Excerpt from Al-Mutanabbi's poetry_1
If I am impressed with myself,
then it is the self-amazement of one who is truly impressive
Had it not been for toil, all men would have been great
Magnanimity causes poverty, and bravery, death
He who spends all his hours gathering wealth out of fear for poverty
What he has done is indeed poverty
There are hostilities that bring benefit
And friendships that cause injury and pain
The intelligent one, despite all his blessings, suffers
because of his intelligence
And the friend of ignorance,
amid his afflictions, lives in bliss
How many are those who find fault with a true word
while his problem is a faulty understanding
I am the one whose literature is seen by the blind
And whose words are heard by the deaf
Time itself is one of the narrators of my poetry
When I compose a poem, time sings it
The steed, the night and the desert all know me
As do the sword, the spear, the paper and the pen
Abu-Dayyibil Mutanabbi.
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