1. أَتَرضونَ يا أَهلَ بَغداذَ لي

    وَعَنكُم حَديثُ النَدى يُسنَدُ

    Are you content, O people of Baghdad,

    to whom tales of generosity are traced,

  2. بِأَنّي أَرحَلُ عَن أَرضِكُم

    أَجوبُ البِلادَ وَأَستَرفِدُ

    that I should leave your land,

    roaming the countries and seeking aid?

  3. أَلا رَجُلٌ مِنكُم واحِدٌ

    يُحَرِّكُهُ المَجدُ وَالسودَدُ

    Is there not one man among you

    whom glory and noble standing stir,

  4. يُقَلِّدُني مِنَّةً يَستَرِقُّ

    بِها حُرَّ شُكري وَيَستعبِدُ

    who garlands me with a favor, taking captive

    through it my free-born gratitude and enslaving it,

  5. وَيَغضَبُ لي غَضبَةً مُرّةً

    يَعودُ بِها المُصلِحَ المُفسِدُ

    and burns with bitter anger on my behalf,

    turning the wrongdoer into one who sets things right?

  6. لَقَد شانَني أَدَبي بَينَكُم

    كَما شينَ بِاللِحيَةِ الأَمرَدُ

    My literary learning has indeed marred me among you,

    as a beardless youth is marred by a beard.

  7. أَما لي مِنكُم سِوى شِعرُهُ

    رَقيقٌ وَخاطِرُهُ جَيِّدُ

    Have I nothing from you but: 'His poetry

    is delicate, and his imagination is good'?

  8. يَسُرُّكُمُ أَن يُغَنّى

    بِهِ وَيُطرِبُكُم أَنَّهُ يُنشَدُ

    It pleases you to hear singing

    of it, and delights you to hear it recited.

  9. وَأُقسِمُ أَنَّ رَغيفاً لَدَيَّ

    مِن قَولِكُمُ هَيِّداً جَيِّدُ

    And I swear that a loaf, to me,

    is better than your cries of 'Encore!'

  10. أَرى البَحرَ مُعتَرِضاً دونَكُم

    وَما لي عَلى سيفِهِ مَورِدُ

    I see the sea barring my way to you,

    yet on its shore I have no place to draw water.

  11. وَيَبعَدُ خَيرُكُمُ إِن دَنَوتُ

    عَنّي وَالشَرُّ لا يَبعَدُ

    And if I draw near, your bounty moves far

    from me, while harm does not move far.

  12. وَأَشهَدُ في الرَوعِ يَومَ اللِقاءِ

    وَإِن قُسِمَ الفَيءُ لا أَشهَدُ

    I am present amid terror on the day of battle,

    but when the spoils are divided, I am not present.

  13. وَأَغرُسُ مَدحي فَلا أَجتَني

    وَأَزرَعُ شُكري وَلا أَحصُدُ

    I plant my praise, but gather no fruit;

    I sow my gratitude, but reap no harvest.

  14. أَبيعُ ثَنائي وَكُتبي وَلا يَمُدُّ

    إِلَيَّ بِرِفدٍ يَدُ

    I sell my praise and my books, yet no hand is stretched

    toward me with a gift.

  15. وَيوسِعني الدَهرُ ظُلماً وَلا

    أُعانُ عَليهِ وَلا أُنجَدُ

    Time heaps injustice upon me, and I am not

    aided against it, nor given help.

  16. زَمانٌ يُحَنِّقُني صَرفُهُ

    كَأَنَّ حَوادِثَهُ مِبرَدُ

    An age whose turns enrage me,

    as though its calamities were a rasp.

  17. أَما يَنتَبِه لي مِنكُم كَريمٌ

    فَيُسعِفَني فيهِ أَو يُسعِدُ

    Will no generous man among you heed me,

    and come to my aid in it, or support me?

  18. سَأَحتَقِبُ الصَبرَ مُستَأنِياً

    لَعَلَّ عَواقِبَهُ تُحمَدُ

    I shall carry patience in my saddlebag, biding my time,

    perhaps its outcomes will be praised.

  19. وَإِن كَسُدَت سوقُ مَدحي لَكُم

    فَسوقُ الدَفاتِرِ لا تَكسُدُ

    And if the market for my praise of you stagnates,

    the market for books does not stagnate.

  20. وَأَرحَلُ عَنكُم إِلى بَلدَةٍ

    بِها في الشَدائِدِ مَن يَرفِدُ

    And I shall leave you for a town

    where someone offers help in adversity.

  21. أَحِلُّ مَحَلّي مِن أَهلِها

    بِفَضلٍ فيها وَلا يُجحَدُ

    I shall take my place among its people,

    through merit that is not denied there.

  22. إِلى بَلدَةٍ لا تَقومُ الخُطوبُ

    بِالحُرِّ فيها وَلا تَقعَدُ

    To a town where calamities neither raise

    the freeborn man there nor cast him down.

