1. بارقٌ لاح فأبكاني ابتساما

    نبَّه الشَّوقُ من الصبِّ وناما

    A lightning flash gleamed; its smile made me weep.

    It roused the lovesick lover's longing, then slept.

  2. ولمن أشكو على برح الهوى

    كبداً حرَّى وقلباً مستهاما

    To whom can I complain, amid love's torment,

    of a burning liver and a heart crazed with love?

  3. ويح قلبٍ لَعِبَ الوجد به

    ورمته أعين الغيد سهاما

    Alas for a heart that passion has toyed with,

    and graceful beauties' eyes have shot with arrows.

  4. دنف لولا تباريح الجوى

    وما شكا من صحَّة الوجد سقاما

    He is wasted—were it not for yearning's torments,

    he would not have complained of sickness from passion's vigor.

  5. ما بكى إلاَّ جرتْ أدمُعُه

    فوق خدَّيه سفوحاً وانسجاما

    He never weeps without his tears running

    over both his cheeks, pouring and streaming.

  6. وبما يسفح من عبرته

    بلَّ كمّيه وما بلَّ أواما

    And with the tears he pours,

    he wets both sleeves but does not quench his thirst.

  7. ففؤادي والجوى في صبوتي

    لا يَمَلاَّن جدالاً وخصاما

    Thus my heart and inward yearning, in my infatuation,

    never tire of argument and quarrelling.

  8. ليتَ من قد حرموا طيب الكرى

    أذنوا يوماً لعيني أن تناما

    Would that those who denied me sweet slumber

    would one day allow my eyes to sleep.

  9. مَنَعونا أن نراهم يقظة

    ما عليهم لو رأيناهم مناما

    They forbade us to see them while awake;

    what harm would it do them if we saw them in dreams?

  10. قَسَماً بالحبِّ واللّوم وإنْ

    كنتُ لا أسمع في الحبِّ ملاما

    I swear by love and reproach, although

    I heed no reproach where love is concerned,

  11. والعيون البابليَّات الَّتي

    ما أحلَّت من دمي إلاَّ حراما

    and by those Babylonian eyes which

    made lawful only the forbidden shedding of my blood,

  12. وفؤادٌ كلَّما قلت استفق

    يا فؤادي مرَّةً زادَ هياما

    and by a heart that, whenever I say, “Awake,

    my heart, for once!” grows yet more crazed with love:

  13. إنَّ لي فيكم ومنكم لوعةً

    أنْحَلَتْ بل أوْهَنَتْ منِّي العظاما

    I have, for you and because of you, a burning grief

    that has wasted—nay, weakened—my bones.

  14. وعليكم عبرتي مهراقة

    كلَّما ناوحت في الأَيك حماما

    And for you my tears are shed

    whenever I exchange laments with doves in the thicket.

  15. ومتى يذكرُكم لي ذاكرٌ

    قعدَ القلب لذكراكم وقاما

    Whenever someone speaks of you to me,

    my heart sits down and rises at your remembrance.

  16. يا خليليَّ ومن لي أنْ أرى

    بعد ذلك الصَّدع للشَّمل التئاما

    O my two friends, who can let me see,

    after that rupture, our company reunited?

  17. أحسِب العامَ لديكم ساعةً

    وأرى بَعْدَكم السَّاعة عاما

    I count a year with you as an hour,

    and after you are gone, an hour seems a year.

  18. لم يدمْ عيشٌ لنا في ظلِّكم

    أيّ عيش قبله كانَ فداما

    Our life in your shade did not endure;

    what life before it ever endured?

  19. حيث سالمنا على القرب النوى

    وأخذنا العهد منها والذماما

    Where we made peace with separation on terms of nearness,

    and took from it a covenant and a pledge.

  20. ورضعنا من أفاويق الطلا

    وكرهنا بعد عامين الفطاما

    And we suckled on successive draughts of wine,

    and after two years hated being weaned.

  21. أترى أنَّ الهوى ذاك الهوى

    والندامى بعدنا تلك الندامى

    Do you think love is still that same love,

    and the drinking companions, after us, those same companions?

  22. كلَّما هبَّت صبا قلتُ لها

    بلِّغيهم يا صبا نجد السَّلاما

    Whenever an east wind blows, I tell it:

    “Carry my greetings to them, O east wind of Najd.”

  23. وبنفسي ظالمٌ لا يتَّقي

    حوبة المضنى ولا يخشى أثاما

    My life would ransom a tyrant who does not shun

    the sin of wronging the wasted lover, nor fear its punishment.

  24. ما قضى حقًّا لمفتون به

    ربَّما يقضي وما يقضي مراما

    He has never honored the right of one bewitched by him;

    perhaps he will, yet he fulfills no desire.

  25. لو ترشَّفتُ لماه لم أجد

    في الحشا ناراً ولو هبَّت ضراما

    Had I sipped his dusky lips, I would not have found

    a fire in my breast, even if it flared into a blaze.

  26. ولأطفأت لظى نار الجوى

    ولعفت الماء عذباً والمداما

    I would have quenched the blaze of yearning's fire,

    and spurned both sweet water and wine.

  27. شدَّ ما مرَّ جفاً مستعذب

    من عذابي فيه ما كانَ غراما

    How bitter the cruelty once savored has grown,

    in my torment for him, in what had been ardent love!

  28. لا سُقيتنَّ الحيا من إِبلٍ

    تقطع البيد بطاحاً وآكاما

    May you never be watered by rain, you camels

    that cross the deserts, their plains and hills.

  29. قذفتها بالنوى أيدي السّرى

    في مواميها عراقاً وشآما

    The hands of night travel hurled them into separation

    through its trackless wastes, toward Iraq and al-Sham.

