أنامُ وما لائِمي

عن اللَّوم بالنائِمِ

I sleep, though faultfinders blame me,

For sleeping and not greeting them.

فَوا عَجبَا للسَّلِي

مِ نامَ عَن السَّالِمِ

How strange of the criticizer

To blame one asleep and blameless!

وَصارِم حَبلِ الوصا

لِ يَنظُرُ مِن صارِمِ

My inner secrets have rebelled

Against obeying the critic.

سرائِرُه قد عَصَت

عَلى طاعَةِ اللائِمِ

Good fortune made them happy

With plentiful ever-flowing tears.

وأسعَدَها مُسعِدٌ

مِن المَدمَع السَّاجِمِ

Have you not seen that I complained

Of fire to the arsonist?

ألَم تَرَ أنِّي شَكَو

تُ ناراً إِلى ضارِمِ

I complained to separation

Of the wrong of its endless estrangement.

شَكوتُ إلى البَينِ

ظُلم هِجرانِهِ الدَّائِمِ

I wished: if only I could return

To my unjust criticizer!

وسِرتُ فيا لَيتَني

رُدِدتُ إلى ظَالِمي

How many resolves have become,

For the resolver, sheer calamity!

فكَم عَزمةٍ أصبَحَت

وبالاً عَلى العازِمِ

But if the meeting with my father

Al-Qasim does not avail,

ولكِن إذا لَم تُفِد

لِقاءَ أبي القاسِمِ

A meeting which for the desperate one

Is water, and for the criticizer, wrath.

لِقاءٌ هُو الماءُ لا

حَ لِلوارِدِ الحائِمِ

He receives his visitors with a smile,

A guarantee for their hopes.

وفي مَوقفٍ آخرٍ

هُو الغَيظُ لِلكاظِمِ

And so their debts are settled

By him without a judge.

يُواجِهُ زُوّارَهُ

بِمبتَسمٍ باسِمِ

None can carry adversities

Like the hand of the decisive one!

فَتحصُلُ آمالُهم

عَلى ضامِنٍ غارِمِ

When it is hung with the sword

From the scabbard erect on the belt.

إذا يَدُهُ عُلِّقَت

من النَّصلِ بالقائِمِ

With it unsheathed, debts are settled

By Shibl without a judge.

تنجَّزَ شِبلٌ بها

دُيوناً بِلا حاكِمِ

وليسَ لحَملِ الحُسا

مِ مثلُ يَد الحاسِمِ