بعضُ بَناتِ الزَّمنِ

مرَّت ببَعضِ الفِتَنِ

Some daughters of time

Passed through some trials

فاستَنهضَتها فاستَقا

مَت مَعها تَطرُقُني

So it revived them, so they stood

And passed away with me

أرَى اللَّيالي يَستَعي

نُ صَرفُها بالأعيُنِ

I see the nights insist

To change them with the eyes

فَليَخشَ مَن لم يَضنَ أن

يَلقاهُ طَرفٌ قد ضَني

So let him who hasn't sympathized fear

Meeting an eye that has sympathized

يَثني إذا قالَ وإن

قِيلَ له لا يَنثَني

That bends when it speaks and if

It is told no, it doesn't bend

لمَّا عَلمتُ أنَّ ما

بي ما بهِ أطمَعَني

When I knew that what

Was with me what I wished for

وقلتُ لو أفنَى سَقا

مٌ ذا سَقامٍ لَفَنِي

And I said if time perished time

Of an ill time it would make me perish

ظنَّ المساءَ والصَّبا

حَ وافَيَا في قَرَنِ

Morning and dusk supposed

Us two were faithful friends

لمَّا قَضى مدَّة ما

بَينهما بالوَسَنِ

When it spent what was

Between them with familiarity

تلكَ قَضايا الحُبّ لا

محّمدُ بنُ الحَسَنِ

Those are the judgments of love, not

Muhammad ibn al-Hasan

أتى بعَدلِ الشَّمسِ مَم

زُوجاً بجَورِ المُزُنِ

Who came with the justice of the sun married

To the injustice of frowning

فقَد غَدا مُؤتَمَناً

وليسَ بالمؤتَمِنِ

So he has become trusted

And he is not trusted

بَنَى وشاد فوقَ ما

شِيدَ لَه وما بُنِي

He built and erected above what

Was erected for him and built

عالٍ ولكن لا عَلى ال

عافي ودانٍ لا دَني

High but not on

Honesty and low but didn't become lowly

تُعادُ إن يَبدُ إذا

مَنَّ وُجُوهُ المِنَنِ

They are repeated if the faces

Of favors begin to frown

فهو يَرومُ سَترَها

مَرامَ غَيرِ مُمكِنِ

So he intends to hide them

With an impossible desire

فمَن أَرادَ أن يرا

ها ثَروةً فَليَرَني

So whoever wants to see

Them as wealth, let him look at me