عبث الهوى بي من نفور الآنس

فتأوهي من عابث أو عابس

The folly of passion has made me suffer from the withdrawal of companions,

So I moan because of a wanton or sullen companion.

ما كان لي ذنب لما حملته

إلا بكاي عند ربع دارس

I am not to blame for what I have endured,

Except for weeping when homes are deserted.

إن يشجني رسم الديار فمصطفى

أحيى رسوم علومنا للدارس

If the vestige of home makes me yearn, Mustafa

Revived the sciences of our homes for students.

إن الفصاحة والبلاغة قنسه

وهما مصابيح الهدى للقابس

Eloquence and rhetoric are his miracle,

And they are the lamps of guidance for the learner.

وهما شعار المصطفى خير الورى

بل معجز القرآن للمتنافس

They are the signs of the Chosen One, the best of mankind,

Rather, the miracle of the Quran against rivals.

فالله قال بسورة من مثله

لا بالحساب ولا بطب الداحس

So Allah said in a chapter the like of which

Cannot be made by human reckoning or astrology.

دعني من الفلكى يرقب نجمه

ويقول ذا وقت لنحس العاطس

Leave me with the astronomer who watches his star

And says “This is the time for the ill-omened sneezer.”

ومن المهندس قائسا ما بين مضجعه

وبين الشمس اكذب قائس

And the geometrician who, lying in his bed, claims

What lies between him and the sun is nonsense.

ومن الذي يقضى الليالي حاسبا

ويهب ضارب خامس في سادس

And the one who spends nights calculating

And gives a number that divides into another.

ومن القضايا والقياس فكم ترى

ما بين ذينك من جزاف وساوس

And judgments and analogies—how many of them

Are really nothing but random conjectures?

هذي خرافات تطن باذن من

الف البيان طنين نفس الناقس

These are myths buzzing in the ear of one

Who knows a thousand statements with the buzzing of a fly.

ولكم لهم عند الجدال تشدق

وركاكه فوارة بخلابس

Yet in debate how they strut

And spew frothily with incoherent prattling,

من كل لفظ لا يكاد يقله

ظهر البعير مقعر متشاكس

With every word scarcely leaving their lips

The camel's back arches, rough and peevish.

فكانه جلمود صخر حطه

سيل فما تلقى له من حابس

As if a boulder which a torrent struck

But could find no weak point by which to dislodge it.

دعني بحقك من علومهم فما

والله كانت غير محض هواجس

For your sake, leave me their sciences which, by God,

Were nothing but deluded ravings.

ذا مذهبي مذ كان حظي جرعة

من نيل مصر ولم اكن بالحادس

This is my doctrine since my portion was

A sip from the Nile of Egypt, though I was no cupper.

من لم يذق راح البيان فلا تكن

يوما له بمنادم ومجالس

Let not him who has not tasted the comfort of rhetoric

Ever be your boon companion and sit in your gatherings.

وانح البلاغة عند شاعر عصر

لعلوم من سلفوا اجل ممارس

Eloquence in the time of a poet of the age

Is superior to the sciences of predecessors, however diligent.

هو بحرها الزخار بحر سلامة

يكفيك جوب سباسب وبسابس

It is their abundant sea, the sea of Salama,

You will find it enough to cure disharmony and discord.

ان تلقه يوما فقبل تربه

واطلب رضاه فذاك ذخر البائس

If you meet him one day, then kiss his earth

And seek his pleasure, for that is the treasure of the destitute.

وقل افتنانك في البديع اعاده

من رمسه فابان مين الرامس

And say your infatuation with rhetorical ornament made you forget

The proper arrangement, so he showed who the arranger was.

يا اهل مصر اعيذكم بالله من

عين الحسود النافس المتقاعس

O people of Egypt, I seek refuge for you with God from

The envious, hostile, slothful eye.

انتم نباريس العلوم مضيئة

للناس بين غياهب وحنادس

You are illuminating lanterns of knowledge for people

Amid gloom and shelters.

من لم يكن يهديه صابح قولكم

لم يهده نور الصباح العاطس

He whom your radiant discourse does not guide

Will not be guided by the light of the brilliant dawn.

لكم اشتياقي لا لقد مائس

وبكم نسيبي لا بطرف ناعس

You have my yearning—not for a despairing lover—

And through you my relationship—not with a drowsy eye.