1. قُل لِلأَميرِ الأَريَحِيِّ الَّذي

    كَفّاهُ لِلبادي وَلِلحاضِرِ

    Say to the magnanimous emir, whose

    two hands serve nomad and townsman alike:

  2. لِتَجزِكَ الأَيّامُ مَندوحَةً

    وَنَضرَةً مِن عودِيَ الناضِرِ

    May the days reward you with ample scope

    and freshness from my flourishing bough.

  3. أَشكُرُ نُعمى مِنكَ مَشكورَةً

    وَكافِرُ النَعماءِ كَالكافِرِ

    I thank you for a favor worthy of gratitude,

    and one ungrateful for blessings is like an unbeliever.

  4. مَواهِباً لَم تَكُ إِلّا لِمَن

    نِصابُهُ في مَنصِبٍ وافِرِ

    Gifts that could come only from one

    whose stock is rooted in abundant nobility.

  5. لا زِلتَ مِن شُكرِيَ في حُلَّةٍ

    لابِسُها ذو سَلَبٍ فاخِرِ

    May you always wear a robe of my gratitude,

    whose wearer is clad in splendid raiment.

  6. يَقولُ مَن تَقرَعُ أَسماعَهُ

    كَم تَرَكَ الأَوَّلُ لِلآخِرِ

    One whose ears it strikes says:

    "How much the predecessor left for the successor!"

  7. لي صاحِبٌ قَد كانَ لي مُؤنِساً

    وَمَألَفاً في الزَمَنِ الغابِرِ

    I have a friend who once was a comfort to me,

    and a familiar companion in days gone by.

  8. يَحتَلِبُ الدَهرَ أَفاويقَهُ

    وَيَخلِطُ الحُلوَ مَعَ الحازِرِ

    He milks Time for its successive yields,

    and mixes the sweet with the sour.

  9. حَتّى إِذا رَوضي تَغَنّى بِهِ

    ذِبّانُهُ في مونِقٍ زاهِرِ

    Until, when my garden echoed with the song

    of its flies amid delightful bloom,

  10. أَلقَحَ بِالعَزمِ أَمانِيَّهُ

    بَعدَ اِعتِناقِ الهِمَّةِ العاقِرِ

    he fertilized his hopes with resolve,

    after embracing barren ambition.

  11. تَحمِلُ مِنهُ العيسُ أُعجوبَةً

    تُجَدِّدُ السُخرِيَّ لِلساخِرِ

    In him, the pale camels carry an oddity

    that renews the scoffer's mockery:

  12. ذا ثَروَةٍ يَطلُبُ مِن سائِلٍ

    وَمُفحَماً يَأخُذُ مِن شاعِرِ

    a wealthy man seeking aid from a supplicant,

    and a nonpoet taking from a poet.

  13. فَصادَفَت مالي بِإِقبالِهِ

    مَنِيَّةٌ مِن أَمَلٍ عاثِرِ

    So, with his arrival, my wealth encountered

    a doom born of a stumbling hope.

  14. فَشارِكِ المَقمورَ فيهِ وَلا

    تَكُن شَريكَ الرَجُلِ القامِرِ

    So share in it with the gambling loser, and do not

    be a partner to the winning gambler.

  15. فَرِفدُكَ الزائِرَ مَجدٌ وَلا

    كَرِفدِكَ الزائِرَ لِلزائِرِ

    For your aid to a visitor is glory, and nothing

    matches your aid to one visitor for another.