1. ما كنتُ بالباكي جآذر لعلعِ

    لو كان قلبك يوم كاظمةٍ معي

    I would not have been the one weeping for Laʿlaʿ's young gazelles,

    had your heart been with me on the day at Kazimah.

  2. لكن نجوتَ من الهوى وتركتني

    ذا مقلةٍ عبرى وقلبٍ موجع

    But you escaped love and left me

    with a tearful eye and an aching heart.

  3. طوت الحشا عنك الغرامَ بأهلهِ

    فقرأتَ عنوان الهوى من ادمعي

    My breast concealed love and its people from you,

    so you read love's title in my tears.

  4. وعدلتَ إذا لم تدرِ ما قدر الجوى

    بالظاعنين ولا الأسى بالأربع

    And you judged fairly when you did not know the depth of longing

    for those departing, or of grief for the former dwellings.

  5. فدع الملامَ فإن جسمي ذلك ال

    مضنى ومقلتي التي لم تهجع

    So cease your blame: my body is that

    wasted one, and my eye the one that has not slept.

  6. لو كان في داء الصبابة حيلةٌ

    ما شبَّ ماءُ الجفنِ نارَ الأضلع

    Had there been a remedy for the malady of ardent love,

    the eyelid's water would not have kindled the ribs' fire.

  7. وإذا الصَّبا بعثت وفودَ نسيمها

    فقل السلامُ على اللوى فالأجرع

    And when the east wind sends out the envoys of its breeze,

    say: Peace upon al-Liwa, then al-Ajraʿ.

  8. حملت تحيَّات العذيبِ وهاجرٍ

    وتنفَّست ففهمتُ ما لم أسمع

    It carried greetings from al-ʿUdhayb and Hajir,

    and breathed, so I understood what I had not heard.

  9. وكأنما رقصتْ قدودُ غصونهِ

    طرباً لطيبِ حديثها المتضوّع

    It was as though the slender forms of its branches danced

    in rapture at the sweetness of its fragrant speech.

  10. كلفي بمحجوب الجمال منزَّه الـ

    ـجنات عن كلفِ البدور الطُُّلَّع

    My passion is for one whose beauty is veiled, whose

    cheeks are free of the blemishes of rising full moons.

  11. لانت على الشكوى معاطفُ قدّهِ

    لين القضيب مع النسيم المولع

    The curves of his figure softened at my complaint,

    as a bough softens with the enamored breeze.

  12. وسطا بناظرتي مهاةٍ مغزلٍ

    وعطا بسالفتي غزال أتلع

    He assailed me with the two eyes of an oryx with her fawn,

    and stretched up with the graceful neck of a long-necked gazelle.

  13. عبقت روادفهُ بنا وبحضرهِ

    يا عزَّةَ العاصي وذلَّ الطيّع

    His hips spread fragrance around us and in his presence:

    ah, the defiant one's pride, and the yielding one's humility!

  14. ولربَّ ليلة موعدٍ كصدوده

    لا تهتدي فيها النجومُ لمطلع

    Many a night of a tryst, dark as his aversion,

    in which the stars could find no place to rise,

  15. نازلتها بالأبلجين جبيتهِ

    وسلافِ كأس يمينه المتشعشع

    I confronted with two radiant things: his brow

    and the sparkling choice wine in the cup of his right hand.

  16. وحللتُ بندَ قبائهِ عن بانةٍ

    هيفاءَ تحكيها الغصونُ وتدَّعي

    And I loosened his robe's fastening from a bān sapling,

    slender-waisted, whose likeness the branches imitate and claim.

  17. والنجمُ خفَّاقٌ كمقلةِ خائفٍ

    مترقبٍ أو مثل قلبِ مروَّع

    The star flickered like the eye of one afraid,

    watchful, or like the heart of one struck with terror.

  18. أخشى الوشاة بها فلولا ثغرهُ

    لبكيتُ من ضحك البروق اللمَّع

    I feared the informers that night; but for his mouth,

    I would have wept at the laughter of the flashing lightning.

  19. وأخادع الأرواح عن أنفاسهِ

    كتماً ويأبى المسكُ غيرَ تضوَّع

    And I beguiled the winds away from his breath,

    to conceal it; but musk insists on spreading its fragrance.

  20. حتى لو أنَّ ينشدُ بدوهُ

    في تمّهِ لأصابهُ في مضجعي

    Even if someone sought its first appearance

    at its fullness, he would find it in my bed.

  21. آها لشملٍ كالدموع مبدَّد

    فيه وعهدٍ كالهجوع مضيَّع

    Ah, for a union scattered like tears

    over him, and a pledge lost like sleep!

