وَرابِعَةٍ شَتّى المَذاهبِ ضَمَّهُم

نَدِيٌّ لأشتاتِ المسرّاتِ جامِعُ

He gathered diverse schools together like pieces

of a shining dome for scattered pleasures to unite under,

نشنِّفُ أَسماعاً بِدُرٍّ بِمثلِهِ

تَتِيهُ عَلى سودِ المَآقي المَسامِعُ

And charmed our ears with a moon whose peerless light

wanders lost over the dark horizons of hearing,

وَتَنظِمُ مَنثوراً مِن الكَلِمِ الَّذي

هُوَ الدُرُّ لَكن لَم يُثَقِّبهُ صانِعُ

And knits together scattered words into a poem

that is a pearl which the Maker has not yet pierced,

وَنادَمَنا ظَبيٌ نَصَبنا حَبائِلاً

لَهُ فَهوَ في تِلكَ الحَبائِلِ واقِعُ

We set snares for a gazelle and it became our boon companion,

so it fell into the very snares we made,

يُدير لَنا مِن لَحظِهِ بابليَّةً

وَيَبسُطُ أُنساً للَّذي هُوَ طامِعُ

With its glances it spins a Babylonian spell for us

and freely grants intimacy to the aspirer,

فَنهصُرُ مِنهُ الغُصنَ وَالغُصنُ مائِسٌ

وَنُبصِرُ مِنهُ البَدرَ وَالبَدرُ طالِعُ

So from it we look to the branch, though the branch hangs low,

and from it we look to the moon, though the moon is rising,

وَلَولايَ أَضحى الظَبيُ للذئبِ طعمة

وَلَكِن حَماهُ اللَيثُ وَالذئبُ جائِعُ

Without it the gazelle would be torn to pieces by the wolf,

but the lion protected it while the wolf went hungry,

يَوَدُّ بِأَنَّ اللَيثَ يَحظى بِعُلوِهِ

وَتَبقى لَهُ أَوراكُهُ وَالأَكارِعُ

The wolf longs for the lion to enjoy its height

while the wolf keeps its lairs and dens,

فَقُلتُ لَهُ يا ذئبُ أَقصِر عَن الرَشا

فَإِنَّ الرَشا في غابَةِ اللَيثِ راتِعُ

So I said to the wolf, "Desist from evil thoughts,

for evil in the lion's woods will meet defeat."