  30. ورمتها أسهم البين فمن

    مُهَجٍ تُرمى وعيسٍ تترامى

    The arrows of parting struck them: how many

    hearts are shot, and pale camels race onward!

  31. وقد بلونا النَّاس في أحوالها

    وعرفناهم كراماً ولئاما

    We have tested people in their various circumstances,

    and known them as noble and base.

  32. وشربناهم نميراً سائغاً

    وزعافاً وأكلناهم طعاما

    We have drunk them as pure, palatable water,

    and deadly poison, and eaten them as food.

  33. فمحالٌ أن ترى عينٌ رأت

    كحسام الدِّين للدِّين حساما

    So no eye that has seen could ever behold

    a sword for the faith like Husam al-Din.

  34. إنْ تجرِّده على الدهر يدٌ

    فَلَقَتْ من خطبه هاماً فهاما

    If a hand unsheathes him against Time,

    it cleaves the heads of its calamities, head after head.

  35. من سيوف الله لا تبصر في

    حدِّه الماضي فلولاً وانثلاما

    One of God's swords—you will not see in

    his keen edge any nicks or chipping.

  36. جوهر أودَعَهُ الله به

    لم يكن يقبل في النَّاس انقساما

    An essence God placed within him

    would not admit division among mankind.

  37. نظرت عيناي منه أروعاً

    طيب العنصر والقرم الهماما

    My eyes have seen in him an awe-inspiring man,

    noble in origin, a valiant chief,

  38. من كرامٍ سادةٍ لم يُخلَقوا

    بين أشراف الورى إلاَّ كراما

    from noble lords who were not created

    among the world's highborn save as noble men.

  39. رقَّ حتَّى خِلْتَه من رقَّة

    أرج الشِّيح وأنفاس الخزامى

    He grew so gentle that, for sheer gentleness, I thought him

    the fragrance of wormwood and the breath of lavender,

  40. أو كما هبَّت صبا في روضةٍ

    تنبت الرند صباحاً والثماما

    or like an east wind blowing through a garden

    where laurel and thumam grass sprout in the morning.

  41. ثابتُ الفكرة في آرائه

    يظهر الصّبح كما يخفي الظَّلاما

    Steadfast in thought and in his judgments,

    he reveals the dawn as he conceals the darkness.

  42. وإذا ما قوَّم المعوجّ في

    رأيه العالي من الأَمر استقاما

    Whenever he straightens what is crooked through

    his lofty judgment in an affair, it stands straight.

  43. يوم تعرى البيض من أغمادها

    وبه يكسي الفريقين القتاما

    On the day white blades are bared from their scabbards,

    and through him both sides are cloaked in battle-dust,

  44. في نهارٍ مثل مسودّ الدُّجى

    تلبس الشَّمس من النَّقع لثاما

    in a day like the blackest night,

    the sun wears a veil of dust.

  45. وإذا ما أشرق النَّادي به

    أشرق النَّادي به بدراً تماما

    Whenever the assembly shines with his presence,

    the assembly shines with him, a perfect full moon.

  46. لم يضِمه من زمان طارق

    عزّ جاراً وجواراً أنْ يضاما

    No visiting calamity of Time has oppressed him;

    too mighty, as neighbor and protector, to be oppressed.

  47. قد وَجدنا عهده في ودّه ال

    عروة الوثقى فقلنا لا انفصاما

    We have found his pledge of affection to be the

    firmest handhold, and said, “It shall not break.”

  48. شمل النَّاس فأغنى بِرُّه

    وكذا البحر إذا البحر تطامى

    He embraced the people, and his kindness enriched them;

    and so does the sea when the sea swells.

  49. بأبي أنتَ وأُمي ماجد

    في سماوات المعالي يتسامى

    May my father and mother ransom you, noble man,

    who rises in the heavens of lofty achievement.

  50. شيّد الفضل وأعلى قدرهُ

    بعد أنْ أصبحَ أطلالاً رماما

    He built up excellence and raised its stature

    after it had become ruins and decayed remains.

  51. وكفت يمناهُ بالويلِ ندًى

    فكفتنا الغيث سقياً والغماما

    His right hand dripped bounty amid woe,

    so it spared us the need for rain and clouds to water us.

  52. حاكمٌ بالعدل علويُّ الثنا

    عن عليٍّ قام بالحكم مقاما

    A just ruler, Ali-like in renown,

    standing in Ali's stead in judgment.

  53. إنَّما البصرة في أيَّامه

    أعجبت من سارَ عنها أو أقاما

    Indeed, Basra in his days

    has delighted whoever left it or stayed.

  54. أفصحت عن أخرسٍ فيك له

    من قريض النثر نثراً ونظاما

    You have given voice to al-Akhras, the mute, who has for you

    poetic prose, in prose and in verse.

  55. عربيَّات القوافي غررٌ

    نصبت قلة المجد خياما

    Arabic-rhymed verses, radiant beauties,

    have pitched tents upon the summit of glory.

  56. شاعرٌ يهوى معاليك وفي

    كلِّ وادٍ من مديح فيك هاما

    A poet who loves your lofty achievements, and in

    every valley of praise for you has wandered in rapture.

  57. يا حسام الدِّين يا هذا الَّذي

    أشكر اليوم أياديه الجساما

    O Husam al-Din, O you whose

    great favors I gratefully acknowledge today,

  58. فتفضَّل وتقبَّل كلّ ما

    جمعت فيك من الحقِّ كلاما

    be gracious and accept all that

    I have gathered in words of truth about you,

  59. وثناء طيِّباً طابَ بكم

    ينعشُ الرُّوح افتتاحاً وختاما

    and fine praise, made sweet through you,

    that revives the soul at its opening and its close.