1. سقى الطللَ الغمامُ وجادَ رسْما

    عفا من عالجٍ لديارِ سَلمى

    May clouds water the ruined campsite and drench a trace

    Of Salma's dwellings, effaced in ʿAlij.

  2. وسحَّ على منازلنا بنجدٍ

    مُلِثُّ القطر تسكاباً وسَجْما

    And may rain pour upon our dwellings in Najd,

    In ceaseless showers, spilling and streaming.

  3. وعهد في الصَّريم مضى وصَدَّتْ

    أوانسُ غيدِه هجرأ وصَرْما

    And days in al-Sarim passed; away turned

    Its lovely, slender maidens, in desertion and severance.

  4. بحيثُ الكأس تُتْرَعُ بالحميَّا

    وعقد الشَّمل مثل العقد نظما

    Where the cup is filled with strong wine,

    And the bond of fellowship is strung like a necklace.

  5. وممَّا صبوَةٍ وصباً أصابا

    مراماً باجتماعهما ومرمى

    And among these, youthful passion and longing attained

    An aim and a target through their union.

  6. تساعدني على اللّذّات سعدى

    وتنعم لي بطيب الوصل نعمى

    Suʿda helps me to enjoy pleasures,

    And Nuʿma favors me with the sweetness of union.

  7. وتعقرّنا العقار وكم عقَرْنا

    بها في هذه الأَحشاء همَّا

    Wine fells us; how often we have slain

    With it a sorrow within these entrails.

  8. وليلٍ ما برِحْتُ أُديرُ فيه

    معَتَّقةً تلذُّ لدي طعما

    And many a night I kept passing around

    Aged wine, delicious to my taste.

  9. أُزوِّجها بابنِ المُزن بكراً

    وأَمْزِجُ صِرْفها برُضاب ألمى

    I wed her, a virgin, to the son of the rainclouds,

    And blend her pure wine with a dark-lipped one's saliva.

  10. وأَغْتَنِمُ المسَرَّةَ بالندامى

    وكانتْ لذَّة النُّدماء غنما

    And I seize joy with drinking companions;

    The pleasure of drinking companions was a prize.

  11. رعى الله الشَّباب وإنْ تولَّى

    وذكّرْ عهده يوماً فيَوْما

    May God preserve youth, though it has departed,

    And recall its season, day after day.

  12. صحا سكرانُ من خمر التَّصابي

    وبدّل بعد ذاك الجهل حلما

    A drunkard sobered from the wine of youthful dalliance,

    And, after that folly, adopted forbearance.

  13. وصاخ إلى العَذول وكان صبًّا

    يرى لوم العَذول أشدّ لوما

    He listened to the reprover, though he had been lovesick,

    Deeming the reprover's reproach the harshest blame.

  14. فمن لاحٍ يعَنِّفُه لدمعٍ

    يُكفكِفه مخافة أن يُنمّا

    So a reprover rebukes him for tears

    He wipes away, afraid they might betray him.

  15. أرَتني من حوادثها اللَّيالي

    أعاجيباً لها العَبرات تدمى

    The nights have shown me, among their vicissitudes,

    Wonders at which the tears bleed.

  16. ومن لي أن تسالِمُني الرَّزايا

    فما زالت لي الأَرزاء خصما

    Who can assure me that calamities will make peace with me?

    For misfortunes have always been my adversary.

  17. أُؤَمِّل نفس حرٍّ لم تعدني

    أمانيها إلى أجلٍ مسمَّى

    I place hope in a noble soul; no promise has come to me

    From its hopes, of fulfillment by an appointed time.

  18. ضلالاً ما أُعلِّلُ فيه نفسي

    وقولي ربَّما وعسى ولمَّا

    A delusion is what I use to comfort my soul,

    And my saying, 'Perhaps,' 'maybe,' and 'not yet.'

  19. فما لي والخمول وكلّ يومٍ

    تُفَوِّق لي خطوبُ الدَّهر سهما

    What have I to do with obscurity, when every day

    The calamities of time nock an arrow at me?

  20. أَراني إنْ عَزَمْتُ على مُهِمٍّ

    ثَنَتْ عنِّي يدُ الأَقدار عزما

    I find that, if I resolve upon a grave undertaking,

    The hand of fate turns my resolve aside.

  21. وإنِّي سوف أركبها لآمرٍ

    أُحاول شأوه إمَّا وإمَّا

    And I shall ride it toward an aim,

    Seeking its utmost reach, whether this or that.

  22. وإنَّ ليالياً أعْرَقْنَ عَظمي

    أضاعتني وما ضيَّعْتُ عزما

    Indeed, nights that stripped my bones bare

    Have wasted me, yet I have not squandered resolve.

  23. فتبًّا للزَّمان لقد تعدَّى

    حدوداً ما تعدَّاهنَّ قدما

    So damnation upon time! It has overstepped

    Bounds it never crossed of old.

  24. أيسمو الجاهلون بغير علمٍ

    ويروى من هزَوْتُ به وأَظما

    Do the ignorant rise without knowledge,

    And does the one I mocked drink his fill while I thirst?

