خذوا لي من سعدى أمانا من الهجر

فمالي على هجر الأحبة من صبر

Obtain for me from Sa'da a pledge against estrangement.

For I have no patience for separation from those I love.

وما الهجر من سعدى علي بهين

فاسلو ولا قلبي صفاة من الصخر

Sa'da's estrangement is no easy thing for me,

that I might forget; nor is my heart a slab of rock.

إلى الله أشكو أن في القلب لوعة

فقلبي من فوق الفراش على جمر

To God I complain of the burning anguish in my heart.

For my heart, above the bed, lies upon embers.

أبيت فلا جفني يكف دموعه

ولا غلة الأشواق تبرد من صدري

I spend the night, my eyelid never restraining its tears,

nor does the burning thirst of longing cool in my breast.

وما غمضت استغفر الله مقلتي

نعم غمضت لكن على دمعة تجري

My eye has not closed—I ask God's forgiveness!

Yes, it closed, but upon a flowing tear.

لقد كثر الواشون عني وزوروا

علي حديثا لا ببطني ولا ظهري

The tale-bearers about me have multiplied, and fabricated

against me a story I carry neither in my belly nor on my back.

وسدوا طريق الصلحي بيني وبينها

فما قبلت مني ولا سمعت عذري

They blocked the path of reconciliation between me and her,

so she accepted nothing from me and never heard my excuse.

لئن حجبوها من مسارح ناظري

فما حجبوها عن خيالي ولا فكري

Even if they have concealed her from the reaches of my gaze,

they have not concealed her from my imagination or my thoughts.

وعهدي بسعدي يدرك الصب عطفها

ويحمل عن مشاقها نوب الصبر

As I remember Sa'da, the lovesick lover attains her tenderness,

and bears, because of her hardships, patience's recurring trials.

فوا أسفا مالي هلكت من الأسى

وفي يدها نفعي وفي يدها ضري

Alas, what ails me? I have perished from sorrow,

while my benefit is in her hand, and my harm is in her hand.

هل العيش الا ان يساعدني النوى

بوصلك يا سيدي ويسعدني دهري

Is life anything but separation favoring me

with union with you, my master, and my time bringing me happiness?

أحن إلى وادى العقيق واهله

كمثل حنين الأم للولد البكر

I yearn for the valley of al-Aqiq and its people,

like a mother's yearning for her firstborn child.

وأذكر أياما حمد لأجلها

زماني وما أنفقت فيها من العمر

And I recall days for whose sake praise was given

to my time and the life I spent in them.

عسى عطفة منكم يهب نسيمها

وتأتي بلطف الله من حيث لا أدرى

May a gesture of kindness from you send its breeze,

and come through God's kindness from where I do not know.

حملت من الاشجان مالا أطيقه

فيا ليتني حملت فيها على قدري

I have been burdened with sorrows I cannot bear;

if only I had been burdened with them according to my strength!

فياليت من اهواه يرثى ويرعوي

ويغنم في وصلي عظيما من الأجر

If only the one I love would take pity and relent,

and gain a great reward through union with me.

سلوا الليل لا والله ما كف مدمعي

ولا ذقت طعم النوم فيه إلى الفجر

Ask the night: no, by God, my tears never stopped,

nor did I taste sleep in it until dawn.

وكيف يذوق النوم حيران مدنف

يبيت من الأفكار يسبح في بحر

How can a bewildered, illness-wasted lover taste sleep,

who spends the night swimming in a sea of thoughts?

لعل رسولا منك يقبل بالرضا

فيلقاه قلبي بالبشائر والبشر

Perhaps a messenger from you will come with goodwill,

and my heart will greet him with glad tidings and joy.

لعل لياليك القصار تعود لي

فأقطعها بين الأحاديث والذكر

Perhaps your short nights will return to me,

and I will spend them in conversation and remembrance.

وأجني ثمار الوصل منها وقد دنت

سوالف بحر من مشوق إلى بحر

And I will gather from them the fruits of union, as there draw near

the sides of a sea's neck, from one yearning toward a sea [wording unclear].

وقد ألبستني خمرة الوصل نشوة

ثملت بها زادت على نشوة الخمر

The wine of union has clothed me in rapture;

I became drunk with it—a rapture surpassing the intoxication of wine.

ودارت علينا للعتاب سلافة

أفاضت دموع العين كاللؤلؤ النثر

And a pure wine of reproach passed around among us,

making the eye's tears overflow like scattered pearls.

عسى مالتعس سفيه للقلب راحة

وان لم يكن فيه شفى علة الصدر

Perhaps [the wording is unclear] there is rest for the heart,

even if there is no cure in it for the breast's affliction.

رجوت الأماني حيث كانت وعودها

لنا عن أبي العباس نقشا على صخر

I hoped for my wishes, since their promises

to us from Abu al-Abbas were engraved upon rock.

إذا وعد تنا عنه وعدا نفوسنا

قبضنا بأيدينا على ذلك الأمر

When our souls promise us a promise on his behalf,

we grasp that matter with our own hands.

مليك قريب حين يهتف باسمه

إلى الخير والحسني بعيد من الشر

A king who, when his name is called, is close

to goodness and virtue, far from evil.

صفوح عن الجاني بطيء عقابه

عجول إلى التقوى سريع إلى البر

Forgiving toward the offender, slow in punishment,

quick toward piety, swift toward righteousness.

جواد يفوت الريح سبقا إلى العلا

ويزري على الأنوا بنائله الغمر

Generous, outstripping the wind in the race toward eminence,

and putting the rain-bringing stars to shame with his abundant bounty.

خليفة رب العالمين أمينه

على السر في أمر الخلائق والجهر

The deputy of the Lord of all worlds, His trustee

over the secret and the public in the affairs of created beings.

