عَجَبٌ لَعَمرُكَ أَنَّ وَجهَكَ مُعرِضٌ

عَنّي وَأَنتَ بِوَجهِ فِعلِكَ مُقبِلُ

How strange that your face is turned away

While your deeds face towards me

بِرٌّ بَدَأتَ بِهِ وَدارٌ بابُها

لِلخَلقَ مَفتوحٌ وَوَجهُكَ مُقفَلُ

Good you began with, and a house whose door

Is open to people, while your face is closed

أَوَلا تَرى أَنَّ الطَلاقَةَ جُنَّةٌ

مِن سوءِ ما تَجني الظُنونُ وَمَعقِلُ

Do you not see that amiability is a shield

From the evil that suspicions and hatreds beget

حَليُ الصَنيعَةِ أَن يَكونَ لِرَبِّها

لَفظٌ لَهُ زَجَلٌ وَطَرفٌ قُلقُلُ

The adornment of manner is that one's words

Have a rhythm and a glancing charm

وَمَوَدَّةٌ مَطوِيَّةٌ مَنشورَةٌ

فيها إِلى إِنجاحِها مَتَعَلَّلُ

And an affection, folded up, outspread

In which, to succeed, are wound flexible chains

إِن تُعطِ وَجهاً كاسِفاً مِن تَحتِهِ

كَرَمٌ وَحِلمُ خَليقَةٍ لا تُجهَلُ

If you show a gloomy face beneath which

Are bounty and the reason of one who cannot be despised

فَلَرُبَّ سارِيَةٍ عَلَيكَ مَطيرَةٍ

قَد جادَ عارِضُها وَما يَتَهَلَّلُ

Then, by a rain-pouring cloud over you

Its edge has been generous, and it does not dissolve away