1. أَلا هَل رَأت عيناك للحيِّ أظعانا

    بعثنَ لنا يوم التفرّق أشجانا

    Ah, have your eyes seen the tribe's departing howdahs,

    which stirred sorrows in us on the day of parting?

  2. ظغائن لا زالت تكنّ ستورها

    جآذر بيضا كانسات وغزلانا

    Howdahs—may their curtains never cease to shelter

    white wild-ox calves taking cover, and gazelles.

  3. تحمّلن من أطلالهنّ الّتي حوت

    معاهدها من نازل الحيّ قطّانا

    They departed from their camp ruins, which had sheltered

    within their familiar grounds, residents from among the tribe's encampers.

  4. منازل عنها ليس يسلو بغيرها

    ولم تنكر لنا بعد الأحبّة سكّانا

    Abodes one cannot forget by turning to others,

    nor did they deny us dwellers after our loved ones had gone.

  5. وَكَم رأينا من قبل في ملّة الهوى

    زيارتها فرضاً عليه وأديانا

    How many a man we saw before, in the creed of love,

    for whom visiting them was a duty and a faith.

  6. وَلولا اِختلاسات الوداع لأهلها

    غداةَ النوى والبين ما كان ما كانا

    And but for the snatched moments of farewell to their people,

    on the morning of departure and separation, what happened would not have happened.

  7. لعمري لئن بانَ الفريقُ فما نأى

    هنالك من سوداء قلبي ولا بانا

    By my life, though the company departed, it did not grow distant

    from my heart's black core, even then, nor did it depart.

  8. وَإِن برحت أوطانُ سعدى وأهلها

    فإنّ لها بينَ الجوانحِ أَوطانا

    And though Sa'da's homelands and her people are gone,

    she still has homelands between my ribs.

  9. ثَنا عطفها سكرُ الشباب وزهره

    كما هزّ سكر الخمر في البرد نشوانا

    Youth's intoxication and bloom made her figure sway,

    as wine's intoxication sways a tipsy man in his cloak.

  10. إِذا خطرت في المشيِ ماست فأخجلت

    بلطف تثنّيها من البان أغصانا

    When she walked with a graceful step, she swayed and put to shame,

    with her graceful bending, branches of the ban tree.

  11. شَكت أزرها أردَافها مثل ما شكت

    خلاخلها كعباً من الساق ريّانا

    Her waist-wraps complained of her buttocks, just as

    her anklets complained of a plump ankle on her leg.

  12. مَحاسنُها تُبدي من الحسنِ نرجساً

    وَورداً وتفّاحا وطلعاً ورمّانا

    Her charms reveal, in their beauty, narcissus,

    and roses, apples, palm blossoms, and pomegranates.

  13. وَلَم أنسَ يومَ البينِ عهداً وموقفاً

    لَبثتُ بهِ بعد التفرّق حيرانا

    Nor have I forgotten a pledge and a place on the day of parting,

    where I lingered bewildered after the separation.

  14. إِذا ما منعنا الوجد لفظاً ومنطقاً

    جَعلنا مسيل الدمع لفظاً وعنوانا

    When love's anguish denied us utterance and speech,

    we made the stream of tears our utterance and our sign.

  15. تقولُ أَيُنسيك الترحّل عهدنا

    وَيسليكَ عنّا البين حيناً وأحيانا

    She says, “Will departure make you forget our pledge,

    and will separation soothe your longing for us, for a while and time after time?”

  16. فَقلت فما واللّه لم تكُ رِحلتي

    ليحدثَ لي عنكم فراغاً وسلوانا

    So I said, “No, by God! My journey was not

    to bring me detachment from you and the solace of forgetting.

  17. وَلكن رأيتُ الدهرَ يصرف نابهُ

    ويفرق منّي العضوَ جوراً وبهتانا

    But I saw Time gnashing its fang,

    and tearing a limb from me through injustice and slander.

  18. وَكلُّ صديقٍ كنتُ متّثقاً به

    تغيّر عمّا قد عهدت وقد خانا

    And every friend in whom I had placed trust

    changed from what I had known and proved treacherous.

