1. أقولُ لقلب هاجهُ لاعجُ الهوى

    بصحراء مرْوٍ واستشاطت بَلابلُهْ

    I say to a heart stirred by love's searing torment,

    in the desert of Marw, its sorrows raging,

  2. لدن غدوةً حالت شطون من النوى

    وأقتم نائي الغور تُخشى مراحلهْ

    since a morning when far-reaching separation intervened,

    and a dust-dark waste, deep and distant, with dreaded stages:

  3. وضاقت خراسانٌ على معرق الهوى

    كما أحرزتْ صيد الفلاةِ حبائلهْ

    Khurasan grew narrow for one steeped in love,

    as snares hold fast the quarry of the wilderness.

  4. أعِني على فعل التَّصبر أنني

    رأيت جميل الصبر يُحمدُ فاعلهْ

    Help me practice patience, for I

    have seen the practitioner of noble patience praised.

  5. فلما أبى إلا غَراماً وصَبْوةً

    أطعت هواكم واستمرت شواغلهْ

    But when it insisted on passion and youthful longing,

    I obeyed my love for you, and its preoccupations persisted.

  6. وأجريت دمعاَ لو أصاب بسحِّه

    رُبى المحل يوماً أنبت العشب هاطلهْ

    I let tears flow; had their pouring struck

    the drought-stricken hills one day, their downpour would have made grass sprout.

  7. هبوني أمرتُ القلب كتمان حبُكم

    فكيف بجسم باح بالوجد ناحله

    Suppose I commanded my heart to conceal my love for you—

    what of a body whose wasting has betrayed its longing?

  8. وكنت أمرت العزم أن يخذل الهوى

    وكيف اعتزام المرء والقلب خاذلُه

    I had commanded resolve to forsake love,

    but how can a man be resolute when his heart deserts him?

  9. تعلَّقتكم والعمرُ غَضٌّ نباتُهُ

    وشرخ شبابي يغلب الحقَّ باطله

    I became attached to you while life's growth was tender,

    in my youth's prime, when its folly overpowered what was right.

  10. فكيف التِّسلي بعد عشرٍ وأربعٍ

    أبى لي وفاءٌ لا تدبُّ مخاتلهْ

    How could I forget after fourteen years?

    A loyalty untouched by creeping deceit forbade it to me.

  11. أنا ابنُ مُثير العاطشات نهوضةً

    بكل كميٍّ يسبقُ الموتَ بازلُهْ

    I am the son of one who roused thirsty steeds in a vigorous charge,

    with every armored warrior, a veteran who outruns Death,

  12. ومُوردها ماءَيْ غديرٍ وأنفُسٍ

    مع الصبح حتى أسلمتهُ أصائله

    and led them to two waters: a pool's and souls' blood,

    from dawn until the evening hours released him;

  13. وكاشف ذيل النقع عن بكر وائلٍ

    وقد بَشمَ الشِّلو المعفَّرَ آكلُهْ

    who lifted the skirt of battle-dust from Bakr of Wa'il,

    when the eater of the dust-strewn carcass was glutted.

  14. نمتني ملوكٌ من تميم بن خنْدفٍ

    كرامٌ إذا ما الغيث أمسكَ وابله

    Kings of Tamim ibn Khindif gave me lineage,

    generous when the rain withheld its downpour.

  15. غطاريف أقيالٌ كأنَّ أكفَّهمْ

    سحاب شتاءٍ أغفلته شمائله

    Noble chiefs and princes, their palms like

    winter clouds their north winds have left untouched.

  16. إذا ما احتبوا يوم الخصام حسبتهم

    هضاب شرورى راسياتٍ كلاكله

    When they sit with knees drawn up on a day of dispute, you would think them

    the hills of Sharawra, their massive breasts firmly rooted.

  17. وإن سحبوا خرصانهم لكريهةٍ

    تباشر طُيَّارُ المَلا وعواسله

    And when they draw their spears for a grievous battle,

    the wilderness's birds and wolves rejoice.

  18. لهم كلُّ حمراءٍ على مُشْمَخِرةٍ

    يشيمُ سناها ابن السبيل وعادله

    Theirs is every red blaze upon a towering height,

    whose glow the wayfarer and his fellow rider watch.

  19. لبوسهُم في السَّلم ريْطٌ معسجد

    وفي الحرب زغْفٌ سابغات ذلاذله

    Their clothing in peace is gold-adorned cloth,

    and in war, fine mail with ample, trailing hems.

