1. ما بالُ ورق الغضا يشدو بألحانِ

    تَشدو وتَشكو هواها فوق أغصانِ

    What ails the doves of the ghada trees, singing melodies?

    They sing and lament their love above the branches.

  2. أَراعها حادثٌ جاء الزمانُ بهِ

    أَم هاجها ذكر آلافٍ وخلّ انِ

    Has a calamity brought by time alarmed them,

    or has the memory of companions and friends stirred them?

  3. فأنقضت جرحَ قلبٍ كان مندملاً

    وَجدّدت عهدَ أشواقي وأشجاني

    So they reopened a heart's wound that had healed,

    and revived the days of my yearnings and sorrows.

  4. من لائِمي من عذولي إن بكيت جوىً

    مِن ذكر عهدٍ تقضّى منذ أزمانِ

    Who would blame me, who would reproach me, if I wept with heartache

    at the memory of a time that passed ages ago?

  5. نوح الحمائمِ أَبكاني وذكّرني

    عصر الصِبا بعد نسياني وسلواني

    The doves' lament made me weep and reminded me

    of the days of youth, after I had forgotten and found solace.

  6. عصر عهدناهُ ما أحلاه من زمنٍ

    ما دارَ في خاطري إلّا وأنكاني

    A time we knew—how sweet a time it was!

    It never crossed my mind without wounding me.

  7. أيّام يشفعُ لي عند الحسان إذا

    حاولتُ منهنّ وصلاً شرخ ريعانِ

    Days when, with the beauties, my intercessor—whenever

    I sought union with them—was youth in its first bloom.

  8. أجرُّ بين الخراد البيض مقتبلاً

    ذيلَ التصابي ونفسي نفس جذلانِ

    I trailed among the fair maidens, in my youth,

    the hem of youthful dalliance, my soul full of joy.

  9. يا عاذِلي في هوى ذات الوشاحِ ألا

    مهلاً بمكتئبٍ في حبّها ضانِ

    O you who reproach my love for the woman of the sash, pray,

    be gentle with a dejected man wasting away in love for her.

  10. وَاللّه واللّه إنّي لست مرتدعاً

    عَنها ولو بدّلت وصلي بهجرانِ

    By God, by God, I will not be deterred

    from her, even if she exchanges union with me for estrangement.

  11. نجلاء إن نجلت ألحاظها قِبَلي

    إلّا وقد أرسلت لي سهمَ أجفانِ

    A wide-eyed beauty, whose glances never darted toward me

    without sending me an arrow from her eyelids.

  12. شمس على غصنٍ فوق الكثيب على

    ساقٍ يضيق به الخلخالُ ريّانِ

    A sun upon a bough above a dune, upon

    a plump leg, around which the anklet fits tightly.

  13. غيداء غاليةٌ ما أرخصت أبداً

    ترشاف مبسمها إلّا لغضبانِ

    A graceful, precious woman, who never cheaply granted

    a sip from her smiling mouth, save to an angry man.

  14. ترمي القلوبَ فتُصميها إِذا نظرت

    بسهمِ لحظٍ غضيض الطرف وسنانِ

    She shoots at hearts and slays them when she looks

    with the arrow of a glance from downcast, drowsy eyes.

  15. وليلة زرتها هدواً فبتُّ بها

    أجني منَ اللثمِ ما لم يجنه الجانِ

    And one night I visited her in the stillness, and spent it with her,

    gathering from kisses what no gatherer had gathered.

  16. في خلوةٍ لم نحاذر في التواصل من

    ذي غيرةٍ فنداريه ولا شانِ

    In seclusion, we feared in our union no

    jealous person to placate, nor any detractor.

  17. تقولُ في دلّها حدِّث وهاتِ لنا

    ما كان في هند من عمرو بن عجلانِ

    In her coyness she says, 'Tell us, and bring us

    what passed between Hind and Amr son of Ajlan;

  18. وَعَن أحاديث سكّان العذيب وعن

    وادي الخزاما وعن نعم ونعمانِ

    and tales of the inhabitants of al-Udhayb, and of

    the valley of al-Khuzama, and of Nu'm and Nu'man;

  19. وَكيف أخبارُ ليلى في متيّمها

    قيس وما كان من ميٍّ وغيلانِ

    and how Layla fared with her love-stricken

    Qays, and what happened between Mayy and Ghaylan;

  20. وَما لقيه جميلٌ من بثينة في

    وادي نغيص بأدنى سفحهِ الدانِ

    and what Jamil suffered from Buthayna in

    the valley of Nughays, at the foot of its nearby slope.'

