وإن موليير نجم لا أفول له

وأن تغيب في الأحقاب واحتجبا

Truly, Molière is a star that never sets,

though he vanished into the ages and passed from sight.

شريعة من بيان الغرب صافية

وإن يك الشرق أحيانا بها شربا

A limpid fount of Western eloquence,

though the East has sometimes drunk from it;

وآية الأدب الرّومَى في لغة

لم تُخل من سرها عجما ولا عربا

and the marvel of Roman letters, in a language

that shut out from its mystery neither non-Arabs nor Arabs.

لو استطاع ذووها من عنايتهم

بنشرها علّموها الجن والشهبا

Had its people been able, such was their devotion

to spreading it, they would have taught it to jinn and shooting stars.

فاحفظ لسانك واجهد في صيانته

كما يصون الكريم العرض والحسبا

So guard your tongue, and strive to preserve it,

as a noble man guards honor and lineage.

كأنما كانت الدنيا على يده

يصوِّر الناس عنها كلما كَتبا

As though the whole world lay within his hand,

from it he portrayed people whenever he wrote.

إذا مضى يعرض الأخلاق عارية

أراك من كل نفس صورة عجبا

When he set about laying human character bare,

he showed you, in every soul, a wondrous portrait.

يأتي النفوس فينضُو عن طبائعها

سترا ويهتك عن أهوالها الحجبا

He enters souls and strips away from their natures

a covering, and tears the veils from their horrors.

فربما ازددت علما بالبخيل وإن

نشأت تلقاه جَدا أو تراه أبا

Thus you may learn still more about a miser, even if

you grew up knowing him as your grandfather or saw him as your father.

وقد يزيدك بالكذاب معرفة

وأنت تضحى وتمسى تسمع الكذبا

He may also deepen your knowledge of a liar,

though morning and evening you keep hearing lies.

وقد يريك أخا الوجهين منكشفا

وأنت تلقاه في الإِخوان منتقبا

He may show you the two-faced man laid bare,

although among your companions you meet him masked.