أألزم قلبي فيك حبك والصبرا

سألت مجيباً لو ملكت له أمرا

Shall I compel my heart, for your sake, to love you and be patient?

I asked one who would answer, had I command over it.

وما الحب من يبقى على الصب لبه

ولا القلب من يهوى ويحتمل الهجرا

Love is not what leaves the lovesick man his reason,

nor is it a heart that loves yet bears estrangement.

وليس التماس العين من سهد ليلها

بأمنع منها فيك ان لم تكن سكرى

Nor is the eye's seeking relief from its sleepless night

more forbidding than the eye itself, for you, unless it is drunken [sense unclear].

هوى ان اطل شر حاله قلته هوى

ويكفيك ذكر النار عن فعلها ذكرا

A passion: if its evil plight appears, I call it a fall.

The mention of fire is reminder enough, without what it does.

وموقف بين لا نذيع وداعه

ولم ندر الألحاظ إلا به شزرا

And a moment of parting whose farewell we do not disclose,

where we turned our glances only askance,

اصم على العينين من وجه لائم

وثقل في الاسماع من عذله وقرا

harsher upon the eyes than a reproacher's face,

and a heavier burden on the ears than his reproach.

نُمَوّه ف تسليمنا بأنامل

عليك فتقضى البيض اونهزز السمرا

We disguise our greeting with our fingertips

to you; then the white blades decide [reading uncertain], or we shake the brown spears.

ومن لي بكتم بين واش وحاسد

لسرك والاجفان توضحه جهرا

Who will help me conceal, between a talebearer and an envier,

your secret, when the eyelids reveal it openly?

فراق تراق النفس فيه مدامعا

وشاهد قولي انها قطرت حمرا

A parting in which the soul is poured out as tears,

and the proof of my words is that they dripped red.

ويوم يؤم المرء فيه حتوفه

والا فما بال الوجوه ترى صفرا

And a day when a man makes for his doom;

otherwise, why are the faces seen so yellow?

ودهر إذا استعفيته عن مظالمي

كأني سألت الضب ان يسلك البحرا

And an age which, when I ask it to spare me its wrongs,

it is as though I asked a desert lizard to take to the sea.

اصاحب فيه الليل والبيد والسرى

وافقد منه الأنس والأمن والفجرا

In it I keep company with night, deserts, and night journeys,

and lose companionship, safety, and dawn.

وما طال إلا ليل من طال همه

ولا زاد الاهم من زاده فكرا

Only the night of one whose grief is long grows long,

and only the grief of one who feeds it thought increases.

وحسبك من ليل إذا رمت حده

فأطول يوم البين اقصره عمرا

Suffice it as a night, when you seek its limit:

the longest day of parting is the shortest-lived.

اكلف مهري فيه كل تنوفة

كما كلف المضطر في حاجة غمرا

I task my colt with every trackless waste in it,

as a man in need burdens an inexperienced man with a task,

ليلحق بي السلطان ادريس هاشم

ويركب هول البحر من طلب الدرا

so that Sultan Idris Hashim may join me;

whoever seeks pearls braves the terror of the sea.

فتى يهب العافين ما دون مجده

ولو كان يعطي سره بذل السرا

A youth who gives petitioners everything short of his glory;

were his secret something he could give, he would give that secret.

إذا ما سألت القطر ثم سألته

توهمت ان القطر بسألك القطرا

If you ask the rain, and then ask him,

you would think the rain was asking you for rain.

ولا عيب في غيران نواله

على سعة الآفاق يستعبد الحرا

There is no fault, save that his bounty,

across the wide horizons, enslaves the free.

غفور وعضب الأقتدار مجرد

على من اقام الذنب في ذنبه عذرا

Forgiving—yet the sharp blade of his power is drawn

against whoever makes sin an excuse for his sin.

له ذمة لا تقرأ الغدر من وفا

بها ولو ان الدهر حرره سطرا

He has a pledge: no treachery is read by one who keeps faith

with it, even if Time writes it out as a line.

