1. طَرَقَتْ ونحنُ بسُرَّةِ البَطْحاءِ

    والليلُ يَنشُرُ وَفْرَةَ الظَّلماءِ

    She came by night while we were in the heart of al-Batha,

    and night was spreading the thick locks of darkness.

  2. فرَأَتْ رَذايا أنْفُسٍ تُدْمي بِها

    أيدي الخُطوبِ غَوارِبَ الأنْضاءِ

    Then she saw souls like worn-out mounts, upon which

    the hands of calamity bloodied the withers of exhausted beasts.

  3. وإذا النّوى مَدّتْ إلينا باعَها

    سُدّتْ بِهِنَّ مَطالِعُ البَيْداءِ

    Whenever separation stretched its reach toward us,

    the desert's approaches were blocked by them.

  4. أأُمَيمَ كيفَ طوَيتِ أروِقَةَ الدُجى

    في كلِّ أغْبَرَ قاتِمِ الأرجاءِ

    O Umaym, how did you cross the porticoes of darkness

    through every dust-gray waste with darkened reaches?

  5. هلا اتَّقَيتِ الشُّهْبَ حين تَخاوَصَتْ

    فرَنَتْ إليكِ بأعيُنِ الرُّقَباءِ

    Why did you not beware the stars when they squinted

    and gazed at you with the eyes of watchers?

  6. خُضْتِ الظَّلامَ ومِن جَبينِكِ يُجْتَلى

    صُبْحٌ يَنِمُّ عليكِ بالأضواءِ

    You waded through darkness, while from your brow was seen

    a dawn that betrayed you with its radiance.

  7. فطَرَقْتِ مَطْويَّ الضلوعِ على جوًى

    أغضَى الجُفونَ بهِ على الأقذاءِ

    So you came by night to one whose ribs enfolded burning grief,

    who closed his eyelids in that grief upon specks of grit—

  8. مِن أرْيَحيَّاتٍ إذا هَبَّتْ بِها

    ذِكرى الحَبيبِ نهَضْنَ بالأحشاءِ

    born of surges of ardor which, whenever stirred by

    remembrance of the beloved, heaved his entrails.

  9. قَسَماً بثَغْرٍ في رُضابِكِ كارِعٍ

    فكأنَّهُ حَبَبٌ على صَهْباءِ

    I swear by a mouth drinking deep of your saliva,

    as though it were bubbles upon tawny wine,

  10. وجُفونِكِ المَرضَى الصَّحيحةِ لا دَرَتْ

    ما الدّاءُ بل لا أفْرَقَتْ مِن داءِ

    and by your ailing yet healthy eyelids—may they never know

    what sickness is; nay, may they never recover from sickness!

  11. لأُخالِفَنَّ هوى العَذولِ فَطالما

    أفضى المَلامُ بهِ إِلى الإغراءِ

    I shall surely defy the reproacher's wish, for often

    his reproach has ended by inciting desire.

  12. وإذا القُلوبُ تَنَقَّلَتْ صَبَواتُها

    في الغانِياتِ تنَقُّلَ الأفْياءِ

    And when hearts' infatuations wander

    among beautiful women as shadows wander,

  13. لمْ تَتِّبِعْ عَيني سِواكِ ولا ثَنى

    عَنْكِ الفُؤادَ تَقَسُّمُ الأهواءِ

    my eye has followed none but you, nor has

    a scattering of desires turned my heart away from you.

  14. وأقلُّ ما جَنَتِ الصّبابَةُ وَقْفَةٌ

    مَلَكَتْ قِيادَ الدَّمعِ بالخَلْصاءِ

    And the least that yearning wrought was a halt

    that seized the reins of tears at al-Khalsa.

  15. وبَدا لنا طَلَلٌ لرَبْعِكِ خاشِعٌ

    تَزدادُ بَهجَتُهُ على الإقواءِ

    And a humbled ruin of your dwelling appeared to us,

    its beauty growing despite its desolation.

