1. أسرَّكَ من بادٍ لعَيْنَيْك حاضرِ

    طُروقُ خيال من أُميمَة زائرِ

    Did the sight of one appearing, present before your eyes, delight you—

    a phantom visitor from Umaymah coming by night?

  2. سرى ليبلّ المستهام غليله

    ويشهدُ ما بين الحشا والضمائر

    It traveled by night to quench the love-stricken one's thirst

    and witness what lies within the breast and hidden thoughts.

  3. وإنْ كانَ لم يغن الخيال ولم يكنْ

    ليشفي جوًى في الحبِّ من وصل هاجر

    Though the phantom brought no relief and could not

    heal love's burning grief through union with a forsaking lover.

  4. سَلا من سَلا قبلي وما كنتُ سالياً

    وعيشك ما مرَّ السُّلُوُّ بخاطري

    Others before me forgot their love, but I have not forgotten;

    by your life, forgetting has never crossed my mind.

  5. وهيهات أن أسلو عن المجد بالهوى

    وأصبو إلى غير العُلى والمفاخر

    Far be it that passion should make me forget glory

    or yearn for anything but lofty rank and honors.

  6. وأقتحم الأمر المهول وما العُلى

    بغير العوالي والسُّيوف البواتر

    I plunge into the terrifying ordeal; lofty rank is not won

    without tall lances and keen-cleaving swords.

  7. ألا ثكلت أُمُّ الجبان وليدها

    ولا قررت منه بعين وناظر

    Ah, may the coward's mother be bereaved of her child,

    and never find in him delight for eye or gaze,

  8. إذا كشف عن ساقها الحرب في الوغى

    ودارت على أبطالها بالدوائر

    when war bares its shin amid battle

    and turns against its champions with calamities.

  9. فنَلْ ما تَمنَّى عند مشتجر القنا

    فَنَيْلُ الأَماني بالقنا المتشاجر

    Win what you wish where the lances intertwine;

    for wishes are won through interlocking lances.

  10. وخاطرْ بنفسٍ لا أبا لك حرَّةٍ

    فما يبلُغ الآمالَ غيرُ المخاطر

    Risk your freeborn soul—may you have no father!—

    for none but the daring attain their hopes.

  11. كما بلغا في المجد أبناءُ راشدٍ

    مكان الدراري والنُّجوم الزَّواهر

    Just as Rashid's sons both attained, in glory,

    the station of radiant orbs and shining stars.

  12. فمن يطلبُ العلياءَ فليطليَنّها

    برأفةِ منصورٍ وسطوة ناصر

    Whoever seeks exalted rank, let him coat it

    with Mansur's compassion and Nasir's might.

  13. هما ما هما في الرجال سواهما

    إذا عُدَّتِ الأَشراف بين العشائر

    Those two—what men they are! None else among men is their like,

    when the nobles are counted among the clans.

  14. رجالُ المنايا إذ يشبُّ ضرامها

    بداهيةٍ دهياء ترمي بثائر

    Men of death, when its blaze flares up

    with a dire calamity that strikes an avenger.

  15. وهم مُورِدوها والسُّيوف مناهل

    مواردَ حتف ما لها من مصادر

    They lead it to water, with swords for drinking pools—

    pools of death from which there is no return.

  16. وإنَّ بني السّعدون بالجود والنَّدى

    لأشبَهُ شيءٍ بالبحور الزَّواخر

    Indeed, the sons of al-Sa'dun, in bounty and generosity,

    are the closest likeness to surging seas.

  17. فما وَلَدَتْ أُمُّ المعالي لهم أخاً

    وقد خابَ من يرجو نتاج العواقر

    The mother of noble deeds has borne them no brother;

    those hoping for offspring from barren women are disappointed.

  18. أرى النَّاس إلاَّ آل سعيدون أُمَّةً

    تُعَدُّ من الأَحياء موتى المقابر

    I see all people, save the house of Sa'idun, as a community

    counted among the living, yet the dead of graveyards.

