قفي ربة الوقف والدملج

لعل اعلل قلبي الشجي

Halt, wearer of the bracelet and armlet,

that I may soothe my grieving heart.

فحث المطايا كحث الكؤوس

يحسبها الشرب لم تمزج

For urging the mounts is like urging on cups

that the drinkers imagine are unmixed.

أناشدك الله إلا نشد

ت وقفة حاديك بالهودج

I adjure you by God: do ask—

your camel-driver for a halt with the howdah.

فلم تطس العيس إلا الخدود

وغير فؤادي لم تنهج

For the pale camels have trampled only cheeks,

and worn out nothing but my heart.

وذاك محلك والمستجب بأن

تسكني حيث لا تزعجي

And that is your dwelling, and [the fitting place] for

you to live where you will not be disturbed.

ويوم النوى موقف لو اذعت

وداعك لي فيه لم يسمج

On the day of parting, a halt—had you proclaimed

your farewell to me there—would not have been unseemly.

وليل فراقك لو تسفري

بفرقك اسفر للمدلج

And the night of your departure, had you unveiled

your hair's parting, would have brightened for the night traveler.

سقي الله معهدنا باللوى

وطيب هوى ظله السجسج

May God water our familiar haunt at al-Liwa,

and the sweetness of love beneath its temperate shade.

وجاد عهودك جود العهاد

بمنعرج السقط من منبج

And may returning showers lavish their bounty on your remembered days

at the curve of the sandbank near Manbij.

وعيناً تقضى به لم يكن

سوى حلم الطائش الأهوج

And [a life] that passed there was

no more than the dream of a rash, reckless man.

وهل منح الدهر من منحة

امد بها المرء لم تدرج

Has Time ever bestowed a gift

that sustained a man and did not pass away?

وليل تقمص من زهره

قميصاً من الدر لم ينسج

And a night that donned, from its blossoms,

an unwoven tunic of pearls,

مغير على تبر شمس الأصيل

بأدهمه الملجم المسرج

raiding the gold of the late-afternoon sun

on its bridled, saddled black steed,

وقد فر منه لجين الصباح

وغاص بلجة فيروزج

while the silver of morning had fled from it

and plunged into a turquoise deep,

احم واظلم من فرعك الطويل

وناظرك الأدعج

blacker and darker than your long tresses

and your large, dark-pupilled eye—

قطعت بقطعيه ديمومة

بها صدح الورق لم تهزج

I crossed, through its two stretches, a trackless waste

where the singing gray doves did not trill,

على متن ذي مرح اشقر

يلوح كمتقد العرفج

on the back of a spirited chestnut,

gleaming like blazing arfaj brush,

إلى ان تبلج لي صبحه

بغرة وجه الفتى الأعوج

until its dawn broke for me

in the radiance of the young man al-A‘waj's face.

أمير يكاد بلا أمره الخطوب

إذا ضقن لم تفرج

An emir, without whose command calamities

would scarcely be relieved when they close in;

كريم تفتح ابوابه

ولم ترتج الدهر للمترجي

a generous man whose doors stand open

and never close to anyone who hopes;

حيم تخف هضاب الدنا

وبرجح حلما ولم يحرج

[forbearing]: the world's hills weigh little,

while he [outweighs them] in forbearance and is never vexed.

إذا كنت من حاله جاهلا

فعج مرة وبه عرج

If you know nothing of his character,

turn aside once and call on him.

ترى ليث عزم وغيث الندى

وغرة بدرٍ علا ابلج

You will see a lion of resolve and a rain of generosity,

and the radiant brow of a full moon of eminence.

من القوم تبهر احسابهم

وتسفر عن شرف ابهج

From a people whose ancestral honors dazzle

and reveal a splendid nobility;

مع البذل ما الفيت راحهم

سوى الطعن والضرب بالخزرجي

besides giving, I have found their hands

only thrusting and striking with the Khazraji blade.

سمى الشهيد على كربال

ونجل النجيب السعيد النجي

Namesake of the martyr at Karbala,

and son of al-Najib, the fortunate confidant.

إليك التجأنا على علمنا

بما عند جاهك للملتجي

To you we have taken refuge, knowing

what your standing offers one who seeks shelter.

وجئنا لبابك دون الوري

وإنا لنحمد هذا المجي

We have come to your door, not anyone else's,

and truly we are thankful for this coming.

فصن من يدي وثمي ناطقا

بغير ثنائك لم يلهج

So safeguard the speaking voice of my hand and [mouth],

which has never uttered anything but your praise.

يكاد يولد منه الوليد

معاني القصائد في منبج

From it, al-Walid could almost bring forth

the meanings of poems in Manbij.

ودم ابد الدهر في دولة

مؤبدة العز لم تخرج

And endure for all time in a reign

of everlasting glory, never passing away.

وحيد المعاني فإن الزمان

عقيم بمثلك لم ينتج

Peerless in qualities, for Time

is barren: it has never brought forth your like.