  16. وأَبِي الدِّيارِ لقد مشى فيها البِلى

    وعَفَتْ معالِمُها سِوى أشْلاءِ

    By the father of the dwellings, decay has walked through them,

    and their landmarks vanished, save for scattered limbs.

  17. يَبكي الغَمامُ بها ويَبْسِمُ رَوضُها

    لا زِلْنَ بينَ تَبَسُّمٍ وبُكاءِ

    The clouds weep there, and their meadow smiles;

    may they remain forever between smiles and tears.

  18. وقَفَتْ مَطايانا بِها فعَرَفْنَها

    وكَفَفْنَ غَرْبَيْ مَيْعَةٍ ونَجاءِ

    And our mounts halted there and recognized them,

    and curbed the twin sharp urges of vigor and speed.

  19. وهزَزْنَ مِن أعطافِهنَّ كأنَّما

    مُلِئَتْ مَسامِعُهُنَّ رَجْعَ غِناءِ

    And they swayed their flanks, as though

    their ears had been filled with the echo of song.

  20. ونَزَلْتُ أفتَرشُ الثَّرى مُتَلوِّياً

    فيهِ تلوِّيَ حيَّةٍ رَقْشاءِ

    And I dismounted, taking the earth for my bed, writhing

    on it like a mottled snake.

  21. وبنَفْحَةِ الأرَجِ الذي أودَعْتِهِ

    عَبقَتْ حَواشي رَيْطَتي وردائي

    And with a waft of the fragrance you had left there,

    the hems of my wrap and cloak grew fragrant.

  22. وكأنني بِذَرا الإمامِ مُقَبِّلٌ

    مِن سُدَّتَيْهِ مُعَرَّسَ العَلياءِ

    And I seemed, in the Imam's shelter, to be kissing

    at his two gateways the resting-place of exalted glory,

  23. حيثُ الجِباهُ البِيضُ تَلْثِمُ تُرْبَهُ

    وتَحُلُّ هَيبَتُهُ حُبا العُظَماءِ

    where white foreheads kiss his soil,

    and awe of him loosens the knee-bands of the mighty.

  24. وخُطا المُلوكِ الصِّيدِ تَقْصُرُ عِندَهُ

    وتَطولُ فيهِ ألْسُنُ الشُّعَراءِ

    And proud kings' strides fall short before him,

    and poets' tongues grow long in his praise.

  25. مَلِكٌ نَمَتْ في الأنبياءِ فروعُهُ

    وزَكَتْ بهِ الأعْراقُ في الخُلَفاءِ

    A king whose branches grew among the prophets,

    and through whom ancestral roots flourished among the caliphs.

  26. بلغَ المَدى والسِّنُّ في غُلَوائِها

    خَضِلَ الصِّبا مُتكَهِّلَ الآراءِ

    He reached the utmost while his years were still in their first surge,

    dewy with youth, yet mature in judgment.

  27. فغَدا الرَّعيَّةُ لائِذينَ بظِلِّهِ

    يَرْجُونَ غَيْثَ حَياً ولَيْثَ حَياءِ

    Thus his subjects came to seek refuge in his shade,

    hoping for life-giving rain and a lion of modesty.

  28. ومَرابِضُ الآسادِ في أيَّامِهِ

    بالعَدْلِ مثْلُ مَجاثِمِ الأطْلاءِ

    And the lions' lairs in his days

    are, through justice, like the resting-places of fawns.

  29. مَلأَ البِلادَ كَتائِباً لَمْ يَرضَعوا

    إلا لِبانَ العِزَّةِ القَعْساءِ

    He filled the lands with battalions that had suckled nothing

    but the milk of unassailable might.

  30. يتَسَرَّعونَ إِلى الوَغى بِصَوارِمٍ

    خَلَطَتْ بنَشْرِ المِسكِ ريحَ دِماءِ

    They rush to battle with keen swords

    that mingled the scent of blood with musk's fragrance.

  31. لم تَهجُرِ الأغمادَ إلاّ رَيْثَما

    تَعرى لِتُغْمَدَ في طُلَى الأعداءِ

    They leave their scabbards only long enough

    to be bared, then sheathed in their enemies' necks.

