1. حادثات دهمنَ في أسبوع

    صحن بالبين في محل الجميع

    Calamities struck within a week;

    they proclaimed parting where all had gathered.

  2. زرعت في الديار تلك الرزايا

    بأكف الأيام شرّ زروع

    Those calamities sowed throughout the dwellings,

    with the hands of the days, the worst of crops.

  3. كم محل عمرته بالمعالي

    وببذل اللهى ولبس الدروع

    How many a dwelling I made flourish with noble deeds,

    and by bestowing gifts and donning coats of mail!

  4. ثم أبدلتني الرزايا بدار

    منزل القرب بالمحل الشسيع

    Then calamities exchanged my home,

    my nearby dwelling, for a far-off place.

  5. وطني حيث ما ولعت وأعييت وفرشي

    الصعيد عند هجوعي

    My homeland is wherever I grow attached and weary; my bed

    is the bare earth when I sleep.

  6. وغطائي السماء والجوّ بيتي

    ووطائي منابت اليربوع

    My covering is the sky, and the open air my home,

    and my bedding the jerboa's native haunts.

  7. وسميري السرحانُ والأسد الضا

    ري وزادي المنى وصبري ضجيعي

    My nighttime companions are the wolf and the ravenous lion;

    my provisions are hopes, and my patience my bedmate.

  8. وطمرّيَ رجلي وكفّي وسادي

    وأنيسيَ فكري وشعري ربيعي

    My swift steed is my foot, and my palm my pillow;

    my companion is my thought, and my poetry my springtime.

  9. سائحاً في البلاد شرقا وغربا

    مفلسا في توجّهي ورجوعي

    Wandering through the lands, east and west,

    penniless in my going forth and my return.

  10. لي خدّان مقرحان فخَذّ

    لخضوعي وآخرٌ لدموعي

    I have two ulcerated cheeks: one

    from my abasement, the other from my tears.

  11. وإله دمعتي تفيض من العي

    ن بماء وتارة بنجيع

    I am distraught; my tears overflow from the eye,

    as water, and sometimes as fresh blood.

  12. غير أنّي لمّا تضايق عيشي

    وتدانى أوسعتهُ بالقنوع

    Yet when my livelihood grew straitened

    and dwindled, I made it ample through contentment.

  13. باسطٌ كفّه إلى الله لا النا

    س مضاع للمجد غير مضيع

    I stretch my palm toward God, not toward people,

    lost to glory, yet never neglecting it.

  14. ما تكسّبت بالتنجّم حتى

    صار طوع الأيام غير مطيع

    I did not earn my living by astrology until

    one who would not submit became subject to the days,

  15. حين رثت حبائل المجد واستح

    مل أهل الزمان كل فظيع

    when glory's cords had frayed, and

    the people of the age bore every horror.

  16. لي من الناس أسوة في

    أبي القاسم نصر ذي المنطق المطبوع

    Among people, I have a model in

    Abu al-Qasim Nasr, endowed with natural eloquence.

  17. عاف مدح اللئام واستحمل الصب

    ر فأدنى إليه كل منيع

    He shunned praising the base and enlisted

    patience, which brought all that was unattainable within his reach.

  18. لم يزل يخبز الأرز إلى أن

    ناطهُ الصبر بالمحل الرفيع

    He kept baking rice until

    patience fastened him to a lofty station.

  19. علم الدهر أنه خان نصرا

    فتلافاهُ بعد ضربٍ وجيع

    Time realized that it had betrayed Nasr,

    so it made amends to him after a painful beating.

  20. وصنيعُ الأيام طورا سعود

    ونحوسٌ والنحسُ شر صنيع

    The days' handiwork is sometimes good fortune,

    and sometimes ill fortune; ill fortune is the worst handiwork.

  21. وشفيع الحبيب عندي شفيعٌ

    وشفيعي إليه شرّ شفيعِ

    The beloved's intercessor finds favor with me,

    but my intercessor with him is the worst of intercessors.