قُل لِلأَميرِ الأَريَحِيِّ الَّذي

كَفّاهُ لِلبادي وَلِلحاضِرِ

Tell the generous Bedouin prince

Who sufficed for the nomad and the sedentary

لِتَجزِكَ الأَيّامُ مَندوحَةً

وَنَضرَةً مِن عودِيَ الناضِرِ

That your days may bring you respite

And freshness from my blossoming sapling

أَشكُرُ نُعمى مِنكَ مَشكورَةً

وَكافِرُ النَعماءِ كَالكافِرِ

I thank you for your favors I'm grateful for

While the ungrateful is like the infidel

مَواهِباً لَم تَكُ إِلّا لِمَن

نِصابُهُ في مَنصِبٍ وافِرِ

Gifts that were only for those

Whose fortune is in a generous position

لا زِلتَ مِن شُكرِيَ في حُلَّةٍ

لابِسُها ذو سَلَبٍ فاخِرِ

You still thank me in a garment

Worn by one with splendid spoils

يَقولُ مَن تَقرَعُ أَسماعَهُ

كَم تَرَكَ الأَوَّلُ لِلآخِرِ

Those who listen say

How much did the first leave for the last?

لي صاحِبٌ قَد كانَ لي مُؤنِساً

وَمَألَفاً في الزَمَنِ الغابِرِ

I had a friend who was a companion to me

And an intimate in time gone by

يَحتَلِبُ الدَهرَ أَفاويقَهُ

وَيَخلِطُ الحُلوَ مَعَ الحازِرِ

He milks fate of its mornings

And mixes the sweet with the bitter

حَتّى إِذا رَوضي تَغَنّى بِهِ

ذِبّانُهُ في مونِقٍ زاهِرِ

Until, when my meadow sang to him

Its bucks in a flourishing enclosure

أَلقَحَ بِالعَزمِ أَمانِيَّهُ

بَعدَ اِعتِناقِ الهِمَّةِ العاقِرِ

He conceived his wishes

After embracing the barren resolve

تَحمِلُ مِنهُ العيسُ أُعجوبَةً

تُجَدِّدُ السُخرِيَّ لِلساخِرِ

It bears from him a marvel

That renews the mockery of the mocker

ذا ثَروَةٍ يَطلُبُ مِن سائِلٍ

وَمُفحَماً يَأخُذُ مِن شاعِرِ

One of wealth sought by the beseecher

And a confounder who takes from the poet

فَصادَفَت مالي بِإِقبالِهِ

مَنِيَّةٌ مِن أَمَلٍ عاثِرِ

But his inclination met my money

With a loss from a stumbling hope

فَشارِكِ المَقمورَ فيهِ وَلا

تَكُن شَريكَ الرَجُلِ القامِرِ

Share with the oppressed through it, and do not

Be partner to the gambling man

فَرِفدُكَ الزائِرَ مَجدٌ وَلا

كَرِفدِكَ الزائِرَ لِلزائِرِ

So visiting you is glory, and not

Like your visiting of the visitor