1. يا دارَ جائِلة الوشاحِ

    حيتك نافحة الرياحِ

    O abode of her whose sash hangs loose,

    may the wafting breeze greet you,

  2. وسقتكِ من ديم الحيا

    وطفاءُ ضاحكةُ النواحي

    and may you be watered with steady showers of rain

    by a dense cloud, smiling at its edges.

  3. كم فيك قد نادمت من

    قمرٍ يطوفُ بشمس راح

    How often within you have I caroused with

    a moon passing round a sun of wine,

  4. وخريدةٍ تختالُ عن لدنٍ

    وتبسم عن أقاح

    and a secluded maiden swaying like a supple bough,

    smiling to reveal daisies,

  5. نشوانةَ الأعطاف من

    خمر الصِبا خودٍ رُداح

    her supple limbs intoxicated by

    the wine of youth—a full-hipped beauty.

  6. ملكت قلوب بني الغرام

    بلاحظٍ سكرانَ صاحي

    She possessed the hearts of passion's sons

    with a glance at once drunken and sober.

  7. جَهِدَ العواذلُ فيَّ أن

    أسلو هوى الغيد المِلاح

    The reproachers strove to make me

    forget my love of lovely, graceful maidens.

  8. فَمتى محبّ قد سَلا

    هيفاء تسفرُ عن بَراح

    Yet when has a lover ever forgotten

    a slender beauty unveiling Barāḥ, the sun?

  9. ومن الذي قد كلّف ال

    طيران محصوص الجناح

    And who has ever demanded

    flight from one whose wing is plucked bare?

  10. هيهات أَخطأَ ظنّهم

    أن يستلينَ لهم جُماحي

    Impossible! Their supposition was mistaken:

    that my defiance would yield to them.

  11. فإِليَّ يا داعي الجوى

    ووراكِ عنيّ يا لَواحي

    Come to me, O summoner of love's torment,

    and away from me, O reproachful women!

  12. فيعينيَّ اسودَّ الصباحُ

    لرزء مدركة الصياح

    In my eyes the morning darkened

    at a calamity made known by cries.

  13. حالَ الصياحُ كأنّما

    نعيت ذكاءُ إلى الصباح

    The outcry changed, as though

    Dhukāʾ, the sun, had been proclaimed dead to the dawn.

  14. وتجاوبت فوق السما

    غرّ الملائكِ بالنياح

    And above heaven there answered one another

    the radiant angels in lamentation,

  15. جزعاً ليوم فيه قد

    غلب الفسادُ على الصلاح

    in anguish for a day on which

    corruption overcame righteousness.

  16. بل فيه قد غُضَّت لحا

    ظُ الفخر من بعد الطِماح

    Indeed, on it were cast down the

    gazes of pride, after their lofty aspiration.

  17. وبنو السفاح تحكَّموا

    في أهل حيَّ على الفلاح

    And the sons of fornication held sway

    over the people of 'Come to salvation!'

  18. وبسبط أحمدَ أحدقت

    بشبا الصوارم والرماح

    And they closed around Aḥmad's grandson

    with the points of sharp swords and spears,

  19. ودعته إمّا يجنحنّ

    لسلمها أو للكفاح

    and called on him either to incline

    toward their peace or toward combat.

  20. ظنَّت بما اقترحت عليه

    أن يخيم من الصفاح

    They thought that, through what they proposed to him,

    he would shrink before their blades.

  21. فمتى أبو الأشبال رُوّ

    ع يا أُميَّة بالنِباح

    But when was the sire of lion cubs ever

    frightened, O Umayya, by barking?

  22. فزحفتِ في جندِ الضلال

    إلى ابنِ مُعتلج البِطاح

    So you advanced with the host of error

    against the son of the warrior of the plains.

  23. فغشاكِ مِن عزماتِهِ

    جيش من الأَجل المتاح

    Then, from his firm resolves, there overwhelmed you

    a host of destined death.

  24. وغدا يقي دين الإِله

    بحرّ وجهٍ كالصباح

    He set out to shield the faith of God

    with a noble face like the dawn.

  25. يلقى الكتيبةَ مفرداً

    فتفرُّ دامية الجراح

    Alone he meets the battalion,

    and it flees with bleeding wounds.

  26. وإذا دعوا حيذي حياد

    دعى بحيَّ على الكفاح

    And when they cried, 'Turn aside! Retreat!'

    he called, 'Come to battle!'

