1. أَبرق الحِمى حَدث عَن الأَبرق الفَرد

    فَقَد شاقَني مسراك مِن جانِبي نَجد

    O lightning of al-Hima, tell of solitary al-Abraq;

    for your night journey from both sides of Najd has stirred my longing.

  2. وَقُل كَيفَ خَلفت العَقيق وَأَهله

    فَشَوقي بِهم شَوقي وَوجدي بِهم وَجدي

    And tell me in what state you left al-Aqiq and its people;

    for my longing for them remains my longing, and my anguish for them my anguish.

  3. وَما حال بانات اللَوى جادَها الحَيا

    وَذاكَ الخزامي الغض وَالشيح مِن بَعدي

    And how fare the bān trees of al-Liwa—may rain drench them—

    and that tender lavender and the wormwood, since my departure?

  4. أَراك وَجيران الأَراك عَلى النَوى

    تَعاقدتما وَالجور في ذَلِكَ العَقد

    I see that you and the neighbors of the arak trees, over separation,

    have made a pact—and injustice lies in that pact.

  5. رَويت لَنا عَنهُم أَحاديث حاجر

    وَفي ضمنها نَشر الخَمائل وَالرند

    You recounted to us tales of Hajir concerning them,

    and within them was the fragrance of leafy groves and bay trees.

  6. فَهاجَ بِنا وَجد وَقَد كانَ كامِناً

    وَطالَ بِنا شَوق إِلى ذَلِكَ الوَرد

    So anguish stirred within us, though it had lain hidden,

    and our longing for that rose grew long.

  7. فَوَ اللَه ما أَدري أَكُل امرئ لَهُ

    نزوع إِلى تلكَ المَنازل أَم وَحدي

    So, by God, I do not know whether every man has

    a yearning for those dwellings, or I alone.

  8. مَنازل كانَت لِلنَواظر نُزهة

    وَرَوض البَها وَالحسن في ربعها يندي

    Dwellings that were a delight to the eyes,

    where the garden of splendor and beauty glistened with dew.

  9. وَبي بيضة الخدر الَّتي هَدرت دَمي

    وَلَم ترع ودي في الغَرام وَلا عَهدي

    And I am smitten with the fair one of the curtained chamber, who shed my blood with impunity,

    and honored neither my affection in love nor my covenant.

  10. نَظَرت لَهُ وَالطَرف كَم يَجلب العَنا

    إِلى القَلب مِن بَعد الصِيانة وَالرشد

    I looked toward him—and how much suffering the eye brings

    to the heart after self-restraint and sound judgment!

  11. فَشاهدت مِنها دُمية في غلالة

    وَطالَعت مِنها طَلعة البَدر في برد

    Then I beheld in her a figurine in a gauzy robe,

    and saw in her the full moon's visage in a striped mantle.

  12. رداح تَثنت فَانثَنى القَلب دونها

    جَريحاً بِرُمح القَد وَالناظر الهندي

    Full-hipped, she swayed, and my heart bent before her,

    wounded by the spear of her stature and the Indian blade of her gaze.

  13. نفور إِذا مَر النَسيم تَلَفتت

    بِجيد كَجيد الظَبي قَد زانَ بِالعقد

    Skittish, whenever the breeze passed, she looked about,

    with a neck like a gazelle's, adorned with a necklace.

  14. رَمَتني جُيوش الحسن مِنها بغرة

    تَذوب لَها صم الجَنادل بِالوقد

    Her armies of beauty struck me with a radiant brow

    whose blaze melts the solid boulders.

  15. فَرُحت وَلي قَلب كَسير وَناظر

    حَسير بِأَجفان مُسهدة رمد

    So I departed with a broken heart and an eye

    weary, with sleepless, inflamed lids.

  16. وَمَن أَعجَب الأَشياء ظبية عالج

    تَصول بِجفنيها عَلى الأسد الوَرد

    And among the strangest things is a gazelle of Alij

    who assails the tawny lion with her eyelids.

  17. وَأعجب من ذا أنَّني بِعت مُهجَتي

    عَلَيها وَلَم أَظفر بِوَصل وَلا نَقد

    And stranger than this is that I sold my life's blood

    for her, yet won neither union nor payment.

  18. جَفَتني كَأَني لَست أَعلَم أَهلها

    وَأثبتهم جَأشاً عَلى الحادث المردي

    She shunned me as though I were not the most learned of her people,

    and the firmest-hearted of them in the face of deadly calamity.

  19. سَلام عَلى دار بِها دُرة النَقا

    وَإِن كانَ تَسليمي عَلى البُعد لا يُجدي

    Peace upon a house that holds the pearl of the sand ridge,

    though my greeting from afar is of no avail.

  20. علت فَوقها زهر النُجوم كَما عَلَت

    بِآباء عَبد اللَه دائرة المَجد

    Above it rose the shining stars, just as rose

    the circle of glory through the forefathers of Abd Allah.

  21. عَلى الأَروع المُستودع العلم وَالحجى

    وَعنوان قُرآن المَعارف وَالرفد

    Upon the awe-inspiring man entrusted with knowledge and reason,

    and the frontispiece of the Qur'an of knowledge and bounty.

  22. فَضائله فاضَت كَما فاضَ كَفه

    بِبَذل النَدى وَالعرف في الحر وَالعبد

    His virtues overflowed, just as his hand overflowed

    in lavishing generosity and kindness upon free man and slave.

  23. إِذا ماجد حازَ الكَمال كلالة

    وَراحَ وَلَم يسلم مِن الدخل وَالنَقد

    If a noble man gains perfection by collateral inheritance

    and goes his way without escaping blemish and criticism,

  24. فَذا حازَ عَن آبائه وَجُدوده

    كَمال المَعالي الغُر وَالسُؤدد الفَرد

    this man, by contrast, has gained from his fathers and grandfathers

    the perfection of resplendent honors and peerless lordship.

  25. غَدا عوده كَالعود طيباً وَنَكهة

    وَأخصب مِن رَوض وَأعذب مِن شَهد

    His stock became like aloeswood in fragrance and aroma,

    and lusher than a meadow and sweeter than honeycomb.

  26. يَطير بِريح الأَريحية لِلنَدى

    فَيولى الَّذي يَبغي النَدى غاية القَصد

    He flies on the wind of magnanimity toward generosity,

    so whoever seeks bounty is granted the utmost of his desire.

  27. مَعالمه بِالعلم وَالدين عمرت

    فَأَضحى بِها الإِيمان مُنتَظم العقد

    His landmarks have flourished with knowledge and religion,

    so within them faith became a well-strung necklace.

  28. لَهُ قُوة قدسية عرجت بِه

    برفرفها الأَعلى إِلى فلك السعد

    He has a sacred power that bore him aloft

    on its loftiest wing to the sphere of good fortune.

  29. لَهُ شيم لَو شامَها الدَهر عِندَه

    لَقالَ ادعني يا ابن النَبي بيا عبدي

    He has qualities which, were Time to behold them in him,

    it would say, 'O son of the Prophet, call me “O my servant.”'

  30. بِآبائه الأَشراف شرفت الدنا

    وَأَولاده الأَبرار ناهيك من ولد

    Through his noble forefathers, the worlds were ennobled,

    and his righteous sons—what excellent offspring!