عَجَبٌ لَعَمري أَنَّ وَجهَكَ مُعرِضٌ

عَنّي وَأَنتَ بِوَجهِ نَفعِكَ مُقبِلُ

Amazement takes me that your face is turned

Away from me, though yours is the face of grace.

بِرٌّ بَدَأتَ بِهِ وَدارٌ بابُها

لِلخَلقِ مَفتوحٌ وَوَجهُكَ مُقفَلُ

Goodness you began with, and a house whose door

Is open to mankind, while yours is closed in place.

أَوَلا تَرى أَنَّ الطَلاقَةَ جُنَّةٌ

مِن سوءِ ما تَجني الظُنونُ وَمَعقِلُ

Do you not see that pleasantness is a shield

From the ill that suspicion and mistrust create?

حَليُ الصَنيعَةِ أَن يَكونَ لِرَبِّها

لَفظٌ يُحَسِّنُها وَطَرفٌ قُلقُلُ

An ornament to the wearer is a tongue

That speaks him fair, and eyes that scintillate.

وَمَوَدَّةٌ مَطوِيَّةٌ مَنشورَةٌ

فيها إِلى إِنجاحِها مُتَعَلِّلُ

A love dissembled and spread wide on the ground

Is to its thriving will and testament.

إِن تُعطِ وَجهاً كاسِفاً مِن تَحتِهِ

كَرَمٌ وَحِلمُ خَليفَةٍ لا تُجهَلُ

If you put on a face of darkness, still

Beneath it generosity and patience dwell.

فَلَرُبَّ سارِيَةٍ عَلَيكَ مَطيرَةٍ

قَد جادَ عارِضُها وَما يَتَهَلَّلُ

So many a downpour from the clouds of reproof

Has rained, and yet wit flashes like a spell.