عليَّ دينٌ ثقيلٌ أنتَ قاضيهِ

يا مَنْ يُحَمِّلني دَيْني رَجائيهِ

I am heavily burdened with debt, and you are its judge,

O you who load me with my hopes for your grace.

وقد حماني إخواني مواردَهم

ووكلتني إلى بحرٍ سواقيه

And though my brothers have helped me with their resources,

They left me to a sea with no one to steer my ship.

قالوا أنسقي مَنِ الطوفانُ موردُه

كما يقال لمولى أنت واليه

They said, "Bail out any water the storm may bring in,"

As one says to a master, "You are its governor."

وهل تُنازعك المعروفَ في رجلٍ

يَدٌ لتكفيَ أمراً أنتَ كافيه

Does any kindness contest with you for a man

Whose hand you make sufficient for all he must manage?

ما ذاك قَدْرُ بني الدنيا وإن عَظُمَتْ

أقدارهم غيرَ مخْصوصٍ بحاشيه

That is not the way of worldly men, though their fortunes

Seem boundless, with no limit to their peripheries.

وما أحالوا على ضَحْل ولا ثَمِدٍ

ولا تَظَنَّوْا بغيبٍ ظنَّ تَشْبيه

They did not refer me to an arid desert or an untrodden wilderness,

Nor did they suppose of the unseen what cannot be envisioned.

فلا تُضِعْني وتَجْني لي إضاعتَهُمْ

إيايَ لا ضاع أَمرٌ أنت راعيه

So do not abandon me and cause me to lose what they granted me.

No command of yours, as shepherd, is ever misplaced.

يا ابن الوزيرَيْنِ قد عَمَّتْ صنائعُكم

غيري فقد ولَّهتني كلَّ توليه

O son of two viziers, your kind acts encompass

Others, so why have you neglected all responsibility toward me?

للَّهِ موقعُ معروفٍ أراه لكم

نِيلتْ أقاصيه واحتيزت أَدانيهِ

To Allah is the outcome of every kindness I see you extend;

Its farthest reaches and closest neighborhoods are obtained through you.

كم من أناسٍ رَجَوْا بي رَيْعَ دولتكم

حَظُوا وأُوسِعْتُ حِرماناً أُشافيه

How many people have hoped, through me, for the yield of your fortune,

And gained it, while I was left deprived of all relief!

وما من العدل أن يُقْضَى نَعيمُهم

ومُصْطَلاي بِبَرْحٍ مُبْرحٍ فيه

Justice does not dictate that I should be denied their bliss

While my condition remains constantly bleak and comfortless.

لا تتركنَّ وليَّاً ذا محافظة

ونارُ حَسْرةِ فَوْتِ الحظ تكويه

Do not leave a loyal friend who strives to serve and protect,

With the fire of regret for lost opportunity burning him.

لا تجعلنْه كراجي الغيثِ أصعَقَهُ

وإنما أمَّلَ الإسقاءَ راجيه

Do not make him like one hoping for rain who is struck by lightning,

When he only hoped to be watered, seeking it insistently.

الحالُ مُرهقةٌ والنفسُ مُشفِقَةٌ

من دائها المتمادي أو تُداويه

My state is exhausted, my soul frightened

By its persisting illness with no cure to remedy.

هو الإياسُ أو الإيناسُ من كَثبٍ

فلا تدعْني من أَمريَّ في تيه

This is despair or hoping for favor from one who refuses,

So do not leave me bewildered, lost in my own affairs.