1. فؤادٌ على حُكمِ الهوى لا على حُكْمي

    بهيمُ على إثرِ البخيلةِ أو يهمي

    A heart under passion's rule, not under mine,

    Wandering after the withholding beloved, or pouring forth.

  2. متى أشْتَفي من لوعتي وأطيقُها

    إذا كان بجنيها فؤادي على جسمي

    When shall I find relief from my burning anguish and bear it,

    When my heart inflicts it on my body?

  3. هنيئاً لسلمى فرطَ شوقي وأنني

    ذكرتُ اسمَهَا يومَ النّوى ونسيتُ اسمي

    May Salma enjoy my excessive longing, and the fact that I

    Recalled her name on the day of parting and forgot my own.

  4. غَداةَ وقفنا بقْسِمُ الشوقُ بيننا

    على ما اشترطْنا وارتضتْ سُنّة القسْم

    That morning we stood, longing making its division between us,

    According to what we stipulated and the custom of sharing approved.

  5. وقد أطْلَعَتْ تلك الهوادجُ أنجماً

    تركنَ جفوني في الكرى أُسْوَةَ النجم

    Those howdahs had brought stars into view,

    Who left my eyelids as sleepless as a star.

  6. فأبْتُ بدمعي لؤلؤاً فوق نَحْرِها

    وآبتْ بما في مُقْلَتَيْها من السُّقْم

    So I returned with my tears, pearls upon her throat,

    And she returned with the languor in her two eyes.

  7. خليليَّ هل بَعْدَ المشيبِ تَعِلَّةٌ

    لذي الجهلِ أو في الحبِّ شُغْل لذي حلم

    My two friends, is there any solace after gray hair

    For the heedless, or any occupation in love for a man of sense?

  8. وهل راجِعٌ عيشٌ لبسناه آنفاً

    كيوم يزيدٍ في بيوت بني جَرْم

    And will the life we wore not long ago return,

    Like Yazid's day in the houses of Banu Jarm?

  9. وهل لي حظٌّ من مُوَاتاةِ صاحبٍ

    له قُدْرةُ القاضي وَمَوْجدَةُ الخَصْم

    And have I any share in a companion's favor,

    Who has a judge's power and an adversary's anger?

  10. بدتْ رِقّةَ الشَّكوى على حركاتِهِ

    ورابَتْكَ في أَعْطافِهِ قَسْوَةُ الظلم

    The tenderness of complaint appeared in his movements,

    And the cruelty of oppression in his bearing made you uneasy,

  11. كما اضَّطرَبَ الخطّيُّ في حَوْمَةِ الوَغى

    وَصُمُّ المنايا في أنابِيبِهِ الصُمِّ

    As the Khatti spear quivered amid the battle,

    With deaf deaths in its solid joints.

  12. رَمَاني على فَوْتِ الشبابِ وإنما

    تَعَرَّضَ لي لما رآنيَ لا أرْمي

    He shot at me despite youth's passing; he only

    Assailed me when he saw that I did not shoot.

  13. ولم يَدْرِ أنّي لو أشاءُ حَمَلْتُهُ

    على رِسْلِهِ إنَّ الحِمَالَةَ كالسَّهم

    He did not know that, if I wished, I could carry him

    At his ease—for bearing a burden is like an arrow.

  14. وَوكَّلَ عيْنَيهِ بإتلافِ مُهْجَتي

    سَيَعْلَمُ إن لم يَسْتَجِرْ بي من الغُرْم

    He charged his two eyes with destroying my life's blood;

    He will learn, unless he seeks my protection from the penalty.

  15. أبا جعفرٍ هذي المكارمُ والعُلا

    دعاءً بحقٍّ وادعاءً على عِلم

    Abu Ja'far, these are noble deeds and eminence:

    A rightful invocation, and a claim grounded in knowledge.

  16. أرى النّاسَ قد باعوا المروَّاتِ فاشْترِ

    وقد ضَيَّعُوا ما كانَ منْ حَسَبٍ جمّ

    I see that people have sold their noble virtues: buy them,

    And they have squandered the abundant ancestral honor they possessed.

  17. وأنت أحق الناس بالحزم فأته

    وصوف العلا بالمال أشبه بالحزم

    You are the most deserving of prudence: practice it,

    And preserving eminence with wealth is more in keeping with prudence.

  18. وأنتَ بعيدُ الهمِّ مقترِبُ الجدا

    كريمُ السَّجايا ماجدُ الخال والعم

    Your aspirations reach far; your bounty is close at hand,

    Generous in character, with illustrious maternal and paternal uncles.

  19. أبيٌّ إذا لم يدفعِ الضيمَ دافعٌ

    بغيرِ حديث الإفكِ والحَلِفِ الإثم

    Unyielding when no defender repels oppression

    Except with lying talk and sinful oaths.

  20. وأكْرَمُ مَنْ يُرْجى لدفعِ مُلِمّةٍ

    إذا الطّفْلُ لم يسْكُنْ إلى لُطُفِ الأمّ

    And the noblest one whose aid is hoped for against calamity,

    When a child cannot be soothed by its mother's tenderness.