  25. تحوَّل يا زمان إلى الأَعالي

    وخذْ بكمالها فالنَّقص تمّا

    Turn, O time, toward the heights,

    And embrace their perfection, for deficiency has become complete.

  26. لقد جهل الزَّمان بعلم مثلي

    وإنَّ الجهل بين بَنيه عَمَّا

    Time has been ignorant of the knowledge of one like me,

    And ignorance has spread among its sons.

  27. وكيف أسودُ في زَمَنٍ جَهولٍ

    ولو أنِّي كإبراهيم علما

    How can I lead in an ignorant age,

    Even were I like Ibrahim in knowledge?

  28. قريب من رسول الله يُدعى

    بأزكى العالمين أباً وأُمَّا

    A kinsman of God's Messenger, called

    The purest of all people in father and mother.

  29. نَمَتْهُ الأَنجبون وكلّ قرم

    إلى خير الورى يُعزى ويُنمى

    The noblest begot him, and every chieftain

    Is ascribed and traced to the best of humankind.

  30. تَخَلَّقَ من سنا نورٍ مُبين

    فكانَ الجوهرَ النَّبويَّ جسما

    He was formed from the radiance of a manifest light,

    And was the prophetic essence in bodily form.

  31. بني الشَّرف الَّذي يعلو ويسمو

    فما أعلى مبانيه وأَسمى

    He built the honor that rises and ascends;

    How lofty and exalted are its structures!

  32. وشيَّدهُ وإن رَغِمتْ أَنوفٌ

    ولم يَبْرَح لأنف الخصم رغما

    He raised it, though noses were rubbed in dust,

    And it never ceased to rub the foe's nose in dust.

  33. بناءٌ قصَّرَتْ عنه السَّواري

    وما استطاعتْ له الحُسَّاد هدما

    An edifice beyond the reach of pillars,

    Which the envious could not demolish.

  34. تأَمَّل في عظيمٍ من قريش

    تجدْ أُسْد الشَّرى والبدر تمّا

    Consider a great man of Quraysh:

    You will find the lions of al-Shara and the moon in its fullness.

  35. عليه من سول الله نورٌ

    به يمحو الظَّلام المدلهّما

    Upon him is a light from God's Messenger;

    With it he erases pitch-black darkness.

  36. إذا الأَمر المهمُّ دهى كفانا

    بدعوته لنا ما قد أهمّا

    When a grave affair strikes, he shields us

    Through his prayer for us, from what has troubled us.

  37. شفاءٌ للصُّدور وكم مريضٍ

    يكون له اشتيار الشّهد سمَّا

    A cure for hearts—yet how many a sick man

    Finds the gathering of honey to be poison!

  38. بروحي منك أروع هاشميًّا

    حديد القلب واري الزّند شهما

    My soul be your ransom, splendid Hashimite,

    Keen of heart, with a spark-giving fire-stick, noble-spirited.

  39. لك الكلمُ الَّتي جَمَعَتْ فأَوْعتْ

    تروح الملحدون بهنَّ كلمى

    Yours are words that gather and encompass all;

    By them, the heretics depart wounded.

  40. وكم من حجَّة نَطَقَتْ فظلَّتْ

    لها فصحاء غير الحقّ عجما

    And how many an argument has spoken, leaving

    Falsehood's eloquent spokesmen speechless before it.

  41. وجئتَ بما يحير الفكر فيه

    بياناً منك إلهاماً وفهما

    You brought what leaves thought bewildered:

    Your eloquence, inspiration, and understanding.

  42. وقد أحيَيْتَ هذا الدِّين علماً

    بحيث الدِّين قارب أن يرمّا

    You have revived this religion through knowledge,

    When religion was close to decay.

  43. وقوَّمْتَ الشَّريعة فيه حكماً

    ولم ترَ غير حكم الله حكما

    And upheld its sacred law through judgment,

    And recognized no judgment but God's.

  44. وكم أَغْضَبْتَ يا مولايَ قوماً

    بما فيهم وكم أَرْضَيْتَ قوما

    How often, my master, you have angered people,

    For what is in them; how often you have pleased people!

  45. أتكتم فضلك الحسَّاد جهلاً

    وما اسطاع الدُّجى للنور كتما

    Do the envious conceal your merit out of ignorance?

    Darkness could never conceal the light.

  46. مَناقِبُك النجومُ وليس بِدْعاً

    إذا ما أَنكرتها عينُ أَعمى

    Your virtues are stars; it is no wonder

    If ever a blind man's eye denies them.

  47. وجَدتك سيِّدي للمدح أهلاً

    فخذ مدحي إذَنْ نثراً ونظما

    I found you, my master, worthy of praise;

    So accept my praise, then, in prose and verse.

  48. وحسبي منك جائزتي دعاءً

    به من سائر الأَسواء أَحمى

    And a prayer is reward enough for me from you,

    Through which I am protected from every evil.

  49. أنال به الثواب بغير شكٍّ

    وأمحو بالثناء عليك إثما

    Through it I attain reward without doubt,

    And erase a sin by praising you.

  50. وليس يفي بفضلك كنه مدحي

    وكانَ المدح إلاَّ فيك ظلما

    The full extent of my praise cannot do your merit justice;

    And praise of anyone but you was unjust.