فاضَ اللِئامُ وَغاضَتِ الأَحسابُ

وَاِجتُثَّتِ العَلياءُ وَالآدابُ

The scoundrels overflowed and accounts were settled,

The noble and the refined were uprooted.

فَكَأَنَّ يَومَ البَعثِ فاجَأَهُم فَلا

أَنسابَ بَينَهُمُ وَلا أَسبابُ

It was as if the Day of Resurrection took them by surprise,

With no lineage between them, and no bonds.

أَمُوَيسُ لا يُغني اِعتِذارُكَ طالِباً

عَفوي فَما بَعدَ العِتابِ عِقابُ

Omayyad, your apology will not benefit you when seeking

My forgiveness, for after reproach comes punishment.

هَب مَن لَهُ شَيءٌ يُريدُ حِجابَهُ

ما بالُ لا شَيءٍ عَلَيهِ حِجابُ

Let whoever desires his veil conceal him,

Why would there be any veil over nothing?

ما إِن سَمِعتُ وَلا أَراني سامِعاً

أَبَداً بِصَحراءٍ عَلَيها بابُ

Never have I heard, nor will I ever hear,

In a desert with a door upon it.

مَن كانَ مَفقودَ الحَياءِ فَوَجهُهُ

مِن غَيرِ بَوّابٍ لَهُ بَوّابُ

He whose shame is lost, his face

Is without a doorman to guard it.

مازالَ وَسواسي لِعَقلي خادِعاً

حَتّى رَجا مَطَراً وَلَيسَ سَحابُ

My obsessive thoughts kept deceiving my mind

Until it hoped for rain without clouds.

ما كُنتُ أَدري لا دَرَيتُ بِأَنَّهُ

يَجري بِأَفنِيَةِ البُيوتِ سَرابُ

I did not know, had I not realized,

That mirages run through the courtyards of homes.

عَجَباً لِقَومٍ يَسمَعونَ مَدائِحي

لَكَ لَم يَقولوا قُم فَأَنتَ مُصابُ

Strange are the people who hear my praises of you,

Yet do not say: "Arise, for you are right."

نَبَذوا بِكَذّابٍ مُسَيلَمَةً فَقَد

وَهِموا وَجاروا بَل أَنا الكَذّابُ

They rejected me as a lying Musailamah,

They were mistaken and went astray, rather I am the liar.

هَتَّكتُ ديني فَاِستَتَرتُ بِتَوبَةٍ

فَأَنا المُقِرُّ بِذَنبِهِ التَوّابُ

I compromised my religion and took cover in repentance,

I admit my sin, the ever-repentant.