ألا ذرفت عيني ودام سجومها

وأفقدها طيب المنام منيمها

Ah, my eye has shed tears, and its streaming has endured,

and its sleep-bringer has robbed it of the sweetness of slumber.

وكانت على الأيّام عيني صحيحةً

فها هي قرحى لا تداوى كلومُها

My eye was sound through all those days,

yet here it is, ulcerated, its wounds unhealed.

لقد أقرحَ الأجفان دمع كأنّه

شآبيب سحب أسكبتها غيومها

Tears have indeed ulcerated the eyelids, as though they were

cloudbursts poured forth by their rain clouds.

إذا ديمةٌ منها استقلّت وأمطرَت

نأت فهمت أخرى طباقا ركومها

Whenever one of their steady rainclouds rises and pours,

it recedes, then another streams, its masses piled in layers.

على أن في سفح الدموع استراحة

لغيري وقلبي دائما لا يرومها

Although the shedding of tears brings relief

to others, my heart never seeks that rest.

ألا يا خليلي من قشير أما ترى

إلى مهجتي تفنى ويبلى أديما

Ah, my friend of Qushayr, do you not see

my life's blood wasting away and my skin wearing thin?

وما مسعد عندي ويبكي أخا جوى

له مقلة أدوى الصحيح سقيمها

I have no fellow mourner to weep for a brother in love's anguish,

whose ailing eye has made the healthy sick.

جرى دمعي منها ارتياحا وصبوة

إلى حمص يستدعيه منها نعيمها

My tears flowed from it in yearning and desire

for Homs, whose delights draw those tears from my eye.

ويرتاح قلبي نحو بغداذ للهوى

لشتّان إذ ضمّ الحبيب حريمها

And my heart yearns toward Baghdad out of love.

How great the difference, since its precincts embraced the beloved!

وإنّي لأستهدي الشمال سلامهُم

وينعشُ قلبي حين يأتي نسيمها

Indeed, I ask the north wind for their greetings,

and its breeze revives my heart when it comes.

لقد أفسدَ العيش التنائي وقد سطا

على مهجتي حتفا وخسفا يسومها

Separation has indeed ruined life and assailed

my life's blood, inflicting death and humiliation upon it.

أما والتي في القلب أيسرُ حبّها

لظى جمرات ليس يخبو ضريمُها

By her, the slightest love for whom within my heart is

a blaze of embers whose fire never dies,

لأدرعَنّ الليل سيرا تجوب بي

فسيح الفلا نوق بلى الوخد كومها

I shall cloak myself in night and travel, borne across

the vast wilderness by she-camels whose humps swift pacing has worn down.

بوازل يقطعن الصحاصح بالضحى

تحفّ بحار البيد حتى أعومها

Full-grown camels cross the level wastes in morning light,

sweeping across desert seas until I swim through them.

إذا جبت منها بلقعا لاح بلقع

يجيب الصدى فيها صدى الصوت بومها

Whenever I cross one barren waste, another appears;

there its owls answer the echo—the echo of a voice.

إذا أذني استهدت بها صوت صائت

تناسيت إلا من صداها ينيمها

Whenever my ear seeks there a caller's voice,

I forget all but the one whose echo lulls it to sleep.

إذا أنّا جاوزت البقيعة سالما

وجاوزت بارمّا فنعمى أرومها

When I cross al-Buqay‘ah safely,

and pass Baramma, bliss is what I seek,

وجاوزت جسر النهروان مشرّقا

ووافيت باجسري ولاحت حجومها

and cross the Nahrawan bridge, heading east,

and reach Bajasri, its masses coming into view,

وخيّمت أرضا آمن الله أهلها

وأوسعها خصبا وعدلا قسيمها

and camp in a land whose people God has made secure,

and whose dispenser of bounty has filled it with plenty and justice,

فشكرت أما بعد شوقا إلى امرىء

له راحة أغنى وأقنى عمومُها

then I give thanks—now, to proceed—yearning for a man

whose palm's all-embracing bounty has enriched and endowed.

إليك ابن ورقاء الأمير تهجّست

بي النيب أرضا قد قلاها ظليمها

Toward you, Prince Ibn Warqa, journeyed

old she-camels bearing me through a land its male ostrich has shunned,

قليلة مرعى الوحش مرت مضلة

ويأكل لحمي حرّها وسمومها

with little pasture for wild beasts, barren and bewildering;

its heat and scorching winds devour my flesh.

تجوب قراديد البلاد وهدها

بأشعث ذي أماكاها مضيمها

They traverse the land's rugged heights and hollows,

bearing a disheveled man with [unclear], oppressed by it,

لأشهدَ من أخلاقك الغرّ مشهداً

كريما وحسبي من جداها مريمها

so I may witness in your radiant character a sight

of nobility; enough for me from its bounty is [unclear].

لقد ملأ الله البلاد سلامة

بسيفك لما قلّ فيها سليمها

God has indeed filled the land with safety

through your sword, when few within it were unharmed.

وألفت بين الذئب والشاء فانضوى

إليك برغم الحاسدين زعيمها

You reconciled the wolf and the sheep, and there rallied

to you, despite the envious, its chieftain.

ودانت شياطين البلاد مهابة

وقصّر عن أكل الحرام رجيمها

The land's devils submitted in awe,

and its accursed one desisted from consuming the forbidden.

وخافت رجال من رجال أعزّة

ومن قبل كانت لا يضام ذميمها

Men feared other men of might,

though formerly even its vilest man suffered no affront.

أجابك أعراب البلاد وأذعنت

لأمرك أكراد البلاد ورومها

The land's Bedouins answered you, and submitted

to your command the land's Kurds and Romans.

فنامت أفاعيها وريضت أسودها

وعاش بها مسكينها ويتيمهها

Its vipers fell asleep, and its lions were tamed,

and its poor and orphan lived there.

وذلّت رقاب من ملوك جبابر

بنى المجد فيها كهلها وفطيمها

And the necks of tyrant kings were humbled,

where its mature men and weanlings alike had built glory.

فخرت بشيبان الكرام وإنها

كرام الورى حقا وأنت كريمها

You took pride in noble Shayban; indeed, they are

truly the nobles of mankind, and you are their noble one:

مهذّبها قمقامها ليث غابها

مقدّمها في كلّ خطب عليمها

their refined one, their great chief, the lion of their forest,

their leader in every crisis, their man of knowledge.

وشيبان سيف الله في الأرض كلها

أواخرها محمودة وقديمها

And Shayban is God's sword throughout the earth;

its later generations are praised, and its ancient ones too.

وحوط فمن شيبان في راس شامخ

مناقبها مشهورة وحلومها

And Hawt, of Shayban, stands upon a lofty summit;

its noble deeds and its sound judgment are renowned.

مددت إلى العلياء كفا إذا امتطت

حساما غداة الروع فل خصيمها

You stretched a hand toward glory; when it mounts

a sword on terror's morning, that sword breaks its foe.

بها منهلا شري وأري لذائق

وبؤسى ونعمى نثرها ونظيمها

In that hand are two springs: bitter colocynth and honey for the taster,

and misery and blessing, in what it scatters and strings together.

فيا جعفرا يا ابن الكرام وإنما

ينوء بأثقال الرجال عظيمها

So, O Ja'far, O son of the noble, only

the great among them can shoulder men's burdens.