1. أعينوني على طلب المعالي

    فقد ضاقت بها سَعةُ احتيالي

    Help me seek high attainments,

    for my resourcefulness has grown too narrow for them.

  2. ودُلّوني على رزقٍ بعيدٍ

    وإن هو قلّ عن بذل السؤالِ

    And guide me toward a distant livelihood,

    even if it is too little to be worth the asking.

  3. فلو قننُ الجبال زحمنَ جنبي

    وقعنَ أخفَّ من مِننِ الرجالِ

    For if mountain peaks crowded my flank,

    they would fall more lightly than men's favors.

  4. وإلا فاسلبُوني حظَّ فضلي

    إلى ما فاتني من حظَّ حالي

    Otherwise, strip me of my share of merit,

    to join the share of worldly fortune I have missed.

  5. ونجّوني وحيداً لا عليّ ال

    محاسنُ والشقاءُ بها ولا لي

    And rescue me, alone, with no burden upon me from

    virtues and their attendant misery, nor any benefit from them.

  6. ألا رجلٌ يخاف العيبَ منكم

    ويأنف للحقوق من المِحالِ

    Is there no man among you who fears disgrace,

    and, for the sake of rights, disdains deceit,

  7. فيعدلَ في القضيَّة لا يجابى

    ويحكمَ بالسويَّة لا يبالي

    so he judges the case without favoritism,

    and rules impartially, heedless of consequences?

  8. تواصى الناس إكرام الأسامى

    وهان لديهمُ كرمُ الفعالِ

    People have urged one another to honor names,

    while noble deeds have become cheap in their eyes.

  9. يُعَدُّ أخوك أشرفَ منك بيتا

    بأنك عاطلٌ وأخوك حالي

    Your brother is deemed nobler than you in lineage,

    because you are unadorned and your brother adorned.

  10. ولا والمجدِ ما شرَقي بريقي

    وشربي الملحَ في العذب الزلالِ

    No, by glory! Why do I choke on my own saliva,

    and drink salt within sweet, limpid water?

  11. أدال اللهُ من سِمنِ ابن عمٍّ

    رعى حسبي وأهملني هزالي

    May God grant victory over the fatness of a cousin—

    who respected my lineage but neglected me—to my leanness!

  12. وما هو غير أنّ يدي قصيرٌ

    مداها عن مدى هممي الطوالِ

    It is nothing but this: my hand's reach is short,

    falling short of the reach of my far-reaching ambitions.

  13. وإن وسِعَ القريبَ أصولُ مجدي

    ولم يسع الغريبَ فضولُ مالي

    Though the roots of my glory embrace my kin,

    my surplus wealth has no room for strangers.

  14. عسى الأيّامُ يوجعها عتابي

    ويُخجلها انتظاري واحتمالي

    May my reproach pain the days,

    and my waiting and endurance shame them.

  15. وخِلٍّ كان إن أخفقت مالي

    وإن أنا خفت نازلةً مآلي

    And a friend who, when I came away empty-handed, was my wealth,

    and, when I feared calamity, my refuge,

  16. يحوطُ جوانبي ويذبُّ عني ال

    أذى ذبَّ الجفونِ عن النصالِ

    would guard my sides and ward off from me

    harm, as scabbards shield blades.

  17. وإن أهديتُ بِكراً من ثناء

    إليه تميسُ في حُللِ الجمالِ

    And if I offered a virgin of praise

    to him, swaying in robes of beauty,

  18. تناهَى في كرامتها قبولا

    وغالى في المهور بها الثقال

    he honored her to the utmost in accepting her,

    and was lavish in the heavy dowries he paid for her.

  19. وباتت حيث تغبِطها عليه

    إذا ما غرنَ ربّاتُ الحجالِ

    She spent the night where they envied her for him,

    when the ladies of curtained chambers grew jealous,

  20. معشّقةً مكانَ ترى الغواني

    إذا عرَّسن يودَعنَ الغوالي

    cherished, where you see the beautiful women,

    when they wed, entrusted with precious things.

  21. فغيرّه الزمان وأيّ حالٍ

    من الأحداث سالمةٌ بحالِ

    Then time changed him—and what condition

    is safe at all from life's vicissitudes?

  22. ونكَّس رايتي منه نصيري

    وميَّل صعدتي ربُّ اعتدالِ

    The ally I had in him lowered my banner,

    and a master of straightness bent my lance.

  23. كنور الشمس منه البدر ينمي

    ومنه النقصُ يسري في الهلال

    Like the sun's light: from it the full moon grows,

    and from it waning creeps into the crescent.

  24. ولكن جفوةٌ لم تُنسِ عهداً

    ولم تجُز الدلالَ إلى الملالِ

    Yet this estrangement did not erase a covenant,

    nor pass beyond coyness into weariness.

  25. فدى الوضَّاح في الخطب ابنُ ليلٍ

    إذا استضويت في أمرٍ دجا لي

    May a son of night ransom the radiant one in adversity,

    when I seek light in a matter darkened for me.

  26. ومنحطّون عنه أباً ونفسا

    وبيتُ النجم مثلُ النجم عالي

    Others rank below him in ancestry and person,

    and the star's house is high as the star.

  27. ألستَ ابن الألى انتظموا ملوكاً

    نظامَ العقد من بادٍ وتالي

    Are you not the son of those who formed a line of kings,

    strung like a necklace, from first to last?

  28. إذا الأب غاب نابَ ابنٌ كريمٌ

    يريك شهادةَ النسب الحلالِ

    When the father departs, a noble son succeeds,

    showing you the proof of lawful descent.

  29. كأنّ المجدَ لم يحزن لماضٍ

    مع الباقي ولم يفجع بحالِ

    As though glory had never mourned the departed,

    with the survivor there, nor suffered any loss.