  19. وربَّ رحيلٍ أحدث اليسر للفتى

    فأصبحَ منه باليسارة جذلانا

    And many a journey has brought ease to a young man,

    so that through it he became joyful in prosperity.

  20. فَأبذل دون الناسِ نفسي لمطلبي

    وأذخر منهم لي صداقاً وإخوانا

    So I exert myself, without relying on others, in pursuit of my aim,

    and store up friends and brothers from among them for myself.

  21. فَما حكّ جِلدي غيرُ ظفري ولَم يَكُن

    أريني سِوى عَيني منَ الخلقِ ألوانا

    For nothing scratched my skin but my own nail, and nothing

    but my own eye showed me the colors of mankind.”

  22. فَقالَت إِذا ما كانَ لا بدّ من نوى

    لتدركَ بعدَ العسرِ يسراً وإمكانا

    She said, “If departure is unavoidable,

    to attain ease and opportunity after hardship,

  23. فزُر سيّد الأزدِ الّذي في أمورهِ

    تكهّل مِن قبلِ الكهولةِ كهلانا

    then visit the lord of the Azd, who in his affairs

    grew mature—a Kahlan—before reaching middle age.”

  24. فَجاءَت بخيرِ الأكرمينَ شَمائلاً

    وَأَسمحهم كفّاً وأعظمهم شانا

    Thus she named the best of the noblest in character,

    the most generous of hand among them, and the greatest in standing.

  25. فتىً في العُلا والفخرِ ينسب يشجباً

    وينسبُ عثماناً وينسب نبهانا

    A young man who, in eminence and glory, traces his lineage to Yashjub,

    and traces it to Uthman, and traces it to Nabhan,

  26. وَينسبُ أخلوداً وينسب يعرباً

    وينسبُ أخنوخاً وينسبُ قحطانا

    and traces it to Akhlud, and traces it to Ya'rub,

    and traces it to Akhnukh, and traces it to Qahtan.

  27. فَماذا يباريهِ إِلى الفضل منهجاً

    وَمن ذا يجاريهِ إِلى المجدِ ميدانا

    What, then, can rival him on the path to excellence?

    And who can keep pace with him on the racecourse toward glory?

  28. سَما مجدهُ فوق السموات رتبةً

    فعقّب بهراماً وعقّب كيوانا

    His glory rose in rank above the heavens,

    and left Bahram behind, and left Kaywan behind.

  29. لَه زهدُ عيسى في سماحةِ حاتمٍ

    وَبطش كليم اللّه موسى بن عمرانا

    He has Jesus' asceticism with Hatim's generosity,

    and the might of Moses son of Imran, whom God addressed.

  30. أجلّ منَ القعقاعِ في جلسائهِ

    وَأكبرُ مِن كسرى بن كسرى وخاقانا

    More august than al-Qa'qa' among his companions,

    and greater than Kisra son of Kisra and Khaqan.

  31. وَلولا التقى مِن حيث كفّيت شأنه

    لقلت له سبحان سبحان سبحانا

    And but for piety, whose demands you have fulfilled,

    I would say to him, “Glory! Glory! Glory!”

  32. أَلا أيّها القرم الّذي زان ملكه

    بهِ مثل ما بالملكِ في عصره زانا

    Ah, noble chief, whose kingship was adorned

    by him, just as he was adorned by kingship in his age.

  33. وَمَن قَد كساه اللّه برداً من الثنا

    وصيّر منه العدل في الملك برهانا

    And whom God has clothed in a mantle of praise,

    and made his justice a proof within the realm.

  34. حباك إلهُ العرشِ يا بدر يشجبٍ

    من المجدَ ما لم يعط سيفاً وحسّانا

    The God of the Throne has bestowed on you, O full moon of Yashjub,

    glory He granted to neither Sayf nor Hassan.

  35. ولو كيّف الرحمن للمجدِ صورةً

    لكنت له رأساً وعيناً وإنسانا

    And if the All-Merciful were to give glory a form,

    you would be its head, its eye, and its pupil.