Sol 6.1

  1. إِنَّ سَرَنْدِيبَ عَلَى حُسْنِهَا

    يَسْكُنُهَا قَوْمٌ قِبَاحُ الْوُجُوهْ

    Indeed, Serendib, for all its beauty,

    is inhabited by people ugly of face:

  2. مِنْ كُلِّ فَدْمٍ لائِكٍ مُضْغَةً

    يَمُجُّهَا كَالدَّمِ فِي الأَرْضِ فُوهْ

    dullards of every sort, each chewing a morsel

    that his mouth spits like blood onto the ground.

  3. تَحْسَبُهُ مِنْ نَضْحِ أَشْدَاقِهِ

    رَكِيَّةً تَجْرِي دَمَاً أَوْ تَمُوهْ

    From the spray of his jaws, you would take him

    for a well flowing with blood or brimming with water.

  4. لا يُشْبِهُ الْوَالِدُ مَوْلُودَهُ

    مِنْهُمْ وَلا الْمَوْلُودَ مِنْهُمْ أَبُوهْ

    No father resembles his child

    among them, nor any child among them his father.

  5. يَغْلُظُ طَبْعٌ مِنْهُمُ فَاقِدٌ

    مَزِيَّةَ الْعِلْمِ وَوَجْهٌ يَشُوهْ

    Their nature is coarse, bereft

    of the merit of learning, and their faces are ugly.

  6. منْ أَيْنَ يَدْرِي الْفَضْلَ مَعْدُومُهُ

    لا يَعْرِفُ الْمَعْرُوفَ إِلَّا ذَوُوهْ

    How can one who lacks virtue recognize it?

    None knows goodness but those who possess it.

  7. لا تَلْبَثُ الْحِكْمَةُ مَا بَيْنَهُمْ

    وَلا يَرِيثُ الْفَضْلُ حَتَّى يَتُوهْ

    Wisdom does not linger in their midst,

    nor is virtue long in losing its way.

  8. تَظُنُّ بَعْضَ الْقَوْمِ عَلَّامَةً

    وَهْوَ إِذَا يَنْطِقُ هَامٌ يَنُوهْ

    You take one of these people for a great scholar,

    yet when he speaks, he is a hooting owl.

  9. لا تَعْرِفُ الْمَرْءَ بِأَخْلاقِهِ

    فِي غَمْرَةِ الْعَالَمِ حَتَّى يَفُوهْ

    You cannot know a man's character

    amid the world's throng until he speaks.