عوجا صُدورَ النَجائِبِ البُزَّل

فَسائِلا عَن قَطينَةِ المَنزِل

He wandered, searching the abodes of fair maidens,

Turn aside the chests of these sturdy mounts,

Asking after the location of the dwelling,

And ask news of those who dwelt within this home.

ما بالُهُ بِالصَعيدِ مُتَّرَكاً

مَمحُوَّ الأَعلى مُغَربَلَ الأَسفَل

Why has he been left upon the plain?

What ails it, lying forsaken upon the high ground,

Washed smooth above, rumpled below,

Its upper traces erased, its foundations sifted by wind?

لِمَرِّ حَنّانَةٍ تُلِمُّ بِهِ

تَجنُبُ طَوراً وَتارَةً تُشمِل

For the sake of a tender-hearted beloved who

Worn by the passing of a moaning gale that haunts it,

Sometimes draws near and other times withdraws.

Veering now from the south, and now from the north.

وَكُلُّ رَبعٍ يَخِفُّ ساكِنُهُ

عَمّا قَليلٍ لا بُدَّ أَن يَمحَل

And every quarter shrinks its inhabitants,

And every abode whose dwellers have departed in haste,

Little by little, until they must depart.

Must, ere long, become a barren waste.

سارَ لَعَمري عَنهُ الأَحِبَّةُ إِذ

ساروا وَما عِندَنا لَهُم مَعدَل

Indeed my loved ones have departed from it

By my life, the loved ones journeyed from it when

When they left, though we had no substitute for them.

They departed, and for them we hold no substitute.

أَزمانَ إِذ نَغبِطُ النَعيمَ بِهِ

مِن كُلِّ فَنٍّ كَأَنَّنا نَختِل

Times when we reveled in bliss through it

In days when we envied the bliss found therein,

As though we created beauty in every art -

Snatching at every delight, as if stealing moments away.

في سَكرَةٍ لِلصِبا وَعَمياءَ لا

نَسمَعُ غَيرَ الصَبا وَلا نَعقِل

In the intoxication of youth and blindness in which

In the intoxication of youth and its blind fervor,

We heard nothing but youth and were not rational,

Hearing nothing but passion's call, heedless of reason.

حَتّى إِذا ما اِنجَلَت عَمايَتُهُ

رَوَّحتُ نَفسي وَالعاذِلُ المُعمِل

Until when its blindness was uncovered

Until, when its blinding fog finally lifted,

I gave comfort to my soul, though the blamer blamed.

I gave respite to my soul, and to the weary critic.

وَالنَفسُ ما لَم تَكُن لِسَكرَتِها

عاذِلَةً لَم تَرُح إِلى عُذَّل

A soul that was not blaming during its intoxication

For the soul, if it be not its own admonisher

Could find no comfort in one who blamed.

Against its folly, finds no peace in the blame of others.

وَمَهمَهٍ جِزتُهُ مُخاطَرَةً

بِصَحصَحانِ السَرابِ قَد سُربِل

And of ambitions whose reward I risked

Many a wasteland I traversed in peril,

On the deceptive mirage of the agitated desert,

Clothed in a shimmering robe of flat mirages.

بِعِرمِسٍ أُمُّها الشَمالُ وَتَع

تَدُّ بِصِهرٍ في البَرقِ لا يَنكِل

On a she-camel whose mother is the north wind, one who

On a rock-hard beast, born of the North Wind,

Extends into lightning and does not falter,

Who claims kinship with the lightning that never falters.

وَجناءُ تَكفي بِالسَيرِ راكِبَها

تَحريكَ سَوطٍ وَقَولَهُ حَيهِل

And a doe sufficient for riding her

Strong-cheeked, she spares her rider the need

Is to stir the whip and say “Get up!”

To ply the whip or shout the urging cry.

تَأُمُّ قَرماً أَحَبَّ ما مَلَكَت

كَفّاهُ مِن مالِهِ الَّذي يَبذُل

She looks after a withered old man who preferred

She aims for a noble lord, whose most cherished possession

As much of his money as he spent

Is the very wealth his hands so freely disburse.

يا أَيُّها المُبتَدي وَلَم تُسأَل

أَنتَ وَلَمّا تَسَل كَذا تَفعَل

O you who began though you were not asked,

O you who begins the gift before a plea is made,

You, though not asked, thus did act.

Who acts thus, even when no prayer is spoken.

أَحلِفُ بِاللَهِ لَو سَأَلتُكَ ما

تَملِكُ أَعطَيتَني إِلى الجَندَل

By God I swear, if I had asked you when

I swear by God, were I to ask for all

You owned nothing, you’d have given me to the sandal.

That you possess, you would grant it, down to the very stones.

تَبارَكَ اللَهُ إِنَّ ذا كَرَمٌ

لَم يُعطَهُ آخِرٌ وَلا أَوَّل

Blessed is God, this is a generosity

Blessed be God! Truly this is a generosity

That no other was given before or since.

Granting gifts unequaled by men of old or new.

قَد جَعَلَ اللَهُ في أَنامِلِ إِب

راهيمَ رِزقَ الضَعيفِ وَالمُرمِل

God has placed in the fingers of Abraham

God has surely placed within the fingertips of Ibrahim

Provision for the weak and downcast.

The sustenance for the weak and the destitute.

فَما تَرى مَن يَخونُهُ زَمَنٌ

إِلّا عَلى جودِ كَفِّهِ يُحمَل

So you see no era betrays him,

You see no man betrayed by cruel Time,

Except by the open-handedness of his palm they are tested.

But that he is borne up by the bounty of his hand.

وَلا جَميلاً في الناسِ نَعلَمُهُ

إِلّا وَأَدنى فِعالَهُ أَجمَل

No beautiful person do we know

We know of no virtue found among mankind,

Whose slightest action is not most beautiful.

But that his least action is yet more fair.

يا فاضِحَ البُخلِ ما تَرَكتَ فَتىً

يُدعى جَواداً إِلّا وَقَد بُجِّل

O you who expose stinginess, you have left no youth

O shamer of miserliness, you have left no generous youth

Called generous, except that he is shamed.

But that he is honored, though you stand supreme.