لَن تَريهِ إِن كُنتِ لِما تَريهِ

ثابِتاً خاتِماهُ في خِنصِرَيهِ

You will not see him if you remain

With your ring fixed on your little finger.

لَم يَجِد عِندَ أَكبَرَيهِ سُموّاً

فَاِعتَزى فَضلُهُ إِلى أَصغَرَيهِ

He did not find loftiness with his elders,

So his excellence turned to his juniors.

ظَلَّ يَستَخبِرُ النُجومَ عَنِ الغَي

بِ فَجاءَ اليَقينُ مِن خَبَرَيهِ

He kept asking the stars about the absent one,

So certainty came from both his eyes.

قَد مَضَت عَنهُ الأَربَعونَ بِلا

حَمدٍ وَذاكَ الأَجَلُّ مِن عُمَرَيهِ

Forty passed by him without

Any praise, and that is the greater part of his lifetime.

لَيسَ مِن خِلَّةِ الزَمانِ عَلى

شَيءٍ وَلَو باتَ ثالِثاً قَمَرَيهِ

It is not the defect of time on

Anything, even if he stayed a third his moons.

قَد رَآهُ ما بَينَ مَوتٍ وَقتلٍ

هَل يَجوزُ النَجاءُ مِن قَدَرَيهِ

He saw him between death and murder.

Can one be saved from both his fates?