في الصلح راسل دهر راح غضبانا

ودر طاعته فازداد عصيانا

Write of reconciliation to Time, which has gone away angry;

and seek its obedience, only for it to grow more defiant.

وهل علي وقد أجملت في طلبي

عار إذا لم أجد في الأمر إمكانا

And is there upon me, when I have asked with restraint,

any shame, if I find no means of achieving it?

خفض عليك وعز النفس إن جزعت

فالأمر صعب وإن هونته هانا

Be easy on yourself, and console your soul if it grows distraught;

for the matter is hard, but if you make light of it, it grows easy.

وأحسن كما شئت أو لا يازمان فما

يلين جنبي إن ذو لومة لانا

And be kind as you will—or not—O Time, for

my side will not yield, though one swayed by reproach may yield.

عركتني بالاذى عرك الاديم فما

راجيت في مؤمن بالله إيمانا

You have rubbed me with suffering as one rubs leather, yet

you have not respected the faith of a believer in God.

أكان عن جوعة يا دهر أكلك لي

فليت شعري متى ألقاك شبعانا

Was it from hunger, O Time, that you devoured me?

If only I knew when I shall meet you sated.

أنمت عينك دون المر تطلبه

غير وإن رمته استنهضت يقظانا

You have lulled your eye to sleep, leaving a man pursued

by vicissitudes; yet if you target him, you rouse one already awake.

وهبك نمت وعرضت المطامع لي

فلست أرضى لنفسي كلما كانا

And suppose you slept, and tempting gains appeared before me:

I would not accept for myself just anything that came.

كم قد وردت على ماء وبي عطش

فرحت عنه كما قد جئت عطشانا

How often I have come to water while thirsty,

then departed from it thirsty, just as I came.

قد ذادني حب نفسي عن موارده

وربما كان حب النفس حرمانا

Love of myself has kept me from its watering places,

and sometimes love of self means deprivation.

فالموت أحسن من عيس نعدّ به

ممن يسام على دعواه برهانا

For death is better than a life in which we are reckoned

among those required to furnish proof of their claims.

ففي القناعة فاجعل في يديك بها

للنفس عن ريبة الأطماع أرسانا

So, through contentment, place within your hands

reins to keep the soul from dubious cravings.

واسترزق الله مما في خزائنه

أعني خزائنه اللاتي لمولنا

And seek sustenance from God, from what lies in His treasuries—

I mean His treasuries bestowed on our lord

من خالق الخلق والدنيا ونائبه

فيها على خلقه ملكا وسلطانا

by the Creator of creatures and the world, whose deputy he is

over His creatures therein, as king and sultan.

يبني المعالي رفيعات قواعدها

سمكا وينشي لما يبنيه سكانا

He builds glories whose foundations rise

high, and brings forth inhabitants for what he builds.

يدافع الدهر دون المستجير به

ويوسع المجتدي برا وإحسانا

He wards off Time in defense of whoever seeks his protection,

and lavishes kindness and generosity on the petitioner.

فاشدد بديد بحبل منه معتصما

من صولة الدهر والق الدهر وسنانا

So fasten your hands to his rope, seeking refuge

from Time's assault, and face Time half asleep.

نفسي فداء أبي العباس إن له

نفساً تحب الندى سراً وإعلاناً

May my soul be a ransom for Abu al-Abbas, for he has

a soul that loves generosity in secret and in public.

أشكو له البعض من حالي وأكتمه

بعضاً لئلا يقولوا قال بهتانا

I complain to him of part of my plight, and hide from him

another part, lest they say, 'He spoke a falsehood.'

ولو يلاقي الذي لاقيته حجراً

من الحجارة ولو تورى له لانا

If what I have suffered were to encounter a stone

among stones, it would soften, even at a mere hint of it.

لو شاء من ملكت رقي فواصله

مابت في ربقة الأحزان حيرانا

Had he whose favors made me his bondsman so wished,

I would not have spent the night bewildered in sorrow's halter,

ولا تمنيت طول البعد من وطني

ولا تبدلت بالجيران جيرانا

nor wished for long separation from my homeland,

nor traded my neighbors for other neighbors.

لعل نظرة عطف منه تدركني

أبيت فيها قرير العين جذلانا

Perhaps a glance of kindness from him will reach me,

so I might pass the night within it, my eyes at peace, rejoicing.

كانت تكفر عن دهري خطيئته

وكنت أوسعه صفحا وغفرانا

It would atone for my Time's sin,

and I would lavish pardon and forgiveness upon it.

يا سحاب الرضا جودي على بلد

جرى بها اضرم الاعراض نيرانا

O clouds of favor, rain generously upon a land

where rejection has kindled raging fires.