  21. وأهْفى بأَلْبَابِ الرِّجالِ من الهَوى

    وأخْفَى وراءَ الحادثاتِ من الوهم

    More captivating to men's minds than passion,

    And more hidden behind adversities than imagination.

  22. وأحْمَى لحوْزَاتِ المعالي منَ الرَّدى

    وأسْخى بآمال النُّفُوسِ منَ الحِلم

    More protective of the domains of glory than death,

    And more generous with souls' hopes than dreams.

  23. وذو عَزَمات لو يُساوي بها الرُّبى

    لطأطأَها بينَ المذلَّةِ والرُّغْم

    Possessed of resolves that, were he to match the hills against them,

    Would bow them down in abasement and humiliation.

  24. تَكَرَّمْتَ عما فيه أدنى غَضاضةٍ

    على خُلُقٍ ضاهَتْكَ فيه ابنةُ الكرم

    You rose nobly above whatever held the slightest blemish,

    Through a character in which the daughter of the vine rivaled you.

  25. ولم أرَ أحْيَا منك وجهاً ولا يداً

    إذا استأثرَ الحرُّ المرَهَّقُ بالطُّعْم

    I have seen no face or hand more modest than yours,

    When a hard-pressed freeborn man kept the food for himself.

  26. وأصْبَرَ في ظلماءِ كلِّ كريهةٍ

    بحيثُ يكونُ الصبر أفرجَ للغمِّ

    Nor anyone more steadfast in the darkness of every ordeal,

    Where patience brings the greatest relief from grief.

  27. إذا الخيلُ عامتْ في النجيعِ وأُلْجِمَتْ

    بِسُمْر العوالي وهي تَطغَى على اللجم

    When horses swam in gore and were bridled

    With dusky spearheads, while they strained against their bridles,

  28. فلم ترَ إلا عاثراً بدمائه

    يحاذر كلماً أو يُدَافِع عن كلم

    You saw none but a man stumbling in his blood,

    Wary of a wound, or shielding one already suffered.

  29. ولا حصنَ إلا السيفُ في يدِ ماجدٍ

    يرى الموتَ دونَ المجدِ غُنْماً من الغُنْم

    And there was no fortress but the sword in a nobleman's hand,

    Who deemed death in defense of glory a gain among gains.

  30. هنالك حدِّث عن أُبَيَّ وجعفر

    وعبد المليك الشمِّ في الرُّتَب الشم

    There, speak of Ubayy and Ja'far,

    And Abd al-Malīk, proud men in lofty ranks.

  31. تَسَمّيْتَ بالفضلِ الذي أنتَ أهْلُهُ

    ومعناهُ والمذمومُ أجدرُ بالذمّ

    You took the name al-Fadl—excellence, of which you are worthy—

    And whose meaning you embody; the blameworthy is more deserving of blame.

  32. وَأُلْبِسْتَ مِنْ وَشْيِ الوزارةِ حُلّةً

    تقومُ لها تلكَ المآثرُ بالرقم

    You were clothed in a robe of the vizierate's brocade,

    Whose embroidery those glorious deeds provide.

  33. وَتَنْميك من سَعْدِ العشيرةِ أُسْرَةٌ

    هل الفخرُ إلا ما نَمَتْهُ وما تَنْمي

    A family of Sa'd al-Ashira traces your descent;

    Is pride anything but what it has reared and rears?

  34. بهاليلُ أبطالٌ جحاجحُ سادةٌ

    كأُسْدِ الشّرى في الحرب كالمُزْنِ في السلم

    Noble-hearted men, heroes, mighty chiefs, lords,

    Like the lions of al-Shara in war, like rainclouds in peace.

  35. إذا ركبوا الجُرْدَ الجيادَ إلى الوغى

    رأيتَ الأسودَ الضارياتِ على العُصْم

    When they rode sleek, noble steeds into battle,

    You saw ravening lions astride ibexes.

  36. سَيأتيكَ شعري ذاهباً كلَّ مَذْهَبٍ

    على شَهِمٍ منْ خُطّةٍ أو على سَهْم

    My poetry will come to you, traveling every path,

    On a bold steed of a design, or upon an arrow,

  37. جزاءً بِنَعْماكَ الجزيلة إنني

    تَكَرَّمْتُ عن شَيْنِ الصَّنيعةِ بالكتم

    In recompense for your abundant bounty; I

    Have disdained to blemish a kindness by concealing it.

  38. وكم لكَ عندي من يدٍ مَلأَتْ يدي

    ومنْ نعمةٍ أَوْلى بشعريَ من نُعم

    How many a favor of yours has filled my hand,

    And how many a blessing is worthier of my poetry than Nu'm!

  39. هنِيئاً لك العيدُ الذي أنت عيدُهُ

    وعيدٌ لما حاكوا من النثر والنظم

    May you enjoy the festival, whose own festival you are,

    And a festival for the prose and verse they have woven.

  40. نأى الحجرُ الملثوم فيه فأَحْظِني

    بيمناكَ واجعلْ لي سبيلاً إلى اللثم

    The stone kissed at this festival is far away; so favor me

    With your right hand, and grant me a way to kiss it.