  22. وعصابةٍ كالآل يطمعُ خدعهُ

    وتعود عنهُ بغلَّةٍ لم تنقع

    And a band like a mirage, whose deception raises hopes,

    from which you return with thirst still unquenched.

  23. متشابهين فإن عثرت بقصدهم

    في أزمةٍ نفسوا عليك بدعدع

    All alike: if you happen to turn to them

    in a crisis, they begrudge you even a word of comfort.

  24. سفعُ الجباهِ كأنَّ ماءَ وجوههم

    عند الحياءِ مدافُ سمٍّ منقع

    Dark-browed, as though the moisture of their faces

    at shame's approach were a solution of steeped poison.

  25. وتشام سحبهم الجهامُ طماعةً

    والسُّحبُ ما برحت مكان المطمع

    Their rainless clouds are scanned in eager hope,

    and clouds have always been a source of hope.

  26. فاليَّ أنضاءَ الجدوب فإنني

    جارُ السَّحائب والغيوث الهمَّع

    Come to me, drought-worn ones, for I

    am neighbor to the clouds and the pouring rains,

  27. في حيث خيطُ المزن ليس بخاذل

    وندى نصير الدين ليس بمقلع

    where the rain-cloud's thread never fails

    and Nasir al-Din's bounty never ceases.

  28. يشتاق زائرهُ يريدُ فراقهُ

    شوق المحبِّ إلى الخليط المزمع

    He yearns for his visitor as that visitor plans to leave him,

    with a lover's longing for companions resolved to depart.

  29. ومؤَّيد الرايات مقلةُ همّه

    أبداً إلى الغايات ذاتُ تطلع

    And he whose banners are upheld—the eye of his ambition

    is ever turned in aspiration toward the highest goals.

  30. وليَ البلادَ فسارَ في سكاّنها

    بالعدلِ سيرةَ وازعٍ متورّع

    He governed the lands and conducted himself among their people

    with justice, in the manner of a scrupulous governor.

  31. يخشى ويرجى فهو معطٍُ معطبٌ

    ما بين حالي موقعٍ وموقع

    He is feared and hoped in: he gives and he destroys,

    between his two roles of signing and striking.

  32. والمشرفيَّة وهيَ جنسٌ واحدٌ

    خوفُ الجبانِ وأمنُ روع الأروع

    And Mashrafi swords, though all of one kind,

    are the coward's fear and the brave man's safety from terror.

  33. بثُّ السَّرايا والسُّطا حتى غدا

    ذئبُ الفلاةِ وشاؤها في مرتع

    He sent out raiding parties and assaults, until

    the desert's wolf and its sheep shared one pasture.

  34. وعفا وعفَّ فلو يطيق مع الصدَّا

    صدَّ المباحَ فعاف وردَ المشرع

    He pardoned and abstained; could he, despite his thirst,

    he would shun even the lawful, refusing to drink at the watering-place.

  35. يقظانُ أحسنَ والخطوب مسيئةٌ

    وأنالني النَّعماء بعد تمنّع

    Wakeful, he did good while calamities did ill,

    and bestowed prosperity on me after it had eluded me.

  36. وأفادني كم من يدٍ معرو

    فة المعروفِ بين تفرُّق وتجمُّع

    And how many a favor he bestowed on me, well-

    known for kindness, amid separation and reunion.

  37. فلا شكرنَّك ما حييتُ ومدَّ لي

    هذا البقاءُ سمعتَ أو لم تسمع

    So I shall surely thank you while I live and there is granted me

    this continued life, whether you hear or do not hear,

  38. بأوانسٍ في الخافقين شواردِ

    الألفاظ تهزأُ بالبليغِ المصقع

    with charming verses, roaming both horizons in their

    words, mocking the eloquent, commanding orator.

  39. كالسيل أو كالليل ليس بعازبٍ

    عن ركبها السيَّار غايةُ موضع

    Like a torrent or like night, nothing lies beyond

    their traveling caravan—not even the farthest place.

  40. فبرودها كم شرّفت من لابسٍ

    وعقودها كم شنَّفت من مسمع

    How many wearers their mantles have ennobled,

    and how many ears their necklaces have adorned!

  41. فارتاح ذا لمنظَّمٍ ومنضَّدٍ

    واختال ذا بموشَّحٍ موشع

    So one delighted in things strung and arranged,

    and another strutted in patterned, embroidered finery.

  42. فإذا لبستَ التاج ثمَّتَ لم نفز

    بفريدها فالتاجُ غيرُ مرصَّع

    If you wear the crown, yet we have not won

    their peerless pearl, then the crown is unjeweled.

  43. ولأنتم البيتُ الرفيعُ عمادهُ

    للخائفين وللطواةِ الجوَّع

    And you are indeed the house whose pillars rise high,

    for the fearful and the starving with empty bellies.

