اِشرَبْ فما لَؤُمَ الزَّمان وإِنّما

أبناؤه نَسخُوا المكارم لُوما

Drink up, for the times are not to blame, rather

Its people copied honors with blame

قومٌ تَناهَى الجَهْلُ فيهمْ وانتهى

بهمُ وعوَّجَ منهم التّقويما

A people whom ignorance ceased in them and ended

With them and the calendar was bent crooked from them

عاشوا وهم كالميّتين جَهالةً

وعمَايةً لم يَعلَموا معلوما

They lived while they were two dead ones in ignorance

And blindness, they did not know anything known

ظَهَروا فكانوا للعيونِ مَدامِعاً

وخَفُوا فكانوا للنُفوس هُموما

They appeared so they were tears to the eyes

And they were concealed so they were worries to the souls

فلذاك آثرتُ التفرّد والنوى

وغَدوتُ للراح المُدامِ نديما

So for that I preferred solitude and purpose

And I became a confidante of comfort morning and evening

لا خَيْرَ عندي في الغِنى ما لم يكن

متنبِّها فيه الغنيُّ كريما

There is no good in wealth when there wasn’t

The wealthy one alert in it generous