1. يا أخا العين في المحاسن عينا

    من لنا ان تمن وصلاً علينا

    O kinsman of the wide-eyed gazelles, a paragon of beauty,

    who will secure us your gracious gift of union?

  2. لا تزد ماء عبرتي دماءً

    عندنا من جفاك ما يكفينا

    Do not add blood to the water of my tears;

    we have enough already of your cruelty.

  3. ونظير الغصن النضير ولم تعطفه

    شكوى الهوى قواماً ولينا

    And peer of the fresh bough, not bent

    by love's plaint—its peer in stature and suppleness.

  4. مزق الهجر من محبك قلباً

    كان عضواً فصار فيك عضينا

    Estrangement tore a heart from your lover,

    once a single organ, now through you many pieces.

  5. بات يحي كحظه منك ليلاً

    كلما جن زاد فيك جنونا

    He kept vigil through a night like his share of you;

    whenever it darkened, he grew more mad for you.

  6. نحن من مؤمني هواك ومن

    أظلم ممن يعذب المؤمنينا

    We are among the believers in your love; and who

    is more unjust than one who torments the believers?

  7. هل ترانا بغير فرعك والفرق

    فتنا ضلالة وهدينا

    Do you see us, by anything but your locks and their parting,

    bewitched into error and guided aright?

  8. ام اهنا فيك العذول إلى ان

    بكلام الوشاة منك منينا

    Or did we scorn the reproacher for your sake, until

    through the slanderers' words we suffered at your hands?

  9. وشككنا في سيف لحظك حتى

    جعل الشك في القلوب يقينا

    And we doubted the sword of your glance until

    its piercing made doubt within our hearts certainty.

  10. داؤنا في الهوى شجى وشجون

    كيف نمحو الشجى ونبرى الشجونا

    Our sickness in love is choking sorrow and tangled griefs;

    how can we erase the sorrow and pare away the griefs?

  11. قد عيينا وحسب من قال في

    الحب على ما اصابه قد عيينا

    We are exhausted; enough for one who speaks of

    love, after all he has suffered, to say: 'We are exhausted.'

  12. وخفينا من النحول ولكن

    عن رقيب وحاسد ما خفينا

    And we vanished through emaciation, yet

    from a watcher and an envier we did not hide.

  13. نتمنى المنون من ألم الصد

    وما حال من تمنى المنونا

    We wish for death from the pain of rejection;

    and what is the plight of one who wishes for death?

  14. فالأمان الأمان من حرب

    عينيك ومن سالمته كان أمينا

    So safety, safety from the warfare

    of your eyes! Whoever you make peace with is safe.

  15. تحسب السحر في الكريهة منهن

    ظباً تصحب الأمير حسينا

    In battle, you would take their magic for

    blades accompanying the emir Husayn,

  16. الهمام المقدام في الحرب

    والضرب شمالاً يوم الوغى ويمينا

    the noble-hearted, intrepid in war

    and in striking left and right on the day of battle.

  17. من بنى الأعوج الكرام إذا لم

    نسق ماءً من السحاب معينا

    Of the noble sons of al-A‘waj, when we are not

    given flowing water to drink from the clouds.

  18. خير من ترتجيه للنفع والضر

    كفيلا في النائبات ضمينا

    The best you can hope for in benefit and harm,

    a guarantor in calamities, a surety.

  19. وإذا ما اعان ربك عبدا

    كان للعالمين طرا معينا

    And when your Lord helps a servant,

    he becomes a helper to all beings, one and all.

  20. بسطت جوده أياديه في الناس

    كما تبسط الشروح المتونا

    His hands spread his generosity among the people,

    as commentaries unfold the main texts.

  21. فلذا في صفاته نظموا الحمد كما

    تنظم الدهور السنينا

    So they string praises into descriptions of him, as

    the ages string together the years.

