العيدُ عيدٌ والصيام صيامُ

والشّهرُ شَهْرٌ كُلُّهُ أيّامُ

The feast is a feast, and fasting is fasting,

And the month, every bit of it is days.

والفطرُ من بعْدِ الغروبِ مُحَلّلٌ

لكَنّهُ بَعدَ الشُّروقِ حرامُ

Breaking the fast after sunset is permitted,

But after dawn it is forbidden.

وإذا دَنى وَقتُ السّحورِ فكُل إذا

ما كانَ عنَدكَ للسّحورِ طعامُ

And when the time of pre-dawn draweth nigh, eat whatever

You have for pre-dawn food.

والشّمسُ تَطْلُعُ بالنّهارِ وإنّما ال

ليلُ البَهيمُ إذا دنى الإظلامُ

The sun rises in the day, but the

Night for the beasts when darkness draweth nigh.

وإذا رأيتَ الناسَ فوقَ رِحالهم

هَجَعوا فإنّهُمُ كَذاكَ نيامُ

And when you see people lying above their mounts,

They are thus sleeping.

وإذا سَعَيْتَ إلى الصّلاة فإنّما

ذاكَ المقدَّمُ في الصّلاةِ إمامُ

And when you head for prayer, verily

The one going forth in prayer is the imam.

واعلَمْ بأنَّ الدَّسْتَ مَجلسُ سيِّدٍ

يُرعى ومن فَرَشَ البساطَ غُلامُ

And know that the dais is the sitting place of a lord

Who is obeyed, and he who has spread the carpet is a youth.

وكذا العبيدُ إذا اعتبرتَ فَمنهُمُ

تلكَ الفحولُ ومنْهُمُ الخّدامُ

As such are slaves when you contemplate them,

Among them are stalwarts and among them servants.

وإذا لَقيتَ مُخاطباً بتحية

عندَ اللقاء فإنَّ ذاكَ سلامُ

And if you meet one who greets

With a greeting upon meeting, that is peace.

وَلَقَد يكونُ البُخُل ِشحّاً في الورى

والمفضلونَ على الأنام كرامُ

Stinginess can indeed be miserliness among people,

Yet the generous are the noblest of men.

ورأيتُ مجدَ الدينِ في بَذْلِ النّدى

والجودِ والمعروفِ ليسَ يُلامُ

And I saw the glory of faith in giving blandishment

And bounty and charity? that is not blamed.

يَهَبُ الدَّراهِم كاللُّجَينِ كأنّما

أشعارُ مادحهِ لَدّيهِ كَلامُ

He gives dirhams freely like the floods, as though

The eulogies of his eulogizer to him are but words.

وإذا أشارَ إلى الغُلامِ بِطَرفِهِ

أعطِ الحكيمَ فذلكَ الإنعامُ

And if he gestures to the boy with a wink of his eye,

Give, wise one, for that is benefaction.

ومتى وَصَفنا بالسّحائبِ كفّهُ

كَرَماً وَجوداً فالسّحابُ غَمامُ

And when we describe his palm as clouds,

Bounteously and generously, clouds are cumulus clouds,

مُتَبَسِّماً كفَتىً يَهشُّ طَلاقةً

في ضحكهِ والضّاحِكُ البسّامُ

Smiling like a bloke cheerily

Joking, and the joker is beaming.

يأوي إليهِ البائسونُ وَكُلّهُمْ

كالسّائلينَ لَهُمَ هُناكَ زِحامُ

The wretched throng to him, all of them

Like beggars, for them there a press.

في مَنْزلٍ كالبيتِ إلاَّ أنّه

في أرضهِ عِوَضَ البلاط رُخامُ

In an abode like a house except

In his land pavement has replaced carpets.

ولهُ سِماطٌ كالخِوانِ إذا بَدا

قُلنا عَلَيهِ في العشاءِ حسامُ

And he has tableware like platters, when it appears,

We say over it at supper, “a quickening."

وَلَرُّبما الصّينيُّ كلُّ صحافهِ

مِن غيرِ شَكً والقدورُ بُرامُ

And sometimes every bowl of the Chinese,

Without doubt, and cooking pots are copper pots.

وَلَدَيهِ أَصحابٌ أخلاَّءٌ لهُ

والواقِفونَ منَ العَبيدِ قِيامُ

And he has boon friends and cronies,

And standing slaves.

بَلَدي الجزيرةُ والمواطنُ تُربةٌ

لكنَّ أكثرَ أهلهِا أقوامُ

My homeland is the Peninsula, and its climes are a land,

But most of its people are folk.

وبأرضِنا قومٌ إذا قالوا بِيا

أنجا عَلمِنا أنّهم أعجامُ

And in our land are folk, when they say “bye,"

Our banner told us they are foreigners.

وَرأيتُ أخوالي لأُمّي إخوةً

لكنَّ إخوةَ والدي أعمامُ

And I saw my mother’s brothers are brothers.

But my father’s brothers are uncles.

هذا هُوَ الصِّدقُ الصريحُ وغيرُهُ

فيهِ التّحرُّضُ والنِّظامُ نظامُ

This is the plain truth, and other than it

Contains incitement and organization is organization.