قولا لِعَبّاسٍ لِكَي يَدري

لِغُلامِ عَكٍّ قُدوَةِ المِصرِ

Tell Abbas so he may know

Go say to Abbas—make him understand—

For the youth of Aq, model of Egypt

That lad of 'Akk, the supposed model of the land:

فيمَ الكِتابُ إِلَيَّ تُخبِرُني

بِسَلامَةٍ في البَطنِ وَالظَهرِ

Why does your letter inform me

Why send this letter, wherein you relate

Of wellbeing in belly and back?

The safety of your belly and your back's estate?

وَبِحُسنِ صُنعِ اللَهِ يا عَجَبا

لَكَ في جَميعِ الشَأنِ وَالأَمرِ

And of Allah's excellent care—marvelous!

And of God's fair favor—oh, wonder to behold!—

For you in all affairs and matters.

Bestowed upon you in matters new and old.

أَأَرَدتَ أَن تَأتي عَلَيَّ بِما

حَدَّثتَني وَتَغُمُّني دَهري

Did you intend to burden me with what

Did you intend, by the news you impart,

You told me, saddening my lifetime?

To cast a lifelong gloom upon my heart?

هَذا وَتَذكُرُني لِكُلِّ أَخٍ

يَغشاكَ ذِكرَ المادِحِ المُطري

This while you remind me of each brother

This, while you mention me to every friend who calls,

Whose memory of the praising poet visits you

With the words of a praiser who lavishly extols;

لِتُزينَني وَالشَينُ ذِكرُكَ لي

فَاِذكُر هَناتَكَ وَاِلهُ عَن ذِكري

That you may gladden me, though your mention shames me

You mean to grace me, yet your mention is my stain—

So mention your loves, and my God turn from my mention

So speak of your own trifles, and let my mention cease.

وَاِقطَع بِسَيفٍ صارِمٍ ذَكَرٍ

أَسبابَ كُتبٍ بَينَنا تَجري

And sever with a sharp sword the mention

Sever, with a sword-blade masculine and keen,

Of letters' threads between us flowing

The cords of correspondence stretching in between.

فَإِنِ اِمتَنَعتَ فَلا مُواتَرَةٌ

حَسبي كِتابٌ مِنكَ في الدَهرِ

If you refuse, no continuation—

But if you must refuse, then cease this endless stream;

A letter from you suffices for my lifetime

One letter in a lifetime is enough, I deem.

فَإِذا هَمَمتَ وَلا هَمَمتَ بِهِ

فَبِشَعرَةٍ وَاِكتُب مِنَ البَحرِ

When you venture or venture not therein

And if you feel the urge—may you never feel it so!—

Write on a hair and from the sea

Then write with but a hair, though ink like oceans flow,

وَاِجمَع حَوائِجَكَ الَّتي حَضَرَت

عِندَ الكِتابِ إِلَيَّ في سَطرِ

And gather your needs which presented

And gather all the needs that crowd your mind,

Themselves while writing to me in a line

Into a single line, when writing to my kind.

ما ذاكَ إِلّا أَنَّني رَجُلٌ

لا أَستَخِفُّ صَداقَةَ البَصري

It's just that I'm a man who does not take lightly

The reason is simply this: I am a man who finds

The friendship of Basri

No lightness in the friendship of the Basran minds.

ذَهَبَت بِنا كوفانُ مَذهَبَها

وَعَدِمتُ عَن ظُرَفائِها صَبري

The caravans of Kufa went their way

For Kufa has claimed us, her path we embrace,

And I lost patience for its circumstances

And I have no patience for any other place.