  22. عادل في بلاده يعجف الذئب

    ويمسي غث النقاد سمينا

    Just in his lands, where the wolf grows lean,

    and the scrawniest sheep becomes fat by evening.

  23. لا تنال الفتخاء منها اديماً

    رث والخامعات عظماً رهينا

    There the broad-winged eagle gains no hide,

    not even a ragged one, nor the limping hyenas a bone held in pledge.

  24. وبه الأمن والأمان بما ينسيك

    فيها الأمين والمأمونا

    Through him come security and safety enough to make you forget

    there al-Amin and al-Ma’mun.

  25. سبط علوان من غدا اوحد

    الأفضال دنيا وفي الفضائل دينا

    Grandson of ‘Alwan, who became unequalled

    in worldly beneficence and in the virtues of faith.

  26. ورث الزهد والمكارم منه

    والبرايا كرامها الزاهدونا

    He inherited asceticism and noble qualities from him,

    and the noble among mankind are the ascetics.

  27. مشفقا يرحم الضعيف بأضعاف

    مناه ويطعم المسكينا

    Compassionately, he has mercy on the weak, granting many times

    what they hope for, and feeds the destitute.

  28. ولقد صح انما يرحم الرحمن

    منا عباده الراحمينا

    It is indeed established that the Merciful shows mercy only

    to His merciful servants among us.

  29. سعر الغيظ حاسديه قلوباً

    وافاض العيون منها عيونا

    Wrath set his enviers' hearts ablaze,

    and made fountains pour forth from their eyes.

  30. وعلاج الحسود يعجز افلاطون

    طباً ويعجم القانونا

    Curing the envious defeats Plato

    in medicine, and baffles the Canon.

  31. واشد الأدواء ما كان في

    النفس مقيما وفي الضلوع كمينا

    And the worst diseases are those that remain

    lodged in the soul, lurking within the ribs.

  32. فأضل الاله جمع أعاديه

    سهولاً لا تهتدي وحزونا

    So God led the whole host of his enemies astray,

    over plains and rugged ground, unable to find their way.

  33. طلبوا مجده فجل وراموا أمره

    فانثنى بهم صاغرينا

    They sought his glory, but it towered beyond them; they coveted his rule,

    and were turned back, humiliated.

  34. والمحال المحال أن يملك الضرغام

    كلب ويهلك التنينا

    Impossible, impossible, that a lion should be mastered

    by a dog, and the dragon slain by it.

  35. ما رأت قبله المعرة في الأحكام

    والحكم مظهراً مستبينا

    Before him, al-Ma‘arra had never seen, in judgments

    and governance, so clear an exemplar.

  36. يسعد الأشقياء فيها ويهدي

    جاهليها ويمنح العافينا

    He makes its wretched happy, and guides

    its ignorant, and bestows gifts on supplicants.

  37. ويميت العدا ويحي الأماني

    ويجيب الندا ويعطي الظنونا

    He brings death to enemies and life to hopes,

    answers calls, and fulfills expectations.

  38. فهو بالمجد لن تراه جواداً

    وهو بالمال لن تراه ضنينا

    For with glory, you will never find him generous;

    while with wealth, you will never find him stingy.

  39. عرض الورى مدال وعرض

    بمعاليه لا يزال مصونا

    Mankind's honor passes from hand to hand, but his honor

    through his lofty deeds remains ever protected.

  40. كم حما عزمه حماة مراراً

    عن طغاة الأنام والباغينا

    How often his resolve guarded Hama, time and again,

    from mankind's tyrants and aggressors!

  41. فهو ليث يحويه منها عرين

    لا يضاهي والليث يحمي العرينا

    He is a lion; there a den contains him,

    without equal; and the lion guards his den.

  42. يا ابن من أحرز المحامد أبكارا

    وعوناً من منذ كان جنينا

    O son of him who won praises, maiden

    and matronly, ever since he was an embryo!

