ألا فاسمعا لي ما أعيد وما أبدي

جرى ما جرى لي لا لعمرو ولا زيد

Lo, listen, you two, to what I repeat and what I reveal.

What happened happened to me, not to Amr or Zayd.

تقطعت الأسباب لي بين شيعتي

وقرب بلادي قرب أهلي وذي ود

My avenues of help were cut off among my own people,

And near my homeland, near my kin and a loving friend.

وأصبحت مطلوبا بأيسر ما به

تطالب أمثالي ذوي العز والمجد

And I found myself pursued for the smallest sum for which

Men like me, men of honor and glory, are pressed.

وضايقني فدم يطالب دينه

وأقسم إما المال أو سكب ما خدي

A dull-witted boor hounded me, demanding the debt owed him,

And swore: either the money, or my cheek's water would be spilled.

ومن سوء تدبيري وشقوة طالعي

قصدت سفيها قد تقلب بالضد

And through my poor judgment and the ill fortune of my star,

I sought a fool who had consorted with his opposite.

فحييته والقلب مني في لظى

يثور ورب الدين خلفى كالفهد

So I greeted him, while my heart was ablaze,

Seething, with the creditor behind me like a cheetah.

تبسم لي حتى بدا نابه الذي

به غرني إذ قلت إنه ذو ود

He smiled at me until his fang appeared—the one

With which he deceived me, when I said, 'He is a loving friend.'

فبحت له قسرا بما قد أصابني

وما ضمه قلبي من الحزن والنكد

So, compelled, I disclosed to him what had befallen me,

And the sorrow and distress my heart held.

فبدل ذاك الوجه حينا بآخر

عبوس وصار الطرف ينظر عن بعد

Then, for a time, he replaced that face with another,

A scowling one, and his gaze grew distant.

وسِرنا معاً لمَّا دَخلنا سَويَةً

لِمتجَرِ أشرَافٍ جَحَا جَحَةٍ أُسدِ

And we walked together when we entered side by side

Into the shop of noblemen—eminent lords, lions.

وإِن كَانوا لَم يَدرُوا بما هو وَاقعٌ

ولكنَّهم قد أدرَكقوا بعَضَ مَا عِندي

Although they did not know what was happening,

Yet they had grasped something of my plight.

فأعرَضَ عنِّي الكلبُ قَصدا أمامَهم

وعَهدِي بأنَّ الكلبَ في الناسِ ذو عَهدِ

Then the dog deliberately turned away from me before them,

Yet I had known the dog, among men, as one who keeps faith.

وقد راحَ بَعد لم يُجبِني بكِلمَةٍ

سَوَآ صدِّهِ ما أمَرَّهُ من صَد

And afterward he left, without answering me a word,

Except his rebuff—how bitter a rebuff it was!

نَسيتُ الذي قد كانَ بي لكآبتِي

فما قد جَرَى أنكَى وأوجعُ للعَبد

In my dejection I forgot what had afflicted me before,

For what had happened was more wounding and painful to this servant.

وما غَرَّني إلا لكَونِي عَرفتُه

صديقَ أخي العلياءِ والعَلَم الفردِ

What misled me was only that I had known him

As a friend of the man of lofty honor, the peerless luminary.

وغلا فقُل لي مِن عجَائب دَهرِنا

ترَى الضِّدَّ أحيانا تَجَمَّعَ بالضِّ

Otherwise, tell me: among the wonders of our age,

You sometimes see an opposite joined with its opposite.

سَقاني سَفيهُ الإسمِ كأسَ مذلَّةٍ

دِهَاقا بها قد صِرتُ مفتقد الرشد

The fool, even in name, made me drink a cup of humiliation,

Brimming full; through it I became bereft of sound judgment.

وما ضرَّهُ لو أنه قد أجابَنِي

بِوجهٍ بشُوشٍ ذي اعتذارٍ على قَصدي

What harm would it have done him had he answered me

With a cheerful face, offering an apology in response to my request?

عَذرتُه لم يدرِ المكارمَ والنَّدى

وَذلِكَ موروٌ عن الأبِ والجدِّ

I excused him: he knew nothing of noble deeds or generosity,

And that is inherited from father and grandfather.

فضَاقت بىَ الدنيا وصارَ فضاؤُها

كنُقطَة شيءٍ تحتَ عينَي مُسَوَّد

So the world closed in on me, and its expanse became

Like a speck of something beneath the eyes of a blackened man.

ولكِن إذا ما استُحكِمَت حَلَقاتُها

أتَى الفَرَجُ المرجُوُّ عفواً بلا قَصد

But when its rings close tight,

The hoped-for relief comes of itself, unsought.

ألا قبَّحَ اللهُ اللِّئامَ ومَن أتى

إليهِم ولو أدَّى به الأمرُ لِلحدِّ

Lo, may God disgrace the ignoble and whoever comes

To them, even if circumstances drive him to the limit.