1. أَصاب القَذى عينَ الرّقيب الموكّلِ

    وفُضَّ فمُ الواشي بنا المتقوّلِ

    May grit strike the eye of the appointed watcher,

    and may the mouth of the slanderer who invents tales about us be shattered.

  2. ودُقَّ جناحا طائر البين وانتشى

    بنَحر مطايا الظَّاعن المترحّلِ

    May the two wings of separation’s bird be crushed, and may it grow drunk

    on the slaughter of the departing traveler’s mounts.

  3. وزُمَّت إلى ضعف القوى عزمهُ النَّوى

    ورضَّض أَفواه الحُداة بجَندلِ

    May separation’s resolve be bridled into feebleness,

    and may the camel-drivers’ mouths be smashed with stones.

  4. لعل الهوى يصفو لنا منه نعمة

    فيشفى غليلَ الهائم المتعللِ

    Perhaps love will yield us an untroubled blessing,

    and quench the burning thirst of the love-struck seeker of solace.

  5. وقد يُشتَفَى باكِ على كل ظاعنٍ

    ومُرتهنٌ بالشوق في كل منزلِ

    One who weeps for every departing traveler may find healing,

    and one held hostage by longing at every stopping place.

  6. إذا ذكر الجافي شَجاه بعبرة

    وإن أبصر العافي وجاه بأَفكلِ

    If he remembers the aloof beloved, grief moves him to tears,

    and if he sees the faded traces, they wound him with a shudder.

  7. أَجِدَّكَ راعتك الحمول وهيَّجت

    هواك برحل الحيرة المتحمّلِ

    In earnest, did the laden camels alarm you and stir

    your passion with the departing caravan of al-Hirah?

  8. فعُدتَ لمجروح من البين مُقصَدٍ

    وجدتً بمسفوح من الدَمع أشكل

    So you became truly wounded by separation, mortally stricken,

    and freely poured out tears tinged with red.

  9. وبتَّ بحبٍّ من قديم وحادثٍ

    لديّ وشوقٍ من أخير وأوَّلِ

    And you passed the night with love, both old and new,

    within me, and longing, both recent and earliest,

  10. بمحبوبة عندي شهيٍّ حديثُها

    رمتني فصادتني بألحاظ مُغْزلِ

    for a beloved whose conversation is delightful to me;

    she shot at me and caught me with the glances of a doe with a fawn.

  11. أسيلة مجرى العُلطتين مهفهف

    مجال وشاحيْها رداحُ المخلخلِ

    Smooth where her two necklaces lie, slender

    where her two sashes pass, full where her anklets sit,

  12. تهزّ كَغصن البان قداً مقوّماً

    على مثل دعص الّرملة المتهيّلِ

    she sways a straight, shapely figure like a branch of the ban tree,

    above a form like a loose, crumbling mound of sand.

  13. وتسفر عن مثل الغزالة شيئة

    على متنها لون الأثيث المرجَّلِ

    And she unveils a face like the sun in hue,

    while over her back lies the color of luxuriant, combed hair.

  14. وتبسّم عن كالأقحوان مؤشّرٍ

    به اشنبٌ عذب الّلمى والمقبّلِ

    She smiles to reveal daisy-like, finely serrated teeth,

    in a cool, fresh mouth with sweet, dusky lips and kisses.

  15. تريك إذا افترت بحسن عوارضٍ

    وميضَ السّنا في العارض المتهلهِل

    When she parts her lips, her lovely side-teeth show you

    a gleam of lightning within a thin, ragged cloud.

  16. كأنّ ثناياها أعيرت سُلافةً

    تصفّق من درّ الغَمام بسَلسلِ

    As though her front teeth had been lent the choicest wine,

    blended with limpid water from the clouds’ outpouring.

  17. كأنّ عليها العنبّر الوردَ شابه

    مع المسك مبثوثاً سحيقُ القرنفلِ

    As though, upon her, ambergris and rose had been mingled

    with scattered musk and finely ground clove.

  18. لأَهدت إلى قلبي سهاماً من الهوى

    بأجفان عينيْ فاتر الطّرف أَكحلِ

    Indeed, she sent arrows of love into my heart

    with the eyelids of languid, naturally dark-rimmed eyes.

  19. أعادت لي الأطراب والشوق بعدما

    سلوتُ وكادت غمرة الحبّ تنجّلي

    She restored my rapture and longing after

    I had ceased to yearn, and love’s turmoil had nearly lifted.

  20. على أنّني قلّدتها منّةَ الهوى

    وقلتُ متى تذهلْ عن الحبّ أذهلِ

    Yet I hung upon her the obligation of my love,

    and said, “When you forget love, I too shall forget.”

  21. أُسِرُّ لها وجدَ المعّنى بحبّها

    وأبدي صدود المعرضِ المُتَجمّلِ

    I secretly bear her the passion of one tormented by her love,

    and display the aloofness of one who turns away with composed dignity.

  22. وعندي هوىً لو عاينتْ بعض سرّه

    لأزرت بما أُبدي لها من تجَمُّلِ

    Yet I hold a love: if she glimpsed some of its secret,

    she would scorn the composure I show her.