  19. أباحوا نداهم للعُفاة وحرَّموا

    على جارهم للدهر سطوة جائر

    They made their bounty freely available to petitioners and forbade

    any tyrant's assault upon their neighbor, for all time.

  20. لقد أُشْرِبَتْ حُبّ المعالي صدورهم

    هنيًّا مريًّا غير داءٍ مخامر

    Their breasts have indeed drunk deep of love for noble deeds,

    pleasant and wholesome, not a disease lurking within.

  21. وإنِّي متى عرَّضتُ يوماً بمدحهم

    وأوْرَدْتُ ما أوْرَدْتُهُ من خواطري

    And whenever, on some day, I allude to their praise

    and bring forth what I bring forth from my thoughts,

  22. إذا قلتُ قولاً كنتُ أصدق قائل

    وإنْ قلتُ شعراً كنتُ أشعر شاعر

    if I utter a saying, I am the truest speaker;

    and if I utter verse, I am the most poetic poet.

  23. ولو علم السُّلطان إقدامَ ناصر

    لما استنصر السُّلطان إلاَّ بناصر

    Had the Sultan known Nasir's boldness,

    the Sultan would have sought aid from none but Nasir.

  24. همامٌ أباد المفسدين ودمَّرَتْ

    صوارمه من طلّ باغ وفاجر

    A hero who annihilated the corrupters and wrought destruction;

    his keen swords spilled the unavenged blood of rebel and sinner.

  25. وقلَّم أظفار الخطوب فلم تَصُلْ

    بأنياب أحداث ولا بأَظافر

    He clipped the claws of calamities, so they could not pounce

    with the fangs of misfortunes, nor with claws.

  26. فليس ببدعٍ أن تراه لدى الوغى

    بأشجع من ليث بخفَّان خادر

    It is no marvel to see him amid battle

    braver than a lion in its lair at Khaffan.

  27. يسافرُ عنه الصيت شرقاً ومغرباً

    مقيمٌ على الإِحسان غير مسافر

    His fame travels east and west,

    while he remains devoted to kindness, never traveling.

  28. يحدِّثُ راويه عن البأس والندى

    ويأتيك من أخباره بالنوادر

    The teller of his fame speaks of valor and bounty

    and brings you wondrous tales from his deeds.

  29. وما نامَ عن قوم تكفَّل حفظها

    وقد باتَ يرعاها بأعين ساهر

    He never slept heedless of a people whose protection he pledged,

    but spent the night watching over them with a wakeful man's eyes.

  30. إذا جَرَّدَتْ يُمناه عضباً يمانياً

    كساه نجيعاً من نجيع الخناجر

    When his right hand unsheathed a keen Yemeni sword,

    he clothed it in gore, of the gore that daggers shed.

  31. وإنْ كَتَبَتْ أيديه في الجود حُرِّرَتْ

    بياض العطايا من سواد المحابر

    And when his hands wrote in generosity, there was inscribed

    the whiteness of gifts from the blackness of inkwells.

  32. نظمتَ أُمور النَّاس علماً وحكمةً

    فمن ناظم فيك الثناء وناثر

    You set people's affairs in order with knowledge and wisdom;

    thus some compose your praise in verse, others in prose.

  33. ودبَّرْتَ إكسير الرِّياسة والعُلى

    بما لا يفي يوماً به علم جابر

    You devised the elixir of leadership and lofty rank

    with what Jabir's knowledge could never encompass.

  34. وقُمتَ مقاماً يخطبُ النَّاس منذراً

    ويُعْلِنُ من إرشاده بالبشائر

    You assumed a station that addresses the people with warnings

    and proclaims glad tidings through its guidance.

  35. لئنْ خطبتْ أسيافك البيض خطبةً

    فهامُ الأَعادي عندها كالمنابر

    If indeed your bright swords preach a sermon,

    the enemies' heads are like pulpits for them.

