1. بَعُدَ المزارُ فأنَّةٌ وتذكُّرُ

    بعدَ الخليطِ وعبرةٌ تتحدَّرُ

    The trysting-place has grown distant: a sigh and remembrance,

    After the companions' departure, and a tear rolling down.

  2. ومولهٌ بينَ الطلولِ كأنَّهُ

    ألِفٌ يخاطبُها وهنَّ الأسطرُ

    And a bewildered lover among the ruins, as though he were

    An alif addressing them, while they are lines of script.

  3. وصبابةٌ بينَ الجوانحِ كلَّما

    ذُكِرَ الفراقُ فنارُها تتسعَّرُ

    And ardent longing within the ribs: whenever

    Parting is mentioned, its fire flares up.

  4. لّلهِ قلبي كم يَلِجُّ به الهوى

    فيبيتُ يُنجِدُ وجدُه ويُغَوِّرُ

    God help my heart—how relentlessly love besets it,

    So its longing roams by night through highlands and lowlands.

  5. يرجو الوصالَ وتارةً يخشى النوى

    فِالامَ يرجو في الغرامِ ويَحْذَرُ

    It hopes for union, and at times fears separation;

    How long must it hope and fear in passion?

  6. يا قلبُ كم تصبو إلى زمنِ الحمى

    وأهيلِه شوقاً وكم تتذكَّرُ

    O heart, how often you yearn for the sanctuary's days

    And its dear people, with longing; how often you remember!

  7. بانوا فقلبكَ حسرةً مِن بعدِما

    بانوا على آثارِهمْ يتفطَّرُ

    They departed, and your heart, in sorrow, ever since

    They departed, breaks apart in their wake.

  8. قلبٌ يقولُ لعاذليهِ على الهوى

    كُفُّوا فميعادُ السُّلوِّ المحشرُ

    A heart that tells those who reproach it for love,

    “Desist! The time for forgetting is the Day of Resurrection.”

  9. تُصبيكَ حوراءُ العيونِ غضيضةٌ

    هيفاءُ مُخْطَفَةٌ وظبيٌ أحورُ

    A demure beauty with wide, dark eyes enchants you,

    Slender and slim-waisted—and a dark-eyed gazelle.

  10. وكأنَّما هذي مهاةُ أراكةٍ

    ترنو بيقفلها وهذا جؤْ ذَرُ

    As though this one were an oryx beside an arak tree,

    Gazing [unclear wording], and this one an oryx calf.

  11. ظبيٌ أرومُ الوصلَ منه ودونه ال

    بيضُ القواضبُ والمشيجُ الأسمرُ

    A gazelle whose union I seek, but between us stand

    White, cleaving swords and the dark composite bow.

  12. في حيث لا لمعُ البروقِ وسحبُها

    اِلاّ القواضبُ والعجاجُ الأكدرُ

    Where lightning's flashes and its clouds are nothing

    But cleaving swords and murky battle-dust.

  13. وفوارسٌ خاضوا الوغى وغمارَها

    في حيث بحرُهمُ الحديدُ الأخضرُ

    And horsemen who plunged into battle and its depths,

    Where green iron is their sea.

  14. والخيلُ تمزعُ والأسنَّةُ شُرَّعٌ

    والبيضُ تُثلَمُ والقنا تتأطَّرُ

    The horses race, the spearheads leveled,

    White blades are notched, and lances bend.

  15. فظُبي الصوارمِ لا البروقُ لوامعٌ

    في حيث سحبُ حُماتهنَّ العِثيَرُ

    The edges of keen swords—not lightning—flash

    Where their champions' clouds are rising dust.

  16. وغمامةُ الحربِ العَوانِ ملثةٌ

    بسوى النصالِ كماتُها لا تُمطّرُ

    And the cloud of oft-fought war lingers,

    Raining nothing but arrowheads upon its champions.

  17. نشقوا رياحينَ الرماحِ حماسةً

    فكأنَّما فيهنَّ مسكٌ أذفرُ

    In martial ardor they inhaled the spears' sweet herbs,

    As though pungent musk were within them.