  43. بي لرؤياك أي شوق مبيد

    من ضلوعي إلا الجوى والحنينا

    Within me is such consuming longing to see you,

    leaving in my ribs nothing but burning love and yearning.

  44. مالكٌ مني اللهاة فما انطق

    لولا ثناك إلا أنينا

    You possess my uvula; I would utter

    nothing but moans, were it not for your praise.

  45. ولقد جاء بي إليك وبالحمد

    مقفي مسجعا موزونا

    Indeed, it has brought me to you, with praise,

    rhymed, cadenced, and metrical,

  46. مشمعلا إلى لقاك علي وجناء

    تطوي هواجلاً ووجينا

    hastening to meet you upon a sturdy she-camel,

    that folds up open wastes and stony ground.

  47. اعتلى كورها فتحسب من حزم

    عليها ساقي حزما وضنينا

    I mount her saddle; among the straps

    upon her, you might take my shanks for straps and a girth [uncertain reading].

  48. وجنيبي تعيي الجنائب سبقاً من

    نبات الوجيه والبرق لونا

    And my led mount exhausts the led mounts in speed, of

    al-Wajih's stock, and lightning in color.

  49. كسيت احمر النضار اهابا

    فتحلت من الحجول لجينا

    She was clothed in a hide of red gold,

    and adorned with silver in her white-marked fetlocks.

  50. خير حجر احرى بدرع ابن حجر

    متنها من سمؤل تحصينا

    The best of mares; worthier of Ibn Hujr's armor

    is her back than Samaw’al, for safeguarding it.

  51. مبديا عهدي القديم وما زالت

    عهود الكرام ترعى ديونا

    Making manifest my old pledge—and always

    the pledges of noble men are observed as debts.

  52. ومعيداً ودي المقيم على الحالين

    قرباً منحته ام شطونا

    And renewing my love, steadfast in both conditions,

    whether you grant it nearness or distance.

  53. قسماً بالمطي تطوي بنا البيد

    لنعطي مني مني والحجونا

    I swear by the mounts that fold the wastes beneath us,

    so that we may give, on my behalf, to Mina and al-Hajun,

  54. كلما اوقدت مراجلها الرمضاء

    واشتد قيظها تمكينا

    whenever the burning ground fires up their cauldrons,

    and its summer heat tightens its hold.

  55. تحسب الآل في القفار بحاراً

    والأمون الكوماء فيه سفينا

    You would take the mirage in the deserts for seas,

    and the sure-footed, high-humped she-camel within it for a ship.

  56. وإذا ما شهدتهن سطوراً

    خافيات قد دونت تدوينا

    And when you see them as lines,

    faintly inscribed in writing,

  57. في طروس العراس خلت انتهاكا

    كل حرف يلوح منهن نونا

    on the pages of the encampments, you imagined a violation [wording unclear];

    each letter that showed from them was a nūn.

  58. ما تحملت في الزيارة زورا

    وتقولت في الصداقة مينا

    I have borne no falsehood in this visit,

    nor fabricated lies about this friendship.

  59. حبنا من اب قديم وللآباء

    ارث تخص منه البنينا

    Our love comes from an ancient forefather; fathers have

    an inheritance from which you favor the sons.

  60. لا احليه بالرباء والحسناء

    وجه يستقبح التحسينا

    I do not adorn it with additions; a beautiful woman's

    face finds embellishment unbecoming.

  61. أو يخفي عليك يا لوذعي

    النقد زيف طليته تزيينا

    Or could it escape you, O discerning judge

    of coin—a counterfeit I had plated for adornment?

  62. ام تضم الجيوب ارواح

    دارين فيعي شميمها العرنينا

    Or could garment folds enclose the fragrances

    of Darin, so that their scent eludes the nose?

  63. فاسلم الدهر يا جمال بنيه

    وابق لي موئلا وحصنا حصينا

    So live safely through time, O beauty of its sons,

    and remain my refuge and an impregnable fortress.