  27. وبهامها اعتصَمت مخا

    فة بأسه بيض الصفاح

    And in their skulls sought refuge, in

    fear of his might, the white sword blades.

  28. وتسترت منه حياءً

    في الحشا سمر الرّماح

    And from him, in shame, there hid

    within the entrails the brown spears.

  29. ما زال يوردُ رمحَه

    في القلب منها والجناح

    He kept plunging his spear

    into its center and its flank,

  30. وحسامه في الله يَسفح

    من دماء بني السفاح

    and his blade, for God's sake, poured out

    the blood of the sons of fornication,

  31. حتَّى دعاه إليه أن

    يغدو فلبَّى بالرَّواح

    until He called him to Himself, to

    come forth—and he answered by departing.

  32. ورقى إلى أعلا الجنان

    معارجَ الشرف الصراح

    And he ascended to the highest gardens of Paradise

    by the stairways of unalloyed honor.

  33. وبناتُ فاطمةٍ غدت

    حَسرى تجاوَبُ بالنياح

    And Fāṭima's daughters became

    unveiled, answering one another with wails.

  34. أضحت بأجرد صفصفٍ

    متوقّد الرمضاءِ ضاحي

    They found themselves on a bare, level plain,

    its scorching ground ablaze, exposed to the sun,

  35. من بعد ما إن كنَّ

    في حرم أجلَّ من الضُراح

    after they had once dwelt

    within a sanctuary more exalted than al-Ḍurāḥ.

  36. عجباً لها تغدو سبايا

    وهي من حيّ لقاح

    How strange that they should become captives,

    though they belong to a tribe that bows to no king!

  37. تسري بهنَّ لِجلّقٍ

    حربٌ على عُجفٍ رزاح

    They are borne by night to Jilliq

    by Ḥarb's clan, on lean, exhausted camels.

  38. ألله أكبر يا جبال

    تدكدكي فوق البِطاح

    God is greatest! O mountains,

    crumble over the open plains!

  39. فبناتُ أحمدَ قد غدت

    تُهدى لمذموم الرواح

    For Aḥmad's daughters have become

    gifts delivered to one whose ways are loathsome.

  40. منهلَّةَ الغبرات بُحّ ال

    ندبُ من عِظم المناح

    Showered with dust, hoarse with

    lament from the immensity of grief,

  41. يَندبنَ أَوَّل مُنجدٍ

    يوم الوَغى لهف الصياح

    they bewail the first to bring aid

    on battle's day, when cries were desperate.

  42. ويَنُحنَ من جزع على

    أندى البريَّة بطنَ راح

    And in anguish they wail for

    him whose palm was the most generous in creation.

  43. أَين التجملُ والأسى

    من ذات صبرٍ مُستباح

    Where is composure amid such sorrow

    for a woman whose patience has been ravaged,

  44. ترنو لكافلها قضى

    ظمأً لدى الماءِ القُراح

    as she gazes at her guardian, who died

    of thirst beside pure water?

  45. هذا وكم من حُرمةٍ

    هتكت لهنَّ بلا جُناح

    All this—and how many a sacred right

    of theirs was violated without a scruple!

  46. وأبيح من خطر لها

    لله من خطر مباح

    And how much of her dignity was profaned—

    O God, what dignity laid bare!

  47. لله خطب منه كل حشًى

    مكلّمة النواحي

    O God, what a calamity, from which every heart

    is wounded on every side!

  48. أمَّ الخطوبِ بمثله

    فلقد عَقمتِ عن اللقاح

    O mother of calamities, produce its like—

    for you have become barren, unable to conceive!

  49. يا من لأعناق البريَّة

    طوَّقوها بالسماح

    O you who, around the necks of all creation,

    have set necklaces of generosity,

  50. فإليكموها غادةً

    أبهى من الخَودِ الرداح

    here she is for you, a graceful maiden,

    lovelier than the full-hipped beauty.

  51. بدويَّةً فاقت نظا

    ئرَها بألفاظٍ فِصاح

    Bedouin-born, surpassing her

    peers with eloquent words.

  52. أرجو القبول بها وإن

    قصُرت فذا جُهد امتداحي

    I hope she will be accepted, even if

    she falls short; this is my utmost effort in praise.

  53. وعليكم الصلوات ما

    عُرفت بكم سُبلُ الصلاح

    And blessings be upon you for as long as

    the paths of righteousness are known through you.