  18. مِن كلِّ فارسِ مَعرَكٍ يردُ الردى

    اِلْفاً ويُطربُه الثناءُ فَيُنْشُرُ

    Each a battlefield horseman who approaches death

    As a familiar friend; praise delights him and revives him.

  19. ونجائبٍ كلفنُهنَّ إلى الحمى

    شوقاً تظلَّمَ منه مَرْتٌ أزورُ

    And noble she-camels I charged to reach the sanctuary,

    With longing of which a crooked, barren wilderness complained.

  20. أنضيتُ فيه الناعجاتِ فِانْ وفَتْ

    كَفلَتْ تلاقينا العتاقُ الضمَّرُ

    There I wore out the swift she-camels; if they prove true,

    Those lean thoroughbreds will assure our reunion.

  21. طمعاً بِعَوْدِ زمانِ أيامِ اللِّوى

    ومُحَجِّرٍ سُقيَ الّلوى ومُحَجِّرُ

    Hoping for the return of the days of al-Liwa

    And Muhajjir—may al-Liwa and Muhajjir be watered!

  22. لا الظاعنونَ عنِ العقيقِ إلى الحمى

    رجعوا ولا قلبي المعنَّى يَصبِرُ

    Neither those who journeyed from al-Aqiq toward the sanctuary

    Have returned, nor does my tormented heart endure.

  23. تَخِذَ النزوعَ إلى الأحبَّةِ دَيْدَناً

    فغدا وجامحُ شوقِه لا يَقصُرُ

    It made yearning for the loved ones its habit,

    And its unbridled longing never slackens.

  24. لامَ العواذلُ في الغرامِ فما ارعوى

    وجدي واِنْ جَنفَوا عليَّ فأكثروا

    The reproachers censured my passion, yet unrestrained

    Was my longing, though they wronged me and heaped on blame.

  25. سِيّانِ عندي بعدَما احتنكَ الهوى

    وسَطا الغرامُأطولوا أم قصَّروا

    It is all the same to me, now that love has mastered me

    And passion has assailed me, whether their blame is long or short.

  26. ولربَّ يومٍ للودَاعِ شَهِدتُه

    حيرانَ تعترفُ الدموعُ وأُنكرُ

    Many a day of farewell I have witnessed,

    Bewildered: tears confessed, while I denied.

  27. كشفَ الفراقُ مِنَ الحياءِ قِناعَهُ

    فطَفِقتُ لا أخشى ولا أتسَّترُ

    Parting stripped modesty of its veil,

    And I began to fear nothing and hide no more.

  28. في موقفٍ ما فيه إلا أنفسٌ

    ذابتْ فَسمَّوها دموعاً تَفطُرُ

    At a scene where there were nothing but souls

    That had melted, and were called falling tears.

  29. لا العذلُ يملكُ صبوتي فيردُّها

    جبراً ومثلُ صبابتي لا تُجبَرُ

    No reproach can master my infatuation and turn it back

    By force; a longing like mine cannot be subdued.

  30. كلاّ ولا وجدي القديمُ بمنتهٍ

    عمَّنْ يُؤنَّبُ في هواه ويُزجَرُ

    No! Nor will my old longing ever cease

    For the one for whose love I am reproached and rebuked.

  31. كلاّ ولا وِردُ الوصالِ وبردُه

    حاشاه بعدَ صفائهِ يتكدَّرُ

    No! Nor will the draught of union, and its coolness—

    Far from it!—grow murky after its clarity.

  32. ومدلَّهٍ أمستْ وشاةُ دموعِه

    عنه تُحدِّثُ بالهوى وتُخبِّرُ

    And a distraught lover, whose betraying tears

    Have come to speak of him and proclaim his love.

  33. وغدا تنفُّسُه يَنْمُّ بكلِّ ما

    يُخفيهِ مِن سرِّ الغرامِ ويُظهِرُ

    His breathing now betrays all that

    He hides of love's secret, and lays it bare.

  34. وتغيَّرتْ تلكَ الطلولُ وأهلُها

    بعدَ النوى وهواه لا يتغيَّرُ

    Those ruins and their people have changed

    Since parting, but his love does not change.

