1. دَنِفٌ ذو مهجةٍ في الحبّ تَصْدا

    كُلّما زيدَ ملاماً زاد وَحْدا

    Love-sick, with a heart that thirsts in love,

    whenever reproach increased, he grew lonelier.

  2. أمطرت أدْمُعُه وبلَ الحيا

    وهو يشكو من لظى الأشواق وقدا

    His tears poured down like heavy rain,

    while he complained of longing's scorching blaze.

  3. مغرمٌ أخفى الهوى عن عاذل

    في الهوى العذريّ ما أخفى وأبدى

    A lover who hid his passion from a reprover;

    what he hid and revealed was chaste love.

  4. فتكتْ أعْيُنُها الغيد به

    ورَمَتْه أسهُم الألحاظ عَمْدا

    Her languid eyes dealt him a mortal blow,

    and the arrows of her glances struck him deliberately.

  5. كيف يستطيعُ اصطباراً وهو لا

    يجدُ اليوم من الأشواق بدا

    How can he endure patiently, when he cannot

    find any escape today from longing?

  6. لا تلمني فصبابات الهوى

    جعلت بيني وبين اللوم سَدّا

    Do not blame me, for love's yearnings

    have placed a barrier between me and reproach.

  7. عَبرة أهرقتها من أعين

    ألِفَتْ في هجرها للغمض سهدا

    A tear I shed from eyes

    that, forsaking sleep, grew accustomed to wakefulness.

  8. وبما قاسيتُ من حرِّ الجوى

    في غرام مدّ سيل الدمع مدا

    And through the burning heartache I endured

    in passion, the torrent of tears swelled mightily.

  9. أنْحَلَ الحبُّ ذويه فاغتدتْ

    من معاناة الضنى عظماً وجلدا

    Love wasted its devotees, until they became,

    through suffering sickness, mere bone and skin.

  10. كُلَّما يقرب منِّي عاذلٌ

    بملام قلتُ للعاذل بعدا

    Whenever a reprover comes near me

    with blame, I tell the reprover, 'Away!'

  11. رُبَّ ليلٍ أطبقَتْ ظلماؤه

    تحسب الشهب عيوناً فيه رمدا

    Many a night whose darkness closed in,

    you would take its stars for inflamed eyes.

  12. بتُّ لا أستطعمُ الغمضَ به

    وأواري عَبرتي أنْ تتبدى

    I spent it without tasting sleep,

    and hid my tear lest it appear.

  13. أذكر الأغصانَ من بان النقا

    كلّما أذكر من هيفاء قدا

    I recall the boughs of the sandhill's bān trees

    whenever I recall a slender beauty's figure.

  14. ومعَ السرب الَّذي مرَّ بنا

    رشأٌ يصرع بالألحاظ أسدا

    And with the herd that passed us

    was a young gazelle that fells a lion with its glances.

  15. مَن معيدٌ لي أياماً مضت

    كانَ فيها الغيُّ لو أنصفت رشدا

    Who will restore to me the days gone by,

    when waywardness, had you judged fairly, was right guidance?

  16. أهْصِرُ الغصن إذا ما كانَ قدًّا

    وأشمُّ الوردَ إذا ما كانَ خدّا

    I bent the bough when it was a figure,

    and smelled the rose when it was a cheek.

  17. كم أهاج الشوق من وجد بها

    كلما جدَّدَه الذكر استجدا

    How much yearning stirred passion for her;

    whenever remembrance renewed it, it arose afresh.

  18. وجرى دمعي من الوجد فما

    يملك الطرف لجاري الدمع ردا

    My tears flowed from passion, and

    the eye had no power to stem the flowing tears.

  19. خبّراني بعدَ عِرفاني بها

    كيف أقوت دار سُعدى بعد سُعدى

    Tell me, you two, now that I have known it:

    how did Su'da's dwelling become deserted after Su'da?

  20. أينَ قِطّانُك في عهد الصبا

    يا مراحاً كانَ للهو ومغدى

    Where are your dwellers from the days of youth,

    O evening haunt of pleasure and morning resort?

  21. يوم سارت عنك للركب بهم

    مشمعلاّت تقدّ السير قدّا

    The day there departed from you, carrying the riders,

    swift she-camels, fiercely cleaving their course.

  22. قد ذكرنا عهدكم من بعدكم

    هل ذكرتم بعدنا للودّ عهدا

    We have remembered our bond with you since you left;

    have you, since we parted, remembered love's pledge?

  23. ولو أنَّ الوصل مما يشترى

    لاشترينا وصلكم بالروح نقدا

    And if union were something that could be bought,

    we would buy union with you, with our souls as cash.

  24. وقصارى مُنية الصبِّ بكم

    مطلبٌ جدَّ به الوجدُ فأكدى

    And the utmost wish of your ardent lover

    is a quest that passion pursued earnestly, yet in vain.

  25. فسقاكم وسقى أربُعَكم

    من قطار حامل برقاً ورعدا

    So may you and your dwellings be watered

    by rain bearing lightning and thunder.

  26. وإذا مرّت بكم ريحُ صباً

    حملت ريح صبا شيحاً ورندا

    And when an east wind passes by you,

    may that east wind carry wormwood and bay.

  27. زارني الطيف فما أشوى جوىً

    من حشا الصادي ولا نوّل رفدا

    The apparition visited me; anguish struck to the quick

    within the thirsty one's breast, and it granted no boon.

  28. ما عليه لو ترشَّفْتُ لمىً

    مزجت ريقته خراً وشهدا

    What would it cost it if I sipped dark lips

    whose saliva mingled [wine] and honey?

