1. عزاءَك إن خان الصفيُّ المنافقُ

    فاكثر من تلقاه خِبٌّ مماذقُ

    Take comfort if the hypocritical confidant betrays you;

    for most people you meet are cunning and false in friendship.

  2. تناكرت الدنيا عليكَ وربما

    تساوى بها في العين خابٍ وشارق

    The world has become strange to you, and sometimes

    within it, a fading light and a shining one seem alike to the eye.

  3. فلا تبتئس إن الحياة خيانة

    لها طُرُقٌ معروفة وطرائق

    So do not grieve: life is treachery,

    with its well-known paths and ways.

  4. فربَّتَما خان اللسانُ فؤاده

    وخان دمٌ بين الجوانح دافق

    For often the tongue has betrayed its heart,

    and blood surging between the ribs has proved faithless.

  5. وخان الضياءُ العينَ والضوءُ واضحٌ

    وخان اللسانَ النطقُ والفم ناطق

    And radiance has betrayed the eye, though the light is clear,

    and speech has betrayed the tongue, though the mouth speaks.

  6. تصاحب هذي الروح ذا الجسم خدعةً

    ترافقه يومين ثم تفارق

    This soul keeps this body company as a ruse;

    it accompanies it for two days, then departs,

  7. وتنبذه حتى كأن لم يعش بها

    فينكره أولاده والشقائق

    and casts it off, as though it had never lived through that soul,

    so its children and sisters no longer recognize it.

  8. عزاءَك بعض الناس أدنى مكانةً

    فَلم أنت مما برَّح الوجدُ فارق

    Take comfort: some people are lower in worth;

    so why are you frightened by grief's torment?

  9. جزعتَ على عهدٍ مضى في إخائه

    ضياعاً توالي ودَّه وتصادق

    You grieved for the time spent in his friendship,

    wasted, as you nurtured his affection and befriended him.

  10. فأكثر هذا الخلق تفنى حياتهم

    ضياعاً وكم راحت ضياعاً خلائق

    For the lives of most of humankind are spent

    in vain—and how many people have passed away in vain!

  11. أَطل وترفَّع عن عتابٍ يَمَسُّهُ

    كما يتعالى الماءُ والصخر حانق

    Stand tall, and rise above any reproach aimed at him,

    as water rises high while the rock rages.

  12. إذا كان حراً فاعترافٌ بذنبه

    وإن كان عبداً خَلِّه وهو آبق

    If he is a free man, he will admit his fault;

    and if he is a slave, leave him—he is a runaway.

  13. فماذا ترجي منه بعد فضيحةً

    أراد بها فتق الذي أنت راتق

    So what do you hope for from him after a scandal

    by which he sought to rip open what you are mending?

  14. ولم تك هذي منه أول مرةٍ

    ولكن جرت من قبل هذي سوابق

    And this was not the first time he had done this,

    but there had been earlier incidents before it.

  15. فداريته دهراً فزاد لجاجةً

    وما أنت منه أن يعاود واثق

    So you humored him for a long time, and he grew more obstinate,

    and you have no assurance against his repeating it.

  16. ففيم ولم تلك المداراةُ إنما

    يداري أخٌ مثلي لمثلك صادق

    So to what end, and why, all that humoring? Only

    a sincere brother like me deals gently with one like you.

  17. ولم أنت تأسى والسماءُ منيرة

    وهذا خريفٌ طيب وحدائق

    And why do you grieve, when the sky is bright,

    and here are a pleasant autumn and gardens,

  18. وطير تغنى في الغصون سعادةً

    وزهرٌ وأثمار ودوحٌ بواسق

    and birds singing happily among the branches,

    and blossoms, and fruit, and towering, spreading trees,

  19. وأنت سليمٌ واسع الجاه منعمٌ

    ومن أنت تهواه قريبٌ موافق

    and you are healthy, influential, and living in comfort,

    and the one you love is near and well-disposed toward you?

  20. توقَّع هدى تلك القطيعة أنها

    بشيرٌ بأن الخير لا شك غادق

    Expect guidance from that severing of ties: it

    is a herald that good will surely abound.