Sol 6.1

  1. وحانٍ على الشحناءِ عوجَ ضُلوعهِ

    يسدِّدُ نحوي صادراتِ المشاقصِ

    And one who folds his crooked ribs around rancor

    Aims his flying arrows straight at me.

  2. يُكاثِرُ فضلي بالثراء نواقحاً

    وفي المالِ للجُهَّالِ جبرُ النقائصِ

    He pits his wealth against my excellence, brazenly;

    And wealth compensates the ignorant for their shortcomings.

  3. أقولُ له لما اشرأَبَّ لغايتي

    ومدَّ إليها نظرةَ المتخاوصِ

    I say to him, when he cranes his neck toward my summit

    And casts toward it the gaze of one who squints,

  4. وأيقظَ منِّي ساهراً غيرَ راقدٍ

    وحرَّضَ منّي هاجماً غير حائصِ

    And awakens in me one wakeful, not asleep,

    And spurs in me an attacker who does not retreat:

  5. لقد فاتَ قَرْنُ الشمسِ راحةَ لامسٍ

    وأعيا مناطُ النَّسْرِ كفّةَ قانصِ

    Indeed, the sun's horn eludes the palm that would touch it,

    And the eagle's lofty station thwarts the hunter's snare.

  6. وإن حدثتكَ النفسُ أنّك مدركٌ

    لشأوي فطالِبْهَا بمثلِ خصائصي

    And if your soul tells you that you can reach

    My level, then demand of it qualities like mine:

  7. نزاهةَ نفسي طالباً وسماحتي

    مُنِيلاً وصبري لاحتمال القوارصِ

    My soul's integrity when seeking, and my generosity

    When giving, and my patience in enduring biting insults;

  8. وعلمي بما لم يَحْوِ خاطرُ عالمٍ

    وغوصي على ما لم يَنَلْ فَهْمُ غائصِ

    And my knowledge of what no scholar's mind has encompassed,

    And my diving for what no diver's understanding has reached;

  9. وتركيَ أخلاقَ اللِئامِ وغِشَّها

    إِلى كل خُلْقٍ كالوذيلةِ خالصِ

    And my forsaking the manners of the base and their dross

    For every virtue pure as a silver ingot.

  10. فما عهدُ أحبابي على البُعْدِ ضائعٌ

    لديَّ ولا ظِلُّ الوفاءِ بقالصِ

    For my loved ones' covenant, despite distance, is not lost

    In my keeping, nor does fidelity's shade recede.

  11. وما أنا عمَّا استودعوني بذاهلٍ

    ولا أنا عمَّا كاتَموني بفاحصِ

    And I am not forgetful of what they entrusted to me,

    Nor do I pry into what they have concealed from me.

  12. وإن الأُلَى راموا اللِّحاقَ بغايتي

    سَعَوا بينَ مبهورٍ حثيثٍ وشاخصِ

    And indeed, those who sought to reach my summit

    Strove, some hurrying breathlessly, others gazing upward.

  13. فلم يَكُ فيهمْ غيرُ وقفةِ ظالعٍ

    ولم يُرَ منهم غيرُ أعقابِ ناكصِ

    Yet among them was only the halt of a limping man,

    And nothing was seen of them but a retreating man's heels.

  14. وراموا بأطرافِ الأنامل غايةً

    وطِئتُ وقد أعيتهُمُ بالأخامصِ

    And with their fingertips they sought a height

    That I trod with the hollows of my feet, though it had defeated them.

  15. إِذا حُمِدَتْ بين الأفاضلِ سيرتي

    فأهوِنْ بنقصٍ جاءَ من عندِ ناقصِ

    If my conduct is praised among the virtuous,

    Then how trifling is disparagement that comes from a flawed man!