  23. فَماءُ السَماحِ بِها لا يَغيضُ

    وَريحُ المَكارِمِ لا تَركُدُ

    For there the water of generosity never dwindles,

    and the wind of noble deeds never falls still.

  24. وَلا الأَسَدُ الوَردُ فيها يَموتُ

    جوعاً وَلا الكَلبُ يَستَأسِدُ

    Nor does the tawny lion there die

    of hunger, nor does the dog act the lion.

  25. يُسالِمُ أَيّامُها أَهلَها

    فَسَيفُ الخُطوبِ بِها مُغمَدُ

    Its days are at peace with its people,

    so there the sword of calamities is sheathed.

  26. لَحى اللَهُ بِغَداذَ مِن مَوطِنٍ

    بِهِ كُلُّ مَكرُمَةٍ تُفقَدُ

    May God curse Baghdad—a dwelling-place

    in which every noble trait is lost.

  27. هِيَ الدارُ لا ظِلُّ عَيشي بِها

    ظَليلٌ وَلا زَمَني أَغيدُ

    It is the dwelling where my life's shade is not

    sheltering, nor are my days gentle.

  28. نَسيمُ الهَوِيِّ بِها بارِدٌ

    وَسوقُ القَريضِ بِها أَبرَدُ

    The breeze of the air there is cold,

    and the market for poetry there is colder.

  29. وَأَخلاقُ سُكّانِها كَالزُلالِ

    وَلَكِنَّ أَيديهِمُ جَلمَدُ

    Its inhabitants' manners are like clear water,

    but their hands are hard stone.

  30. فَكَفُّ العَوارِفُ مَقبوضَةُ البَنانِ

    وَوَجهُ النَدى أَربَدُ

    So the hand of beneficence has its fingers clenched,

    and the face of generosity is darkened.

  31. وَسُحبُ المَكارِمِ لا تَستَهِلُّ

    وَنارُ المَظالِمِ لا تَخمَدُ

    The clouds of noble deeds do not shed rain,

    and the fire of injustices never dies down.

  32. يُرى كُلَّ يَومٍ بِها سِفلَةٌ

    يَسودُ وَلَمَ يَنمِهِ سودَدُ

    Every day there a base fellow is seen

    rising to lordship, though no nobility nurtured him.

  33. يُناضِلُ مِن دونِهِ وَفرُهُ

    وَيَخذُلُهُ الأَصلُ وَالمَحتِدُ

    His wealth fights on his behalf,

    while his ancestry and lineage fail him.

  34. وَيُعجِبُهُ طيبُ أَثوابِهِ

    وَقَد خَبُثَ الأَصلُ وَالمَولِدُ

    The fineness of his clothes delights him,

    though his ancestry and birth are foul.

  35. يُباري المُلوكَ وَأَفعالُهُ

    بِخِسَّةِ آبائِهِ تَشهَدُ

    He vies with kings, yet his deeds

    bear witness to the baseness of his fathers.

  36. وَيَعنى بِمُبيَضٍّ أَثوابِهِ

    وَوَجهُ الزَمانِ بِهِ أَسوَدُ

    And he takes pains over his clothes' whiteness,

    while the face of time is blackened by him.

  37. فَبَينا تَراهُ عَلى حالَةٍ

    يَرِقُّ لِرِقَّتِها الحُسَّدُ

    So, one moment you see him in a condition

    whose wretchedness moves even the envious to pity;

  38. إِلى أَن تَراهُ وَقَد أَمَّهُ

    الدَواةُ وَمِن خَلفِهِ المُسنَدُ

    then you see him with, set before him,

    an inkwell, and behind him a backrest.

  39. حَلَلتُ بِها كارِهاً لا أَحُلُّ

    إِذا الناسُ حَلّوا وَلا أَعقُدُ

    I settled there unwillingly; I cannot loosen

    when others loosen, nor can I bind.

  40. كَما حَلَّ في قَبضَةِ القَرمَطِيِّ

    تَحيّاتِهِ الحَجَرُ اّلأَسوَدُ

    As there lodged in the Qarmatian's grasp

    the Black Stone—[the phrase 'his greetings' is unclear here].

  41. كَأَنّي لَمّا لَزِمتُ الجُلوسَ

    بِأَكنافِها زَمِنٌ مُقعَدُ

    As though, having kept to sitting

    in its quarters, I were crippled and paralyzed.

  42. يَطولُ المَطالُ عَلى ذِلَّةٍ

    وَمِثلي عَلى الضَيمِ لا يَرقُدُ

    Delay over payment drags on in humiliation,

    and a man like me does not sleep under oppression.

  43. وَلا لي لِلعَزمِ مِن نَهضَةٍ

    يَكونُ سَميري بِها الفَرقَدُ

    Nor is a resolute setting-forth mine,

    on which Farqad would be my companion by night,

  44. يَعَضُّ الحَسودُ بِها كَفَّهُ

    وَمِثلي عَلى مِثلِها يُحسَدُ

    over which the envious man would bite his hand—

    and a man like me is envied for such a thing.