1. إذا عن الغمام ربي العقيق

    كفاها برمد معي الشفيق

    If the clouds turn away from the hills of al-Aqiq,

    the kindness of my tender tears suffices them [wording corrupt].

  2. ويا برق الحمى سيريك جفني

    إذا استجديته بخل البروق

    O lightning of the sanctuary, my eyelid will show you,

    when you beg its aid, how miserly lightning is.

  3. فليت ثراك عاد سحيق مسك

    فكم أدنيس من أمل سحيق

    Would that your soil became finely ground musk;

    how many distant hopes you brought near!

  4. وكم لي فيك من أيام لهو

    وصلت بها الصبوح إلى الغبوق

    How many days of pleasure I had in you,

    joining the morning draught to the evening draught,

  5. بمشتبهين من ورد وخد

    وممتزجين من خمر وريق

    with two look-alikes—a rose and a cheek,

    and two mingled things—wine and saliva,

  6. وأحور من ظباء الشرق يزرى

    بضوء الشمس في وقت الشروق

    and a dark-eyed gazelle of the East who puts to shame

    the sunlight at the hour of sunrise.

  7. أتى يخفيه ليل الصدغ لولا

    بروق من ثنايا فير روق

    He came, hidden by the night of his sidelocks, but for

    flashes from his front teeth, which did not protrude.

  8. أجلت اللحظ في ورد جني

    بخديه يشق على الشقيق

    I let my gaze roam over freshly picked roses

    on his cheeks, which put the anemone to shame.

  9. أسرت بحبه وغدا طليقا

    فيا ويح الأسير من الطليق

    I was taken captive by loving him, while he went free—

    alas for the captive at the hands of the free!

  10. إذا ما رق لي منه عتاب

    لقيت العذل في وجه صفيق

    When his reproach toward me grew tender,

    I met censure with a brazen face.

  11. الأمن مبلغ البخلاء أَنّي

    لبست ماءة العيش الرقيق

    Is there anyone to tell the misers that I

    have donned the mantle of a life of ease?

  12. أمنت تحرك النكبات لما

    سكنت إلى ذراطود وثيق

    I felt safe from the stirrings of calamity when

    I took refuge on the summit of a steadfast mountain,

  13. بحيث أرى المكارم وهي سهمي

    وسهم الحادثات بغير فوق

    where I see noble gifts as my allotted share,

    while misfortune's arrow has no nock.

  14. تركت الطرق للوراد لما

    رأيت سوى طريقهم طريقي

    I left the roads to those seeking water when

    I saw that my path was other than theirs.

  15. عرفت بقصد عون الدين أني

    غرفتُ الجود من بحر عميق

    In seeking Awn al-Din, I knew that I

    had drawn generosity from a deep sea,

  16. بمن يأوي إلى الحسب المعلى

    غداة الفخر والنسب العريق

    from one who takes refuge in exalted ancestral honor,

    on the day of boasting, and in deep-rooted lineage;

  17. بمخضر الثرى ما اسود نقع

    أعاد البيض حمرا كالعقيق

    one who greens the soil: whenever battle-dust blackens,

    he turns white blades red as carnelian.

  18. كريم رحت أسرح باتكالي

    على جدواه في مرعى أنيق

    A generous man: trusting in him, I roam

    through his bounty in a lovely pasture.

  19. طويل الباع ذو صدر رحيب

    لراجيه وذو وجه طليق

    Long of reach, with a heart open wide

    to those who hope in him, and a cheerful face,

  20. يجود بما حوت يمناه عفوا

    على العافين في سعة وضيق

    he freely gives what his right hand holds

    to petitioners, in plenty and hardship.

  21. شقيق المجد والهيجاء أكرم

    بخدن المجد والحرب الشقيق

    Brother of glory and battle—how noble

    this companion of glory, this brother of war!

  22. وحيد في المآثر بات يطوي

    طريق المكرمات بلا رفيق

    Peerless in glorious deeds, he spends the night traversing

    the road of noble acts without a companion.

  23. يقصر من سعى يبغي نداه

    ولو ركب الرجاء عن اللحوق

    Whoever strives seeking his bounty falls short,

    even riding hope, of catching up.

  24. مقيم للقصائد حين بارت

    وللقصاد سوقا أي سوق

    He establishes, for poems when they go unsold,

    and for petitioners, a market—and what a market!

  25. على أني خلقت قذى عيون

    لارباب القريض شجا حلوق

    Yet I was created a mote in the eyes

    of the masters of verse, a bone lodged in their throats;

  26. وأغلظ ما عليهم أن أوافي

    بجزل اللفظ في المعنى الدقيق

    what weighs heaviest upon them is that I bring

    robust diction to a subtle meaning.

  27. فيا غمر الرداء فداك غمر

    يرى بر العفاة من العقوق

    O you of the ample cloak, may a fool be your ransom,

    who deems kindness to petitioners a form of impiety!

  28. إلا بأبي خلائقك اللواتي

    خلقن أرق من صفو الرحيق

    Ah, may my father ransom those traits of yours

    that were made gentler than the purest wine!

  29. الست من الذين إذا استطالوا

    بفخرهم تقاصر كل نيق

    Are you not among those who, when they tower

    in their pride, make every mountain peak seem low?

  30. أعدوا للحفيظة مرهفات

    كأن شعاعها شعل الحريق

    They readied keen-edged swords to defend their honor,

    whose gleam is like the flames of a blaze,

  31. وكل اصم مذعور الأعالي

    يريك تثني القد الرشيق

    and every solid spear, its tips trembling in fear,

    shows you the sway of a graceful, slender figure.

  32. حلفت بهن أمثال الحنايا

    تَخيَّلُها سِهاما في المروق

    I swore by them, shaped like bent bows,

    which in swift passage you would fancy arrows.

  33. إذا اخترقت بنا الفلوات خلنا

    مناسمها من الريح الخريق

    When they carried us across the wastelands, we thought

    their hoof-tips were made of the fierce wind.

  34. قصدن منى وأكتاف المصلى

    وطفن بجانب البيت العتيق

    They headed for Mina and the flanks of the prayer ground,

    and circled beside the Ancient House,

  35. بأَن أبا المظفر خير خلق

    يرى بالجود جد حر خليق

    that Abu al-Muzaffar is the best of creation,

    deemed truly noble and worthy in generosity.

  36. تمل قدوم صوم جاء يسعى

    إليك مهرولا سعي المشوق

    You weary of the arrival of a fast that comes hurrying [reading uncertain],

    to you, trotting with a longing lover's haste,

  37. يقول بأن ستبقى ماتغنت

    فصاح الورق في غصن وريق

    saying that you will endure as long as there is singing

    from the eloquent doves upon a leafy bough.