أَمِن رَبعٍ تُسائِلُهُ

وَقَد أَقوَت مَنازِلُهُ

From a quarter are you seeking news

Is it the campsite that you are questioning,

Though its dwellings have become desolate?

Now that its dwellings have become desolate?

بِقَلبي مِن هَوى الأَطلا

لِ حُبٌّ ما يُزايِلُهُ

In my heart is love for the ruins

In my heart, from the passion for the ruins,

A love nothing can displace

Is a love that never separates from them.

رُوَيدُكُمُ عَن المَشغو

فِ إِنَّ الحُبَّ قاتِلُهُ

Desist from this preoccupation

Go gently with the one infatuated,

For love is he who slays it

For indeed, love is his killer.

بَلابِلُ صَدرِهِ تَسري

وَقَد نامَت عَواذِلُهُ

Sparrows flutter in his breast

The anxieties of his breast travel by night,

While his beloved is asleep

While those who blame him are fast asleep.

أَحَقُّ الناسَ بِالتَفضي

لِ مَن تُرجى فَواضِلُهُ

Most deserving of reverence

The most deserving of people for preference

Is he whose merits one hopes to gain

Is the one whose favors are hoped for.

رَأَيتُ مَكارِمَ الأَخلا

قِ ما ضَمَّت حَمائِلُهُ

I have seen the noblest virtues

I have seen that the noblest of character

That which its vessels contain

Is that which his sword-belts embrace.

فَلَستُ أَرى فَتىً في النا

سِ إِلّا الفَضلُ فاضِلُهُ

I see no man among people

For I see no youth among all mankind,

Unless merit makes him excel

Except al-Fadl, the most virtuous of them.

يَقولُ لِسانُهُ خَيراً

فَتَفعَلُهُ أَنامِلُهُ

His tongue speaks only good

His tongue speaks words of goodness,

And his hands quickly fulfill

And his fingertips carry them out.

وَمَهما يُرجَ مِن خَيرٍ

فَإِنَّ الفَضلَ فاعِلُهُ

Whatever good is hoped for

And whatever good thing is hoped for,

It is merit that undertakes it

Then truly, al-Fadl is its doer.