أَحْلَلْتَنِي بمَحَلَّةِ الجَوْزاءِ

ورَويتُ عِنْدَكَ مِن دَمِ الأَعْدَاءِ

You honoured me with the station of glory,

And I quenched my thirst with the blood of enemies.

وطَعِمْتُ لَحْمَ المارقينَ فَأَخْصَبَتْ

حالي وبَلَّغَنِي الزَّمَانُ شِفائِى

I tasted the flesh of rebels, so my state prospered,

And time brought me to full recovery.

وحَمَلْتَنِي كالصَّقْر فَوْقَ مَعَاشِر

تحتِى كَأَنَّهُمْ بَنَاتُ الماءِ

You carried me like an eagle above the masses;

Beneath me they were like the daughters of water.

ولَمَحْتُ إِخْوَانِي لَدَيْكَ كأَنَّهُمْ

مِمّا رَفَعْتَهُمُ نُجُومُ سَماءِ

I saw my brothers beside you as if they were

Among the stars you had raised to the sky’s dome.

لا يَرْحَمِ الرَّحْمنُ مَصْرَعَ مارِقٍ

عَبِثَتْ بطاعتِهِ يَدُ الأَهْواءِ

The Merciful does not pity the fallen rebel

Who played with His obedience by whims’ hands.

أَلْحِقْ به إخْوانَهُ فحَيَاتُهُمْ

نَكَدٌ وقد أَوْدَى أَخُو السُّفَهاءِ

Finish off his brothers, for their lives are misery,

Since the brother of fools perished.

ساعِدْ بذاكَ ودَعْ مَقالَ مَعاشِرٍ

بَخِلُوا فنالُوا خُطَّةَ البُخَلاءِ

Support that with leaving the talk of folk

Who were stingy and so won the stain of stinginess.

مَن لم يُفِدْكَ سِوَى الزَّمَان فَخَلِّهِ

للشَّمْسِ يَرْقُبُهَا مع الحِرباءِ

He who did not benefit you but time, leave him

To gaze at the sun with the crows.

ودعِ القَلانِسَ في السَّحَابِ يَشُقُّهَا

ومَفاخِرَ الآباءِ للأَبْنَاءِ

Leave the fine lances in the clouds that pierce them

And the boasts of ancestry to the sons.

إِنَّ الرِّجَالَ إِذا تَأَخَّرَ نَفْعُهُمْ

في كُلِّ مَعْنًى شُبِّهُوا بنِساءِ

Men, when their usefulness is delayed

In every sense, are likened to women.

أَناصِلُّهُمْ عنْدَ الخِصَامِ فخَلِّهِمْ

للِسانِ هذى الحَيَّةِ الرَّقْشاءِ

I charge them in contention, so leave them

To the tongue—this hissing serpent.