي أعطيتَ مُقْتَنَعٌ

    فاقرعْ بهِ حلقَ الأرزاقِ واكتسبِ

    Do not say that what you have given is enough—

    “Knock with it on livelihood's door-rings, and earn.”

  30. مَنْ خابَ عندَك لم يُسْعَدْ بفائدةٍ

    ومن تعدّاكَ لم يَظْفَرْ بمُطَّلَبِ

    Whoever fails with you is blessed with no benefit,

    and whoever passes you by wins none of what he seeks.

  31. إنْ كان مثلي لا تُرضى خلائقُه

    يَسومُ مِثلكَ أنْ ترضاهُ بالغَلَبِ

    If one like me, whose character finds no approval,

    presses one like you to approve him by force,

  32. فهل تُطيقُ سُدا فعلٍ بِلا عجبٍ

    وفعلُ مثلِكَ لا يخلْو من العَجبِ

    can you manage a deed's fabric without wonder,

    while the deed of one like you is never free of wonder?

  33. بلْ أينَ مثلُكَ كانت هفوةٌ سَبَقَتْ

    هيهاتَ لا تُعْطِني شيئاً ولا تهَبِ

    Rather, where is your equal? That was a slip that escaped me.

    Far from it! Give me nothing, bestow nothing!

  34. أنتَ الذي تُنسَبُ الدُنْيا وعالمُها

    إلى عُلاه ولا يُعْزى إلى نسَبِ

    You are he: the world and its inhabitants are ascribed

    to his exaltedness, though he is ascribed to no lineage.

  35. حاشاكَ أنْ تدّعيكَ العُربُ واحدَها

    يا مَن ثَرى قدمَيهِ طينةُ العربِ

    Far be it from you that the Arabs should claim you as one of them,

    O you, the dust beneath whose feet is the Arabs' clay.

  36. فإنْ يكنْ لكَ وجهٌ مثلَ أوْجُهِهم

    عند العيانِ فإنّ الصُفرَ كالذّهبِ

    If you have a face resembling theirs

    to the eye, brass too resembles gold.

  37. وإنْ يكنْ لكَ نُطقٌ مثلُ نطقِهِمُ

    فليس مثلُ كلامِ اللهِ في الكُتبِ

    And if your speech resembles theirs,

    there is no equal to God's speech in the books.

  38. فدتْ ثَراكَ مُلوكٌ لو هَمَمْتَ بهِمْ

    دارتْ جَماجمُهم للشَّربِ كالعُلَبِ

    May kings be ransom for your dust; if you turned against them,

    their skulls would be passed around for drinking like bowls.

  39. لا مالُهم باتَ محزوناً لسائلِهم

    ولا دِماؤهُم تَشْفى من الكَلَبِ

    Their wealth does not spend the night grieving for their petitioner,

    nor does their blood cure rabies.

  40. أولادَ تَغلِبَ حلَّ الموتُ حُبوتَهُ

    في دارِنا ودَعا بالويلِ والحَرَبِ

    O sons of Taghlib, Death has loosened the cloth binding his knees

    in our house, and called for woe and destitution.

  41. هَبوا لنا طَرَفاً من عمر جاهِكمُ

    يفنى به غابرُ الأيامِ والحِقَبِ

    Grant us a portion of the lifespan of your prestige,

    with which the remaining days and ages will pass away.

  42. فإنّ جاهَكُم يُعطى من الحسَبِ

    ما ليسَ تُعطى عطاياكُم من الحَسَبِ

    For your prestige is given a measure of honor

    that your gifts are not given in the reckoning.

  43. ركبٌ أمالوا خِباءَ الليلِ نحْوَكُمُ

    حتى تقوضَ بالأعمادِ والطُّنبِ

    Riders bent the tent of night toward you

    until it collapsed, poles and guy ropes together.

  44. أبوهُمُ الهمُ والبيداُ أمُّهُم

    وما لهم ذملانُ الأينق الشُّسُبِ

    Their father is care, and the desert their mother;

    what they possess is the trotting of gaunt she-camels.

  45. لا يبتغون إلى معروفِكم سَبباً

    إلاّ عطاياكُم الراجي لِلا سببِ

    They seek no means to your kindness

    except your gifts to the hopeful seeker without a means.

  46. إنّ التغربَ شخصٌ ليس يألَفُه

    إلاّ فتىً كَلِفٌ بالهمّ والنَّصَبِ

    Exile is a person whom none befriends

    except a youth enamored of care and toil.

  47. لا تَحْسُدَنّ غريباً أنْ يُقالَ لهُ

    ما تحملُ الأرضُ مع نَبعٍ ومن غَرَبِ

    Do not envy a stranger because he is told

    what the earth bears, including nabʿ trees and willows.

  48. فلستُ عند غروبِ الشمسِ أرحمُها

    إلا لرحمةِ قَلبي كلَّ مُغتَرِبِ

    For at the sun's setting I do not pity her

    except because my heart pities every exile.