أحزان نفسي عنها غير منصرمه

وأدمعي من جفون الدهر منسجهُ

My sorrows for him will never cease,

And my tears from the eyes of time are woven,

على صديق ومولى لي فجعت به

ما أن له في جميع الصالحين لُمَهْ

For a friend and master whose loss pained me,

He had no equal among all the righteous.

كم جَفْنَةٍ مثل جوف الحوض مترعة

كوماء جاء بها طباخها رذمِهْ

How many bowls like the basin's midst brimming over,

With water brought by its drawer unfettered,

قد كفَّلتها شحوم من قلّيتها

ومن سنام جزور عَبْطَة سَنِمَهْ

I prepared with fats fully melted,

And the humps of fattened camels browned.

غيَّبت عنها فلم تعرف لها خبرا

لهفي عليك وويلي يا أبا سلمهْ

I hid it from him, so it knew no news of it,

I yearn for you, oh woe is me Abu Salamah!

ولو تكون لها حيّاً لما بعدت

يوماً عليك ولو في جاحم حطمهْ

If he were alive, never would he be far,

A day from you, even if in rocky fragments smashed.

قد كنت أعلم أنّ الأكل يقتله

لكنني كنت أخشى ذاك من تخمهْ

I knew that food would kill him,

But I feared that more from his covetousness,

إذا تعممَّ في شبليه ثم غدا

فإنَّ حَوزة من يأتيه مصطلمَهْ

When he wraps himself in his coat, and then travels,

The possessions of whom he visits will be plundered.