شهيدا غرامي ادمعي وسجومها

وخصما ولوعي بابل ونسيمها

My tears and their streaming are the two witnesses to my passion;

Babylon and its breeze are the two adversaries of my infatuation.

أنست بوجدي في ظباء كناسها

فلست على ألف النفار ألومها

In my longing I found solace in the gazelles of its covert;

so I do not blame them for their habit of shying away.

لقد نجلت أجفانها وخصورها

كما نحلت أجسامنا ورسومها

Their eyelids and waists have indeed grown wide,

just as our bodies and their outlines have wasted away.

سهرت ليالي البين بانت بدورها

فكيف أبت ألا مقاما نجومها

I stayed awake through nights of separation whose full moons had departed;

how, then, did their stars insist on remaining?

فكم حلبة للغيث دمعي جوادها

وملحمة للوجد صبري هزيمها

How many a rain-course has my tears as its swift steed,

and a battle of longing has my patience as its vanquished one!

وحتام أشكو الحب والحب ظالم

إلى سلوة أعيا فؤادي حليمها

How long shall I complain of love—love being unjust—

to solace, whose forbearing one has exhausted my heart?

واستنجد الكتمان والمع بائح

بأن النوى حال يذم كتومها

I summon concealment's aid, yet signal, revealing

that separation is a plight whose concealer earns blame.

ولولا الهوى ما غر قلبي غريرها

ولا رام أن يسطو على الأسد يمها

But for passion, her guileless youth would not have beguiled my heart,

nor would her sea have sought to assail the lions.

ولا عجب أن شاقني وهو نازح

وآية نفس لم يشقها حميمها

It is no wonder that he stirred my longing while far away;

and what soul has not been stirred to longing by its beloved?

وإني وأيام مضت أستعيدها

كما كنت من قبل النوى أستديمها

And indeed I—by bygone days I seek to recall,

as before separation I sought to make them last—

ليشغفني لدن القوام رشيقة

يحجبه لدن القناة قويمها

am enthralled by one supple and graceful in stature,

whom a supple, straight-shafted lance conceals.

تلوح بروق البيض دون خبائه

وتلك بروق خلب لو أشيمها

The lightning of white blades flashes before his tent;

yet those are rainless flashes, were I to watch them.

أجوب الدجى تخشى الأكام ظلامه

وأغشى الفيافي يتقيها ظليمها

I traverse night-darkness whose gloom the hills themselves fear,

and enter wastelands that even their ostrich shuns.

وعندي إذا ما العيس ناثرت ظلام الخطى

قواف يضيء الدامسات نظيمها

And with me, when the pale camels scatter darkness underfoot,

are rhymes whose ordered verse illuminates the deepest gloom.

جواد إذا الأنواء ضنت أكفها

وقور إذا الأطواد خفت حلومها

Generous when the rain-stars withhold their hands,

dignified when mountains themselves lose their composure.

إذا طحنت حرب فمنه مديرها

وإن عظمت نعماء فهو مديمها

When war grinds, he is the one who turns its mill;

and when a blessing grows great, he sustains it.

فتى المجد والملك الطريف جواده

هجان الخلال المتلدات كريمها

A youth of glory and newfound kingship, its generous champion,

pure in inherited virtues, their noble exemplar.

مؤيد خفاق اللواء على العدى

مؤثل عادي المعالي قديمها

Strengthened, his banner fluttering over his foes,

rooted in honors ancient as ʿĀd, their long-established bearer.

صفا وضفا ورداً وعشباً عنده

جمام الأماني أجدبت وجميمها

Beside him, clear and luxuriant, as roses and grass,

are hope's pools and flourishing growth, though once barren.

هو الروض مخضر الظلال فسيحها

هو الغيث مخضل الأيادي عميمها

He is the garden, green and spacious in its shade;

he is rain, with drenched, all-embracing hands.

إذا ما عشار المال حلت بربعه

أذيقت حمام البذل في الوفد كومها

When wealth's ten-month-pregnant she-camels alight in his quarter,

their high-humped ones taste death in lavish giving to the delegation.

وإن جد فالدنيا به وبسيفه

تشد أواخيها ويحمى حريمها

And when he acts in earnest, through him and his sword the world

has its tethering stakes secured and its sanctuary guarded.

هو الواهب الحصداء ضاف لبوسها

مع الشطبة الجرداء صاف أديمها

He gives closely woven mail, ample in its covering,

with the bare, grooved sword, clear in its surface.

إذ النقع سحب والسيوف بروقها

والأسماء والعوالي نجومها

When battle-dust is clouds and swords their lightning,

and names and tall spears are their stars.

وموردها كالوفد والجمع ضيق

مثقفة صوراً إلى الهام هيمها

He brings them to water like a delegation, the throng close-packed,

straightened and leaning toward heads, their thirsty ones.

ومطعامها والعام يغبر أفقه

ومطعانها والخيل تدمى كلومها

Their lavish feeder, when the year's horizon grows dusty,

and their fierce lancer, when the horses' wounds bleed.

جزيل الندى سبط النوال حميده

بحيث الحيا جعد البنان ذميمها

Lavish in bounty, open-handed in giving, praised for it,

where rain is tight-fingered and blamed.

صفاه وقار يستطال شمامها

ورب صفات يستطاب شميمها

His crags are dignity, their Shamām deemed lofty,

and many a quality has a fragrance found sweet.

