1. مالكُ قلبي عن يدِ

    يقتلُني ولا يدي

    He who owns my heart outright

    kills me, yet pays no blood-money.

  2. فأنثني ومهجتي

    نهْبَ جيوشِ الكمَدِ

    So I turn away, my life's blood

    plunder for the armies of grief.

  3. وإنما تخدعُني

    بمُلق التودد

    You only deceive me

    with the flattery of affection.

  4. ينعَمُ بالطيفِ على

    ناظريَ المسهَّدِ

    He bestows his dream-phantom upon

    my sleepless eye.

  5. وأين من إلمامِه

    مُقلةُ مَن لم يرقدِ

    Yet how can his visitation reach

    the eye of one who has not slept?

  6. وربما واصلني

    لكن بخُلْفِ الموعد

    And sometimes he grants me union,

    but only by breaking his promise.

  7. وجاء بالحب بما

    لم يعترض في خلدي

    And in love he brought what

    had never crossed my mind.

  8. ولم يجُدْ بربّةٍ

    لغُلّةِ القلبِ الصدي

    He granted no plentiful draught

    for the thirst of the parched heart.

  9. وإنما يُبردُها

    برشفِ ذاك البرَدِ

    He only cools it

    by sipping that hail.

  10. ودونه صَمصامةٌ

    من لحظِه المعربدِ

    Yet barring it is a keen-edged sword

    of his riotous gaze,

  11. قد أصبحتْ في جفنِها

    كالصارمِ المهنّدِ

    now lying in its eyelid-sheath,

    like a sharp Indian blade.

  12. منكمْ أحومُ والهوى

    يصدِفُني عن موردي

    Around you I hover, while passion

    turns me from my watering place.

  13. وقد أذاب طولَ ه

    ذا المَطْلِ روحُ الجلدِ

    And the length of this

    delay has melted the spirit of endurance.

  14. الله في حُشاشةٍ

    أنبَتُها عن جسدي

    For God's sake, spare a remnant of life

    that I have made grow away from my body.

  15. طرفي جنى فما الذي

    أوجب ظُلْمَ الكبِدِ

    My eye committed the crime; what, then,

    justified wronging the liver?

  16. وإنما حكمُ القِصا

    صِ واقعٌ بالمُعتَدي

    And the sentence of retribution

    falls only upon the aggressor.

  17. دهيتَني فصِرْتُ لا

    أعرف أمسي من غَدي

    You have overwhelmed me, so I no longer

    know my yesterday from my tomorrow.

  18. ورّدْتَ دمْعَ مقلتي

    بخدّك المورَّدِ

    You made my eye's tears rose-red

    with your rosy cheek.

  19. وأشبه الحالُ به

    إنسانَ عينِ الأرْمَدِ

    And in this state it resembled

    the pupil of an inflamed eye.

  20. كعبةُ حُسنٍ كمُلَتْ

    بالحجر المسوّد

    A Kaaba of beauty, perfected

    by the blackened stone.

  21. لكنْ براحاتِ المُنى

    تلمُسُ لا راحِ اليد

    But with the palms of wishes

    you touch it, not the palm of the hand.

  22. معطلُ اللبةِ إل

    ا من حُليّ الغيَد

    Unadorned at the throat, except

    for the ornaments of supple grace.

  23. تجمّع الحُسنُ به

    من مزوَجٍ ومفردِ

    Beauty gathered in him,

    in pairs and singly.

  24. كأنما استعارَ من

    بعضِ صِفاتِ أحمدِ

    As though he had borrowed from

    some of Ahmad's qualities.

  25. وأين منه حُسنُها

    والصُّفرُ غيرُ المَسجَدِ

    Yet how far its beauty falls below his—

    brass is not gold.

  26. السيدُ بنُ السيد ب

    نُ السيد بنُ السيدِ

    The lord, son of the lord, son

    of the lord, son of the lord.

  27. جلالةٌ من آدمٍ

    باقيةٌ للأبدِ

    Majesty from Adam,

    abiding forever.

  28. ورفعةٌ قضتْ له

    بها نُجومُ المَولدِ

    And eminence decreed for him

    by the stars of his birth.

  29. ذو راحةٍ قد ضمنَتْ

    بالبَذْلِ برّ المُجتَدي

    He has a palm that has pledged,

    through giving, kindness to the petitioner.

  30. يقظانُ إلا أنه

    نائمُ طرفِ الحسَدِ

    Wakeful, except that

    his eye of envy sleeps.

  31. تواضعٌ أنزلهُ

    بين عِراضِ الفرقَدِ

    Humility has set him down

    among Farkad's broad reaches.

  32. وقد لوى اللهُ له

    أخدعَ كلّ أصيدِ

    And God has bent before him

    the neck-vein of every haughty man.

  33. فكلهمْ أجابَه

    ولم يُنادِ أسعدِ

    So every one of them answered him,

    though he had not called, 'As'ad!'

  34. هذا وكم مدرسةٍ

    تدرسُ إفكَ المُلحِدِ

    And besides this, many a school

    effaces the heretic's falsehood.

  35. تُضحِك عن لألائها ال

    مُشرقِ ثغرَ البلَدِ

    It brings a smile, through its

    radiant gleam, to the city's mouth.

  36. كأنما خريدةٌ

    حاليةُ المقلَّدِ

    As though it were a chaste maiden

    with an adorned neck.

  37. حلّ سليمانُ بها

    في صرْحِه المُمَرَّدِ

    Solomon settled there

    in his smooth-polished palace.

  38. ورامَها الغيثُ فنا

    دَتْهُ على البعدِ اجْهَدِ

    The rain sought to reach it, so it called

    to him from afar, 'Exert yourself!'

  39. وأتعبتْهُ فابْتَنى

    عنها رسوخَ النجَدِ

    It wearied him, so he built

    solid highlands away from it.

  40. لا تكذبنّ إنها

    لولاهُ لم تُشيّدِ

    Do not lie: surely,

    without him it would not have been built.

  41. قد أوضحَ اللهُ به

    لنا طريقَ الرَّشَدِ

    Through him God has made clear

    for us the path of right guidance.

  42. وزهّرَتْ نجومُه

    فويلَ من لم يهتدِ

    And his stars have shone;

    woe to whoever fails to find the way!

  43. وإن روى الأخبارَ منْ

    مُرسِلِها والمسنَّدِ

    And if he relates traditions,

    whether chain-incomplete or fully chained,

  44. فاصغِ إليه والتقِطْ

    من دُرِّه المنضَّدِ

    listen to him, and gather

    from his pearls strung in order.

  45. وقلْ لقد سمعتُها

    من فلقٍ محْمَدِ

    And say, 'I have indeed heard them

    from a praiseworthy genius.'

  46. يا ضامناً يُسْرَ النّدى

    ببشْرِ وجهه النّدي

    O guarantor of readily given bounty,

    through the cheer of his dew-fresh face,

  47. ومن إذا مدحتَه

    قال لي العُلا زدِ

    and one for whom, whenever you offer praise,

    Glory tells me, 'Say more!'

  48. مثلُك من قوّم ما

    في كلِمي منْ أوَدِ

    One like you is the one to straighten

    whatever is crooked in my words.

  49. فاهنأ بعشرٍ لم يزلْ

    منه أخيرُ العددِ

    So rejoice in ten, to which

    the final number has always belonged;

  50. هذا على أنك في

    أولِ كلِّ سؤدَدِ

    all this, although you are

    first in every noble distinction.

  51. واسلمْ ودُمْ في نعمةٍ

    باقيةٍ للأبدِ

    Be safe, and remain in a blessing

    that endures forever.