لولا الّذي جرَتِ الأقلامُ قبلُ به

لولا الّذي جرَتِ الأقلامُ قبلُ به

ما نالَ ذو الجهلِ دون الحازِم المِنَحا

ما نالَ ذو الجهلِ دون الحازِم المِنَحا

Were it not for what the pens had written beforehand,

Had not the pens flowed as they did before

The ignorant would not receive gifts instead of the prudent.

The ignorant would not gain what the wise lack

لكنَّ للْحَظِّ ميزاناً ترَفَّعَ ذو النْ

لكنَّ للْحَظِّ ميزاناً ترَفَّعَ ذو النْ

نُقصانِ في وزْنه واُنحطَّ من رَجَحا

نُقصانِ في وزْنه واُنحطَّ من رَجَحا

But fortune has a scale: up rises the one

Yet fate holds scales aloft, and those with less

Whose weight falls short, while the weightier sinks.

merit find their weight diminished, out of balance