1. ثنَتْ عنك يومَ الرحيلِ العِنانا

    وبانَتْ وفي إثرِها الصبرُ بانا

    On departure day she turned the reins away from you,

    and she departed; patience departed in her wake.

  2. ولمّا استقلتْ ضُحىً بالمَطيّ

    أبانَ لك البينُ ما قد أبانا

    And when she set out at midmorning on the riding camels,

    parting showed you what it had already made plain.

  3. لعَمْري لئنْ رحلَ الظاعنونَ

    لقد أودَعوني الهَوى والهَوانا

    By my life, if the travelers have departed,

    they have surely left me passion and humiliation.

  4. ولما اعتنقنا بكتْ لؤلؤاً

    وأمطرتُ من مقلتيّ جُمانا

    And when we embraced, she wept pearls,

    and from my two eyes I rained pearl-beads.

  5. وكنتُ كتمْتُ الهَوى فاغتدت

    بهِ دمعُ عيني لها تَرْجُمانا

    And I had concealed my passion, but then

    my eye's tears became its interpreter to her.

  6. عَفا اللهُ عمنْ ذللتُ فعزّ

    وصلتُ فصدّ وفَيْتُ فَخانا

    May God pardon the one I humbled myself before, who grew proud;

    I drew near, but he turned away; I was faithful, but he betrayed.

  7. وجاد رسومَ ديارِ اللِوى

    سحابٌ يُحيلُ رُباها حَنانا

    And may the traces of al-Liwa's dwellings be drenched

    by a cloud that turns its hills to tenderness.

  8. ديارٌ قطعتُ حبالَ الهُمومِ

    بها ووصلتُ الظباءَ الحِسانا

    Dwellings—I cut the cords of care

    there, and joined the beautiful gazelles.

  9. ورُبّ فلاةٍ تعسّفتُها

    على متْنها الليلُ ألقى الجِرانا

    And many a wilderness I crossed without a path,

    on whose back the night had laid its neck.

  10. فما صدَّ ذلك عزمي بها

    ولا راعَ ذلك مني الجَنانا

    Yet that did not deter my resolve there,

    nor did it terrify the heart within me.

  11. وقلتُ لهوجاء زيافةٍ

    تُقطّعُ أطوادَها والرُعانا

    And I said to a headlong, fast-striding she-camel

    crossing the wilderness's mountains and ridges:

  12. أقلّي أنينَكِ يا هذه

    فما صعُبَ الخطْبُ إلا وهانا

    "Lessen your groaning, you there;

    for no ordeal ever grew hard without growing easy.

  13. وجِدّي الى من إليه المطيُّ

    تروحُ خِماصاً وتغدو بِطانا

    And press on toward him to whom the mounts

    go hungry at dusk and set out full at dawn:

  14. الى حافظِ الدينِ والمُرتجى

    لدفعِ المُلمِّ إذا ما اعترانا

    to Hafiz al-Din, the one looked to

    to ward off calamity whenever it befalls us."

  15. تيقنتُ أني إذا جئتُه

    أخذتُ من الحادثاتِ الأمانا

    I was certain that, if I came to him,

    I would gain safety from misfortunes.

  16. وإن أظلمَ الخطبُ جلّى حِجاهُ

    عوارضَ أشكالِه فاسْتَبانا

    And if the ordeal darkens, his wisdom dispels

    the clouds obscuring its forms, so it stands clear.

  17. إذا جئتُه مستفيداً أفادَ

    وإن جئتُه مستعيناً أعانا

    When I come to him seeking benefit, he grants it;

    and if I come to him seeking help, he gives it,

  18. لأصبِحَ في السادةِ الأكرمين

    أعزّ جُواراً وأعلى مكانا

    so I may become, among the noblest lords,

    the best protected and highest in rank,

  19. وأوضحَهُم في العُلا منهَجاً

    وأفصحهُم في مقالٍ لِسانا

    and the clearest of them in the path to eminence,

    and the most eloquent-tongued of them in speech,

  20. وأوسعَهم للندى نادياً

    وأرفَهَهُم في ذُرى المجدِ شانا

    and the one with the broadest hall for generosity,

    and the most comfortably placed of them on glory's heights.

  21. فيا ناقلَ الجودِ عن حاتمٍ

    سَماعاً تحدّثْ بهذا عِيانا

    So, O you who recount Hatim's generosity

    from hearsay, tell of this man's from firsthand sight.

  22. هنيئاً مريئاً بصومِ أتاكَ

    يُقبّلُ من راحتيكَ البَنانا

    Pleasant and wholesome be the fast that has come to you,

    kissing the fingertips of your two hands.

  23. وخُذْها قصائدَ قد زيّنَتْ

    بذكرِ صفاتِكَ فيها الزمانا

    And accept these poems, which have adorned

    the age by recounting your qualities within them:

  24. حدائقُ لو نفحَتْ ريحَها

    على عجلٍ يابسَ الصخرِ لانا

    gardens—if their fragrance were to waft

    in haste over dry rock, that rock would soften.