حييت من طلل ومعهد

قد حال عما كنت أعهد

Greetings to you, ruined dwelling and familiar haunt,

now changed from what I once knew.

وتلاعبت برسومه

أيدى البلى حتى تأبد

And its traces have been toyed with

by decay’s hands, until it grew desolate.

فلئن عفى وتجنبت

فيه البروف براق ثهمد

For though it has faded, and

lightning there has shunned Thahmad’s rocky tracts,

فلكم ربعت بربعه

وجمعت شمل هوى مبدد

how often I dwelt within its bounds

and reunited a love once scattered,

أيام أغصان الشبيبةِ

في رياض اللهو ميَّد

in days when youth’s boughs

swayed in the gardens of pleasure,

والوصل منتبه الجفو

ن وأَعين الرباء هجدّ

and union’s eyelids were awake,

while the watchers’ eyes slept.

مع كل أحوى أحور

ومهفهف الكشحين أغيد

With every dark-lipped, dark-eyed beauty,

slender-waisted and gracefully supple:

قمرى بأن إن شدا

وقضيب بان أن تأود

a ringdove in a ban tree when he sang,

and a ban-tree bough when he swayed;

جذلان أوردني الحما

م بخجله الخد المورد

joyful, he brought me to death

through the blush of his rose-red cheek.

متفرد بالحسن قل

ب مخبه بالحزن مفرد

Peerless in beauty, while the heart

of his lover was alone in sorrow;

زين الموشح والمسو

ور والمخلخل والمقلد

the pride of the sash- and bracelet-adorned,

of those wearing anklets and necklaces.

كم التقي منه الصدو

د بذلك الصدر المصدد

How often I encounter his rejection

from that averted breast.

وأقول يلتفت الظلو

م إلى تلدد من تلدّد

And I say: the cruel one will turn

to the distress of one who turns about in anguish,

ويرق لي من عبرة

تجري على خد مخدد

and soften toward me because of a tear

running over a furrowed cheek.

فإذا تناصفه أقا

ل وتيه بالحسن أزيد

But then his fairness is less [reading uncertain],

and his pride in his beauty greater.

يا عاذ لاتي كم الا

م على الغرام وكم أفند

O my reprovers, how often I am blamed

for passion, and how often called foolish,

في حب غداريغا

درني قريح الجفن مكما

in love with a faithless one who leaves

me with wounded eyelids, grief-stricken.

أرعى النجوم كأنها

في الأفق در في زبرجد

I watch the stars as though they were

pearls set in emerald on the horizon.

أترى حرام أن أبي

ت ولست ذا جفن مسهد

Do you think it forbidden that I spend the night

without an eyelid kept awake?

لأحمد إلا للإل

ه وللإمام الخرف أحمد

No praise is due except to God,

and to the imam Ahmad [epithet unclear].

أعن أبا العباس أك

رم آل عباس وأجود

I mean Abu al-Abbas, the noblest

and most generous of the house of Abbas:

الماجد المبيض أفع

لا وهام الجدب اسود

the glorious one, whose deeds shine white,

while drought’s heads are black;

والمطرف الراجي ندا

ه بمطرف منه ومتلد

he gives the seeker of his bounty

wealth from him, both newfound and inherited.

باليمن معضود وبالت

فيق منصور مؤيد

Supported by good fortune, and through

success granted victory and strength;

ومردّد الإحسان ما

راجيه ممطول مردد

ever renewing his kindness; no

seeker of his is put off or turned away.

سداد أراب الثأى

بأصالة الرأى المسدد

A mender of breaches [one word unclear],

through the soundness of his well-directed judgment.

هود التجارب باديات

عون نعمله وعود

Trials are manifest [opening word unclear];

aid, [unclear word], and promises.

إحسانه ما لا يحد

وجوده ما لا يعدد

His kindness is beyond all bounds,

and his generosity beyond all counting.

ملك يهدّ ذرا الروا

سي أن توعد أو تهدد

A king who shatters mountain summits

when he threatens or menaces;

نجد أغار سماحه

في الأرض جوالا وأنجد

valiant, his bounty ranges through lowlands,

roaming the earth and ascending the uplands.

لاجاره فَرِق ولا

معروفه رنق مصرل

His neighbor has no fear, nor

is his bounty clouded or scant.

ذو بنية رفع إلا ل

ه يفاصها العالي وشيد

Possessor of an edifice that God has raised—

its lofty summit—and firmly built.

عقد تعتقود مايحنا

في جيد مجد منه أجيد

A necklace our praises string [reading uncertain]

around the graceful neck of his glory.

فحديث كل سماحة

صحت فعن نعمامه تسند

Thus every account of generosity

proved authentic is traced to his favors.

وكأن عزمته وحد

د لسانه ظبتا مهند

It is as though his resolve and the edge

of his tongue were the two edges of an Indian blade.

البذل من عاداته

والمرء يألف ما تعود

Free giving is among his habits,

and a person grows fond of what he is accustomed to.

والعزم ماض والفعا

ل مهذب والرأى محصد

His resolve is keen, and his deeds

refined; his judgment firmly woven.

وإذا تجرد للخطو

ب فسيفها المشهور مغمد

When he sets himself to face calamities,

their brandished sword is sheathed.

حامي الحقيقة مقدم

إن حام مقدام وعرد

A defender of honor, advancing

when a bold warrior draws back and flees,

في موقف فيه القنا

قصد وذمر القوم مقصد

in a battle where the spears

are splinters, and the people’s champion lies slain.

الموت ينزل فيه بال

أرماح والأرواح تصعد

Death descends there upon

the spears, while souls ascend.

من هاشم وقصيها

في ذروة الشرف الموطد

Of Hashim and its Qusayy,

at the summit of firmly established nobility:

آل الحطيم وزمزم

والبيت والركد الممجد

the house of al-Hatim and Zamzam,

of the House and the glorified Corner.

خلقت سرابيل الكرا

م وبرد فخرهم مجدد

The tunics of noble men have worn thin,

but the mantle of their glory is renewed.

الضاربين تغشرما

في الروع هامة كل أصيَد

Those who strike with ruthless force,

in battle, the head of every haughty man;

والجاعلين قرى النزي

ل سديد كومهم المسرهد

and those who serve their guests

hump-fat from their plump, high-humped camels.

يا ناصر الدين الخي

ف تمل بالملك المخلد

O Nasir al-Din, caliph,

long enjoy everlasting sovereignty!

واسعد بعز مايزا

ل بقاء دولته مؤبد

And rejoice in might whose

dominion’s endurance remains eternal,

ما أظلم الليل البهي

م وضاء للسارين فرقد

as long as the pitch-black night grows dark,

and Farqad shines for travelers by night.