لو أنهم ردوا الفؤاد مسلما

ما عجت في تلك الرسوم مسلما

Had they returned my heart unharmed,

I would not have turned aside among those ruins to greet them.

ولما رأى الواشون مني مدمعا

وشى محيلا من ثراه ونمنما

Nor would the slanderers have seen a tear from me

embroidering a barren patch of its soil and tracing patterns.

لا زال صوب المزن يسقى معلما

فيه سحبت رداء لهوي معلما

May the rainclouds' downpour never cease to water that landmark,

where I trailed the embroidered cloak of my revelry.

وتنفست فيه الرياح ولا ونت

جرع الغمام تجود جرعاء الحمى

May the winds breathe through it, and may never slacken

the cloud-draughts raining on the reserve's sandy tract.

أيام غصن الوصل أخضَر ناعمِ

ما سال إلا واستمال متيما

In the days when the bough of union was green and tender,

it never flowed without drawing a love-stricken soul.

والكأس دائرة بكف غريرة

كالورد خداً والأتاحي مبسما

And the cup circulated in an innocent maiden's hand,

rose-like in cheek and daisy-like in smile.

ممطورة ماء الشباب تمد لي

كفا يكف عن السلو ومعصما

Bathed in the water of youth, she holds out to me

a hand that keeps me from forgetting, and a wrist.

رؤد الصبا عمداً أطعت صبابتي

في حبها وعصيت فيها اللوّما

Tender with youth—deliberately I obeyed my longing

in loving her, and defied those who reproached me for her.

ياعتب لا عتب على طيف سرى

حيا فأحيا مستهاما مغرما

O ʿAtb, no blame falls on a phantom that came by night,

greeting and reviving a love-dazed, enamored man.

يجد العذاب لديك أعذب مورد

والغنم إلا من وصالك مغرما

He finds torment at your side the sweetest watering-place,

and gain, unless it comes from union with you, a loss.

لا تأخذي بدمي وكلك قاتلي

إلا اختصار الخصر أو خصر اللما

Do not avenge my blood, when all of you is my killer,

except the waist's slenderness or the coolness of dusky lips.

ولقد تسدّيت الظلام بأينق

كوم برى الإسادُ منها إلا عظما

And indeed, I threaded the darkness on she-camels,

high-humped, worn by night-travel to nothing but bone.

يمرقن من تحت الغوارب أسهما

ويعد من حر الهواجر سُهَّما

They dart like arrows from beneath the withers,

and return gaunt from the heat of noon.

يطلبن خير خليفة من هاشم

خلفت أنامله الغيوث السجما

They seek the finest caliph of Hashim's line,

whose fingertips have outstripped the pouring rains:

المستضي فينا بأمر الهِهِ

أبدا ما ليل خطب أظلما

al-Mustadi, illumined among us by his God's command,

ever, whenever a calamity's night grows dark.

المضحك الأيام بعد عبوسها

بالعدل والمبكي أعاديهِ دما

He makes the days laugh after their scowling,

through justice, and makes his enemies weep blood.

كم فك مأسورا وأفنى ظالما

وأغاث ملهوفا وأغنى معدما

How often he has freed a captive and destroyed an oppressor,

rescued the distressed and enriched the destitute.

بأبي محمد الأمام المجتبي

حمد الزمان وكان قبل مذمما

Through Abu Muhammad, the chosen imam,

the age was praised, though before it had been reviled.

ملك حبانا بالتلاد وهمّنا

بالجود أَنجدَ في البلاد وأتهما

A king who granted us ancestral wealth and overwhelmed us

with bounty, reaching Najd and Tihama across the lands.

فالجور قد اضحى بعبدا داره

والعدل قد ألقى عصاه وخيما

So injustice now has its dwelling far away,

while justice has laid down its staff and pitched its tent.

من معشرِ إن أظلمت شيم الورى

طلعوا بدورا للعفاة وأَنجما

From a clan who, when mankind's ways grow dark,

rise as full moons and stars for those seeking gifts.

لم يمنعوا سؤالهم بل مانعوا

عن بيضة الإسلام أن يتهضما

They have not refused their petitioners; rather, they have defended

Islam's heartland against being violated.

ورثوا المصلى والحطيم كليهما

والحِجر والحَجَرَ اللّطيمَ وزمزما

They inherited both the prayer-place and al-Hatim,

al-Hijr, the oft-touched Stone, and Zamzam.

لله منه هاشميا طال ما

لقي الكتيبة مقدِما متقدّما

Praise be to God for this Hashimite, who so often

faced the battalion boldly, advancing at the fore.

سله الجزيل إذا غدا متبسِّا

واحذر سطاه إذا بدا متجِّهما

Ask him for abundant gifts when he is smiling,

and beware his onslaught when he appears scowling.

فلقد سما يعلى على قرشيّة

هرم الزمان ومجدها لن يهرما

For he has risen high, borne aloft by Qurayshi lineage;

time has grown old, but its glory will never age.

شرف علا شرف النجوم مطنب

فتراه من قدم الليالي أقدما

A far-reaching nobility surpassing the height of the stars—

you see it as older than the ancient nights themselves.

وإذا طلبت له الشبيه وجدته

فذاً ونعماه الجزيلة توأما

And if you seek his equal, you find him

peerless, while his lavish favors come in pairs.

تحلو مجانيه ويعفو قادرا

عن ذنب جانبه إذا ما أجرما

Sweet are his harvested fruits; though able to punish, he pardons

his offender's sin whenever he transgresses.

كم أبرم الأمر السحيل برأيه

ولكم به نقض القضاء المبرما

How often he has made a loose-spun affair firm by his counsel,

and how often through it he has unraveled a firmly bound decree.

يؤي مجاريه ويضحي جاره

حرما على ريب الزمان محرَّما

He shelters his rivals, and his neighbor becomes

a sanctuary untouchable by the vicissitudes of time.

كم شد أزر الملك رأى وزيره

وأقام منآد الأمور وقوَّما

How often his minister's judgment has braced kingship's back,

straightened the crookedness of affairs, and set them right.

عضد الهدى والدين والطود الذي

طال الرجالَ رزانةً وتحلما

The support of guidance and religion, the mountain that

towers over men in gravity and forbearance.

المقتني للحادثات قواضيا

في الروع مفطرة وخيلا صوما

He keeps deadly blades for calamities,

breaking their fast in battle, and horses that fast;

وسوابغا زغف المتون كأنما

يشتن لابسها غديرا مفعما

and full-length coats of mail, supple in surface, as though

their wearer poured a brimming pool over himself.

تدبير من أضحى أتمَّ خليفة

وأجل من ساس الأمور وأحزما

The governance of him who has become the most consummate caliph,

the most august and most resolute ever to govern affairs.

ساعده بالتوفيق رب وكن أذلا

لسعادة المولى الإماما متمما

O Lord, aid him with success, and ever be

the one who completes the felicity of the lord, the imam.

لا زال معسول الخلال ممدّحاً

جذلانَ موفورَ الجلال معظما

May he never cease to be sweet in character and much praised,

joyful, abundant in majesty, and honored.