حلفت يقظان مروج العنان

موقر الجاش جموح الجنان

I swore, wide awake, setting the reins astir,

Composed in spirit, headstrong at heart.

لا أظلم الدهر فقد سرني

وعشت من أحداثه في الزمان

I will not wrong time, for it has gladdened me,

And I have lived amid its vicissitudes through the years.

فإن تكن أيام الهوى خلت

فشان أيامي البواقي وشان

If the days of love have passed,

Then my remaining days are another matter altogether.

لقد تفيأت ظلا الضيا

وصد عن طاعتي العاذلان

I have indeed sheltered in the shade of radiance,

And the two reproachers turned away from obeying me.

واستوقفت طرفي خصور الدما

وانتهضت عقلي حضور الدنان

And the waists of doll-like beauties arrested my gaze,

And the presence of wine-jars roused my mind.

أفتق جلد الليل عن صبحها

والصبح كالنار خلال الدخان

I split night's skin to reveal its dawn,

While dawn is like fire amid smoke.

يسعى بها في سقطات الندى

أغن مفقود حواشي اللسان

He bears it amid the falling drops of dew,

A nasal-voiced one, lacking the edges of his tongue.

مروع المقلة طاوى الحشا

مؤنث الدل مريض البنان

Startled-eyed and hollow-bellied,

Feminine in coquetry, languid-fingered.

مخصر ينفر في اذياله

عن موجة يجذبها غصن بان

Slim-waisted, he recoils within his trailing robes

From a wave drawn along by a bān-tree branch.

في يده شمطاء معسولة

ترفل في ملحفتي أرجوان

In his hand is a honey-sweet, gray-haired one,

Trailing proudly in two crimson mantles.

إذا طفا لؤلؤها خلته

ظلا على أرض من الزعفران

When her pearls float up, I imagine them

As a shadow on a field of saffron.

تذكرني أنفاسها سحرة

والليل والصبح طليقا رهان

At predawn, her breaths remind me—

While night and dawn are two racers let loose—

نشوة أنفاس الوزير الذي

أدرك ما شاء برغم الزمان

Of the headiness of the breath of the vizier who

Attained all he wished, despite time.

حسب العلا أن عليا لها

أن هدمت أركانها خير بان

It suffices for eminence that Ali is there for it:

If its pillars are demolished, he is the finest builder.

له إذا الخطب دجى يقظة

كأنها هيبة نصل يمان

When calamity grows dark, he has a wakefulness

Like the awe of a Yemeni blade.

ورقدة توقظ جفن الردى

ونظرة ترمد طرف السنان

And a sleep that awakens death's eyelid,

And a glance that inflames the spearhead's eye.

مقبل الراحة ما صورت

كفاه إلا للندى والطعان

His palm is kissed; never were fashioned

His two hands save for bounty and spear-thrusts.

فالحزم والعزم له عدة

والمال والسيف له كالسنان

So prudence and resolve are his equipment,

And wealth and the sword are like a spearhead to him.

تلعب بالموت يداه إذا

مالعب الرعب بقلب الحنان

His hands play with death whenever

Terror plays with the heart of the tender-hearted.

يسفر وجه النصر عن إذا الس

يف بذيل القسطل الجحفلان

Victory's face is unveiled when the sw—

—ord is amid the dust-train of the two great armies [syntax unclear].

له على كل مدى همة

عذراء تجرى والصبا في عنان

At every reach, he has an ambition,

A virgin racing with the east wind under one rein.

يافلك الأمة ذر بالذي

تهوى فقد دان لك المشرقان

O sphere of the nation, leave matters as

You desire; the two Easts have submitted to you.

نالت أماني على بعدها

منك يد لم تخل منها مكان

My wishes, however distant, were reached

By a hand from you that left no place devoid of them.

طالت يدي منك بمستأسد

إقباله يصحب عمر الزمان

Through you, my hand gained reach, aided by a lionlike one,

Whose good fortune accompanies the whole lifetime of time.

وانقاد من حبك لي طائعاً

كل جموح الرأس صعب العنان

And through your love there yielded willingly to me

Every headstrong creature, hard to rein.

أرضعتني ثديا فحسبي إذا

ما حسن لي منه عروف اللسان

You suckled me at a breast; enough for me, whenever

A grateful tongue for it seems fitting to me [syntax unclear].

وكدت أن أرضع ورام العدى

أن يفطم في منه رأى العيان

And I was about to suckle, while the foes sought

To wean my mouth from it in plain sight [reading uncertain].

وفوفوا نحوى سهام الردى

فكنت ترسى والتيار اللسان

And they nocked death's arrows toward me [reading uncertain],

So you were my shield, and the tongue was the torrent.

فصال فيهم منك لي ضيغم

زئيره يشحذ شم الرعان

So a lion from you charged among them on my behalf,

Its roar sharpening the lofty mountain spurs.

كأنها الأرض إذا ساءها

مدحوة في تلعب الصولجان

As though the earth, whenever he harmed it,

Were rolled about in the polo mallet's play.

واليوم قد خيل إني لهم

فريسة تمتد فيها البنان

And today they imagine I am theirs—

Prey into which fingers reach.

ورجفه وخوفه راكنا

إليك كاس الجأش ثبت الجنان

And his trembling and his fear, relying [syntax unclear]

On you, [unclear adjective] in spirit, steadfast of heart.

وحاولوا أن يطفئوا ناره

بل كذب المغرور منهم ومان

And they tried to extinguish his fire;

But the deluded one among them lied and spoke falsely.

لازلت ترعى العز في غبطة

ما حنت النيب بسفحي عمان

May you always tend glory in felicity,

As long as old she-camels moan on Oman's two slopes.