وإني لأقري الهمَّ حين يضيفني

زماعاً إذا ما الهمُّ أعيَت مصادرُه

Indeed, I play host to care whenever it visits me,

with unflinching resolve, when care can find no way out.

وأبغي صواب الظّنّ أعلم أنّه

إذا طاش ظنُّ المرء طاشت مقادره

I seek soundness of judgment, knowing that

when a man’s judgment misses its mark, his reckonings go awry.

وقد يكره الإنسان ماهو رشده

وتُلقى على غير الصواب شَرشِرُه

A person may hate the very thing in which his right guidance lies,

while his evil impulses are drawn toward what is not right.

وكم كان في آفل المُلَوِّح من فتى

منادَى مفدًّى حين تبلى سرائره

How many a young man there was in the house of al-Mulawwiḥ,

hailed—“May I be your ransom!”—when his inmost character was tried;

وكم كان في آل الملوّح من فتى

يجيب خطيبا لا تُخاف عوائره

and how many a young man there was in the house of al-Mulawwiḥ

who answers as an orator, with no harmful lapse to fear.