1. باتت تلوم على طول الونى وغدت

    عليّ بالسبّ والتأنيب والعذل

    She spent the night blaming my long languor, and in the morning

    turned on me with insults, rebukes, and reproaches.

  2. ولم أقل إنّها قالت منطقة

    إلا على جهة التشبيه والمثل

    Nor did I say she spoke as one endowed with speech,

    except by way of comparison and metaphor.

  3. واستعبرت أن رأتني تحت داهية

    من الزمان بلا مال ولا خول

    And she wept because she saw me beneath a calamity

    from time, without wealth or servants.

  4. وصرّحت لي بقول بتّ أكرهه

    مضى شبابك فاستاثرت بالكسل

    And she spoke plainly to me in words I had come to hate:

    Your youth has passed, so you have made idleness your own.

  5. أين اعتراضك للذّات عن طربٍ

    وأين حرصك في أيامك الأول

    Where is your pursuit of pleasures out of delight,

    and where is your eagerness in your earliest days?

  6. فقلت إن شبت فالأيّام مخلفة

    أو قلّ مالي فعرضي غير مبتذل

    I said: if I have grayed, the days bring renewal;

    or if my wealth has dwindled, my honor is not debased.

  7. وما كستني يد الأيّام معتبة

    فالدهر مغرى بنقل المال والدول

    The hand of days has clothed me in no cause for reproach,

    for time is bent on shifting wealth and fortunes.

  8. لا تعجبي من فتوري عن مطالبتي

    نفسي بما ليس في حظي ولا أملي

    Do not wonder at my reluctance to demand

    of myself what is neither my lot nor my hope.

  9. فالمرء وقف على ما فيه من خلق

    وماله من خفيّ الرزق والأجل

    For a man is bound to the character within him

    and to his hidden share of sustenance and lifespan.

  10. لئن عرتني من الأيّام غاشية

    سدّت فروج المنى واستفتحت عللي

    Even if a calamity from the days has overtaken me,

    blocking the openings of hope and unleashing my ailments,

  11. فالغيم يحجب عين الشمس ثمّ يرى

    قد زال عنها وعين الشمس لم تزل

    cloud veils the eye of the sun, then is seen

    to have cleared from it, while the sun's eye has not vanished.

  12. ما كنت أول محروب تأكله

    صرف الزمان فلم يضرع ولم يحل

    I was not the first despoiled man devoured

    by time's vicissitudes, who neither cringed nor changed.

  13. خلائقي تلك في بؤسي وفي سعتي

    ما حلن في يوم أحزاني ولا جذلي

    Such are my traits, in my misery and my abundance;

    they never changed on a day of sorrow or joy.

  14. وقفت بين اعتدال الطبع في عدمي

    كالنصل في الغمد لم أقصر ولم أطل

    In my poverty, I stood in temperate balance,

    like a blade in its sheath, neither shorter nor longer.

  15. ولو ملكت اتّساعا لا تسعت به

    على المكارم في التفصيل والجمل

    And had I possessed abundance, I would have spent it freely

    on noble deeds, in their particulars and their whole.

  16. إذا تضايق عيشي واستمرّ به

    في الضيق وقت طويل الليث في مهل

    When my livelihood narrows and remains so,

    in hardship for a long time—the lion at leisure—

  17. أوسعته بقنوع حافظ كرمي

    وحاقن ماء وجهي ساتر خللي

    I broaden it with contentment that preserves my dignity

    and keeps the water of my face intact, concealing my want.

  18. فالموت أيسرُ عندي من مطالبتي

    نفسي بنيل الندى من باخل نكل

    Death is easier for me than demanding

    of myself that I obtain bounty from a craven miser.

  19. كل المآلم قد مارست أصبعبها

    ودون ذلك من دقّ ومن جلل

    Of all pains, I have endured the hardest,

    and those short of that, whether slight or grave.

  20. ما بتّ أشجى بذل الرد عن طلب

    ولا تصبّحت من خصمي على وجل

    I never spent the night grieving at the humiliation of a rejected plea,

    nor awoke in dread of my adversary.

  21. ولا ذممت ولم أذمم وحسبكها

    من خلة حسنت في القول والعمل

    I neither censured nor was censured—and that is enough for you

    as a trait, fair in speech and action.

  22. ولا استربت بأمر فيه لي عوض

    إلا عدلت إلى الأولى ولم ابل

    Never did I doubt a course for which I had an alternative

    without turning to the better one, untroubled.

  23. ولا اعتلقت بأمر فيه لائمة

    ولا أسيت لإلف صدّ عن ملَل

    Nor did I cling to a course inviting blame,

    nor grieve for a companion who turned away out of weariness.

  24. تفارق الروح جسمي وهي عادلة

    فكيف آسى لشخص غير معتدل

    The soul leaves my body, though it is well-balanced;

    so how should I grieve for someone without balance?

  25. ولا جفاني خلي كنت آلفه

    إلا عدلت إلى ضرب من الجذل

    No dear friend whom I was fond of ever shunned me

    without my turning to a kind of gladness.

  26. فقلت للنفس كوني بعد جفوته

    بحيث ما كنت والمألوف لم يصل

    So I told my soul: after his estrangement, be

    where you were when the cherished one had not yet joined you.

