قَد مَلأ الأرضَ لِى وَعداً مُحمدُونَ

وَمَا مَوَاعِيدُهُ إِلاَّ أسىً وَجَوًى

The earth has filled for me with promise those who praise,

Yet their pledges are but grief and yearning in the end.

قَد طَالَمَا كَانَ مَنَّاني بِنَائِلِهِ

حَتَّى غَدَت جَلَهَاتِى بِالرَّجَاءِ رِوًى

Long has he allured me with his gifts,

Until my imagination is watered by hope.

ألغَيتُهُ خُلَّباً بَرقاً مُسَيلَمَةً

وتُصبِحَ نَهباً لِلمَزَابِرِ والدَّوَا

I see him as a mirage, a fleeting lightning,

To be wrecked, the spoils of tombs and loss.

تُلفِيهِ فِيهِ ضَوًى عَن كُلِّ مَكرُمَةٍ

ومَا مَوَاعِيدُهُ إِلاَّ أسىً وجَوًى

It covers him in grief, away from all nobility,

For his pledges are but grief and yearning in the end.

قَالُوا أبُوهُ فَتًى والمَكرُماتُ لَهُ

حَتَّى غَدت جَلَهَاتِى بِالرَّجَاءِ رِوىً

They say his father was a noble youth, and he is generous,

Until my imagination is watered by hope.

فقُلتُ أشبَهُهُ مِن بَابِ أنَّ لًهُ

في وَعدِهِ بَرَماً في النَّائِبَاتِ دَوًى

So I said he resembles in his promises and delays,

In his pledges but a ruin, in calamities a loss.