حِلْمُ الوَزيرِ أحمدٍ أَفرطَ أَو

تَهجَّم السَّيْلُ على وِطَاقهِ

The patience of Minister Ahmed was excessive, or

The torrent rushed upon his riverbank.

وَلَيسَ يَخفَى السَّيْلُ أَنَّ كفَّهُ

قَادِرَةٌ ثَمَّ على إغْراقهِ

Yet the torrent knows not that his palm

Is able, then, to submerge it.

لكنَّهُ زَارَ حِمَاهُ طَارِقاً

وَعَادَةُ السَّمْحِ قِرَي طُرَّاقهِ

But it visited his protector impetuously,

And the habit of benevolence is to have an open door.

فَباتَ في أَزوادهِ مُحكَّماً

وَزَادَ حتَّى زادَ في اسْتِغْراقهِ

So it lodged securely in his supplies,

And increased until it increased in absorption.

وَلَوْ أَتاهُ في النَّدِي مُحارباً

مَا قَدَرَ الغَيْثُ على لِحَاقهِ

Had it come to him in the valley as an adversary,

The rain would not have had the power to catch up with him.

أَقَدْ رأى الغَيثُ أَبَرَّ نائلاً

منهُ وأَحْلَى منهُ في مَذاقهِ

Did the rain ever see a cloud more fruitful than him

Or sweeter than him in its taste?

وَفَارَقَ المجموعَ إلاَّ فَخْرَهُ

حَاشَاهُ أَنْ يَرْغَبَ في فِراقهِ

It parted from the group except for its pride -

Far from it that it would desire to abandon it!