1. بَكَيْتُ الدِّيارَ وأطلالَها

    وقد بَدَّلَ البينُ تِمثالَها

    I wept for the dwellings and their ruins,

    for separation had altered their likeness.

  2. وأخنى عليها خطوبُ الزمان

    فما خالَها تلم من خالِها

    And time's calamities had laid them waste;

    [The supplied wording of this line is unclear.]

  3. وفي مهجتي للجوى لوعةٌ

    تُقَطِّع بالوَجْد أوصالها

    In my heart is a burning ache of longing

    that tears its limbs apart with passion.

  4. لقد سوَّلَتْ ليَ سَيْلَ الدموع

    فما قلتُ يومئذٍ ما لَها

    It urged me to let my tears flow,

    and that day I did not ask, 'What ails it?'

  5. تذكَّرتُ عصرَ الصبا والهوى

    يُهَيّجُ للنفس بلبابها

    I recalled the days of youth, while love

    stirred the soul in its innermost core,

  6. وما اختلس الدهر من لَذَّةٍ

    لعهدَ الصبابة واغتالها

    and what delight time had stolen

    from the days of longing, and slain.

  7. زمانٌ أُعاقرُ فيه العقار

    وأعصي بِلَهْويَ عذّالها

    A time when I drank wine

    and, in my revelry, defied its reproachers;

  8. وأمشي بها مَرَحاً تستميل

    من السكر بالراح ميَّالَها

    and I walked merrily with it, as it swayed

    its devotee, intoxicated by wine.

  9. وكم غادةٍ في ليالي الوصال

    جَمَعْتُ مع القُرط خِلخالها

    How many a graceful woman, on nights of union,

    whose anklet I brought together with her earring!

  10. وما زلتُ أرشف من ريقها

    لُماها وأشْرَبُ جريالها

    I kept sipping her saliva

    from her dusky lips, and drinking her crimson wine.

  11. لئِنْ كانَ ريقك يحيي النفوس

    فقد كانَ لحظُك قتّالها

    If your saliva brought souls to life,

    your glance was indeed their slayer.

  12. وساقيةٍ عمَّها حُسْنُها

    بجنحِ دُجًى قد حكى خالها

    And a cupbearer, all suffused with beauty,

    beneath night's wing, its darkness like her beauty spot,

  13. تديرُ النضار بكأس اللجين

    فتحكي المصابيحَ سيّالها

    passed gold around in a cup of silver,

    its flowing wine shining like lamps.

  14. كُمَيْتاً تجولُ بمضمارها

    جآذرُ تَصْرَعُ أبطالها

    A dark-red wine, in whose racecourse roam

    wild-ox calves that lay its champions low.

  15. فيا طيب معسول ذاك اللمى

    إذا هَصَرَ الصَبُّ عسَّالها

    How sweet the honeyed savor of those dusky lips,

    when the passionate lover bends her supple, swaying form!

  16. ولستُ بناسٍ لها ما مضى

    وإنْ كنتُ أعْمَلْتُ إهمالها

    I have not forgotten what passed with her,

    though I have practiced neglect of her,

  17. ولياليَ لم أبد تفصيلها

    إذا أنا أبديتُ إجمالها

    nor nights whose details I have not revealed,

    even when I have given their outline.

  18. وأُبْتُ لمشبهة في المسير

    زفيفَ النَّعامة أو رالها

    I returned to one whose gait resembled

    the swift stride of an ostrich or its chick.

  19. كأنِّي تَكلَّفْتُ مَسحاً بها

    عروضَ البلاد وأطوالها

    It was as though I undertook on it to survey

    the breadths and lengths of the lands.

  20. طويتُ القفار وخُضْتُ البحار

    ورُضْتُ الخطوبَ وأهوالها

    I crossed the wastes and plunged through seas,

    and tamed calamities and their terrors.

  21. وجرَّبْتُ أبناءَ هذا الزمان

    وعَرَّفني الدهرُ أحوالها

    I tested the people of this age,

    and time acquainted me with their ways.

  22. وإنِّي لَذاكَ الَّذي تَعْرِفونَ

    حَمَلْتُ المروءة أثقالها

    Indeed, I am the man you know:

    I have borne chivalry's burdens.

  23. وإنْ قلَّ ما في يدي لم أكنْ

    لأشكو من العصر إقلالها

    Though the means in my hand grew scant, I was not one

    to complain against the age for their scarcity.

  24. وإن أنا أتربتُ فالمكرمات

    تُحدِّثُ بأنِّيَ فَعَّالَها

    And if I fell into poverty, noble deeds

    would testify that I performed them.

  25. وحَسْبك من ذي يدٍ أصبَحْت

    تطولُ ولا ذو يدٍ طالها

    Enough for you is one whose generous hand now

    reaches far, beyond the reach of any other's.