  20. كانَّ رباطَ الخيل حول بُيوتِهم

    مُعرَّسُ حيٍّ قد أماطت عقائلهْ

    The horses tethered around their houses seem like

    a tribe's night-camp whose noble women have withdrawn.

  21. ترى كل منَّاعِ الحريم ببأسِه

    كأنَّ هدير الراغياتِ مراجله

    You see every staunch defender of his household by his might,

    his cauldrons like the roaring of she-camels.

  22. نموني ولي ثارٌ أرومُ دِراكَهُ

    بأرْعَن تهمي بالدماء مناصله

    They gave me lineage; I have a blood-debt whose vengeance I seek

    with a towering army, its sword-blades raining blood.

  23. سلوت العلى إن لم أرق علق الظبى

    على القاع حتى تستحيل مناهله

    I have forsaken glory if I do not spill the gore on sword-edges

    onto the plain until its watering places are transformed,

  24. بكل غلام يُنغِضُ العزُّ عِطفهُ

    يموت به قبل الجراجِ مُنازله

    with every youth whose pride makes his flank sway,

    whose challenger dies of him before wounds are dealt.

  25. وأقتحمُ الحيَّ اللَّقاح بجحفلٍ

    تمطَّرُ ما بين البيوتِ صواهله

    I storm a tribe owing no allegiance with a mighty host,

    whose neighing steeds race between the houses.

  26. يلوذُ بعفوي والشَّرى من خلاله

    مُرمَّلةٌ تحت الظُّبى وأرامله

    It seeks refuge in my pardon, while the lion-thicket in its midst

    lies blood-drenched beneath the blades; its widows also seek my pardon.

  27. دجا عنده ليلٌ من النَّقْع حالكٌ

    فسيحُ النواحي والنجوم عوامله

    A pitch-dark night of battle-dust has gathered there,

    wide in its reaches, its spearheads serving as stars.

  28. وفرَّ القطا الكُدريُّ بعد جُثومهِ

    فلا طيرَ إلا جارحٌ ومآكلُهْ

    The dusky sandgrouse flee after crouching,

    and no birds remain but raptors and their prey.

  29. فتحمرُّ من بيض السيوف غروبها

    وتصفرُّ من حامي الذمار أنامله

    The keen edges of white swords turn red,

    and the fingertips of the household's defender turn yellow.

  30. فأثوي صريعاً أو تجلَّى عجاجتي

    بنصرٍ عن الأمر الذي أنا آمله

    I shall lie slain, or my battle-dust shall clear

    in victory, revealing the outcome I hope for.

  31. عصيت الصبا حتى استُردَّ معارهُ

    وكيف تصابي المرء والشيب شامله

    I defied youthful desire until its borrowed gift was reclaimed;

    how can a man play the youth when gray hair covers him?

  32. وأجممت نفسي عن زخارف منظر

    يُخاتلني في عفَّتي وأخاتله

    I gave my soul respite from the ornaments of a spectacle

    that seeks to beguile my chastity, while I outwit it.

  33. فللغيد هجرٌ مُطْمئنٌ وشاتُه

    وللمجد وجدٌ لا تُطاعُ عواذله

    For graceful women, estrangement whose tale-bearers rest easy;

    for glory, passion whose reproachers go unheeded.

  34. كأنَّ ندى وجهي وحر عزيمتي

    سُطا شرف الدين الجوادِ ونائله

    It is as though the dew of my face and the heat of my resolve

    were the might and bounty of Sharaf al-Din the generous.

  35. هُمامٌ يخاف الموت شدَّةَ بطشهِ

    ويحسده دَرُّ الغَمام وحافلهْ

    A hero whose fierce grip Death itself fears,

    envied by the clouds' milk-flow and their fullness.

  36. أشم تُباري الصبحَ غرةُ وجهه

    طروبٌ إذا التفَّت عليه وسائلهْ

    Noble and high-nosed, his face's radiance vies with dawn,

    joyful when appeals gather around him.

  37. يُلاقي غروب البيض منه مُقحِّمٌ

    عزائمه مطرورةٌ ومقاولُهْ

    In him a fearless assailant meets the edges of gleaming swords,

    his resolves and pronouncements sharply honed.

  38. سريع القِرى لا تحمد الكوم ضيفه

    ولكنه قد يحمدُ العيسَ واصِلهْ

    Quick in hospitality: the fat-humped camels do not praise his guest,

    but whoever reaches him may praise the pale riding camels.