  21. فبتُّ أخبرها عنهم وأنشدُها

    منَ النشيد المحلّى لفظ سحبانِ

    So I spent the night telling her of them and reciting to her

    verse adorned with Sahban's diction.

  22. وَمُذ رَأتني خبيراً بالأمور أخا

    لبٍّ أجول معاً في كلّ ميدانِ

    And when she saw me versed in affairs, a man of

    understanding, ranging at once through every field,

  23. قالت فَمن أفخر الأملاك قلتُ لها

    أملاكُ يعرب هم أملاك قحطانِ

    she asked, 'Which kings are most glorious?' I told her,

    'The kings of Ya'rub—they are the kings of Qahtan.'

  24. قالَت بِما أنت قد خصّيت قلت لها

    أعني أبا العرب الزاكي ابن سلطانِ

    She asked, 'On what grounds have you singled them out?' I told her,

    'I mean the noble Abu al-Arab, son of Sultan.'

  25. فَاِستضحكت ثمّ قالت قد أتيت بما

    تبدي الحقيقة مِن صدقٍ وتبيانِ

    So she laughed, then said, 'You have brought words through which

    you reveal the truth with honesty and clarity.'

  26. يا هَذه هَل رأيت من يشاكلُه

    مِن جملةِ الخلقِ من عربٍ وعجمانِ

    O woman, have you seen anyone who resembles him

    among all creation, whether Arabs or non-Arabs?

  27. بحرٌ منَ الجودِ قد ساغت مشاربهُ

    بكلِّ صادٍ إِلى جدواه ظمآنِ

    A sea of generosity, whose waters are sweet to drink

    for every parched soul thirsting for his bounty.

  28. كأنّما الجودُ قد شيبت طبائعهُ

    في المهدِ طفلاً وأسقته بألبانِ

    As though generosity had been blended into his nature

    as an infant in the cradle, and had given him milk to drink.

  29. لو أنّ نائلهُ غيث لأغرق أه

    لَ الأرضِ مقتفياً نوحا لطوفانِ

    Were his bounty rain, it would drown the people

    of the earth, emulating Noah in a flood.

  30. تزري بكلّ حجا زاكي سكينته

    حلماً وترجع إن قيست بثهلانِ

    His pure composure puts every intellect to shame

    in forbearance, and it returns if measured against Thahlan.

  31. لا خالد في معاليه يطاولهُ

    وَلا يطاوله ذهل بن شيبانِ

    Khalid does not rival him in his lofty deeds,

    nor does Dhuhl son of Shayban rival him.

  32. رقى منَ المجدِ ما لم يرقه أحدٌ

    دارا بن دارا وخاقان بن خاقانِ

    He has climbed heights of glory no one has climbed—

    neither Dara son of Dara nor Khaqan son of Khaqan.

  33. وصارَ في رتبةٍ شمّاء باذخةٍ

    مِن دونها نجم بهرام وكيوانِ

    And he has reached a lofty, towering rank,

    below which lie the stars of Bahram and Kaywan.

  34. يطيعهُ الفلكُ الأعلى وتخدمهُ ال

    أيّام فهيَ له من خير أعوانِ

    The highest celestial sphere obeys him, and he is served by the

    days, which are among his best helpers.

  35. لَهُ كفيلٌ غداة الروع ذابله

    بنزعِ أرواحِ أبطالٍ وفرسانِ

    He has a guarantor on the morning of terror: his slender spear,

    for taking the souls of heroes and horsemen.

  36. يا أسمحَ الناسِ في عسرٍ وميسرةٍ

    وَأصدق الناس في سرّ وإعلانِ

    O most generous of people in hardship and prosperity,

    and most truthful of people in secret and in public,

  37. حزتَ المفاخر والإجلال متّرثاً

    عن الخلود وعن نصر بن زهرانِ

    you have won glories and reverence, inheriting them

    from immortality and from Nasr son of Zahran.

  38. وَاِنعم بخلعة مجدٍ من إلاهك لم

    تُخلع على حمير قدما وكهلانِ

    And enjoy a robe of glory from your God, never

    bestowed of old upon Himyar or Kahlan.

  39. وعزّة ربّها عزَ يطول على

    قابوس في رتبة العليا وحسّانِ

    And a majesty whose possessor is mighty, towering over

    Qabus and Hassan in the highest rank.

  40. كم آية لكَ بين الناسِ قد ظهرت

    كأنّما أنت موسى بن عمرانِ

    How many signs of yours have appeared among the people,

    as though you were Moses son of Imran!

  41. وَكم لأعداكَ عند اللّه أبطله

    كيداً حكى كيد فرعون وهامانِ

    And how often, in God's sight, has he thwarted your enemies'

    plot, which echoed the plot of Pharaoh and Haman!