خَليليَّ إِنَّ العُمْرَ وَدَّعْتُ شَرْخَهُ

وَما في مَشيبي مِنْ تَلافٍ لِفارِطِ

My friend, I bid farewell to the prime of life

And there is no mending the fragment that remains

أَلَمْ تَعْلَما أَنِّي أَنِسْتُ بِعُطْلَةٍ

مَخافَةَ أَنْ أُبْلَى بِخِدْمَةِ سَاقِطِ

Did you not know that I took comfort in retirement

Fearing that servitude would wear me down

فَلا تَدْعُوانِي لِلْكِتابَةِ إِنَّها

طَماعَةُ راجٍ في مَخِيلَةِ قانِطِ

So call me not to write, for that is

The greed of one hopeful in the mind of the desperate

يُنافِسُني فيها رَعاعٌ تَهادَنوا

على دَخَنٍ مِنْ بَيْنِ راضٍ وَساخِطِ

In it I compete with riffraff who compromised

For a whiff of smoke between consent and dissent

وَأَنْكَرَتِ الأَقْلامُ مِنْهُمْ أَنَامِلاً

مُهَيَّأَةً أَطْرافُها لِلْمَشَارِطِ

The pens denied them unaccustomed fingers

Whose tips were attuned to bargaining

لَئِنْ قَدَّمَتْهُمْ عُصْبَةٌ خانَها النُّهى

فَهَلْ ساقِطٌ لَمْ يَحظَ يَوْماً بِلاقِطِ

If a party advanced them, betraying decorum

Can one fallen ever be raised by another fallen?

وَأَيُّ فَتىً ما بَينَ بُرْدَيَّ قَابِضٍ

عَنِ الشَّرِّ كَفَّيهِ وَلِلْخَيْرِ باسِطِ

What young man with hands closed to evil

And open to good, patient and peaceable,

وَمُعْتَجرٍ بِالْحِلْمِ وَالسِّلْمُ تُبْتَغَى

وَلِلْجَأْشِ في بُحْبوحَةِ الحَرْبِ رابِطِ

Seeking glory amidst the peril of war, a defender

Yet I closed my eyelid to the grit in life

وَلَكنَّنِي أَغْضَيْتُ جَفْنِي عَلى القَذَى

وَلَمْ أَرْضَ إِدْراكَ العُلا بِالوَسائِطِ

And refused to gain high station through unworthy means

I say to one with lengthy strides, beware

أقُولُ لِذي الباعِ الطَّويلِ عُوَيْمِرٍ

وَمِنْ شِيمَتي نُصْحُ الصَّديقِ المُخالِطِ

And it is my way to advise a sincere companion

It is life, seek not the truth in it

هُو الدَّهْرُ لا تَبْغِ الحَقيقَةَ عِنْدَهُ

وَإِنْ شِئْتَ أَنْ تُكْفَى أَذاهُ فَغَالِطِ

And if you wish to be spared its harm, just play along.