دَعَتْنِي إلى فَضلِ معروفِكُمْ

وجوهٌ مناظرُها مُعْجِبَهْ

Your radiant faces invited me to your kindness

So I imagined it to be wondrous

فأخلفتُمُ ما تَوسّمْتُهُ

وقلَّ حميدٌ على تَجْرِبَهْ

Yet you failed what I had fancied

And few were the praises for trying

وكم لُمْعةٍ خلتُها روضةً

فأَلْفيتُها دِمنةً مُعْشبَهْ

How often have I turned a barren land into a garden

Only to find it overgrown and weedy

ظَلَمتكُمُ لا تطيبُ الفرو

عُ إلا وأعْراقُها طيِّبَهْ

Your injustice does not make the swords pleasant

Except when their blades are sharpened

وكنتُ حَسِبتُ فلما حسَب

تُ عَفَّى الحسابُ على المَحْسِبَهْ

I had calculated but when the calculation was done

The count was cleared on the count board

فهل تُعذَرون كَعُذْرِيكُمُ

بأَنَّ أصولكُمُ المُذْنِبَهْ

Can you be excused like I excuse you

Since the roots of your sins run deep

خرجتُ مُوازِنَكُم بالسوا

ءِ عُذراً بعذرٍ فلا مَعْتِبَهْ

I have weighed you against fairness

Excuse against excuse, no blame remains