1. صنعُ الجميلِ وَفعلُ الخيرِ إِنْ أُثِرا

    أبقى وَأَحمد أَعمال الفتى أَثَرا

    Showing kindness and doing good, if recounted,

    leave the most enduring and most praiseworthy mark of all a young man's deeds.

  2. بَلْ لستُ أَفهم معنى للحياة سوى

    عن الضعيفِ وإنقاذ الذي عثرا

    Rather, I understand no meaning in life except

    standing up for the weak and rescuing whoever has stumbled.

  3. والناسُ ما لم يواسوا بعضَهمْ فهمُ

    كالسائماتِ وَإِن سمَّيتهمْ بشرا

    And people, unless they support one another, are

    like grazing animals, even if you call them human beings.

  4. إِنْ كان قلبك لم تعطفه عاطفةٌ

    عَلى المساكين فاستبدلْ به حجرا

    If your heart has not been moved by compassion

    toward the destitute, replace it with a stone.

  5. هي الإغاثةُ عنوانُ الحياةِ فإِنْ

    فقدتها كنت مَيْتاً بعد ما قبرا

    Giving aid is the hallmark of life; if

    you lose it, you are dead, though not yet buried.

  6. ديني الذي عُظِّمَتْ عندي شعائرُهُ

    وَدينُ كلِّ امرئٍ قد رقَّ أو شعرا

    My faith, whose rites I hold in reverence,

    and the faith of everyone who has grown tender or known feeling,

  7. خفضُ الجناحِ لأَبناءِ السبيل إذا

    ما ازداد خدي لذي الكبريا صعرا

    consist in lowering the wing to wayfarers, while

    my cheek turns ever more disdainfully away from the proud.

  8. بسْلٌ عَلَى العينِ تكرى بالنعيم إِذا

    ما كان جاريَ من ضرَّائِه سهرا

    Forbidden is the eye's slumber in comfort when

    my neighbor lies sleepless from his distress.

  9. فجنةُ الخلدِ ما أَنفكُّ أَحسبها

    إذا انفردت بها دون الورى سقرا

    For I never cease to regard the Garden of Eternity

    as Saqar, if I have it to myself, apart from all humanity.

  10. قومي: وَدعوتهمْ قد كانتِ الجَفَلى

    إن كان غيرهمُ يختصُّ بالنَقَرى

    My people—their invitation has been open to all,

    even if others reserve theirs for a chosen few.

  11. المؤثرون وَلو أَعيت خصاصتهمْ

    والحافظونَ إذا ما غيرهم غدرا

    They put others first, even when their own poverty overwhelms them,

    and keep faith when others betray.

  12. "مَنْ ""كابن مامة"" إيثاراً لصاحبه"

    يعالجُ الموتَ في الإِيثار مصطبرا

    Who matches Ibn Mamah in selflessness toward his companion,

    wrestling with death, steadfast in his self-sacrifice?

  13. يقول: وَهو عَلَى وِرد الردى ظَمِىءٌ

    من حيث صاحبه ريّان قد صدرا

    He says, thirsty at death's watering place,

    while his companion has departed with his thirst quenched:

  14. لو أَعْوَزَ الماءُ أَصحابي سقيتهم

    دمي وَلست عَلَى العِلاَّت معتذرا

    "If my companions lacked water, I would give them

    my blood to drink, and offer no excuses on account of hardships."

  15. إِن فاتك الخيرُ والإِحسان في بطلٍ

    "حيّى البطولةَ والإِحسانَ في ""عمرا"""

    If goodness and kindness in a hero have eluded you,

    salute heroism and kindness in Umar.

  16. "أَمسى ""الخليفة"" يولى مِن معونتِه"

    مَنْ أنشب الجوعُ في أَطفالِها ظفرا

    At evening the caliph was bestowing some of his aid

    to a woman in whose children hunger had sunk a claw.

  17. وقوفُه عندها بالباب منكسرا

    "أَجلُّ منه بباب ""القدس"" منتصرا"

    His standing humbly at her door

    is nobler than his victorious stand at Jerusalem's gate.

  18. بنتَ العفافِ وَأُختَ الطهرِ يا بأَبي

    أكاد أَعبدُ فيك الطهرَ والخَفَرا

    O daughter of chastity and sister of purity—may my father be your ransom!

    I almost worship purity and modesty in you.

  19. "إنَّ الحنانَ ""وَأَسرار الحياة به"""

    فضيلةٌ شَأَتِ الأُنثى بها الذكرا

    Indeed, tenderness—and life's secrets lie within it—

    is a virtue through which woman has surpassed man.

  20. ما راض جامح نفسي للقريض سوى

    معنى الحنانِ وَمعنى البؤس إذْ خطرا

    Nothing has tamed my unruly soul to verse except

    the thought of tenderness and the thought of misery, when both came to mind.

  21. فالرودُ تحنو عَلَى الأَيتام ماسحةً

    من أَدمعِ اليتمِ ما قدْ حار أَو قطرا

    For the gentle young woman, bending tenderly over orphans and wiping away

    the tears of orphanhood that have pooled or fallen,

  22. أبهى لدى النفس منها وَهي خاطرةٌ

    تجري مدامعُ من هاموا بها نهرا

    is lovelier to the soul than when she walks with a graceful sway,

    while the tears of those enamored of her flow like a river.

  23. فأنتِ ما بين صرعى الفقر أَعظم منْ

    متوَّجٍ حوله القوّادُ والأُمرا

    For you, among those struck down by poverty, are greater than

    a crowned ruler surrounded by commanders and princes.

  24. ظأْمنتِ لوعةَ أَيتامٍ وَأَرملة

    ما شئتِ بين ضلوعي فاقدحي شررا

    You have soothed the anguish of orphans and a widow;

    so strike sparks between my ribs as much as you please.

  25. وَمذْ أَسوتِ جراحَ البائسين لقدْ

    أسقطتُ دعوايَ في قلبٍ بكِ انفطرا

    And since you have healed the wounds of the wretched, I have indeed

    dropped my complaint over a heart that broke because of you.