  23. وقد يُحرم المعتَزُّ لذّةَ حبِّهِ

    يصفي الهوى للعاشقِ المتذلِّلِ

    A proud man may be denied the pleasure of his love,

    while love grants pure affection to the submissive lover.

  24. وقدعَهدت منّي على كل حالة

    سجيّةَ غير الغادرِ المُتبدلِ

    And she has known in me, in every circumstance,

    the nature of one neither treacherous nor fickle:

  25. وفاءً بما حملت من عهد ناكثٍ

    وحفظاً لما استُودعتُ من سرّ مهملِ

    fidelity to the pledge I accepted from an oath-breaker,

    and safekeeping of the secret entrusted to me by one who neglects it.

  26. عدتني سجايا الخير واعتدتُ مثلها

    عوائد غير السّائم المتجملِ

    Good qualities have visited me, and I have made their like my habit,

    the habits of one who neither tires nor merely puts on a show.

  27. وصفيتّ أخلاقي بصحبةِ سادةٍ

    من الأزد طالوا بالنّهى والتطوّلِ

    And I refined my character through the company of noble lords

    of the Azd, who rose high in wisdom and generosity:

  28. بني عمرَ الشّمّ المصاليت إنهم

    لأهل العلى والفضل في كل محفلِ

    the lofty-nosed, dauntless sons of Umar—indeed, they

    are people of eminence and excellence in every gathering.

  29. قضى الله أسبابَ العلى بمحمّد

    ونبهان والمحمُود أحمد من علِ

    God established the means of eminence through Muhammad,

    and Nabhan and the praised Ahmad, from on high,

  30. وألبسهم فضلاً موشّى مطرّزاً

    على صهوتيْ مجد أغرّ محَجّلِ

    and clothed them in excellence, patterned and embroidered,

    upon the twin saddlebacks of white-blazed, white-stockinged glory.

  31. ولم يُرَ فيهم حيث كانوا على الرّضى

    أو السّخط إلاّ عادة المتطوّلِ

    And nothing was seen in them, wherever they were, in contentment

    or anger, but the ways of one who gives generously.

  32. يشيم المرجّى منهمُ شيَم النّدى

    فيكفيه شيْمَ البارقِ المتَخيّلِ

    The hopeful one discerns in them the traits of bounty,

    and is spared watching rain-promising lightning.

  33. ويغني بمرفضّ النّدى من أناملٍ

    لديهاغَنى الرّاجي ونُجحَ المُؤمّلِ

    And wealth is bestowed through bounty streaming from fingers

    that hold the seeker’s wealth and the hopeful one’s fulfillment.

  34. وقد يلجأ الجاني إلى عرَصاتهم

    فيأوي إلى أركان أمنعِ مَعقلِ

    And an offender may seek refuge in their courtyards,

    and shelter within the bastions of the most impregnable fortress:

  35. إلى جبل الأزد المحامين دونه

    بجُرد المذاكي والوشيج الموكّلِ

    in the mountain of the Azd, who defend it

    with sleek, full-grown steeds and spears charged with its defense,

  36. وكل عتيكيّ العزيمة فاتك

    شديد ثبات الجأش ليس بزمَّلِ

    and every Atiki, resolute and deadly,

    unshakably stout-hearted, no coward,

  37. ومن ألف الهيجاءَواعتاد كرّةً

    على صهوات الخيل ليس بأَميلِ

    and one familiar with battle and practiced in charging

    upon the backs of horses, no unsteady rider.

  38. يجر فضولَ السّمهريّ من القنا

    ويخطر في سرد الدَّلاص المذيّلِ

    He trails the long shafts of Samhari lances,

    and strides proudly in the linked weave of smooth, trailing mail.

  39. كماة حماة للذّمار تخالهم

    ضراغمَ من خَفّان تحنو لأشبلِ

    Armored champions, defenders of all they hold sacred—you would think them

    lions from Khaffan, bending protectively over cubs.

  40. بني عمر المَلك ابن نبهان انكم

    سبقتم بمجد يعربيّ مؤثّلِ

    Sons of Umar the king, son of Nabhan, you

    have outstripped others in firmly rooted, Ya‘rubi glory.

  41. إذا كان لا يُسطاع إحصاءُ فضلكم

    ففي أي شيء طولُ مدح المطوّلِ

    If your excellence cannot be counted,

    what use is a long-winded panegyrist’s lengthy praise?

  42. فلا جود إلا حزتموا بصَنيعِكم

    ولا مجد إلاّ حزتموا بالتّوقّلِ

    There is no generosity you have not attained through your deeds,

    and no glory you have not won by scaling the heights.

  43. ففي ناطق فرض الثناء عليكم

    ورتبة قول الشاعر المتمثّلِ

    So praise of you is every speaker’s duty,

    and has its due place in the words of the poet who quotes verse.

  44. بقيتُمْ بني نبهان واعتادَ دارَكم

    من العزّ ما يكفيكم كلَّ معضّلِ

    May you endure, sons of Nabhan, and may your home be visited continually

    by might enough to shield you from every grave difficulty.