  26. وإنْ أعْضَلَتْ مشكلاتُ الأمور

    أزال وفسَّر إشكالها

    And when the complexities of affairs proved intractable,

    he dispelled and explained their difficulty.

  27. وقافية من شرود الكلام

    بأخبار سلمان قد قالها

    And a rhyme drawn from elusive words—

    he uttered it, telling of Salman,

  28. وأرْسَلَها مثلاً في الثناء

    وخَصَّ بمن شاءَ إرسالها

    and sent it forth as a model of praise,

    reserving its delivery for whom he wished.

  29. فتًى يقتفي إثرَ آبائه

    وحاكَتْ مزاياه أفعالها

    A youth who follows in his fathers' footsteps,

    whose virtues mirror their deeds.

  30. تنال من الله نعمَ الثوابُ

    وتُنْفِقُ لله أموالَها

    They gain from God an excellent reward

    and spend their wealth for God's sake.

  31. تَفَجَّر من راحتيه النَّدى

    وأوْرَدَ من شاءَ سلسالها

    Bounty gushed from his two palms,

    and he led whom he wished to its sweet, flowing waters.

  32. من السَّادة النُجُبِ الطاهرين

    تَزينُ العصورَ وأجيالها

    He is of the noble, pure lords

    who adorn the ages and their generations.

  33. لقد طهَّر الله تلك الذوات

    وأجرى على الخير أعمالها

    God has indeed purified those souls

    and directed their deeds toward goodness.

  34. بني الغَوثِ غوث فحول الرجا

    ل إذا اشتدَّ بالناس ما هالها

    Sons of al-Ghawth, succor to mighty men,

    when what terrifies people bears hard upon them.

  35. وأفعالُها في جميع الصَّنيع

    من البِرِّ تَسْبِقُ أقوالها

    Their deeds, in every undertaking

    of goodness, outstrip their words.

  36. فما زلتُ أذكر تفضيلها

    وما زلت أشكر إفضالها

    I have never ceased to speak of their preeminence,

    and never ceased to thank them for their bounty.

  37. بكم يُستغاث إذا ما الخطوب

    أهالت على الخلق أهوالها

    Through you aid is sought whenever calamities

    heap their terrors upon creation.

  38. فكنتُم من النَّاس أقطابها

    وكنْتُم من النَّاس أبدالها

    You were mankind's spiritual poles,

    and you were mankind's abdal saints.

  39. فَلَو خَلَتِ الأرض من مثلكم

    لزُلْزِلَتْ الأرض زلزالها

    Were the earth emptied of men like you,

    the earth would be shaken by its own earthquake.

  40. أبا مصطفى أَنْتَ صوبُ الغمام

    ويا ربَّما فُقْتَ هطالها

    Abu Mustafa, you are the downpour from the clouds,

    and, oh, how often you have surpassed their torrents!

  41. وقد نَفَقَتْ فيك سوق القريض

    وكان نوالُك دَلاّلها

    And poetry's market has flourished through you,

    and your bounty has been its broker.

  42. ولما بَلَغْتُ المنى في العُلى

    وبَلَّغْتُ نفسي آمالها

    And when I attained my wishes in high station

    and brought my soul to its hopes,

  43. أتَتْك النقابة تسعى إليك

    تجرُّ من التيه أذيالَها

    the office of naqib came hastening to you,

    trailing its skirts in pride.

  44. وألْقَتْ إليكَ مقاليدها

    وأبْدَتْ لعزّك إذلالها

    It cast its keys before you

    and showed its submission to your glory:

  45. وراثة آبائك الطاهرين

    فما أحَدٌ غيرهم نالها

    an inheritance from your pure forefathers,

    which none but they had attained.

  46. عليكم وفيكم ومنكم نرى

    وجوهَ السَّعادة إقبالها

    Upon you, within you, and from you we see

    the faces of good fortune coming forward.

  47. إذا لم تكنْ أَنْتَ أهلاً لها

    من الأنجبين فمن ذا لها

    If you are not worthy of it,

    among the noblest, who then is?

  48. فقد نلتَ ما لم ينله سواك

    فضائل نشكر أفضالها

    You have attained what no other has attained:

    virtues for whose blessings we give thanks.

  49. كلامك يشفي صدور الرِّجال

    ويرضي الملوكَ وعمّالها

    Your words heal the breasts of men

    and please kings and their officials.

  50. وحيثُ أخلَّت بها خُلَّةٌ

    سَدَدْتَ برأيك إخلالها

    Wherever a failing has impaired them,

    you have repaired its breach with your judgment.

  51. وكم يدٍ لك في الصالحات

    سَبَقْتَ من البرّ أمثالها

    How many a beneficent hand of yours in good works—

    in goodness you have surpassed its like!

  52. وإنْ أغْلَقَتْ بابها المكرمات

    فإنَّك تَفْتَحُ أقفالها

    And if noble deeds shut their door,

    you open their locks.