أسأتُ إلى نفسِي أُريد لها نَفعَاً

وقارفتُ ذَئباً لا أطيقُ له دَفعا

I wronged myself, though I wanted what would benefit me,

And contended with a wolf, whose driving off I cannot bear.

رَمتني كَفّي أسهماً لم أجد لها

إلى أن أصابَت أسهمي مَقتَلي وَقعا

My hands cast me arrows that I could not find

Until my own arrows struck me with a mortal blow.

وكم خطأ لو ساعدَ المرءَ جدُّه

لَعُدَّ صوباً واستزادَ به رَفعا

How many an error, had one's zealotry assisted him,

Would have been set aright, and he would have gained more loftiness.

وذَنبي عظيمٌ غير أنِّي تائبٌ

ومن تابَ إخلاصاً فقد بَذَلَ الوُسعا

Great is my sin, but I am penitent;

He who repents sincerely has exhausted his capacity.

ولو أَنَّ تأديبَ الأميرِ لعَبده

بقاض على العاصين أَوسعَهم رَدعا

If the disciplining of the prince against his disobedient servant

Were entrusted to a judge, he would be most harsh in deterrence.

ولو خانَه فرعونُ آمناً طائعاً

وإن لم يُعد موسى العصا حيَّةً تَسعىَ

Even if Pharaoh had betrayed, while secure and obedient,

Moses would not have made the rod into a running serpent.

ولو كنت ذنباً كنتُ في جَنبِ حِلمِه

خبالَ هَباء ما يُجَابُ ولا يُدعى

If I were a sin, I would be in the fold of His forbearance,

A fleeting mirage that is neither answered nor called.

وقد زاد في جُرمي تلاعُبُ مَعِشرٍ

بألسنة لم تلق من ورَع فسمَعا

And my crime was compounded by the mockery of a group

Whose tongues never knew piety, so they never kept their tongues.

حكوا أنني استصغرت نعمته التي

علوتُ بها الأفلاكَ والرُّتبَ السَّبعا

They said that I belittled His blessing by which

I ascended above the celestial spheres and the seven steps.

نبذتُ إذاً ذمَّتي وفارقتُ مِلَّتي

وخالفتُ في توحيدي العقلَ والشَّرعا

So I forsook my conscience and abandoned my religion;

I contradicted reason and law in my belief in oneness.

وإن كان لفظَي أو لساني جرى به

فلا باتَ إلاَّ وهوَ مُستوجبٌ قَطعا

And if my words or my tongue let slip with it,

It did not pass a night except as deserving of severing.

وهل أَجحدُ الشمسَ الُمنيرةَ ضوءهَا

وأَزعُمُ أن الغَيثَ لا يَنبُتُ الزَّرعَا

Can I deny the shining sun its illumination,

And claim that the rain yields no crops?

فإن كان ما قالوه حقاً كَمَا حَكَوا

فَلِم جئتُ من بعدُ إلى بَابِهِ أَسعَى

If what they told were true, as they related,

Why then did I come, later, to His door entreating?

فلا زال مَن وَلاَّه ينتظرُ الُمنى

ولا زالَ مَن عاداه يَرتقبُ الفُجعا

So he who takes Him as patron continues hoping for favor,

While he who makes Him his enemy keeps dreading calamity.

ولا زالت الأيامُ تُهدَي بشارةً

إليه تُرِي في قَلبِ حاسِده صَدعا

And the days continue to carry good tidings to him,

Which show in the heart of his envier a crack.

فتوحاً تَوَالي واحداً إثر واحدٍ

كما تتبع الألفاظ في سَجعها سَجعا

One clear victory followed another,

As if words follow each other in accordance with rhetorical beauty.