1. قالوا رَضيتَ قلتُ ما أجَدَى الغَضَبْ

    ما غالبَ الدهرُ فتىً إلا غَلَبْ

    They said, 'You are content.' I said, 'What good has anger done?'

    Time has never contended with a young man without defeating him.

  2. كيف أبالي قُبْحَ ما خيَّبني

    إذا علمتُمْ كيفَ أجملتُ الطلَبْ

    How should I care about the ugliness of what disappointed me,

    when you know how graciously I made my request?

  3. إذا أجتهدتُ لم يَعبْني فعلُهُ

    ما لم يَجِبْ وما قَضَيتُ ما وَجَبْ

    If I have striven, I am not disgraced by his doing

    what was not due, so long as I have discharged what was due.

  4. يلومني على الهُزال راتعٌ

    يحسَبُ ما أسمنَهُ مما أكتسبْ

    One grazing at ease reproaches me for my leanness,

    thinking that what fattened him came from what he earned.

  5. ومن يَرَأْ مِن بِلَّة الخِصْبِ دَرَى

    أنّ الحظوظَ منحةٌ بلا سَبَبْ

    And whoever sees some moisture of abundance knows

    that fortunes are a gift without a cause.

  6. للّه ما أبضرَني بزَمَني

    لو سَلِمَ المَجلومُ من عَيْبِ الأزبّْ

    By God, how clearly I see my times—

    if only the shorn were spared the shaggy one's reproach!

  7. جَنبايَ للحَمْلِ وجاء لائما

    أملسُ لم يَقْمِص لعضَّات القَتَبْ

    My two flanks bear the load, yet there came to reproach me

    a smooth-skinned one who never bucked at the pack-saddle's bites.

  8. جرِّبْ كما جرَّبتُ في الناس تجِدْ

    أصدقَ ظنِّك الذي فيهم كذبْ

    Test people as I have tested them, and you will find

    your truest belief about them to be a lie.

  9. تستحفل الضَّرعَ فإن لامستَه

    عاد بَكِيئاً جلدُه بلا حلَبْ

    You deem the udder full; yet if you touch it,

    its skin turns milkless, with no milk to draw.

  10. إنك ما أستعففتَ أنتَ المُجْتَبَي

    وما نطفت فأنتَ المُجْتَنَبْ

    So long as you refrain from asking, you are the chosen one;

    and once you are tainted, you are the shunned one.

  11. نذيرةٌ فلو قبلتَ نُصحَها

    تَوقَّ مَن تأمنُ وأهجرْ مَن تُحِبّْ

    A warning—if only you would accept its counsel:

    beware of those you trust, and forsake those you love.

  12. كم من أخٍ ملأتُ كَفَّىَّ به

    أحسبُ في الوفاء غيرَ ما حسبْ

    How many a brother I filled both my hands with,

    thinking of loyalty otherwise than he thought!

  13. حَمَلتُه أطوى حياءً عيبَهُ

    كما حملت جلديك الجربْ

    I bore him, hiding his fault out of shame,

    as your two hides bore the mange.

  14. وحالياتٍ من جَمالٍ ونَسَبْ

    نفَّرهُنّ عَطَلى من النشبْ

    And women adorned with beauty and lineage—

    my being bare of wealth drove them away.

  15. بَكَرْنَ إشفاقاً يعبنَ مَقعَدي

    على الخمول ما لهذا لا يثبْ

    They came early, out of concern, faulting my sitting

    in obscurity: 'Why does this man not leap up?

  16. نراه تحتاً ونرى مَنْ تحتَه

    في الفضل فَوْقاً يا لَهذا مِن عَجَبْ

    We see him below, and see those beneath him

    in merit above him—how astonishing!

  17. أَمَا جَنَى خيرا له آدابُهُ

    أعاذكُنَّ اللّهُ مِن شرِّ الأدبْ

    Have his accomplishments yielded him no good?'

    May God shelter you from the harm of learning!

  18. هو الذي أخَّرني مَشَارفَ ال

    سبق فأظمَا شفتي على القَرَبْ

    It is what held me back at the approaches to

    victory, and made my lips thirst while water lay near.

  19. لا تغْتَرِرنَ بابن أيّوبَ إذا

    أُعْجِبَ منه بالصفايا والنُّخَبْ

    Do not be deceived by Ibn Ayyub when

    his choicest and finest qualities inspire admiration.

  20. فإنه ممَّن ترينَ واحدٌ

    وليس كلُّ معدنٍ عرقَ الذهبْ

    For he is unique among those you see,

    and not every mine is a vein of gold.

  21. يطلبه قومٌ وما أجتهادهم

    في حلبةٍ مُدركُ رأسٍ بذَنَبْ

    Others pursue him, but their striving

    in the race cannot make a tail catch the head.

