أَصبَحتُ مَنحوساً كَأَنّي اِبنُ مَس

عودٍ وَما أَطغى بِأَن أَهزِلا

I have become inauspicious like the son of an ill-omened man

And have not transgressed by jesting

لي أَمَلٌ فُرقانُهُ مُحكَمٌ

أَقرَؤُهُ غَضّاً كَما أُنزِلا

I have a hope whose separation is decisive

I recite it while still unripe as it was revealed

شَيخاً أَراني كَطُفَيلٍ غَدا

يَركُضُ في غارَتِهِ قُرزُلا

An old man I see myself tomorrow

Running in his nappies like a little mouse

لا يَكذِبِ الناسُ عَلى رَبِّهِم

ما حُرِّكَ العَرشُ وَلا زُلزِلا

People do not lie about their Lord

Neither has the Throne been shaken nor trembled

فَلَيتَ مَن يَفري أَحاديثَهُ

ماتَ فَصيلاً قَبلَ أَن يَبزُلا

Would that he who prates his fables

Had died a suckling before he babbled

يا جَدَثي حَسبُكَ مِن رُتبَةٍ

أَنَّكَ مِن أَجداثِهِم مَعزِلا

O my grave, it suffices you as an eminence

That you are apart from their graves

أَمَلَّني الدَهرُ بِأَحداثِهِ

فَاِشتَقتُ في بَطنِ الثَرى مَنزِلا

Time has filled me with its events

So I yearned for a dwelling in the earth’s belly

إِن نَشَأَت بِنتُكَ في نِعمَةٍ

فَأَلزِمَنها البَيتَ وَالمِغزَلا

If your daughter is brought up in comfort

Confine her to the house and spindle

ذَلِكَ خَيرٌ مِن شِوارٍ لَها

وَمِن عَطايا والِدٍ أَجزَلا

That is better than paramours for her

And more bountiful gifts from a father