إذا أظلمت يهماء فهو صاحبها

وإن أشكلت غماء فهو عليمها

When a trackless waste darkens, he is its companion;

and when an obscure plight grows perplexing, he knows it well.

وإن لقيت لد الكماة رماحه

فما تلتقي أرواحها وجسومها

When his spears encounter stubborn, armored champions,

their souls and bodies do not remain together.

زكا نجره في العالمين وخيمه

مهيب تلاع المأثرات وخيمها

His stock and character have grown pure among all peoples,

awe-inspiring in the heights of glorious deeds and their tents.

أصاب صميم المال سهم نواله

وأضحى له لب العلى وصميمها

The arrow of his giving struck wealth to the core,

and the heart and very essence of high honor became his.

فتى بأسه والصفح في يوم سخطه

ويوم الرضى بؤس العدى ونعيمها

A youth whose might and pardon, on the day of anger

and the day of favor, are his foes' misery and bliss.

إذا عثرت بالهام بيض سيوفه

فليلة نقع ليس يكبو بهيمها

When the white blades of his swords stumble against heads,

then comes a night of dust whose black steed does not stumble.

وإن هي غنت والدماء مدامها

فما هو إلا خلها ونديمها

And if they sing, while blood is their wine,

he is none other than their companion and drinking-mate.

قضوب شباة العزم يعزى فخاره

إلى أسرة بذَّ المواضي عزيمها

Cutting-sharp in the edge of resolve, his glory is traced

to a family whose determination surpasses sharpened swords.

أريغت وقد جاوزا الكمال مهودها

وشد وقد حاوزا التمام تميمها

Their cradles were sought, though the two had already surpassed perfection;

and their amulets were tied, though the two had already encompassed completeness.

بهم زينت الدنيا وقر عمودها

ودقت معانيها وجلت علوقها

Through them the world was adorned and its pillar made firm;

its meanings grew subtle and its treasures grew magnificent.

مصاليتها إن حل بأس أسودها

مصاعيبها إن جل خطب قرومها

Its seasoned warriors when its lions' might descends,

its unbroken camels when its noble bull-camels' crisis grows grave.

أقاموا قناة الملك بعد اعوجاجها

وقد عز لولا قومه من يقيمها

They straightened kingship's spear after it had bent,

when, but for his people, one to straighten it was hard to find.

حموه فمن خلق سواهم يبيحه

واعلوا مبانيه فمن ذا يرومها

They defended it; what creature besides them could violate it?

They raised its buildings; who now can aspire to them?

أترب العوالي والمعالي فهذه

تحطم أو هاتيك يحيي رميمها

He enriched tall spears and lofty honors [reading uncertain]: these

are shattered, or those have their crumbling remains revived.

تداركت مصراً حين غاب عزيزها

فما غاب حامي سربها وعظيمها

You came to Egypt's aid when its ʿAzīz was absent;

yet its flock's protector and its great lord were not absent.

لقد سرت فيها سيرة عمرية

يكف أكف الحادثات عمومها

Indeed, you followed there a course in ʿUmar's manner,

whose encompassing reach restrains the hands of misfortune.

وأحسبتها عدلاً وبذل المواهب

فأدعي شاكيها وأثرى عديمها

You supplied it amply with justice and the bestowal of gifts,

so its complainant was summoned [reading uncertain], and its destitute grew rich.

سحبت ذيول السحب فوق دهاسها

فروض عافيها وقام هشيمها

You trailed the clouds' skirts over its soft sands,

so its effaced ground became a meadow and its dry brush rose.

فشكراً لدنيا أنت بعض هباتها

محال وقد جادت بمثلك لومها

So thanks to a world of whose gifts you are one;

to blame it, when it has bestowed your like, is impossible.

وقافية عذراء لم تأت ريبة

ولا خام عن كسب المحامد خيمها

And a virgin rhyme that has committed no suspicious deed,

whose nature never shrank from earning praises,

منعمة تعلو على النجم منعة

مسومة تغلو على من يسومها

pampered, rising above the star in unassailability,

priced too high for whoever bids for it.

لقد شهدت ضراتها بجمالها

وقرظها أضدادها وخصومها

Its rival wives have indeed testified to its beauty,

and its adversaries and opponents have praised it.

سرت تقطع البيداء يهفو سرابها

وتستنشق الأرواح تذكو سمومها

It journeyed by night across the desert, its mirage fluttering,

and inhaled the breezes while its scorching winds blazed,

إلى الملك المظفر والوغى

تشب بأمواه الرقاب جحيمها

toward King al-Muẓaffar, while battle

stokes its hellfire with the waters of necks.

ورب الهبات الغر كالمسك نفحة

إذا الجحد أخفاها أقر نمومها

And lord of radiant gifts, musk-like in fragrance—

if denial conceals them, their telltale scent acknowledges them.

وكم من سماء لم تلقها بروقها

ولا أطعمتها سحبها وغيومها

And many a sky—its lightning never met this rhyme,

nor did its clouds and cloudbanks ever nourish it.

وظن العلى أن سوف يزكي مقامها

ويشملها هامي الأيادي مقيمها

And high honor expects that he will ennoble its station,

and its upholder, showering gifts, will enfold it.

لقد ذل إلا عند مثلك مثلها

وعز على ملك سواك قدومها

Its like is indeed humbled, except with one like you;

its coming is hard to win for any king but you.