Ode CXVI: O Jubail, verily thy father's day

O Jubail, verily thy father's day is drawing in : so when thou art called to great deeds, make haste !

I leave with thee the testament of a man who counsels thee with sincerity, skilled in the deceitfulness of Fortune and not heedless thereof.

God — fear Him and fulfil thy vows to Him ! and when thou swearest while hotly contending, leave an opening in thine oath for withdrawal.

And the guest — honour him! his night's entertainment is a thing due: become not an object of cursing to those who alight [at other men's tents] ;

And know that the guest carries news to his people of his night's lodging, even though he be not asked thereof.

Let alone biting speech whether to friends or to others, lest they look upon thee as one of the vile-natured, to be shunned by men ;

And cleave to him who would cleave to thee so long as his love for thee is sincere : but beware of entering into bonds with the treacherous and the fickle.

Leave thou an evil place — dwell not therein ; and when an abode becomes irksome to thee, remove elsewhere :

The abode of contempt belongs to him that chooses to dwell there : is he that departs from it like him that budges not ?

And when thou hast in thy mind to do an evil thing, be slow about it : but when thou meditatest a good deed, do it and delay not !

When there reach thee from the enemy biting words, give him the like in return, and say not — ' I did it not ! '

When thou fallest into poverty, grovel not, waiting upon the generosity of him who is not liberal.

When thou facest a people, bestir thyself among them, so that they may look upon thee as one to be left alone, like the mangy camel anointed with pitch.

Be self-sufficing so long as thy Lord endows theo with the means thereto, and when straitness comes upon thee, bear it with a good face.

Let thy calmness work deliberately in all of life's affairs : but when thou hast resolved upon anything that thou desirest, give thy whole mind thereto ;

And whenever two ways of action are intertwined in thy heart, choose that one of them which is the seemlier and more honourable.

When thou lightest upon those who are quick to practise liberality, with their hands dusty in a clay-bottom stricken with drought,

Help thou them, and engage in Maisir for that for which they play ; and when they go down into a strait place, go thou too down with them.