أبا بكرٍ أَسَأْتَ الظَّنَّ فيمَن

أبا بكرٍ أَسَأْتَ الظَّنَّ فيمَن

سَجِيَّتُه التَّمَنُّعُ والخِلافُ

سَجِيَّتُه التَّمَنُّعُ والخِلافُ

O Abu Bakr, you have thought ill of one

O Abu Bakr, you have wrongly suspected

whose nature is aloofness and resistance.

One whose nature is standoffishness and dissent,

وخِفْتَ عليه من الخَلَواتِ مني

وخِفْتَ عليه من الخَلَواتِ مني

ولم تَكُ بينَنا حالٌ تُخافُ

ولم تَكُ بينَنا حالٌ تُخافُ

And you feared for him when alone with me,

And you feared for me being alone with him,

though there was nothing between us to fear.

Yet between us there was no situation to fear.

جَفَوْتُ من الصِّبا ما ليسَ يُجفى

جَفَوْتُ من الصِّبا ما ليسَ يُجفى

وعِفْتُ من الهَوى ما لا يُعافُ

وعِفْتُ من الهَوى ما لا يُعافُ

I have shunned youth's pleasures that others do not shun,

I have spurned, since my youth, that which should not be spurned,

and spurned love's delights that others do not spurn.

And I have excused that which cannot be excused.

فلو أني هَمَمْتُ بِقُبحِ فِعْلٍ

فلو أني هَمَمْتُ بِقُبحِ فِعْلٍ

لدَى الإغفاءِ أيقَظَني العَفافُ

لدَى الإغفاءِ أيقَظَني العَفافُ

So if I contemplated a shameful deed,

So if I had intended an ugly deed

as I dozed off, chastity would awaken me.

In private, honor would have awakened me.