لو شاء من أبدى الوصال أَعادا

أو ممرض لي بالصبابة عادا

If the one who offered union wished, he would renew it,

Or the one who sickened me with longing would visit me.

ما لي ألام على الغرام ولم أكن

يا صاحبي لتركه معتادا

Why am I blamed for love, when I have never been

O my two companions, accustomed to forsaking it?

سهلت طريف الصبر لولا زفرة

ملأت جفوني عبرة وسهادا

I would have made unfamiliar patience easy, but for a sigh

That filled my eyelids with tears and sleeplessness.

ولرب فتلاء الوشاح غريرة

ولع الصبا بقوامها فانادا

And many a guileless maiden, full-figured beneath her sash,

On whose figure the east wind doted, setting it swaying,

أهدت إليك صبابة لم تنسها

وأتتك في أترابها تتهادى

Offered you a passion you have not forgotten,

And came to you among her peers, swaying in her walk.

خاصرتها فخصرت لدنا ناعما

ولثمت معسول الرضاب برادا

I embraced her waist and clasped it, supple and soft,

And kissed the cool honey of her saliva.

وسقيتها الصهباء صوفا والدجى

قدَرت بُردُ شبابهِ أو كادا

And I gave her tawny wine, undiluted [reading uncertain], while the night

Had worn through its youthful mantle [reading uncertain], or nearly so.

يا سلم لو أنصفت خففت الأسى

عني وبدلت السهاد رقادا

O Salm, had you been fair, you would have eased the sorrow

From me, and replaced sleeplessness with sleep.

أبعدت مرمى الوصل عمن رامه

وازددت مع قرب الرقيب بعادا

You moved union's target far from whoever aimed at it,

And grew more distant as the watcher drew near.

زيدي من الهجر المبرح انني

بعت اصطباري عنك فيمن زادا

Increase your agonizing estrangement; I have

Sold my patience in your absence to the highest bidder.

وأبيك ما تجدين غيري عاشقا

كلفا ولا غير الوزير جوادا

And by your father, you will find no lover but me

So infatuated, nor anyone but the vizier so generous.

ملك مباح حمى المكارم حامل

ماشئت إلا الوتر والاحقادا

A king whose sanctuary of noble deeds is open, bearing

Whatever you wish, except vengeance and grudges.

يهب الكواعب محصنات والظبى

مشحوذة والصافنات جيادا

He gives budding-breasted maidens, chaste, and blades

Sharpened, and poised thoroughbred steeds.

وعلاه لا صحبت عداه رؤوسهم

ما فارقت أسيافه الإغمادا

And by his glory, may his foes' heads not stay with them

Whenever his swords leave their sheaths.

صبغت صوارمه الرقاق وخيله

وقناه ما ورد العجاب ورادا

His slender blades and his horses were dyed—

And his spears—red whenever he entered the battle-dust [reading uncertain].

أصبحت يا ابن محمد بن هبيرة

في الحرب أورى القادحين زنادا

You have become, O son of Muhammad ibn Hubayra,

In war, the best kindler among those striking fire-sticks.

أنت الذي قاد الردى نحو العدا

قسرا ولولا باسه ما انقادا

You are the one who drove death toward the foes,

By force; without his might, it would not have obeyed.

باسود غيل هجهجت يوم الوغى

بسطاك من جيش العدو نفادا

With thicket-lions that you urged on battle's day,

With your assaults, to exhaust the enemy host.

نبتوا على دين الخلاف فأصبحوا

لسيوف أربابالرفاق حصادا

They grew up in the creed of dissension, and became

A harvest for the swords of the masters of fellowship.

ناهضتهم في عارض متألق

لبست به شمس النهار حدادا

You confronted them in a glittering cloud-like host,

At which the sun of day put on mourning-black.

برقت به البيض الصفاح فلم تزل

حتى جعلت لبرقها أرعادا

The broad white blades flashed within it, and kept flashing

Until you gave their lightning thunderclaps.

لم يلف مسعود السادة عندها

كبتا ولم يجد الرشيد رشادا

Masʿud found no happiness [reading uncertain] there,

Dejected; nor did al-Rashid find right guidance.

وابيض منه سواده لما رأى

نقعا أعدت به الضحاء سوادا

And his blackness turned white when he saw

Dust by which you turned the bright morning black.

ومضى هزيما وانثنيت مظفرا

ثبتا تعود لقصمة لا عادا

He went off routed, and you returned victorious,

Steadfast, you return to deal a crushing blow—may he never return!

قسما لقدب لغت مناها أمة

أمسى لها تاج الملوك عمادا

I swear, a nation has indeed attained its desire,

For which Taj al-Muluk has become a pillar.

ما شاد حصن في فزارة بعض ما

شادت يدا يحيى الوزير وسادا

Hisn did not raise among Fazara even part of what

The two hands of Yahya the vizier raised—and he held sway.

الواطئين الهام في رهج الوغى

بسنابك تذر اليفا وهادا

Those who tread on heads in the dust of battle,

With hooves that turn high ground [reading uncertain] into hollows.

قوم إذا استلموا ليوم كريهة

أفنوا العدا والمرهفات جلادا

A people who, when they don armor for a day of peril,

Destroy the foes and wear out keen blades in swordplay.

لله مني شاعر خولته

منك الغنى فأجاد فيمن جادا

God be praised for the poet in me, whom you endowed

With wealth from you; he excelled in praising the generous giver.

ينسيك كعباً والرميع ومالكا

والأعشيين وجرولا وزيادا

He makes you forget Kaʿb, al-Ramiʿ, and Malik,

And the two Aʿshas, Jarwal, and Ziyad.

طبعا رزقت صناعة الشعر التي

أبدعت فيها بيد أن أتَبادى

By nature I was granted the art of poetry, in which

I have excelled, though I affect a Bedouin manner.

شعر يفوح الشيح من أثنائه

عبقا وما جاوزته بغدادا

Verse from whose folds wormwood wafts

Fragrantly, though I never carried it beyond Baghdad.

وافيتك ابن أبي صريحا لم أقل

سائل جدودي خثعما ومرادا

I came to you as my father's true-born son; I did not say,

“Ask my forefathers—Khathʿam and Murad.”

كم من فقير خامل أصفدته

وفككت بالإحسان عنه صفادا

How many an obscure poor man you have showered with gifts,

And through kindness freed him from a shackle.

لم ترض همتك الأراضي موطنا

فبنت على فرع السماك مهادا

Your ambition would not accept earthly lands as a dwelling,

So it built a couch on al-Simak's highest branch.

أمسى عتادك كل محبوك القرا

أكرم به في الحادثات عتادا

Your equipment has become every firm-backed steed,

What noble equipment in times of adversity!

وصوار ما مثل الخدود صقيلة

وذوابلا مثل القدود صمادا

And cutting swords, polished like cheeks,

And slender spears, steadfast as upright figures.

يفديك من خاطبته بمدائحي

فكأنما خاطبت منه جمادا

May the man I addressed with my praises be your ransom,

For it was as though I addressed a lifeless thing in him.

ينسيه مدحي بخله فيهم إن

يعطي ولو أعطى لكان ثمادا

My praise makes him forget his stinginess, so he intends to [reading uncertain]

Give; yet even if he gave, it would be a mere trickle.

لولا نداك الغمر بت مبدلا

بالأهل أهلا والبلاد بلادا

But for your overflowing bounty, I would spend the night exchanging

Family for family, and land for land.