وصاحب من بني النجار عمته

كأنما هي باراشوت طيار

And a friend from Banu al-Najjar, whose turban

Is like a pilot's parachute,

يرى مواعظه وقفاً على أذني

وأن رأس التقى زجري وإنذاري

Thinks his admonitions are an endowment for my ear,

And that the height of piety is rebuking and warning me.

كأن عمان لم تعرف أخا طرب

غيري يحج إلى حانوت خمار

As though Amman had known no lover of revelry

Other than me, making pilgrimage to a wine seller's shop.

يا شيخ حسبك أدنى الإثم منزلة

من رحمة اللّه ما تدعوه أوزاري

O sheikh, enough! Nearest among sins in rank

To God's mercy are those you call my sins.

الناس قالوا وهبهم يا أخي غرقوا

فيما يخوضون من شتم وإهجار

People have spoken—and suppose, my brother, they have drowned

In the abuse and foul speech they wade through:

فما لأهوائهم شأن يزيد على

شأن الأثافي بين القدر والنار

So their whims have no greater standing than

That of the hearthstones between the pot and the fire,

تثاب بالحرق من حمل يجشمها

سخامه سحنة سوداء كالقار

Rewarded with burning for a load whose

Soot saddles them with a complexion black as tar.