الشِّعْرُ سِحْرٌ وَعِنْدي مِنْ رَوائِعِهِ

أَصْفَى منَ المَاءِ أَوْ أَبْهى مِنَ الدُّرَرِ

Poetry is magic, and of its masterpieces

I have the purest water or the brightest pearls.

قُدَّتْ قَوافِيهِ غُرّاً فَالرُّواةُ لَهُم

بِهِنَّ زَهْوُ عِتاقِ الخَيْلِ بِالغُرَرِ

Its rhymes were strung like necklaces, so for their poets

They are the radiance of steeds with pearls on their chests.

فَهُنَّ يُغْرَفْنَ مِن بَحْرٍ لِرِقَّتِهِ

وَمِنْ جَزالَتِهِ يُنْسَفْنَ مِنْ حَجَرِ

They are drawn from an ocean of gentleness,

And sculpted from its sturdiness into stone.

قَصائِدٌ بَدَوِيَّاتٌ وَصَلْتُ بها

مُقَطّعاتٍ عَليها رِقّةُ الحَضَرِ

Bedouin odes which I have reached

With fragments upon them, the city's softness,

وَفُقتُ ساكِنَةَ الأبْياتِ مِنْ وَبَرٍ

بِها وَنَازِلَةَ الأمْصارِ مِنْ مَدَرِ

And I excelled at rhyming verses in nomad encampments

And those settling the cities from a watering place,

فَكُلُّ مَنْ فاه بَعدي بِالقَريضِ أَتَى

بِما تَقَيَّلَ في تَحبيرِهِ أَثَرِي

So everyone after me who came with verse

Brought what was ruined by his feeble attempt at my traces.