لَوَ اِنّكَ عَرَّجتَ في منزلٍ

يَهونُ العَزيزُ بأَرجائِهِ

If only you stayed in a house

Where the dear is cheap in its corners

وَبيءِ المَواردِ لا يستفيقُ

بهِ القلبُ والجسمُ من دائِهِ

And the incoming supplies do not awaken

The heart and body from its illness

جَفاهُ النعيمُ فَما إِنْ بِهِ

لِقاطنِهِ غيرُ بَأْسائِهِ

Luxury has abandoned it, so that

Its inhabitant has nothing but his misery

فَيا قُربَ ما بَين إِضحاكِهِ

لسنٍّ وَما بينَ إِبكائِهِ

Oh how close is the difference between its

Laughter one day and its weeping the next

كَأنّيَ فيهِ أَخو قَفرةٍ

يُزجّي كَليلاتِ أنضائِهِ

It's as if I live there with a barren brother

Who gathers its few possessions

وَسارٍ على سَغَبٍ في القَواءِ

بلا زادِهِ وبلا مائِهِ

And travels on infertile land without

Provisions or water

وَذو سَقَمٍ ملَّهُ عائدوه

وَفاتَ عِلاجُ أطبّائِهِ

And one with an illness that has befallen him

And his doctors can no longer cure

فَقُلْ للّذي ظَنَّ أنّي حَفَلْت

بِضَوضائهِ يومَ ضوْضائِهِ

So say to him who thought I was preoccupied

With his ruckus on the day of his ruckus

ومَنْ لا أُبالي اِحتِقاراً لهُ

بِإِصباحِهِ وبإمسائِهِ

And I don't care about the contempt of one

In his morning or his evening

نَجوتَ وَلَكِنْ بِنَقصٍ كَما

أَجمّ الغَديرُ لأَقذائِهِ

You have survived but with a deficiency, just as

The rain pool gathers for its frogs

وَذَمُّ الفَتى مِثلُ مَدحِ الفَتى

لأشكالِهِ وَلأكفائِهِ

And the insult of a young man is like the praise of a young man

For his forms and his peers