1. جَيرِ أَنَّ الفَتى لَفي النَصبِ الأَع

    ظَمِ بَينَ الأَهلَينِ وَالجيرانِ

    Indeed, a young man endures the greatest hardship

    among the two families and the neighbors.

  2. وَحِرانُ الجَوادِ كَالحَتفِ لِلها

    رِبِ قُدّامَ ثائِرٍ حَرّانِ

    And a steed's balking is like death to one

    fleeing before a raging avenger.

  3. أَنا أَدرانِيَ الرَشادُ بِأَنَّ الإِن

    سَ مَخلوقَةٌ مِنَ الأَدرانِ

    As for me, sound judgment has taught me that human

    beings are created from impurities.

  4. إِن يَكُن أَبرَأَ القَضاءُ الضَنى فَه

    وَبَراني مِن بَعدِ ما أَبراني

    If fate has cured the wasting sickness, it

    has worn me away after creating me.

  5. لا كَرىً نائِمٌ بِجَفني وَلا أَع

    لَمتُ في الدَهرِ فِتنَةً بِكِرانِ

    No slumber sleeps in my eyelid, nor have I

    ever proclaimed temptation with a lute.

  6. قَد أَراني القِياسُ أَنَّ لُيوثَ ال

    غابِ فيما يَنوبُ مِثلُ الإِرانِ

    Analogy has shown me that the lions of the

    thickets, amid what befalls them, are like a coffin.

  7. خَوَّفونا مِنَ القِرانِ وَلا بُدَّ

    لِنَفسٍ مَعَ الرَدى مِن قِرانِ

    They frightened us with the conjunction; yet there is no escape

    for a soul from conjunction with death.

  8. كَم جِبالٍ مِنَ الجُيوشِ تَرادى

    وَالَّذي أوضِعَت لَهُ الحِجرانِ

    How many mountains of armies have fallen,

    and so has he for whom the two mares were driven at speed!

  9. مَرَّ آنٌ مِنَ الزَمانِ عَلى الشَخ

    صِ فَقَد خِلتُ أَنَّ دَهراً مَراني

    A moment of time passed over this man;

    and I thought an entire age had milked me.

  10. وَعَراني خَطبٌ أَرادَ العَراني

    نَ بِذُلٍّ وَكُلُّها في عِرانِ

    And a calamity befell me, targeting the proud

    noses with humiliation; all are held by a nose-peg.

  11. زَعَمَ الناسُ أَنَّ قَوماً مِنَ الأَب

    رارِ عولوا بِالجَوِّ بِالطَيَرانِ

    People claimed that a group of the righteous

    soared through the air in flight,

  12. وَمَشَوا فَوقَ صَفحَةِ الماءِ هَذا الإِف

    كُ هَيهاتَ ما جَرى العَصرانِ

    and walked upon the water's surface. This falsehood—

    impossible, as long as day and night run on!

  13. ما مَشى فَوقَ لُجَّةِ الماءِ لا السَع

    دانِ فيما مَضى وَلا العُمَرانِ

    No one walked upon the water's depths—not the two

    Saʿds in times past, nor the two ʿUmars.

  14. أَقراني ذاكَ المُضَيِّفُ ما أَك

    رَهُ وَاللَهُ غالِبُ الأَقرانِ

    That host served me what I

    loathe; and God overcomes all rivals.

  15. لَم أَبِت غافِلاً فَأَشراني الحِر

    صُ إِلى أَن أَعودَ كَالأَشرانِ

    I did not pass the night heedless; greed spurred me on

    until I become like an exuberant man.