1. لي صديقٌ إذا رأت

    وجهَهُ العينُ سرَّها

    I have a friend: whenever the eye sees

    his face, he delights it.

  2. قلت يوماً وخلتهُ

    مطلَقَ الكفّ ثَرَّها

    One day I said, thinking him

    open-handed, lavish in giving:

  3. يا جواداً إذا حمتْ

    لِقَحُ المزن دَرَّها

    “O generous one, when their milk is withheld

    by the rain-clouds’ milch camels,

  4. فرَّطتْ منك دعوةٌ

    تأملُ النفس كرَّها

    an invitation slipped from you;

    my soul hopes for its return.”

  5. قال كانت فُليتةً

    فوَقَى اللَّه شرَّها

    He said, “It was a little slip,

    so God warded off its harm.”

  6. قلتُ واهاً بجُرعةٍ

    ذقتُها ما أمرَّها

    I said, “Ah, what a draught

    I tasted—how bitter it was!

  7. أنت مذ ذقتها تشكْ

    كى إلى الله حرَّها

    Ever since you tasted it, you complain

    to God of its burning heat.”

  8. قال إي والذي قضى

    حلّ كفي وصرَّها

    He said, “Yes, by Him who ordained

    my hand’s unbinding and its binding shut.”

  9. قلت تب توبة امرئٍ

    عَقَّ نفساً وبرَّها

    I said, “Repent as a man repents

    who wronged a soul and treated it kindly:

  10. كلَّف النفس خطة

    لم تطقها وغرَّها

    he burdened the soul with a course

    it could not bear, and deceived it;

  11. ثم قفَّى بتوبةٍ

    مطّ فيها وجرَّها

    then followed that with repentance,

    dallying over it and dragging it out.

  12. ولقد تُنفَع النفو

    سُ بما كان ضرَّها

    And indeed, souls are helped

    by what had harmed them.”