رُبَّ خِلٍّ طَرَقتُهُ لِلسَلامِ

ظَنَّ أَنّي أَتَيتُهُ لِلطَعامِ

Many a friend have I visited merely to offer greetings;

he imagined that I had come to him for food.

فَتَمطى سَويعةً ثُمَّ نادى

يا غُلامي وَأَينَ لي بِغُلامي

He stalled for a little while, then called out,

“My servant boy!”—though where would I get a servant boy?

هاتِ لي حُقَّةَ الجُوارِشِ إِنّي

بَشِمٌ من هَريسَةٍ وَهُلامِ

“Bring me the jar of digestive electuary, for I

am overfull with harīsa and hulām.”

قُلتُ قَد قُمتُ عَنكَ قالَ وَمَن لي

مِنكَ يا مَن فَقَدتُهُ بِالقِيامِ

I said, “I am rising to leave you.” He said, “And who will rid me

of you—O you whose rising I have so sorely missed?”

أَحمَدُ اللَهَ أَقسَمَ اللَهُ أَن لا

يَتَوَخّى بِالرِزقِ غَيرَ اللِئامِ

I praise God—God has sworn that He will never

single out for sustenance any but the ignoble.