يحامي عن الدين الحنيف وأهله

بهندية بيض وخطية سمر

He defends the upright faith and its people

with gleaming Indian swords and dark Khatt-made spears.

وينصر أمر الله فيها ولم يزل

يورح ويغدو في الكلاءة والنصر

He champions God's cause with them, and has never ceased

going forth evening and morning in protection and victory.

أقام قناة الحق بعد اعوجاجها

وشيد أركانا من المجد والفخر

He straightened truth's spear shaft after its crookedness,

and raised pillars of glory and honor.

وأنشا عطايا الوفد من رتب العلا

وألحق بالمثرين منا ذوي الفقر

He instituted gifts for delegations from the ranks of eminence,

and joined the poor among us to the wealthy.

وقام مقاما يعلم الله أنه

مقام أمين فاز بالحمد والأجر

He took a station which God knows

is the station of a trustee who has won praise and reward.

سميع مجيب دعوة العبد إذ دعا

جواد كريم يبدل العسر باليسر

He hears and answers the servant's plea when he calls,

generous and noble, exchanging hardship for ease.

ملي بإرشاد الورى متكفل

بإصلاح من بالبدو منهم وبالحضر

Well able to guide humankind, undertaking

to set right those among them in the desert and in settled towns.

فطورا بتقريب ونوع من الرضا

وطورا بابعاد ونوع من الزجر

Sometimes by drawing them close, with a measure of favor,

and sometimes by distancing them, with a measure of rebuke.

فيقضي ولا يفعل ويدلي ولا هوى

ولكنه حكم على حكمه يجري

He judges but does not act, and pronounces without caprice;

yet he is an arbiter, proceeding according to his judgment.

رحيم فلا فظ غليظ عليهم

شفيق بهم أحفى من الوالد البر

Merciful, neither rough nor harsh toward them,

compassionate toward them, more attentive than a dutiful father.

تظل أياديه تشير برفده

وتمسي إلى الأعدا مكائده تسرى

His favors keep pointing to his bounty,

while at evening his stratagems travel toward his enemies.

فتقتلهم من غير سيف سعوده

وتاخذهم آراؤه أخذ ذى قهر

His auspicious fortunes kill them without a sword,

and his counsels seize them with an overpowering grip.

كفى رأيه أعداءه عن جيوشه

فآراؤه تغنى عن العسكر المجر

His counsel dealt with his enemies in place of his armies;

for his counsels dispense with the vast army.

ومن كان نصر الله قائد جيشه

إلى الحرب لم يحفل بزيد ولا عمرو

Whoever has God's aid as commander of his army

into war pays no heed to Zayd or Amr.

وفي الأشرف السلطان لله حجة

تقام على أهل الضلالة والكفر

In al-Ashraf, the sultan, God has a proof

established against the people of error and unbelief.

ألست ترى إعراضه عن عدوه

وتسليم كل الأمر لله ذى الأمر

Do you not see his turning away from his enemy,

and surrendering the whole affair to God, the possessor of command?

وكيف كفاه الله ما كان يتقى

واطفا عنه الشر من كل ذى شر

And how God spared him what he feared,

and quenched, away from him, the evil of every evildoer?

فيا أيها الملك الممهد دعوة

من ابن هموم محوجات إلى الفكر ط

So, O firmly established king, [hear] a plea

from a son of worries that compel reflection [stray final letter].

نحبك حبا لو تقسم بعضه

على الخالق لم يوجد عدوان في قطر

We love you with a love that, if some of it were divided

among creation [text reads 'the Creator'], no enmity would be found in any land.

ويلبس من نعماك أثواب عزة

يتيه بها الماشي ويزهو من الكبر

And he wears, from your blessings, robes of dignity

in which the walker struts and exults in pride.

أتاك وأحداث الليالي محيطة

به وهو ملقى ليس يجرى ولا يمري

He came to you with the events of the nights surrounding

him, while he lies cast down, neither running nor contending [last verb uncertain].

وقد رد من فوق الثريا إلى الثرى

فالقى كما يلقي القلام من الظفر

He has been brought down from above the Pleiades to the dust,

and discarded as a clipping is discarded from a nail.

وأصبح مقصوص الجناحين ينتمي

لخذلانه من كان يرجوه للنصر

He has become clipped of both wings; now there joins

in abandoning him one he had looked to for aid.

يمد يد الراجي المحدث نفسه

بنيل الأماني منك يا جبر الكسر

He extends the hand of one hoping, speaking to himself

of attaining his wishes from you, O mender of what is broken.

لعلك ترثي لانكساري وذلتي

وتدرك كسرى وانصداعي بالجبر

Perhaps you will pity my brokenness and abasement,

and attend to my fracture and cracking by mending them.

فكم بك عن غيري وعني من غنا

وكم لي آمال إليك من الفقر

How much independence you have from others and from me,

and how many hopes my poverty directs toward you!

عسى يا أبا العباس تهتز نبعتي

وتكسو أعاليها من الورق الخضر

May my sapling sway, O Abu al-Abbas,

and clothe its upper branches with green leaves.

فاني غرس في نداك غرستني

والبستني نعما رفعت بها قدري

For I am a sapling you planted in your generosity,

and you clothed me in blessings through which you raised my standing.

أأخشى بأن أظما وجودك كوثر

وفي كل دار منه ساقية تجرى

Should I fear thirst while your generosity is Kawthar,

and in every house a watercourse flows from it?

ابي الله والجود الذي أنت أهله

فما هو بالشيء الزهيد ولا النزر

God forbids it, as does the generosity of which you are worthy;

for it is neither paltry nor scant.