Sol 6.1

  1. أَلا بَكرت لُبنى عَلَيه

    تُحَدِّثُهُ طَوراً وَطَوراً تُلاعِبُه

    Lo, Lubna came to him early,

    now talking to him, now playing with him.

  2. إِنَّ أَشَدَّ الناس في الحَشر حَسرَةً

    لِمورِثُ مالٍ غَيرَهُ وَهوَ كاسِبُهُ

    Indeed, the most regretful of all people at the Resurrection

    is surely one who bequeaths wealth to another, though he earned it himself.

  3. كَفى سَفَهاً بالكَهل أَن يَتبَعَ الصِبا

    وَأَن يأتيَ الأَمرَ الَّذي هُوَ عائِبُه

    It is folly enough for a mature man to follow youthful passions,

    and to do the very thing he himself condemns.

  4. وَإِنَّكَ تَلقى صاحبَ الجهل نادِماً

    عَلَيهِ وَلا يأسى عَلى الحِلم صاحِبُه

    And you find the ignorant man regretting

    his ignorance; but no man regrets his forbearance.

  5. يَفِرّ جَبان القَوم عَن عِرس نفسه

    وَيَحمي شُجاع القَوم مَن لا يُناسِبُه

    The tribe's coward flees from his own wife,

    while its brave man protects those who are not his kin.

  6. وَيُرزَق مَعروفَ الجَواد عَدوُّه

    وَيُحرَم مَعروف البَخيل أَقارِبُه

    The generous man's enemy receives his kindness,

    while the miser's relatives are denied his kindness.

  7. أَرى الحِلمَ في بَعض المَواطِن ذِلَّةً

    وَفي بَعضها عَزّا يُسوَّد صاحِبُه

    I see forbearance as abasement in some situations,

    and in others as honor that makes its possessor a leader.

  8. أَلا مَبلَغٌ عَنّي خَليلي وَدونَه

    مَطا سَفَرٍ لا يَطعَمُ النَومَ طالِبُه

    Will someone carry to my dear friend, for me—between us lies

    a long stretch of travel whose traveler tastes no sleep—

  9. رِسالَةَ ثاوٍ بِالعِراق وَروحه

    بِفُسطاطِ مِصرٍ حَيث جَمّت عَجائِبه

    a message from one dwelling in Iraq, while his soul

    is in Fustat of Egypt, whose wonders abound?

  10. لَهُ كُلَّ يَوم حَنّةٌ بَعدَ رَنَّة

    يَجيش بِها في الصَدر شَوق يُغالِبُه

    Each day he has a longing moan after a wail;

    with it, longing surges in his breast, wrestling with him,

  11. إِلى صاحِب لا يُخلِق النأيُ عهده

    لِناءٍ وَلا يَشقى بِهِ من يُصاقبه

    toward a friend whose pledge distance does not wear thin

    for one far away, nor does anyone near him suffer through him.

  12. تَخيَّرَه حُرّاً نَقيّاً ضَميرُهُ

    جَميلاً مُحَيّاهُ كَريماً ضَرائبه

    He chose him noble, pure of conscience,

    fair of face and generous in his innate traits.

  13. هُوَ الشَهد سِلماً وَالزُعاف عَداوَةً

    وَبحر عَلى الوراد تَجري غَواربه

    He is honey in peace and deadly poison in enmity,

    and a sea whose billows flow over those who come for water.

  14. فَيا حَسنَ الحُسن الَّذي عَمَّ فَضله

    وَتَمَّت أَياديه وَجَمَّت مَناقبه

    So, O Hasan the fair, whose bounty embraces all,

    whose favors are complete and whose virtues abound,

  15. إِلَيكَ عَلى بُعدِ المَزار تَطلَّعت

    نَوازعُ شَوق ما تُرَدّ عَوازبه

    toward you, though far the place of meeting, have strained

    the stirrings of longing, whose wanderers cannot be recalled.

  16. أَرى بعدك الاخوانَ أَبناءَ عَلّة

    لهم نسب في ودّهم لا أُناسِبُه

    In your absence, I see my brethren as half-brothers;

    their affection has a lineage to which I do not belong.

  17. فَهَل يَرجِعَن عيشي وَعيشَكَ مَرَّة

    بِبَغدادَ دَهرٌ منصف لا نُعاتِبُه

    Will my life and yours ever be restored once more

    in Baghdad by a fair age we need not reproach?

  18. لَياليَ أَرعى في جَنابك رَوضَةً

    وآوي إِلى حِصن مَنيع مراتبه

    Nights when I grazed in a meadow within your precincts,

    and sheltered in a fortress whose heights were impregnable;

  19. وَإِذ أَنتَ لي كالشَهد بالراح صُفِّقاد

    بِماء رُصافٍ صفّقَته جَنائبه

    and when you were to me like honey blended with wine,

    with water from Rusaf, stirred by its southerly winds.

  20. عَسى وَلَعَلَّ اللَهُ يَجمَع بَينَنا

    كَما لاءمَت صدعَ الإناء مشاعبه

    May it be so—perhaps God will bring us together,

    as a vessel's clamps have mended its crack.