  30. لهم سننٌ من المعروف تكسو ال

    لحومَ بها عظامَهم البوالي

    They have traditions of kindness that clothe

    their decaying bones with flesh.

  31. وآثار من الأيام بيض

    كآثار البدور على الليالي

    And bright traces from the days,

    like the full moons' traces upon the nights.

  32. وجرَّبَ منك فخرُ الملك عضباً

    مخوفَ الحدِّ مأمونَ الكَلالِ

    Fakhr al-Mulk has tested in you a keen sword,

    fearsome of edge, with no danger of dulling.

  33. رآك أعفَّهم بالغيب سرّاً

    وأفرسَهم على ظهرِ الجدالِ

    He found you their most virtuous in secret, when unseen,

    and their finest horseman in the arena of debate.

  34. وقاس بك الرجالَ فبنتَ فوتاً

    وإن شوبهت في خَلْقِ الرجالِ

    He measured men against you, and you surpassed them by far,

    though you resemble other men in outward form.

  35. فجلَّلَ منكِبيك لباسَ فخرٍ

    يدُلُّ على التناسب في الجلالِ

    So he draped your shoulders in a robe of honor,

    showing a fitting harmony in grandeur.

  36. لجائلةِ اللحاظ به زليقٌ

    على سَعة المطارح والمجالِ

    It offers wandering glances a smooth course,

    across ample expanses and room to roam.

  37. تمازَجَ كلُّ لونٍ من هواها

    بلونٍ واقع منه ببالِ

    Every hue those glances desired mingled

    with a hue from it that entered the mind.

  38. كأنك قد نفضتَ عليه صبغاً

    محاسنَ ما حوَيتَ من الكمالِ

    As though you had shaken upon it, as dye,

    the beauties of all the perfection you possess.

  39. وعمَّمك السحابةَ فوق رضوى

    كذاك السحبُ عِمّات الجبالِ

    And he wound a cloud about you as a turban above Radwa—

    so clouds are the turbans of mountains.

  40. وأمطاك الغزالةَ ظهرَ طِرْفٍ

    أتى خَلْقاً وسبقاً كالغزالِ

    And mounted you on the sun—a noble steed's back—

    gazelle-like in form and speed.

  41. كلا طرفيه من كرمٍ وعتقٍ

    تأنَّق رابطٌ فيه وفالي

    Both sides of its lineage are noble and purebred;

    its keeper and groom lavished care upon it.

  42. تراه مطلَقاً عُريان يزهَى

    على الغرِّ المحجَّلة الحوالي

    You see it, loose and bare, outshining

    the adorned horses with white blazes and stockings.

  43. وكيف ورِدفه ومُقَلَّداه

    مواقرُ من حُلَى التبر الثِّقالِ

    And how much more, when its rump and both sides of its neck

    are laden with heavy ornaments of gold!

  44. تهنَّ بها منائحَ غادياتٍ

    أواخرُها تطول على الأَوالي

    Enjoy these gifts, arriving each morning,

    their later ones surpassing the first.

  45. إذا نَثرَت لك الدنيا سعوداً

    حظيت بها فنظَّمتُ الآلي

    When the world scattered blessings for you,

    you won them, so I strung the pearls.

  46. ولكن وفِّني منها نصيباً

    بجاهك لا أسومك فضلَ مالِ

    But grant me a full share of them,

    through your influence; I ask you for no surplus money.

  47. وجازِ مفيدَك الحسنى بذكري

    ومهِّد عنده بالوصف حالي

    Repay him who bestowed kindness on you by mentioning me,

    and prepare my cause before him by describing my state.

  48. فإنّ هديةً مِثْلي لتكفي

    مكافأةً لأنعُمِهِ الجِزالِ

    For a gift of one like me will surely suffice

    as recompense for his lavish favors.

  49. وكاثرني مجالسَه تجدني ال

    تَمَام لما حوته من جمَالِ

    And pit his gatherings against me; you will find me the

    full measure of all the beauty they contain.

  50. وكيف ضمنت عن قلمي وقلبي

    سداداً لم تخفْ دَرَك اختلالِ

    However you vouch for my pen and heart,

    for their soundness, you need fear no consequence of error.

  51. وقد جرّبتني وخبرتَ قِدماً

    فهل شيءٌ يُريبك من خصالي

    You have tested me and known me long before,

    so is there anything in my qualities that makes you doubt?

  52. وغيرك قد تكفّل أمرَ غيري

    فنال بسعيه بعض المنالِ

    Someone else has taken up the cause of someone other than me,

    and won some success through his efforts.

  53. وقُدِّم آخرون فهم بطاءٌ

    فمالك لا تغار على العِجالِ

    Other men have been advanced, though they are slow,

    so why have you no jealous concern for the swift?

  54. وقد أُنشدتَ ما سمعوا وقالوا

    فيا للشعر من قيلٍ وقالِ

    You have had recited to you what they heard and uttered,

    so alas for poetry, amid hearsay and chatter!

  55. جواهرُ لا يعالجهنَّ غوصي

    وماءٌ لا تخابطه سجالي

    Jewels that my diving does not wrestle with,

    and water that my buckets do not churn.

  56. إذا طَرقَ الحبيبُ بلا رقيبٍ

    فما وجهُ التعلّل بالخيالِ

    If the beloved calls at night without a watcher,

    what reason is there to console oneself with a phantom?

  57. يسومُ سواك تجهيزي وسوقي

    فقلت وما العروسُ بغير جالي

    Someone other than you seeks to array me and lead me forth,

    but I said, 'What is a bride without her unveiler?'

  58. وعُدتُ إليك عن ثقةٍ وعلمٍ

    بأنّ السيف أدربُ بالقتالِ

    And I returned to you with confidence and knowledge

    that the sword is better versed in battle.