نَهارُهُم ظَمآنُ ضاحٍ وَلَيلُهُم

وَإِن كانَ بَدراً ظُلمَةُ اِبنِ جَميرِ

Their day is thirsty, blazing, and their night

Their day is parched and sun-struck, and their night, though the moon be full, is dark as the moonless void.

Though it be full moon is Ibn Jamir's gloom.

If you solicit the miser, you drive him back to greed, seeking rain from a sky that yields no shower.

إِذا أَنتَ راوَدتَ البَخيلَ رَدَدتَهُ

إِلى البُخلِ وَاِستَمطَرتَ غَيرَ مَطيرِ

If you urge on the miser, you but make him

When you seek benevolence from the unworthy, you find the quest for favor far from easy.

More miserly; seek rain from a barren sky!

If you do not forge a shield to guard your honor from blame, then blame shall travel upon every path.

مَتى تَطلُبِ المَعروفَ في غَيرِ أَهلِهِ

تَجِد مَطلَبَ المَعروفِ غَيرَ يَسيرِ

When good you seek from the ignoble man

Vainly you seek kind acts from one unkind.

إِذا أَنتَ لَم تَجعَل لِعِرضِكَ جَنَّةً

مِنَ الذَمِّ سارَ الذَمُّ كُلَّ مَسيرِ

If you guard not your honor from reproach

Reproach will run its course with all mankind.