أتَخشى بنو حمدانَ مَيلي عليهِمُ

وقد صَفِرَتْ أحلامُهُم يومَ غُرَّبِ

Do the Bani Hamdan fear my inclination towards them,

When their dreams have faded on the day they were estranged?

وما كلُّ من يَجْني عليَّ يَخافُني

فيا خوفُ لا تذهب بهم كلَّ مَذْهَبِ

Not everyone who wrongs me fears me,

So do not, O fear, make them go every path.

وإنّي لأعفو عن ذُنوبٍ كثيرةٍ

لو اخْترتُ ما طالتْ بها يدُ مُذْنِبِ

And I pardon many sins,

If I chose what the hand of the sinner extended to.

تجنتْ بنو حمدانَ كلَّ جِنايةٍ

عليّ فلم أغضَبْ ولم أتعَتَّبِ

The Bani Hamdan committed every crime,

Against me, yet I was neither angry nor complained.

وكادت من التأنيبِ تطْلِقُ خبْوَتي

متى كانَ عِرضي قبلَها لمؤنِّبِ

And my serenity almost uttered my thoughts,

Whenever my honor was, before it, to the blamer.

وصارَ التّلاقي والمزارُ يريبُها

فداويتُ وجدي بالقِلى والتّجَنُّبِ

Meeting and visiting became doubtful to it,

So I treated my love with remoteness and avoidance.

وأطمعَها مسُّ الزّمانِ وعضُّهُ

وصبري على أحداثِه والتقَلُّبِ

And I gave it hope for the passage of time and its harm,

And my patience with its events and fluctuations.

هم فتكوا والدّهرُ ينشِبُ ظُفرَهُ

فلا غلَبَتْ شَيبانُ غيرَ مُغلَّبِ

They waged war and fate bared its claws,

But grey hairs were not defeated by undefeated.