  35. هطلتْ سحابةُ دمعِه فيها فما

    حَفَلَتْ وقد بَخِلَ السحابُ الممطرُ

    The cloud of his tears poured down upon them, yet they

    Paid no heed, though the rain-bearing clouds withheld their rain.

  36. تُصبيهِ أغصانُ القدودِ موائلاً

    ويشوقُه وردُ الخدودِ الأحمرُ

    The swaying boughs of graceful figures captivate him,

    And the red roses of cheeks stir his yearning.

  37. ياليلُ طلتَ فِانْ تناقصَ بعدما

    أفرطتَ صبري فالحنينُ موفَّرُ

    O night, you have grown long; if, after

    Your excess, my patience wanes, my yearning is still abundant.

  38. طمحٌ يزيدُ وأضلعٌ تَلْظَى هوًى

    وصبابةٌ تقوى وصبرٌ يُقهَرُ

    Soaring desire grows, and ribs blaze with love;

    Longing grows stronger, while patience is vanquished.

  39. كم بتُّ بالليلِ الطويلِ مروَّعاً

    وأخو السلوِّ ينامُ فيه وأسهرُ

    How often I have spent the long night in alarm,

    While one who has forgotten sleeps through it, and I lie awake.

  40. زمنٌ عذيرايَ الصبابةُ والصِّبا

    فيه ومغلوبُ الصبابةِ يُعذَرُ

    A time when passion and youth were my two defenders;

    In it, one overcome by passion is excused.

  41. مَنْ لي وكافورُ المشيبِ مُنَوَّرٌ

    لو دامَ مِن ليلِ الشبابِ العنبرُ

    Who will help me, with the camphor of gray hair in bloom?

    If only the ambergris of youth's night had lasted!

  42. ياأيُّها الشعراءُ هل مِن لا قطٍ

    دُرّاً يسودُ به فهذا الجوهرُ

    O poets, is there a gatherer

    Of pearls to win distinction by them? Here are the jewels.

  43. وقفَ اختياركمُ عليه فما لَهُ

    مُتَقَدَّمٌ عنه ولا متأخَّرُ

    Your choice has settled on it; it has

    No predecessor before it, nor any successor.

  44. هذا هو الشِّعرُ الذي لو أنَّه

    ماءٌ لقالَ الناسُهذا الكوثرُ

    This is the poetry which, if it were

    Water, would make people say, “This is al-Kawthar.”

  45. ولو انَّه خُطَبٌ أرتِّبُ لفظَها

    جُمعيَّةً لصبا اليها المنبرُ

    And were it sermons whose wording I arranged

    For Friday, the pulpit would yearn for them.

  46. عُرُبُ القصائدِ ما غدونَ شوارداً

    وغدا النويُّ بهنَّ وهو معطَّرُ

    Loving brides among odes—whenever they go wandering,

    Their traveling companion becomes perfumed by them.

  47. يزددنَ حسناً ما ترنَّمَ منشدٌ

    بنسيبهنَّ وما تَكُرُّ الأعصرُ

    They grow more beautiful whenever a reciter chants

    Their love-preludes, and as the ages roll.

  48. عزَّتْ على خطّا بهنَّ وكلُّ مَنْ

    يستامهنَّ مطوَّقٌ ومسوَّرُ

    They are beyond their suitors' reach, and everyone

    Who bids for them wears a neck-ring and bracelets.

  49. مِن كلِّ قافيةٍ إذا غضغضتَها

    عُبَّ الكلامُ كما تُعَبُّ الأبحرُ

    With every rhyme, should you draw deeply from it,

    Language is gulped down as seas are gulped down.

  50. عذراءَ بكرٍ في القريضِ غريبةٍ

    بسوى النفوسِ كلامُها لا يُمهَرُ

    A virgin, untouched and rare among poems,

    For whose words no dowry is paid but souls.

  51. ما كنتُ أرضى أن يكون خليلَها

    كسرى أنوشِرْوانَ والاِسكندَرُ

    I would never consent to her having as her consort

    Kisra Anushirwan or Alexander.