  44. شم الأنوف منزهون عن الخنا

    مترفعون عن الكلام المقذع

    With proudly raised noses, free of indecency,

    holding yourselves above obscene speech;

  45. حمر الظُّبى زرق الأسنَّة خضر أكنـ

    ـاف الحمى سود العجاج الأسفع

    red-bladed, blue-spearheaded, green in the borders

    of your sanctuary, black in the dark battle-dust.

  46. في الحرب أن سفروا يقول جمالهم

    بالنَّقعِ يا شمس النهار تقنعي

    In battle, when they unveil their faces, their beauty says

    through the dust: O sun of day, veil yourself!

  47. فقناً لغير أكفُّهم لا تقتنى

    وظبى لغير بنانهم لم تطبع

    Spears are not acquired for hands other than theirs,

    nor are blades forged for fingers other than theirs.

  48. وعجاجةٍ مثل الدجى وكأنما

    ردَّت بها الشمس السيوف كيوشع

    And a dust-cloud like darkness, as though

    the swords brought back the sun within it, like Yushaʿ.

  49. حامت نسورُ الجوّ فوق كماتها

    حومَ العطاشِ على لذيذ المكرع

    Vultures wheeled in the sky above its armored warriors,

    as thirsty ones circle a sweet drinking-place.

  50. ضربت سرادقها على متحصّنٍ

    منكم بأطراف الرماح ممنّع

    It pitched its pavilion over one fortified

    from among you, made impregnable by spearpoints.

  51. شاكي سلاح العزم منصور الحجى

    والحزم خفَّاق البنود سميذع

    Fully armed with resolve, supported by reason

    and prudence, with fluttering banners—a noble lord.

  52. يلقى العدى منهُ إذا شرعَ الرَّدى

    طرقَ المهالكِ بالرماح الشرَّع

    In him the foes encounter—when death opens

    the paths of destruction with leveled spears—

  53. بأسدَّ من رشق القضاء سهامهُ

    واشدَّ من ليثِ العرين وأشجع

    one more unerring than fate shooting its arrows,

    and fiercer and braver than a lion in its den.

  54. للصمّ من هاماتهم وسيوفهِ

    ما شئت من ساقٍ هناك ومسمع

    Among the hard things—their skulls and his swords—are

    cupbearers and music-makers there, as many as you wish.

  55. وأبوك بهرامُ النجوم لأنهُ

    مذ سار في أفق العلى لم يتبع

    And your father is Bahram among the stars, for

    since he traveled glory's horizon, he has never been followed.

  56. ذو المجد الأيهمِ والسّنا العاديّ الأ

    قدمِ والملّ التبَّعيُّ الأرفع

    Possessed of unassailable glory, and ʿAd-like splendor, most

    ancient, and the loftiest Tubbaʿ-like kingship.

  57. ما كان لولاهُ حمى الدنيا بمخـ

    ـشيّ ولا وادي البلاد بمسبع

    But for him, the world's sanctuary would not be

    feared, nor the lands' valley a haunt of lions.

  58. خطب الشهادة بالحياة

    قدماً إلى نهج الحمام المهيع

    He courted martyrdom with his life,

    advancing along the broad path of death.

  59. جاوزتما قدر الورى فالفرعُ أيمنُ

    قادمٍ الأصلُ خير مودّع

    You both surpassed mankind in worth: the branch is the most auspicious

    arrival, the root the best of those bid farewell.

  60. ما مات من أودى ومثلك نجلهُ

    كالغيث عوض بالغدير المترع

    He who perished is not dead when one like you is his son,

    like rain replaced by a brimming pool.

  61. نلت السيادةَ يافعاً متهلّلاً

    وكبا وراءك كلُّ كهلٍ مسرع

    You attained lordship young and radiant,

    while every hastening elder stumbled behind you.

  62. وأريتني ملكَ الملوك ومرتعً الآ

    مال في نادي نداهُ الممرع

    And you showed me the king of kings, and the pasture of

    hopes, in his bounty's lush assembly.

  63. ولقد نزعتُ عن المديح فلم تزل

    حتى رجعتُ كأنني لم أنزع

    I had indeed renounced praise, but you persisted

    until I returned as though I had never renounced it.

  64. دانت لك الدنيا ووافتك المنى

    ووفت لك النعمى فخذ وتمتَّع

    The world submitted to you, and your wishes came to meet you;

    prosperity kept faith with you: take it and enjoy.

  65. ولينأ عنّي من عداك فإنني

    لسوى فراقكَ لستُ بالمتخشّع

    Let anyone but you keep far from me, for I

    am humbled by nothing but parting from you.