رقص جياد الظبا في حلبة اللعب

فالدوح راياته خفاقة العذب

The fleet gazelles danced in the arena of play.

So the great trees are its banners, their streamers fluttering.

ومبسم الصبح زانته كواكبه

كما تزين ثغر الكأس بالحبب

And dawn's smiling mouth was adorned by its stars,

As the cup's mouth is adorned with bubbles.

وانهض لأيامك اللاتي تسر بها

فإن مضى يوم لهو عنك لم يؤب

And rise for those days of yours in which you rejoice;

For if a day of merriment passes you by, it will not return.

فللنسيم إشارات حقائقها

مفهومة عن غصون البان والكثب

For the breeze has gestures whose true meanings

Are understood from the bān boughs and the dunes.

والطير فوق غصون الأيك صادحة

صدح المشوق إلى الحانات للعب

And birds sing above the branches of the thicket,

The song of one longing to go to taverns for revelry.

وللاماني احاديث وأعذبها

ما كان اسناده أدنى إلى الكذب

And wishes have their tales; the sweetest of them

Is the one whose chain of transmission lies closest to falsehood.

ولا يصدك عن شيء ترفعه

فطال ما صار ورداً نازح السحب

Nor let a thing's lofty height deter you from it;

For many a far-off cloud has become water to drink.

يا عذب الله قلبي كم أجاذبه

إلى النجاة ويدعوني إلى العطب

Ah, may God torment my heart! How often I strive to draw it

Toward deliverance, while it calls me toward destruction.

يهيم في كل واد لوعة وجوى

بكل اغيد معسول اللما شنب

It wanders every valley in burning yearning and heartache,

For every lithe beauty with honeyed, dusky lips and gleaming teeth.

هوى يلذ وإن ساءت عواقبه

كما تلذ وتوذى حكة الجرب

A passion that delights, though its consequences turn bitter,

As scratching scabies gives pleasure while doing harm.

ويوم دجن لأيدى الشرب معجزة

لما تلبس طلق الماء باللهب

And a cloudy day, a miracle in the drinkers' hands,

When limpid water was clothed in flame.

ولؤلؤ الطل يسمو قدر مشبهه

لو أنه لفراق السحب لم يذب

And dew's pearls would surpass the worth of the pearls they resemble,

If they did not melt at parting from the clouds.

والبرق والعارض العلوى تخصبه

كالنقع حول سيوف الأشرف القضب

And lightning, with the lofty rain cloud nurturing it,

Is like dust about al-Ashraf's keen-edged swords.

ملك حمى بيضة الإِسلام مقتديا

بمحكم النص عن آياته النجب

A king who guarded Islam's heartland, following

The definitive scriptural text drawn from its noble verses.

لو شاء والقول فيه غير مختلف

لرد في الضرع أنواعا من الحلب

If he willed—and what is said of him is undisputed—

He would return to the udder all manner of milk already drawn.

بدأ الانام بحد صادق وسعى

فحل من مجده في باذخ أشب

He took the lead among men with a trusty blade, and strove,

So through his glory he settled on a lofty, wooded height.

فالمسك لولا الشذا قبل الجمود دم

والسمر لولا السطا نوع من القصب

For musk, but for its fragrance, is blood before congealing,

And brown spears, but for their force, are a kind of reed.

فالسبعة الخضر تسموها أنامله

وعزمه هازىء بالسبعة الشهب

For his fingertips rise above the seven green heavens,

And his resolve mocks the seven shining planets.

يا ابن المطاعين والأبطال محجمة

في يوم حرب بسيل النقع محتجب

O son of men obeyed, while champions hang back

On a battle-day veiled in a torrent of dust,

من كل أحمر حد السف اخضريو

م الجود أبيض وجه الحمد والنسب

From every man red at the sword's edge, green on the day

Of bounty, white of face in praise and lineage.

تلوذ في النقع فرسان الجياد به

كما تلوذ نجوم الليل بالقطب

The riders of noble steeds seek refuge in him amid the dust,

As the stars of night seek refuge in the pole star.

قد هم بالثغر من نادى مؤذنه

بأن يصلى عيد الفطر في رجب

A man had designs on the frontier town; his muezzin proclaimed

That he would perform the Eid al-Fitr prayer in Rajab.

وجمع الجيش من وهم مخادعة

ليستعين على الفرقان بالصلب

And he mustered the army in a delusion of trickery,

To seek the crosses' aid against the Qur'an.

لما قلبت مجن العزم حاوله

فلم يجد عدة أمضى من الهرب

When you turned the shield of resolve against him, he tried to face it,

But found no weapon sharper than flight.

جهزت جيشك فانجرت كتائبه

إليه يخلط ركض السير بالخبب

You equipped your army, and its battalions streamed

Toward him, mingling a galloping advance with a trot.

فلو تلبث يوما في تجلده

دارت عليه كؤوس الويل والحرب

And had he lingered a day in his show of fortitude,

The cups of woe and war would have come round to him.

لله آية بشر كان موقعها

أحلى من المن في أحشاء ذى رعب

God be praised for a wondrous sign of joy, whose effect was

Sweeter than manna in the belly of one filled with terror.

هزت معاطف أهل الأرض قاطبة

كأنما صبحتهم بابنة العنب

It set the shoulders of all earth's people swaying,

As though it had served them the grape's daughter at dawn.

فالصبح في وجهه من بشره وضح

والبرق في الجو يبدي كف مختضب

So dawn's face shines with its gladness,

And lightning in the sky reveals a henna-dyed palm.

والبحر جذلان يبدي من عجائبه

زهوا كاعلامك المنصورة العذب

And the jubilant sea displays among its marvels

A proud splendor like the streamers of your victorious banners.

يا من ينادي لكشف الكرب نائله

فينقذ المرتجى من قبضة العطب

O you whose bounty calls out to dispel distress,

And rescues the hopeful petitioner from destruction's grasp.