  22. أكلُّ من تشجَّرتْ نسبَتُهُ

    صحَّ له البطنانِ من خالٍ وأبْ

    Does everyone whose lineage branches out

    have both family lines sound, through maternal uncle and father,

  23. وساعدَتْهُ يدُهُ ونفسُهُ

    بالفضل والبذل فسادَ ووَهَبْ

    and the aid of his hand and his soul

    in merit and bounty, so that he becomes a lord and gives?

  24. تزحزحوا فليس من أوطانكم

    للأسَد الوَرْدِ عن الغاب الأَشِبْ

    Withdraw—for this is no haunt of yours—

    from the tangled thicket, making way for the tawny lion.

  25. ولا يروقَنَّكُمُ تشادُقٌ

    فتحسبون كلَّ مَن قالَ خَطَبْ

    Do not let pompous speech impress you,

    so that you suppose everyone who speaks has delivered an oration.

  26. دَعُواقنا الأقلامِ إن نكصتُمُ

    لحاذقِ الطعنِ إذا شاء كَتَبْ

    Leave the pen-spears, if you retreat,

    to a master of the thrust, who writes when he wishes,

  27. من تاركي السيوفِ وهْي زُبَرٌ

    شدائدٌ أسرَى لجزّارِ القَصَبْ

    one of those who leave swords—though they are masses of iron,

    hard and strong—captive to a butcher of reeds.

  28. قومٌ إذا نار الوغى شَبَّتْ لهم

    كتائبا فَلُّوا شَباها بالكُتُبْ

    A people who, when battle's fire blazes against them

    in battalions, blunt its sharp edges with books.

  29. إن شووِروا لم يَعجيلوا أو سُئلوا

    لم يَقِفوا تلفُّتاً إلى العُقُبْ

    If consulted, they do not hurry; or, if questioned,

    they do not pause to look behind them.

  30. لا ظَهرهُمْ لِغِيَبةٍ إن ذُكروا

    يوما ولا مِلحهُمُ على الرُّكَبْ

    Their backs are no target for slander, if they are mentioned

    one day, nor is their salt upon their knees.

  31. وقَصَّ آثارَهُمُ محمدٌ

    شهادةٌ إِنَّ النجيبَ أبنُ النُّجُبْ

    And Muhammad followed in their footsteps:

    a testimony that the noble is the son of nobles.

  32. فلا تَزَلْ نوافذٌ صوائبٌ

    يُصمَى بها الحاسدُ أو يَرضَى المحبُّ

    May piercing, unerring shafts never cease,

    by which the envier is slain or the loving admirer pleased,

  33. ما شُكِرتْ صنيعةٌ أو ظَهَرتْ

    مودّةٌ خالصةٌ من الرِّيَبْ

    as long as a favor is thanked, or there appears

    an affection free of suspicion,

  34. وأختلف النيروزُ والعيدُ وما

    توافقا في بُعُدٍ ولا قُرُبْ

    and Nowruz and Eid alternate, never

    coinciding, whether far apart or near.

  35. تأخذ ما تشاء من حظَّيْهما

    مقترحاً محتكما وتَنْتَصِبْ

    You take whatever you wish from the shares of both,

    choosing freely, commanding, and standing tall.

  36. وزائراتٍ طَيَّبَتْ أعطافَها

    منك بذكرٍ لو عَدَاك لم تَطِبْ

    And visiting maidens who have perfumed their flanks

    with mention of you—had it passed you by, they would not be fragrant—

  37. جَوارياً مع الرياح بالذي

    أوليتَ أو سَوارياً مع السُّحُبْ

    coursing with the winds, bearing what

    you bestowed, or journeying by night with the clouds.

  38. كلُّ فتاةٍ قرّ لي شِمَاسُها

    وذَلَّ في فوديَّ منها ما صَعُبْ

    Every maiden whose unruliness has stilled for me,

    and whose stubbornness has yielded at my two temples,

  39. تلقاك نفسا حرّةً من فارسٍ

    بنتَ الملوكِ وفماً من العَرَبْ

    meets you with a freeborn soul from Persia,

    a daughter of kings, and a mouth from the Arabs.

  40. تُروَى فلو أطربَ شيءٌ نفْسَهُ

    لق سمعتَ من قوافيها الطرَبْ

    She is recited; if anything could enrapture itself,

    you would surely hear rapture from her rhymes.

  41. أَضحَى وراحَ حاسدي إن قلتُها

    وحاسدوك إن علوتَ في تَعَبْ

    Morning and evening, my envier—if I recite her—

    and your enviers—if you rise—are in distress.