  27. ولا هممت بأمر عزّ مطلبُه

    إلا استعنت بباس غير منخزل

    Nor did I set my mind on something hard to attain

    without drawing on courage that would not falter.

  28. ولا تتبّعت عيب الجار عن ضعَة

    ولا بكيت على ربع ولا طلَل

    Nor did I hunt my neighbor's faults out of baseness,

    nor weep over a dwelling-site or ruined traces.

  29. ولا ترقبت بالآمال صرف غد

    هذا لأنيَ من يومي على شغُل

    Nor did I await tomorrow's turn of fortune with hopes;

    this is because I am occupied with my present day.

  30. ولا مدحت كريما في تكرّمه

    رجاء نيل ولا أزريت بالسفل

    Nor did I praise a noble man for his generosity,

    hoping for a gift, nor disparage the lowly,

  31. منذ انتبهت وقدما كنت في وسن

    بل غافلا في شبابي ثم مكتهلي

    since I awoke—formerly I was drowsy,

    indeed, heedless in my youth and then my middle years.

  32. كلّ على طبعه تجري فضائله

    من الأكارم والأحرار والنبل

    Each man's virtues flow according to his nature,

    among the generous, the freeborn, and the noble.

  33. فالأرذلون وأهل الفحش قد ملكوا

    آدابهم فاستحقّوا الذم بالرذل

    For the basest and those given to obscenity have acquired

    their manners, and so earned reproach for baseness.

  34. لله في الخلق أقدار ينفّذها

    لولا الجبان لما أثني على البطل

    God has decrees among His creatures that He carries out;

    but for the coward, the hero would not be praised.

  35. لو وفقوا الجروا في الخير طوع يد

    جري الجواد ولم يلووا على البخل

    Had they been rightly guided, they would run toward good at a hand's bidding,

    as a noble steed runs, never turning toward stinginess.

  36. كذلك الفاضل المحمود مذهبهُ

    كل بما فيه رشد ومن خلل

    So too the virtuous man, whose way is praised:

    each according to the sound judgment and flaws within him.

  37. مالي وللناس إلا ما يرّبصه

    عوز المطامع في زيّ وفي وشَل

    What have I to do with people, save what is held in suspense

    by want of things desired, in attire and a scant trickle?

  38. إذا ملكت الغنى عنهم وعارضني

    دون المطامع يأس مانعي خجلي

    When I possess independence from them, and there confronts me

    before those desires a hopelessness that spares me shame,

  39. فالناس عندي جميعا في مراتبهم

    لا ناقتي طلعت فيهم ولا جملي

    all people, to me, in their various ranks:

    neither my she-camel nor my he-camel has appeared among them.

  40. سامحتهم في حقوقي وابتدأتهمُ

    بما استحقّوا ولم أمنن ولم أقل

    I waived my rights against them and offered them first

    what they deserved, without vaunting favors or speaking of them.

  41. فسالموني ولولاها رأيت لهم

    ولي حروبا بوقع البيض والأسل

    So they made peace with me; but for that, you would have seen between them

    and me wars with the clash of bright swords and spears.

  42. سوّغتهم نعم الدنيا بلا حسد

    مني لعلمي بطعم الشري والعسل

    I let them savor this world's blessings, without envy

    from me, for I know the taste of colocynth and honey.

  43. عقيب كل نعيم ضدّ مطعمه

    عند الولادة تنسى لذّة الحبل

    After every delight comes its opposite in taste;

    at childbirth, the pleasure of pregnancy is forgotten.

  44. يسوءني حنفٌ قد حل في قدمي

    أمشي على ظهرها مشي الوجي الوجل

    An inward bend settled in my foot distresses me;

    I walk on its back, like a sore-footed, fearful man.

  45. إذا تأمّلت كان العيب في قدمي

    خيرا من العيب في عقلي على خبلي

    Yet when I reflect, the defect in my foot proves

    better than a defect in my mind, despite my infirmity.

  46. ما ازددت بالحرص رزقا فوق ما هولي

    ولا حرمت بتقصير ولا فشل

    Through greed I gained no sustenance beyond what was mine,

    nor was I deprived through neglect or weakness.

  47. إني أفوّض أمري في تصرّفه

    إلى الذي في حجاب الحمل أحسن لي

    I entrust my affairs, in their unfolding,

    to Him who did me good within the veil of pregnancy.

  48. وأكثر الناس يغدو في تصرّفه

    مستعصما بمدار الثور والحمل

    But most people go forth in managing their affairs,

    seeking protection in the circuit of Taurus and Aries.

  49. ويتّقون ذهاب الشمس محرقةً

    بهرام في السر إذا أفضت إلى زحل

    And they guard against the sun's passage, scorching

    Bahram in secret when it passes on to Saturn.

  50. واتّقي الله في سرّي وفي علني

    وما اقترفت من الآثام والزلَل

    And I fear God in private and in public,

    and over the sins and slips I have committed.

  51. هوّن عليك فلا حزمٌ ولا حذر

    واقيك إن بتّ من خوف على وجل

    Ease your mind: neither prudence nor caution

    will protect you if you spend the night trembling in fear.