  32. مِن كُلِّ مَشْبوحِ الأشاجِعِ ساحِبٍ

    في الرَّوعِ ذَيْلَ النَّثْرةِ الحَصْداءِ

    Each broad-knuckled warrior trails

    through battle the hem of tightly woven mail.

  33. يَنسابُ في الأدْراعِ عامِلُ رُمْحِهِ

    كالأَيْمِ يَسبَحُ في غَديرِ الماءِ

    His spear's upper shaft glides through coats of armor

    like a serpent swimming in a pool of water.

  34. أخذَ الحُقوقَ بِهِمْ وأعطاها مَعاً

    والحَزْمُ بَينَ الأخْذِ والإعطاءِ

    Through them he both claimed rights and granted them,

    and prudence lies between taking and giving.

  35. يا بْنَ الشّفيعِ إِلى الحَيا وقدِ اكْتَسَتْ

    شَمَطاً فُروعُ الروضَةِ الغنَّاءِ

    O son of the intercessor for rain, when already

    the boughs of the lush garden had clothed themselves in gray hair,

  36. فَدنا الغَمَامُ وكاد يَمْري المُجْتَدِي

    بِيَدَيْهِ خِلْفَ المُزْنَةِ الوَطْفاءِ

    the clouds drew near, and the petitioner almost milked

    with both his hands the teat of the rain-heavy cloud.

  37. لَولاهُ لَم تَشِمِ الرِّياضُ بأعْيُنٍ

    مِن زَهرِهِنَّ مَخايِلَ الأنْواءِ

    Without him, the gardens would not have watched, with eyes

    of their blossoms, the portents of seasonal rains.

  38. خُلِقَتْ طِلاعَ القَلْبِ هَيْبَتُكَ التي

    خَلفَتْ غِرارَ السَّيفَ في الهَيجاءِ

    Awe of you was made to fill the heart, and it

    took the place of the sword's edge in battle.

  39. ونَضا وَزيرُكَ دونَ مُلْكِكَ عَزْمَةً

    تَكْفيهِ نَهْضَةَ فَيلَقٍ شَهباءِ

    And your minister unsheathed, in defense of your realm, a resolve

    that suffices him in place of a gray host's charge,

  40. وتَرُدُّ مَن قَلِقَتْ بهِ أضْغانُهُ

    حَيَّ المَخافَةِ مَيِّتَ الأعضاءِ

    and leaves whoever is made restless by his grudges

    alive with fear, but lifeless in his limbs.

  41. وتُصيبُ شاكِلَةَ الرَّمِيِّ إذا بَدَتْ

    رِيَبٌ تُهيبُ بِمُقْلَةٍ شَوْساءِ

    And it strikes the quarry's flank whenever there arise

    suspicions that call forth a fierce, sidelong eye.

  42. فكأنَّ أسرارَ القُلوبِ تُظِلُّهُ

    بغُيوبِهنَّ جَوائِبُ الأنباءِ

    So it is as though the secrets of hearts cast their shade upon him,

    their unseen depths borne by far-ranging tidings.

  43. يَسعى ويَدْأبُ في رِضاكَ وإنْ غَلَتْ

    مُهَجُ النفوسِ عَلَيهِ بالشَّحْناءِ

    He strives and toils for your favor, even if

    souls' lifeblood seethes against him with hatred.

  44. وإذا الزَّمانُ أتى بخَطْبٍ مُعْضِلٍ

    ولِيَ افتِراعَ الخُطَّةِ العَذْراءِ

    And when time brings a baffling calamity,

    he undertakes the deflowering of a virgin plan.

  45. وإصابَةُ الخُلَفاءِ فيما حاوَلوا

    مَقْرونَةٌ بِكِفايَةِ الوُزَراءِ

    And the caliphs' success in what they attempt

    is bound to the competence of ministers.

  46. لا زِلْتُما مُتَوَشِّحَيْنِ بِدَوْلَةٍ

    مُرْخًى ذَوائِبها عَلى النَّعماءِ

    May you both remain forever mantled in a reign,

    its tresses hanging loose over prosperity.