لي خادمٌ لا أزال أحتسِبُهْ

يغيب حتى يردَّه سغَبُهْ

I have a servant I still hold accountable

He is absent until his negligence takes him back

نُرسله لاشتراء فاكهةٍ

فقَصْرُنا أن تجيئَنا كتُبُهْ

We send him to buy fruit

Yet for our palace to get his books is rare

كم قال ضيفي وقد بعثت به

هيهات يوم الحساب منقلبُهْ

How many times did my guest say when I sent him

Alas! On the Day of Judgement his state!

وخلتُهُ قَدْ سما إلى كَرمْ رض

وانَ لكي يُجْتَنَى له عنبُهْ

And I left him, he set out to a vineyard

As if so he could pick grapes for himself

وإنما زار مالكاً فرأى

زَقُّومَ صدقٍ فظل ينتخبُهْ

He just visited an owner and saw

Dates of honesty so he kept selecting them

ثم أتاني وقد طما غضبي

عليه والضيفُ قد طما غضبُهْ

Then he came to me and my anger at him

And the guest's anger had multiplied

فقال هاكم وليس في يده

إلا نوى كان مرة رُطَبُهْ

So he said here you are and he had in his hand

Nothing but pits that their dates had once filled

أو عَجْمُ رمَّانة وقشرتها

بغير ماء لقد خلا عجبُهْ

Or sour pomegranate and its peel

With no water, strange are his wits!

ضل فما يهتدي لطيِّبَةٍ

كأنما مُجتناه مُحتطبُهْ

He got lost so he cannot find his way to goodness

As if we had tasked him with gathering firewood

غَيْبتُهُ سَرْمَدٌ وخيبتُهُ

لا تنقضي أو يَغوله عطبُهْ

His absence is endless and his failure

Does not cease or his defect makes it continue

يبطىءُ حتى أكاد أحسبه

صادف تيساً فظلّ يحتلبُهْ

He delays until I almost reckon

He met a billy-goat so it kept milking him

أو عرض الرَّدمُ دون حاجته

أو لقِيَ الليثَ هائجاً كَلَبُهْ

Or the high road impeded his need

Or he met an aroused furious lion

أو لَكَمَتْ لَقْوَةٌ لَهَازِمَهُ

أو سقطت من زَمانةٍ رُكَبُهْ

Or a powerful warrior's fists struck him

Or he fell off the mount he rode

هل مشتر والسعيدُ بائِعُهُ

هل قابِلٌ والسعيد من يهبُهْ

Did he buy and the fortunate is its seller?

Did he meet and the fortunate is who he gave to him?

أساء بالمسلمين جالبُهُ

لا كان من جالب ولا جَلَبُهْ

He did evil with the Muslims who tasked him

He was neither a tasker nor did his task