وهمة مغوار على الأمر منجد

ولو نيط بالجوزاء اوبلغ الشعرى

And the resolve of a bold raider, coming to the aid of a cause,

even if it were hung from Orion or reached Sirius.

وبأس لدى البأساء في كل حادث

به يسكن الدأماء ما ازعج الصخرا

And strength in adversity, in every calamity,

through which he stills the deep sea's rock-shaking tumult.

واكرم عيص من ارومة هاشم

واشرف بيت طال في مضر قدرا

And the noblest stock from the root of Hashim,

and the most honored house, whose rank rose high among Mudar,

من القوم اثنى الله في الذكر عنهم

وطهرهم من رجس هذي الدنا طهرا

of the people God praised in the Revelation,

and purified completely of this world's filth.

فما غاية المثنى عليهم بشعره

ولو نظم الشعري العبور بهم شعرا

What limit can the poet praising them attain,

even if he strung Sirius al-Abur into verse in their honor?

وما جهد من يبغي اللحاق لشأوهم

ولو ركب النكباء في سيرها شهرا

And what can one striving to match their reach accomplish,

even if he rides the crosswind on its course for a month?

هم افترعوا العلياء بكراً وليس من

يحاول عوناً مثل ومن وطيء البكرا

They deflowered the virgin heights; and one

who seeks mature women is not like one who lay with a virgin.

وما زادت الآفاق إلا بهم سنا

ولا ذلت الأعناق إلا لهم قسرا

The horizons gained radiance only through them,

and necks bowed only to them, under compulsion.

وما منهم إلا إمام ومالك

يشيد ركن الدين أو يهدم الوفرا

Not one of them but is an imam and a sovereign,

raising the pillar of faith or laying waste to riches.

إليك أيا أندى الأنام أناملا

وأوهبها تبراً وأضربها بترا

To you, O you whose fingers are mankind's most generous,

most lavish with gold and most forceful in severing blows,

صحبنا المنى والأرحبيات والسرى

ومن رام فقد الفقر فليصحب القفرا

we have traveled with hopes, Arhabi she-camels, and night journeys;

whoever seeks to lose poverty, let him keep company with the desert.

سري مدلهم الصبح دونك والدجي

فكن يابن ذي بدر لنا الشمس والبدرا

On a night journey, without you, dawn and darkness alike are pitch-black;

so be, O son of Dhu Badr, our sun and full moon.

وما العسر إلا البعد عنك وانني

لأشهد اذ القاك ان اشهد اليسرا

Hardship is nothing but distance from you, and I

bear witness, when I meet you, that I behold ease.

واعجب من عنقاء من ذم دهره

ورامك في أمر ولم يحمد الدهرا

More wondrous than the Anqa is one who condemns his age,

seeks you for some need, yet does not praise that age.

عفاك على اعداك لا عفو عنهم

فأولى بمن قد ضل ان يسكن القبرا

Destruction from you upon your enemies, not pardon for them!

Whoever has gone astray is better fitted to dwell in the grave.

وكم من بغى شرا فمات بغيه

لك الخيران البغي اورده الشرا

How many sought evil and died through their own error!

May good be yours! Transgression brought him to evil.

وعجز الفتى في قوله لي قوة

واني ملكت الأمر والنفع والضرا

A young man's weakness lies in saying, 'I have strength,'

'and I command affairs, benefit, and harm.'

ودونك قوالون للخيل اقدمى

على الموت حلواً كان في فيك ام مرا

At your service are men who tell their horses, 'Advance

toward death, whether it tastes sweet in your mouth or bitter!'

فما اوردوها من اصم واشهب

وعادت بهم إلا معصفرة شقرا

They never led them in, unyielding or gray-white,

but they returned bearing them, safflower-dyed and chestnut-red.

