وَشادِنٍ روحُ مَن يَهواهُ في يَدِهِ

سَيفُ الصُدودِ عَلى أَعلى مُقَلَّدِهِ

The spirit of the one who loves Him is in His hand

A young gazelle holding the soul of his lover within his hand,

The sword of rebuff on the highest of its sheath

While the sharp sword of rejection hangs high upon his shoulder.

ما اِهتَزَّ مِنهُ عَلى عُضوٍ لِيَبتُرَهُ

إِلّا اِتَّقاهُ بِتُرسٍ مِن تَجَلُّدِهِ

It did not shake towards a limb for it to sever

It never quivered against a limb, intending to sever it,

Except it was protected by a shield of its patience

But that I met it with a shield forged of my own endurance.

ذَمَّ الزَمانُ إِلَيهِ مِن أَحِبَّتِهِ

ما ذَمَّ مِن بَدرِهِ في حَمدِ أَحمَدِهِ

Time has blamed it among his loved ones

Time has disparaged other lovers in his eyes,

There did not blame it from its full moon in praising its Ahmad

Just as the full moon is shamed by the glory of Ahmad.

شَمسٌ إِذا الشَمسُ لاقَتهُ عَلى فَرَسٍ

تَرَدَّدَ النورُ فيها مِن تَرَدُّدِهِ

A sun when the sun met him on a horse

He is a sun; were the sun to meet him mounted on a steed,

The light hesitated in it from his hesitation

Its light would falter within, confused by his restless motion.

إِن يَقبُحِ الحُسنُ إِلّا عِندَ طَلعَتِهِ

فَالعَبدُ يَقبُحُ إِلّا عِندَ سَيِّدِهِ

If beauty is ugly except at its rising

If beauty itself seems ugly save when in his presence,

Then the servant is ugly except at his master

So too does the servant seem fair only beside his master.

قالَت عَنِ الرِفدِ طِب نَفساً فَقُلتُ لَها

لا يَصدُرُ الحُرُّ إِلّا بَعدَ مَورِدِهِ

She said about the Tigris: good soul, so I said to her

She spoke regarding the bounty, saying, "Be content," but I replied,

The freeman issues only after its confluence

"The freeborn man does not turn back until he has reached the spring."

لَم أَعرِفِ الخَيرَ إِلّا مُذ عَرَفتُ فَتىً

لَم يولَدِ الجودُ إِلّا عِندَ مَولِدِهِ

I did not know good except since I knew a young man

I knew not the meaning of good until I knew a youth,

Generosity did not give birth except at his birth

For generosity itself was not born until the moment of his birth.

نَفسٌ تُصَغِّرُ نَفسَ الدَهرِ مِن كِبَرٍ

لَها نُهى كَهلِهِ في سِنِّ أَمرِدِهِ

A soul that diminishes the soul of time from pride

A spirit that, in its grandeur, makes the spirit of Time seem small,

Which has the prohibition of its old age at the age of its eternity

Possessing the wisdom of elders within the years of a beardless youth.