طَويلُ عِمادِ البَيتِ تَبني مُجاشِعٌ

إِلى بَيتِهِ أَطنابَها ما تَنَزَّعُ

The pillar of the house builds affectionately

Towards his house though far apart her tracks may be

سَيَبلُغُ عَنّي حاجَتي غَيرُ عامِلٍ

بِها مِن ذَوي الحاجاتِ فَيجٌ مُسَرِّعُ

My needs will be met by another though I strive not

Among the needy, a rider racing eagerly

عَصائِبُ لَم يَطحَن كُدَيرٌ مَتاعَها

يَمُرُّ بِها بَينَ الغَديرَينِ مَهيَعُ

He passes by two pools though no monks ground his flour

A gurgling full, then one dried up completely

إِلَيهِ وَإِن كانَت زَبالَةُ بَينَنا

وَذو حَدَبٍ فيهِ القَراقيرُ تَمزَعُ

Though but garbage lies between us, yet to him I’ll go

A humpbacked house wherein the crevices yawn widely

يَميناً لَئِن أَمسى كُدَيرٌ يَلومُني

لَقَد لُمتُهُ لَوماً سَيَبقى وَيَنصَعُ

Truly, if the monk reproaches me tomorrow

I have blamed him with blame that shall remain and feed me

خَليلَي كُدَيرٍ أَبلِغا إِن لَقيتُهُ

طَبِعتُ وَأَنّى لَيسَ مِثلُكَ يَطبَعُ

O two friends of the monk, if ye should meet him

I have molded - who indeed is like thee to mold me?

أَفي مِئَةٍ أَقرَضتَها ذا قَرابَةٍ

عَلى كُلِّ بابٍ ماءُ عَينَيكَ يَدمَعُ

For the hundred thou lent a kinsman, at every door

Thine eyes rain tears that flow plentifully

تَسيلُ مَآقيكَ الصَديدَ تَلومُني

وَأَنتَ اِمرُؤٌ قَحمُ العَذارَينِ أَصلَعُ

Thy streaming tears blame me, yet thou art a man

Bald of noble stock, ignoble in degree

فَدونَكَها إِنّي إِخالُكَ لَم تَزَل

لَدُن خَرَجَت مِن بابِ بَيتِكَ تَلمَعُ

Besides thee, though we are comrades, hast thou not been

Radiant since first thou camest forth from thy abode?

تُنادي وَتَدعو اللَهَ فيها كَأَنَّما

رُزِئتَ اِبنَ أُمٍّ لَم يَكُن يَتَضَعضَعُ

Thou callest and prayest unto God as though some child

Of a base mother had not ceased his crying loudly

مَتى تَأتِهِ مِنّي النَذيرَةُ لا يَنَم

وَلَكِن يَخافُ الطارِقاتُ وَيَفزَعُ

When comes my messenger, he sleeps not at the warning

Nay, but he fears the night-comers, startled fitfully

وَأَيُّ اِمرِئٍ بَعدَ النَذيرَةِ قَد رَأى

طَلايِعَها مِنّي لَهُ العَينُ تَهجَعُ

What man, when warned, has seen my vanguard and not had

Sleep frightened from his eyes however heavily?

مِنَ الناسِ إِلّا فاسِدَ العَقلِ شارَكَت

بِهِ العَجزَ حَولاً أُمُّهُ وَهوَ مُرضَعُ

Save the witless, none shares with him in his weakness

Whilst yet a babe, his mother and he successively

فَلا يَقذِفَنكَ الحينُ في نابِ حَيَّةٍ

عَصا كُلَّ حَوّاءٍ بِهِ السُمُّ مُنقَعُ

So fling him not into the viper's fang straightway

Each Eve's rod in it is steeped most plenteously

يَفِرُّ رُقاةُ القَومِ لا يَقرَبونَهُ

خَشاشُ حِبالٍ فاتِكُ اللَيلِ أَقرَعُ

The tribe's leaders shun and come not nigh unto him

Scared witlings who the dark night sets trembling fitfully

مِنَ الصُمِّ إِن تَعلُكَّ مِنهُ شَكيمَةٌ

تَمُت أَو تُفِق قَد ماتَ عَقلُكَ أَجمَعُ

Deaf he is: if treated for it, only dies therefrom

Or recovers: dead in sooth is his mind utterly