قدَّمتَ لي وعداً فأين نجاحُهُ

قدَّمتَ لي وعداً فأين نجاحُهُ

قَدْ حان يا ابنَ الأكرمينَ سَرَاحُهُ

قَدْ حان يا ابنَ الأكرمينَ سَرَاحُهُ

You offered me a promise—where is its fulfillment?

You made me a promise, so where is its success?

The time has already come, O son of the most generous, for its release.

The time has come, O son of the most generous, for its fulfillment

لا يعجبنَّك حسنُ ما قدَّمتَه

لا يعجبنَّك حسنُ ما قدَّمتَه

فتسيءَ بعدُ إساءةً تجتاحُهُ

فتسيءَ بعدُ إساءةً تجتاحُهُ

Do not let the beauty of what you have offered impress you,

Do not be pleased with the beauty of what you have offered

lest you afterward do a wrong that sweeps it away.

Lest you later commit a trespass that would ruin it

واعلم بأنك إن فترتَ عن الذي

واعلم بأنك إن فترتَ عن الذي

أسلفت من عُرفٍ خبا مصباحُهُ

أسلفت من عُرفٍ خبا مصباحُهُ

And know that if you slacken in what

Know that if you slacken from what

you have previously bestowed of kindness, its lamp will go out.

You took on yourself out of good manners, its light will be extinguished

ليس الجواد بمن يجود غُدُوُّهُ

ليس الجواد بمن يجود غُدُوُّهُ

حتى يجودَ غدوُّهُ ورَواحُهُ

حتى يجودَ غدوُّهُ ورَواحُهُ

The generous man is not one whose morning gives freely,

The generous person is not one whose generosity appears only in the morning

unless his morning and his evening both give freely.

Until his generosity appears both morning and evening

ويطول بين السائلين بَقاؤه

ويطول بين السائلين بَقاؤه

وكأن خاتم جوده مِفْتاحُهُ

وكأن خاتم جوده مِفْتاحُهُ

And his stay among petitioners is long,

And he remains for long among those asking

and it is as though the seal of his generosity were its key.

As if the seal of his generosity were its key

لا يستحيل ولا يغيِّرُ عهدَه

لا يستحيل ولا يغيِّرُ عهدَه

إمساؤهُ أبداً ولا إصباحُهُ

إمساؤهُ أبداً ولا إصباحُهُ

He does not change, nor is his pledge altered

He does not change or alter his pledge

by his evening or his morning, ever.

His character and dawn are eternal

ماذا أجيب به الَّتي عوّدتَها

ماذا أجيب به الَّتي عوّدتَها

عادات نائلك الذي تمتاحُهُ

عادات نائلك الذي تمتاحُهُ

What answer shall I give her whom you have accustomed

What can I tell her whom you have accustomed

to the customary flow of your bounty, which she draws upon?

To your habits of attainment that pervade her?

أأقول ويحكِ حالَ بعدَك بخلُهُ

أأقول ويحكِ حالَ بعدَك بخلُهُ

أم حال بعدك جوده وسماحُهُ

أم حال بعدك جوده وسماحُهُ

Shall I say, 'Alas for you! His miserliness has changed since you left,'

Shall I say: Alas! After you, his stinginess!

or, 'Since you left, his generosity and openhandedness have changed'?

Or: After you, his generosity and leniency!