  39. إذا ما سرى نشر الخزامى عشيَّة

    تهاداه أرواح الصَّبا وتُناقله

    When lavender's fragrance drifts at evening,

    the breaths of the east wind trade it as a gift and carry it onward,

  40. على الخرق من فيحاء يجري نسيمها

    رقيق الحواشي لطَّفْتهُ أصائله

    across the waste, from a broad meadow whose breeze flows

    soft at the edges, gentled by the evening hours.

  41. أُتيحَ له من تَجْرِ صنعاء حيثما

    أناخوا فضيضٌ مفْغماتٌ محاملهْ

    San'a's merchants have furnished it, wherever

    they halt their camels, with fresh musk whose loads fill the air with scent.

  42. ترنَّح مُسْتافٌ له وتضوَّعتْ

    بناتُ المَلا كُثبانه وجراولُه

    One who sniffs it sways, and fragrance rises

    from the wilderness's daughters—its dunes and rocky ground.

  43. فعِرضُ ظهير الملك أطيب نفحةً

    وأذكى إذا ما أحسن القول قائلُه

    Yet the honor of Zahir al-Mulk is sweeter in fragrance,

    and more fragrant when its praises are well spoken.

  44. هو الهاطلُ المدرارُ يغينك سيبهُ

    إذا الغيث عادي ساحة الحي سائله

    He is the pouring, abundant rain; his bounty envelops you

    when the rain's flow shuns the tribe's courtyard.

  45. يُرادي عداهُ منه قُنَّة مشرفِ

    يُطاول رضوى حلمه ويُثاقله

    His foes contend with a towering summit in him;

    his forbearance vies with Radwa in height and weight.

  46. تُمرُّ سجاياه إذا سِيمَ سُبَّةً

    وتعذب في بذل الوداد شمائله

    His nature turns bitter when an insult is imposed,

    and his dispositions grow sweet in bestowing affection.

  47. فصيحٌ يَطا وعْرَ المقالة مُسهلاً

    يُقرُّ له يوم الجدالِ مُجادله

    Eloquent, he treads speech's rough terrain with ease;

    his disputant concedes to him on the day of debate.

  48. يضيءُ لأمِّ المُشكلاتِ رويُّهُ

    فتُرضى فتاويه وتُرضى مسائله

    His deliberation lights the mother of perplexities,

    so his rulings satisfy, and his questions satisfy.

  49. سكينةُ حلمٍ تُفرش الحيَّ بُرده

    وسورةُ بأسٍ يختشيه مُصاولهْ

    The serenity of his forbearance spreads his cloak beneath the tribe,

    and the surge of his might terrifies his challenger.

  50. إذا اللفظةُ العوراءُ ندتْ لسمعهِ

    طواها كريمٌ ساحب الذيل رافلهْ

    When an offensive word strays to his hearing,

    a noble man folds it away, trailing his flowing robe.

  51. تشدُّ حُباهُ في النَّديِّ بماجدٍ

    فواضلهُ فيَّاضةٌ وفضائلهْ

    In the council his knee-bands clasp a noble man,

    whose favors and virtues overflow.

  52. وأغيدُ ميَّاسٌ بعطْفِه

    تُخاف عواديه وتُرجى فواضله

    And a slender one, swaying its flank,

    whose onslaughts are feared and whose favors are hoped for,

  53. يَصفُّ سطورَ النِّقس في مطمئنَّة

    كما اصطفَّ للملك المهيب قنابله

    arrays rows of ink on a level sheet,

    as battalions line up for an awe-inspiring king.

  54. كشفت به غمّاً بيومٍ عَصبْصبٍ

    وقد فلَّلت حدَّ السيوف معابله

    Through it I dispelled grief on a grievous day,

    when its broad arrowheads had blunted the edges of swords.

  55. أبا حسنٍ هوْلٌ من الفضل باهرٌ

    أتاك به مستفحلُ القول بازلُهْ

    O Abu Hasan, a dazzling wonder of excellence

    has been brought to you by a mighty master of speech, its seasoned champion,

  56. على حين جورٍ من زمانٍ مُكلِّحِ

    كسحبانه يوم التَّفاخر باقلُهْ

    in an hour of injustice from a grim-faced age,

    whose Baqil is like its Sahban on the day of boasting.

  57. فكن حيث ظنَّ المجد فيك فإنما

    تُخبِّرُ عن سحِّ الغَمام مخائله

    Be, then, as glory has deemed you, for

    it is a cloud's signs that foretell its pouring rain.