وبيض سري ماء الفرند بمتنها

وجال فخلناه بغرتك البشرا

And white blades, whose watered-steel sheen flowed along their spines,

and danced, so we thought it the gladness on your bright brow.

لقد اكلت اجفانها وهي من ظما

تلظي بأيديهم فنحسبها جمرا

They have eaten their own sheaths; and, from thirst,

they blaze in their hands, so we reckon them embers.

إذا وردت ماء الوريد ونحوه

يعود لها عيد فما تسأم النحرا

When they drink the water of the jugular vein and its like,

it is a feast for them anew, and they never tire of slaughter.

ومائلة الأعطاف سمر كأنها

إذا ما تثنت في اكفهم سكري

And brown spears with swaying flanks, as though they,

when they bend in their palms, were drunk.

تلوح لرائيها وقد ضل انجما

اسنتها في ليل عثيره زهرا

They flash to their lost beholder as stars—

their spearheads, bright in the night of his dust cloud.

وتخبرنا عن قلب كل مدجج

بما فيه من مكر وقد لقي المكرا

And they tell us about the heart of every armored man,

of the guile within it, once he has encountered guile.

وكل دلاص يشرب العين من صفا

بها وصقال في جوانبها نهرا

And every smooth coat of mail makes the eye drink, through the clarity

within it and the polish on its sides, a river.

لقد قدرت سرداًوضوعف نسجها

واحرزها داود من بعده ذخرا

Its links were measured, and its weave was doubled;

and David stored it as a treasure for after his time,

ليلبسها الكرار جدك في الوغى

ويلقى بها عمراً ويشهدها بدرا

for al-Karrar, your forefather, to wear in battle,

and face Amr in it, and have it witness Badr.

ولقد نلتها من بعده خير لامة

وأنت بهذا الأرث دون الورى احرى

You obtained it after him, the finest suit of armor,

and you, above all mankind, are most entitled to this inheritance.

وجلبتها في كل يوم لو اننا

ذهبنا عن الدنيا لقينا به الحشرا

You brought it forth on every day when, had we

left this world, we would have met the Resurrection therein.

ونلت به نصراً عزيزا على العدي

ولا خاذل والله يمنحك النصرا

Through it you won mighty victory over your enemies,

with none to forsake you, while God grants you victory.

ومن كان نجلا للنبي محمد

فقد فاز في الدنيا مقاما وفي الأخرى

Whoever is a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad

has won high station in this world and in the next.

فدم ملكا كلتا يديه لنا مني

فنأمن باليمنى ونؤسر باليسرى

So remain a king, both of whose hands are our hopes:

we are made safe by the right and captive by the left.

مفدى بقيل بعد قيل فما أنا

بمن يرتضي زيداً فدي لك اوعمرا

May king after king be your ransom; for I am not

one content with Zayd or Amr as your ransom.

وكطن لي مقيلا من عثاز فأنني

رجوتك والأيام توهنني عثرا

And be one who lifts me from a stumble, for I

have placed my hope in you while the days weaken me with falls.

فمثلك من يرجى ويخشى ولا أرى

مثالك براً يحسن القتل والبسرا

One such as you is to be hoped in and feared; and I see no

equal of yours in goodness, skilled in slaying and forcible seizure.

وجودك في امالقرى ظل مانعي

بأن اسكن الزوراء اوارتجي مصرا

Your presence in Umm al-Qura remains what prevents me

from settling in al-Zawra or looking to Egypt for hope.

فكل مليك دون قدرك قدره

وكل بلا دونها تنبت التبرا

Every king's rank falls below your rank,

and every [land?] beneath it brings forth gold.

وكل مديح في سواك على فمي

كأني له اهديت حمدك والشكرا

Every praise of someone other than you upon my lips

is as though I offered him the praise and thanks meant for you.

وكل بمدحي فيه غيرك فاخر

واني بمدحي فيك استملك الفخرا

All but you boast of my praise of them,

while, by praising you, I take possession of glory.