لا أَسأَلُ الربعَ وأَطلالَهْ

ولا ضنيناً باللها مالَهْ

I do not ask of the ruins or their quarter

Nor one who is stingy with what he possesses

أَرفعُ همى وأَصون المُنى

عن طمعٍ أَنفُضُ غِربالَهْ

I raise my worries and protect my wishes

From greed, shaking off its sieves

فما أُرى الاَّ على موردٍ

أُناجِذُ المجدَ وأَشغالَهْ

So I do not see except at a watering hole

Where I glory in honor and its burdens

كأَنما كُوري وأَنساعُه

صُبَّ على خنساء ذيالَهْ

As if my urns and their capacities

Were poured upon a noble lady's train

أَو ناشط ضَمَّتْ الى حوزهِ

بوارحُ الجوزاءِ أَطَّالَهْ

Or an active man whose surroundings

Were grasped by the talons of a daring hawk

فَظلَّ بالصمدِ على مربأٍ

يُراصدُ الليلَ وأهْوالَهْ

So he remained steadfast on a high ground

Keeping watch of the night and its horrors

كيما يُراميه بمرقومةٍ

مثل شريج النبلِ والضالَهْ

So that he may shoot at it with his writ

Like the twang of arrows and strays

من يصحبِ الدنيا يكن طامعاً

في الماءِ ان يقنصَ تمثالَهْ

Whoever desires the world remains greedy

That he may sculpture its image in water

مثلُ هُيامِ الرملِ مُنهالهُ

لا يملِك الجفنُ لها حَالَهْ

Like the sands of barren deserts, sustained by them

The eyelid cannot control its state

تُميتُ بالزاد وتُحيي به

فهي على الأَنفسِ مُحتالَهْ

It kills with provision and revives thereby

Thus it is deceptive to souls

بدَّلَ صرفُ الدهر أَبدالَه

واستقبل العاملُ أَعمالَهْ

The cycle of fate has changed its phases

And the worker has undertaken his deeds

يَنبا الفتى منه على حالةٍ

اِذْ صُرِفَتْ عن وجهها الحالَهْ

So the youth may deduce from it in a condition

When its aspects are averted from his face

فتارةً يشرَبُ أَكدَارَه

وتارةً يشرَب سَلسَالَهْ

Thus he drinks its bitterness at times

And at others he drinks its chains

هذا هلالٌ بعدما غالَه

من حدثانِ الدهر ما غالَهْ

This crescent after it was overwhelmed

By the events of fate that overwhelmed it

أصبح يَبرى للعدى نبلَه

قد جمع اللهُ له بَالَهْ

It came to dawn, unleashing its arrows at the enemy

God has gathered its afflictions for it

وصارتِ الدرع التي ضُوعنَتْ

بَعدَ لباسٍ القِدِّ سِربالَهْ

And the coat of mail that was worn

Became after clothes, its cloak

فقل لذا المبدعِ في عفوه

طوبى لِمأسُورِكَ طوبى لَهْ

So say to the originator in his pardon

Good fortune to your prisoner, good fortune to him

أَشليتَ منه أَسداً ضارياً

عَوَّدَ مضغَ اللحم أَشبالَهْ

You have tamed from it a vicious lion

Who was used to chewing on meat and its cubs

أَصيدَ لا يرهبُ من بأسه

عجارفَ الدهرِ وأوجالَهْ

A hunter whom the severity of his might

Does not frighten the upheavals of fate and its burdens

فارمِ به ان طَرقتْ موئدٌ

مشاعرَ الروع وأبطالَهْ

So unleash it if a feast is prepared

The feelings of awe and its heroes

وكل نعَّارِ الى فتنَةٍ

شَمَّرَ للوثبةِ أَذيالَهْ

And every vilifier inclined to sedition

Has rolled up the train of his garment for the pounce

لعلَّه ان شَطَنَتْ داره

وصارتِ الاحبالُ آجالَهْ

Perhaps if his abode was shaken

And the ropes became his appointed time

واستولتِ الخمرُ على لُبِّهِ

في سكرة تبسط آمالَهْ

And wine overcame his mind

In intoxication spreading out its hopes

انْ يذكر الجهدَ وما ناله

فيشكرُ الطولَ الذي طالَهْ

That he may recall the effort and what he attained

So he thanks the length that was extended to him

أَسرفَ فخرُ الملكِ في جودِه

حتى تحامى الناسُ اِفضالَهْ

The pride of the kingdom was excessive in his munificence

Until people were perplexed by his favors

له قاراتِ الصُّوى رجفةٌ

زلزل فيها الرعبُ زلزالَهْ

For him the sturdy abodes tremble

Fear quakes through them in its tremors

لم تَكدِ الأرضُ بأَقطارِها

تحمِلها والأرضُ حمَّالَهْ

The lands in their regions could hardly

Bear them, and the earth is its burdener

وموقفٌ بالامسِ في واسطٍ

هالَ الصناديدَ وما هالَهْ

And an stand in Wasit yesterday

That stunned the chiefs and did not stun him

اِذْ نَغِلَ الملكُ ودبتْ له

رَبداء بالأبرةِ شَوَّالَهُ

When the king became angry and his

Ferocity stirred with the needle and its sewings

لا يَهتدي الناسُ لبزلائِها

والشر قد أَبهم أَقفالَهْ

People cannot be guided to its imbalance

And evil has obscured its locks

طبقَ بالرأي أَبو غالب

مفاصلَ الأَمرِ وأَوصالَهْ

Abu Ghalib matched the joints of the matter and its limbs

If the king's birds are deterred

اذا مليكٌ زُجِرَتْ طيرُه

كانت له كنيتُه فالَهْ

His surname becomes his omen

The neighbor is not safe from what has dragged him

لا يسلمُ الجارَ لما جرَّه

والطودُ لا يُسلم أَوعالَهْ

And the dunes do not spare their burrows

Nor do you see him subduing his resolve

ولا تَراه هامداً همَّه

يفرح بالخيرِ اذا نالَهْ

Rejoicing in good when he attains it

As if the remains of conversing planets

كأَنما أَجرى على خَدِّهِ

سُلافَ حوَّارينَ جِريالَهْ

Flowed down his cheek

From the sunna of the full moon he has beauty

من سُنّةِ البدر له سُدفَةٌ

وطلعةُ الشمسِ له هَالَهْ

And the rising of the sun is his halo

He pairs sides in position

مُقابلُ الاطرافِ في مَنصَبٍ

حيثُ يناصي عَمُّهُ خَالَهْ

Where his uncle meets his maternal uncle

God has not created the like of him

لم يَخلقِ اللهُ فتىً مثلَه

هيهاتَ أَنْ يخلقَ أَمثالَهْ

Alas, He will not create the like of him