تَوالى إليَّ السّائلونَ وإنَّني

لآنفُ ألا يُدرِكَ السُّؤْلَ سائِلي

The askers come to me continuously, and I

Do not like that asking reaches the asker.

ولكنَّ مَستوري كظاهِرِ حالِهِم

فما حيلتي والحظُّ حربُ الفضائلِ

But my poverty is like their obvious state,

So what can I do, when fortune is the war of virtues?

ولو بَسطَتْ أيدي الحوادِثِ مِن يدي

تلقتْهُمُ قبلَ السُّؤال بِنائِلي

If the hands of events were to extend from my hands,

They would meet them before asking with my palms.

علَامَ أخضعُ في الدُّنيا لِمَن رَفَعَتْ

وما بأيديهِمُ رِزْقي ولا أجَلي

Why should I submit in the world to those whom

What is in their hands is not my sustenance or my term?

ما قَدَّر اللهُ لا أسطيعُ أدفَعهُ

وما لَهم في سوى المَقدورِ من عَمَلِ

What Allah has ordained, I cannot avert it,

And they have no work in addition to what is ordained.