  29. نسب التشبيب في الحب إلى

    ذلك الحسن فكان الهزل جدا

    Love's amorous verse was ascribed to

    that beauty, so jest became earnest.

  30. وإلى عبد الحميد انتسَبَتْ

    غرر الشعر له شكراً وحمدا

    And to Abd al-Hamid were ascribed

    poetry's finest lines, in thanks and praise.

  31. عالم البصرة قاضيها الَّذي

    لا ترى فيها له في الناس ندا

    Basra's scholar, its judge, for whom

    you see no equal among its people.

  32. قوله الفصل وفي أحكامه

    يدحض الباطل والخصم الألدا

    His word is decisive, and in his judgments

    he refutes falsehood and the fiercely contentious adversary.

  33. إذ يريك الحقَّ يبدو ظاهراً

    لازماً في حكمه لا يتعدى

    For he shows you truth appearing plainly,

    adhering to it in his judgment, never straying.

  34. أوجب الشكر علينا فضله

    فمن الواجد عندي أن يؤدى

    His generosity has made gratitude our duty;

    and, in my view, it is [a duty] to render it.

  35. سيّدٌ إحسانه في بِرّه

    لم يزل منه إلى العافين يسدى

    A lord whose kindness, in his benevolence,

    has always been bestowed on those who seek his bounty.

  36. وبأمر الله قاضٍ إنْ قضى

    كانَ أمضى من شفير السيف حدا

    And by God's command, a judge who, when he rules,

    is keener in edge than the blade of a sword.

  37. ثابت الجأش شديد ركته

    إذ تخر الراسيات الشمّ هدّا

    Steadfast of heart, mighty in his [strength],

    even when lofty, deep-rooted mountains crash down.

  38. سيّدٌ من سيّدٍ إذ ينتمي

    أكرم الناس أباً فيهم وحدا

    A lord descended from a lord, when his lineage is traced,

    unmatched among men in his father's nobility.

  39. آل بيت لبسوا ثوب التقى

    تلبس الفخر نزاراً ومعدا

    A household that has donned the robe of piety,

    clothing Nizar and Ma'add in glory.

  40. هم أغاظو بالذي يرضونه

    زمناً تشقى به الأحرار وغدا

    They have angered, by what they approve,

    a base age in which free men suffer.

  41. ذلّلوا الصَّعبَ وقادوا للعلى

    حيث ما انقادت لهم قوداً وجردا

    They tamed the unruly and led toward glory,

    wherever long-necked, sleek steeds obeyed them.

  42. هل ترى أبعدَ منه منظراً

    أو ترى يومئذٍ أثقب زندا

    Do you see anyone more far-reaching in outlook than he,

    or, then, a more spark-giving firestick?

  43. باسطٌ أيْديه لما خلقت

    ديماً ما برحت بالجود تندى

    His hands are stretched out for what they were created:

    steady showers, never ceasing to rain generosity.

  44. عدّدا لي نعمة الله به

    أنا لا أُحصي له النّعماء عدا

    Count for me, you two, God's blessing through him;

    I cannot number his favors one by one.

  45. مكرمات لأياديه الَّتي

    تركت بالبر حرّ القوم عبدا

    Noble gifts from his beneficent hands,

    which through kindness made the people's free man a slave.

  46. حبذا البصرة في أيامه

    لا أراها الله من علياه فقدا

    How blessed is Basra in his days!

    May God never show it the loss of his eminence.

  47. وجميل الذكر من أخلاقه

    سار في أقطاره غوراً ونجدا

    And the fair renown of his character

    has spread through his lands, lowland and highland.

  48. توأم المجد فريد في الحجى

    جامع الفضل براه الله فردا

    Glory's twin, peerless in wisdom,

    gathering all virtue, God created him unique.

  49. بيمين الحقّ سيف صارم

    يجعل الباطل في غربيه غمدا

    In truth's right hand, a trenchant sword

    that makes falsehood a sheath for its two edges.

  50. طالما ألقت إليه كَلِماً

    أورثت ما لم يرثه لنثر خلدا

    Often words were cast before him,

    bestowing on prose an immortality it had not inherited.

  51. فترنَّمتُ بها قافيةً

    نظمت في جيد هذا الدهر عقدا

    So I sang them as a rhyme,

    a necklace I strung around the neck of this age.

  52. وكفاني صولة الهمّ امرؤ

    جاعل بيني وبين الهم سدا

    And a man has spared me sorrow's assault,

    setting a barrier between me and sorrow.

  53. رغد العيش لمن في ظلِّه

    عاش طول الدهر بالأفراح رغدا

    Life is pleasant for whoever, in his shade,

    lives all his days in joy and ease.

  54. كلّما يلحظني ناظره

    عكس الأمر فكان النحس سعدا

    Whenever his eye looks upon me,

    it reverses things, and ill fortune becomes good luck.

  55. بأبي أفديه من قاضٍ به

    صرت في رأفته ممن يفدّى

    I would ransom him with my father—a judge through whom

    I became, in his compassion, one who is ransomed.

  56. إنَّ من أخلص فيكم وُدَّه

    مخلص في حبّه الأمجاد ودا

    Indeed, whoever gives you his sincere affection

    is sincere in his love for the illustrious.

  57. ناظمٌ فيكم على طول المدى

    مدحاً ترفع لي بالفخر مجدا

    I compose about you, for all time,

    praise that raises for me a glory of proud honor.

  58. فهو مُهديها إليكم عبدكم

    فَتقبَّل ما إليك العبد أهدى

    So he who offers it to you is your servant;

    so accept what your servant has offered you.