ما كان يَدري كيفَ يصبحُ هاجِرا

والغرُّ تجعلُه التجارِبُ ماهِرا

He did not know how he would become an emigrant

And strangeness would make him skilled through experiences

رشأ سمِعتُ لصُدغه ولخدِّه

في هذه الدنيا حَديثاً سائِرا

I heard the rumor about his cheek and face

Spreading in this life

فإذا رأيتَ عليه طَرفاً واقعاً

فاعلَم بأن هناكَ قلباً طائِرا

So if you see him with downcast eyes

Know that there is a flying heart within

لو لم تكُن عَيني دليلةَ عينِه

لم يصِبح المكسورُ منها كاسِرا

Were it not for my guiding eyes

The broken one would not become whole

أنشِطتَ تقتُلُني كأنك لم تكن

يا طرفَه ذاك الضعيفَ الفاتِرا

Your glances that kill me as if you had never been

O you of languid and weary eyes

ولمثل ذلك كنتُ أذخُر سَلوتي

فطلَبتُها فوجدتُ رسماً داثِرا

And for the like of that I was hoarding my provisions

I sought them but found only faint traces

فجعلتُ حين غُلِبتُ أصفح عن دمي

هل يصفحُ الإنسانُ إلا قادِرا

So when I was overcome I forgave my blood

Does a man forgive except when able?

ومدامةٍ صبَّحتُها بعصابةٍ

يتناقلونَ بها زجاجاً دائِرا

And a night of drinking I spent with a company

Passing around glass after glass

كان الصباحُ كأنه في نُورهم

ليلٌ وكانوا فيه صُبحاً زاهِرا

The morning was as if in its light

Night, and they were in it a shining dawn

فكأنما خمَّارها أضحى لها

من بعضِ أخلاقِ الندامى عاصِرا

As if their wine-pourer had become for them

One who extracts from the qualities of the penitent

حتى إذا ما السكر خالَطهم غدا

كلٌّ يقيم على الرواح مَعاذرا

Until when drunkenness mixed with them, each

Set up excuses for himself

وبقيتُ أشربُها فريداً راضياً

بجميل ذكركَ يا فريدُ معاشِرا

While I continued drinking it alone and content

With the beauty of your company, O unique friend

إني لَتعذبُ لي صفاتُكَ واثقاً

بالصدقِ فيها ناظماً أو ناثِرا

Indeed your attributes torment me, confident

Of the truth in them, composer or disseminator

للَه بحر ندىً إذا بحرُ الرَّدى

أمسى يعبُّ غدا عليه زاخِرا

God has an ocean of dew, so when the ocean of perdition

Became turbulent, it foamed over it

يقظاتُه وهباتُه وصفاتُه

موجودةٌ في ساحليهِ جواهِرا

His vigils, his gifts, his attributes

Are present on its shores as jewels

ولربَّ سُحب كريهةٍ كلَّفتها

حملَ النجيعِ وكان منها ماطِرا

And many an ugly cloud He charged

With bearing rain and it rained from them

وجعلتَ تخطر تحتَها في جحفلٍ

مازال يعقِدها غُباراً ثائِرا

And you marched under them in throngs

That dust still stirred up

والسحبُ تُفنيها الرياحُ وهذه

سحبٌ تكونُ رياحُهن حوافِرا

And the clouds are scattered by the winds while these

Are clouds whose steeds are the winds

يا ليت أنك كنتَ تلقى تحتها

فيمَن تُلاقيه الزمانَ الجائِرا

Oh would that you had encountered under them

Him whom time treats unjustly

كي تستريحَ عُفاة جودِك أنهم

كسَروا من الشكوى إليك دفاتِرا

That the barefoot of your generosity may rest

For they have broken to you registers of complaint

ما إن سمعتَ أبا الوَحيد بواحدٍ

جمع الأسودَ فقادَهن عساكِرا

No sooner did you hear Abu Al-Wahid with one

Who gathered the lions and led them as troops

لقد انفرَدت فكنت وحدَك سامعاً

ثم انفرَدتُ فكنتُ وحدي شاعِرا

You singled yourself out, so you alone listened

Then I singled myself out, so I alone was a poet

فلَطالما كثُرت أقاويلُ الورى

فأتيتُ بالنَّزر القليلِ مُكاثِرا

For long have the opinions of mankind abounded

Yet I brought just a little, vying