  36. ويا رُبَّ قوم طاولتك فقصَّرتْ

    وما كانَ منك الباع عنهم بقاصر

    How many a people sought to rival you, only to fall short!

    Nor did your reach ever fall short of theirs.

  37. وجاءَتك بالمكر الَّذي شَقِيَتْ به

    فما رَجَعَتْ إلاَّ بصفقة خاسر

    They came to you with cunning that brought them misery

    and returned only with a loser's bargain.

  38. وأرغمت آناف الطغاة فأصْبَحَتْ

    تصعِّر ممَّا أبْصَرَتْ خدّ صاغر

    You ground the tyrants' noses in dust, so they began

    turning away, at what they saw, a humbled cheek.

  39. ثَبَتَّ ثباتَ الرَّاسيات لحربهم

    وحَلَّقتَ يومَ المفاخر تحليق طائر

    You stood firm as rooted mountains in warring against them

    and soared like a bird on the day of glories.

  40. أذقْتَهُم البأسَ عقوبةً

    ويا طالما أنذرتهم بالزواجر

    You made them taste might as punishment;

    and oh, how long you warned them with stern rebukes!

  41. وما خُلِقَ الإِحسان إلاَّ لصالحٍ

    ولا خُلق الصَّمصام إلاَّ لفاجر

    Kindness was created only for the righteous,

    and the keen sword only for the wicked.

  42. عليك بِوُدّ الأَقربين وإنْ أتَتْ

    بغير الَّذي تهوي فليس بضائر

    Hold fast to love for your closest kin, even if they come

    with what is not to your liking; it does no harm.

  43. وأحسِنْ إليهم ما استطعت فإنَّما

    تشاهدُ بالإِحسان صفو الضمائر

    Do good to them as much as you can, for only

    through kindness do you witness the purity of hearts.

  44. لعمرك إنْ ألَّفْتَ بين قلوبهم

    ظفِرت من الدُّنيا بأسنى الذخائر

    By your life, if you unite their hearts,

    you have won the world's most splendid treasures.

  45. فما أَفْلَحَتْ بين الأنام قبيلةٌ

    إذا ابتليت يوماً بداء الضرائر

    No tribe has prospered among mankind

    if one day afflicted with the sickness of rival co-wives.

  46. وإنَّك تعفو عن كثيرٍ وهكذا

    وعيشك قد كانت صفات الأَكابر

    You pardon much, and such indeed—

    by your life—have been the qualities of the great.

  47. فما أنتَ إلاَّ كابرٌ وابن كابرٍ

    وما أنتَ إلاَّ طاهرٌ وابن طاهر

    You are nothing but a great man and the son of a great man,

    nothing but a pure man and the son of a pure man.

  48. يميناً بربِّ البيت والركن والصَّفا

    ومن حَلَّ في أكتاف تلك المشاعر

    An oath by the Lord of the House, the Corner, and al-Safa,

    and by those who alighted on the flanks of those sacred sites:

  49. لأنتم بنو السعدون في كلِّ موطنٍ

    أكارم مذ كنتم كرام العناصر

    you, the sons of al-Sa'dun, are indeed, in every place,

    the noblest, noble in your origins since you first existed.

  50. عليكم ثنائي حيثُ كنت وطالما

    ملأت بأشعاري بطون الدفاتر

    My praise be upon you wherever I am; how often

    I have filled the bellies of notebooks with my verses!

  51. أزيد لكم شكراً وأزداد نعمة

    وما ازدادت النعماء إلاَّ لشاكر

    I increase my thanks to you and receive more bounty;

    and bounty increases only for the thankful.

  52. أقلِّدكم منِّي الثناء وإنَّه

    قليلٌ ولو قلَّدتُكُمْ بالجواهر

    I place my praise about your necks, yet it

    is little, even were I to adorn you with jewels.