من لِقَلبٍ دَنِفٍ أو مُعتَمَد

قد عَصَى كلَّ نَصيحٍ ومُفَد

For a heart, stubborn or resolute,

That disobeyed all advice and guidance,

لَستُ في سَلمَى ولا جاراتها

سامعاً فيها إلى قَولِ أَحَد

I am not in Salma or its neighborhoods,

Hearing in it anyone's words,

راعَني منها بَنَانٌ ناعِمٌ

كَسِيُورِ القِدِّ في مثلِ البَرَد

A soft, delicate girl allured me,

Like the wrists’ adornment in the cold,

وشَنيبٌ كالأَقاحي شابَهُ

نُضحُ ماءِ الُمزنِ في غَيرِ صَرَد

And a mustache like spears whose youth

The water of fermentation sprinkled without inhibition,

حُرَّةُ الطَّرفِ رَخيمٌ دَلُّها

لَم تُعالج سُوءَ عيشٍ في كَبَد

The coquetry of her eyes is a fertile land whose slopes

Did not suffer the misery of life in a liver,

تَسرُقُ الطَّرفَ بعَينَي جُؤذُرٍ

مُستَحيلٍ بينَ رَملٍ وجَلَد

She steals glances with the eyes of a gazelle,

Transforming between sands and skin,

هَل سَأَلتَ الحَربَ عن إخوانِها

إذ فُحُولُ النَّاسِ تُغمَى بالزبَّدَ

Have you asked war about its brothers,

When the stallions of men are covered with foam?

وتَنادَوا بِعَوالٍ ذُبَّلٍ

تُزلِقُ الأَضعَفَ عن خَطِّ الأَشَدّ

And they called out with weakened, emaciated throats

To slip the weakest from the path of the firmest,

عُصُرٌ فَانٍ وهذا عُصُرٌ

ناقصٌ من كلِّ حَيٍّ وعَدَد

An era has passed and this is an era

Lacking from every living and number,

واذا ذَكَّرتُ نَفسي ما خَلا

عادَ في العَينِ كتَسهيدِ الرَّمَد

And when I remind myself of what is past,

It returns to the eye like the irritation of drowsiness,

من أُناس كنت أرجوُ نَفعَهُم

أَصبحُوا قد خَمَدُوا تحتَ البلَدَ

Of people from whom I hoped to benefit,

They faded beneath the ground,

وأُراني جاهِداً من بَعدِهم

في عِلاجِ المالِ تأمِيلَ البُعُد

And I found myself struggling after them

In the treatment of wealth, coveting distance,

كادِحاً أَحسَبُ أَنِّي مُخلَدٌ

جاهِلُ اليَوم وتَيسيري لِغَد

Toiling as I reckoned I was immortalized,

Ignorant today and easing my way for tomorrow,

لا أَرى حِصناً يُنَجِّي أَهَلهُ

كلُّ حَيٍّ لفَناءٍ ونَفَد

I do not see a fortress saving its people,

Every living being is to vanishing and depletion,

فدَعِ الباطِلَ واعمِد لِلتقى

وتُقَى رَبِّكَ رَهنٌ لِلرشَد

So leave falsehood and aim for piety,

And fear your Lord, it is the pledge to guidance,

وقُلِ المَعرُوفَ فيمَن قاَلهُ

وأمنَعَن نَفسَكَ مِن قيلِ الفَنَد

And say good wherever it was said,

And prevent yourself from the words of defamation,

ومَجُودٍ زَعَلٍ ظِلمانُهُ

كَرِجالِ الَحبشِ تَردي بالعَمَد

Of a generous, easily angered one whose injustice

Is like the Abyssinian men, deteriorating with purpose,

قد تَبَطَّنتُ وتَحتي جَسرَةٌ

تَخلِطُ الَمشيَ تُعادي كَالفَرَد

I became plump and under me is a breastplate

That mixes walking, antagonizing like an isolated person,

مَصرَخَ الدِّيِك بكَفَّي جُرشُعٍ

سابِغٌ أَسفَلُهُ ضَخمُ الكَتَد

The rooster crowed with two cutting claws,

Thick below, enormous in size,

هَيَّجَ البَوعَ إذا هَيَّجتَهُ

يَخلِطُ الَمعجَ بتَقرِيبٍ وشَدّ

It agitates the lairs when you agitate it,

Mixing the turbid with approximation and pulling,

فَانَبَرى أَحقَبُ يَتلُو أَربَعاً

لاَحِقُ الأَيطَلِ في قاعٍ جَلَد

So the bandy-legged one set out following four,

Overtaking the slender in a smooth field,

صَيِّبُ التَّعشيرِ زِمزامُ الضُّحَى

ناِسِلٌ عقَّتَهُ مِثلُ الَمسَد

The warbler of hosting, the bridle of dawn,

Extending its belt like a pier,

يُغرِقُ الَمطرُودَ منهُ وابِلٌ

ضابِطُ الوَعثِ ضَبُوعٌ في الَجدَد

It floods the dispelled from it with a downpour,

The watcher of the litter, hyenas in the palms,