حتى متى كلُّ مُشتكٍ زاجِر

واللومُ مثل الهَوى بلا آخِر

For how long will every complainer be reproachful,

And blame is endless like passion?

كم عاشقٍ عاذلٍ وكنتُ أرى

أنَّ الذي جَرب الهَوى عاذِر

How many lovers have I seen being blamed,

And I thought one who has tasted passion is excusable.

يا نافِراً نَفرة الغَزالِ وكا

نَ الحزمُ لو أنَّني أنا النافِر

O you who are repelled like a startled gazelle, and yet

You would have been resolute had I been the repulsor.

يبيتُ ما تستعدُّ مقلتُه

من خمرِها فوقَ ثَغرهِ قاطِر

The kohl of his eyes spends the night

Extracted from his wine above his mouth.

فطرفُه عاصرٌ وليسَ به

خمرٌ وفوه خَمر بِلا عاصِر

So his eyelids were squeezing but without wine,

And his mouth was as if filled with unstrained wine.

تركتَني أسخطُ الحميمَ بما

يَرضى به والنديمَ والسامِر

You left me to anger intimacy by what

Would please it, the cup-companion and the night-chat.

كان الهَوى سنةً مؤكَّدةً

شاهدُها قائمٌ بها حاضِر

Passion was a confirmed tradition,

Its witness standing by it, present.

وإنما أنتَ في صَنيعِكَ بي

جعلتَ ذنبَ الهَوى بلا غافِر

But you in your conduct made

The sin of passion unforgiven.

وشادنٍ طائفٍ على نفرٍ

شخصُ الكرى عن يمينه دائِر

And an attacker, raider, upon a band

The fates turned away from them going round.

صرعَهم حولَه وأوحشَه

تَماسُكي ثابتاً له ساهِر

He felled them around him and frightened him

My steadfast watch over him.

فحثَّني ساعةً فلم يَرَني

في أثر القَوم بَعدهم سائِر

So he urged me for an hour but did not see me

Following the people after them.

فقال أوصيكَ بي وأسلمه الص

صَبرُ على هَجرِه إلى الصابِر

He said, "I advise you of me and surrender him."

Patience over his abandonment to the patient.

فبتُّ في رَوضةٍ ألفُّ على ال

عادَةِ كفِّي وأفرحُ الناظِر

So I stayed in a garden accustomed to

My palm’s home and gladdening the onlooker.

أرتعُ في زَهرِها وأذكرُ ما

يذكرُه الناسُ عن أبي طاهِر

I stroll in its flowers and remember what

People relate of Abu Tahir,

من شيمٍ تحملُ الربيعَ إلى الص

صَيفِ على ظَهر جُودِه الماطِر

Of noble traits bringing spring to summer

On the back of his raining generosity.

فتىً متى ما بَنى أبوهُ له

زيادةً في عمارَةِ العامِر

Whenever a youth whose father built him

An addition to the populous building,

ثم ابتَدى فاحتَوى على قَصب الس

سَبقِ على السابقين مُستاثِر

Then he excelled and contained within himself slender

Stocks preceding competitors, monopolizing them.

لا يخطرُ الفكرُ في كتابَتهِ

كأنَّ أقلامَه لها خاطِر

Thought comes not to mind in his writing them down,

As if his pens had their own ideas.

القولُ والفعلُ يجريانِ معاً

لا أوَّلٌ فيهِما ولا آخِر

Words and deeds run together,

No first among them and no last.

ما لي أَرى اثنين كلَّما اشتَركا

في يَده قامَ واحدٌ خاسِر

Why do I see two whenever they shared

In his hand, one would rise bankrupt?

المالُ لا يصحبُ الندى أبداً

إلا على أنه بِه غادِر

Money never accompanies intimacy,

Unless it thereby leaves it.

لما استَقامَ الرجاءُ قمتُ على

مستفعل من عَطائِه شاكِر

When hopes stood straight I rose up

Thankfully benefiting from his gifts.

وصرتُ أستخبرُ العُفاةَ بما

نالوا وإنني كأنَّني خابِر

And I came to ask the destitute about what

They got, as if I were their news-bearer.

ابسُط على النائِباتِ بأسَك لا

مُرتهناً مُبقِياً ولا آسِر

Spread your power upon the fates, neither

Indebted, nor keeping, nor imprisoning.

فخيرُ تَدبيرها إذا ظفِرَ ال

جودُ بِها قِسطُ قدرةِ الظافِر

The best way to deal with them when generosity

Triumphs over them is a fair allotment.

والبخل إن لم يقُم بتاجِرِه

قام كثير المعينِ والناصِر

And if miserliness does not help its owner

Numerous helpers and supporters will work.

وما عَسى أهلُه وإن كثُروا

ما بينَ أمواجِ بحركَ الزاخِر

What can its people do, however many,

Between the billows of your raging sea?