تاهَ على ربهِ فأفقرهُ

حتَّى رآه الغنى فأنكرَهُ

He went astray from his Lord, so He impoverished him,

Until wealth saw him and denied knowing him.

فصارَ من طولِ حرفةٍ عَلما

يقذفهُ الرِّزقُ حيثُ أبصرَهُ

So from his long occupation he became a scholar;

Sustenance casts itself to him wherever he is seen.

يا حَلبياً قضى الإلهُ لهُ

بالتيهِ والفقرِ حينَ صَوَّرَهُ

O Halabian, God ordained for him—

with wandering and poverty—when He formed him.

لو خَلطوهُ بالمِسكِ وسخَّهُ

أو طَرحوه في البحرِ كدَّرَهُ

If they had mixed him with musk he would have spoiled it,

Or if they had thrown him in the sea he would have made it murky.