1. خيالُكِ للأَجفانِ مَثَّلهُ الفكرُ

    فعينيَ ملأى بالهوى ويدي صِفْرُ

    Thought has fashioned your image before my eyelids;

    so my eye is full of love, while my hand is empty.

  2. سَرى والدُّجى الغِربيبُ يُخْفي مكانهُ

    فنمّ عليه من تضَوّعها نَشْرُ

    It traveled by night, while pitch-black darkness hid its whereabouts,

    but a waft of her fragrance betrayed its presence.

  3. وَقَد صَوَّبَ النَّسرُ المُحَلِّقُ تالِياً

    أخاه ومات الليل إذْ وُلِدَ الفجرُ

    And the soaring Eagle had swooped down, following

    its brother, and night died as dawn was born.

  4. أَلَمَّ بِصَبٍّ لَيسَ يَدري أمِرجَلٌ

    يفور بنيرانِ الأسى مِنهُ أو صَدرُ

    It visited a lovesick man who cannot tell: is it a cauldron

    boiling within him with sorrow's fires, or his breast?

  5. غَريبٌ جَنى أرْيَ الحياةِ وشَرْيَها

    وَيَجني الفَتى بِالعَيشِ ما يَغرِسُ الدَّهرُ

    An exile who has reaped life's honey and its colocynth;

    and a young man reaps in life what Time plants.

  6. أنازحةَ الدَّارِ الَّتي لا أزورها

    إذا لم يُشقَّ البحرُ أو يُقْطَعِ القفرُ

    O woman whose home is far away, whom I cannot visit

    unless the sea is crossed or the desert traversed.

  7. إذا بَعُدَتْ دار الأحبَّةِ بالنوى

    فذاك لهمْ هجرٌ وإنْ لم يَكُن هَجرُ

    When separation carries the loved ones' dwelling far away,

    that is estrangement for them, even if it is not desertion.

  8. رَحَلتُ ولَم يَرْحَلْ عَشِيَّةَ بيننا

    معي برحيل الجِسمِ قَلبٌ ولا صَبرُ

    I departed, but on the evening of our parting,

    neither heart nor patience left with my departing body.

  9. وداءُ خُمار الشّرْبِ سَوفَ يُذيبني

    فَقَد نَزَحت في فيكِ غَزرٌ بِهِ الخمرُ

    And the sickness of drinking's hangover will dissolve me,

    for the wine, abundant in your mouth, has gone far away.

  10. وما زال ماءُ العين في الخدِّ مُعْطِشي

    إلى ماءِ وجهٍ في لقائي له بِشْرُ

    And the water of my eye upon my cheek still makes me thirst

    for the freshness of a face whose greeting holds gladness.

  11. عَسى البعدُ يَنفي موجِبُ القربِ حكمَه

    فعند انقباضِ العُسرِ ينبسطُ اليسرُ

    Perhaps the pull of nearness will annul distance's sway;

    for when hardship contracts, ease unfolds.

  12. عَسى بينُنا يُبْقي المَوَدَّة بَينَنا

    ولا ينتهي منّا إلى أجلٍ عمرُ

    May our parting preserve the affection between us,

    and may no life among us reach its appointed end.

  13. فَقُلْ لأناسٍ عرَّسوا بِسَفاقِسٍ

    لِطائرِ قَلبي في مُعَرَّسِكم وَكْرُ

    Then tell the people who have made their camp in Sfax:

    The bird of my heart has a nest in your encampment,

  14. وفرخٍ صغيرٍ لا نهوضَ لمثله

    يُراطنُ أشكالاً ملاقِطُها صُفْرُ

    and a little fledgling, too small to rise in flight,

    chatters with his fellows, whose beaks are yellow.

  15. إذا ما رأَى في الجوِّ ظِلَّ مُحَلِّقٍ

    تَرَنَّمَ واهتزَّت قَوادِمُهُ العشرُ

    Whenever he sees in the sky the shadow of a soaring bird,

    he sings, and his ten primary feathers quiver.

  16. يظنّ أباه واقعاً فإذا أبي

    وقوعاً عليه شُبَّ في قلبِهِ الجمرُ

    He thinks his father is alighting; but when it refuses

    to alight upon him, embers flare in his heart.

  17. يلذُّ بعيني أن ترى عَينَهُ وأن

    يُلَفّ بنحري في التلاقي له نَحْرُ

    It delights my eye to behold his eye, and

    for his chest to be pressed to mine when we meet.

  18. أَحِنُّ إلى أوطانِكُم وَكَأنَّما

    ألاقي بها عَصْرَ الصّبا سُقيَ العصرُ

    I yearn for your homelands, as though

    I meet there the days of youth—may those days be watered!

  19. ولم أرَ أرضاً مثل أرضكمُ التي

    يُقبِّلُ ذيلَ القصرِ في شطِّها البحرُ

    I have never seen a land like yours,

    along whose shore the sea kisses the palace's hem.

  20. يمدّ كجيشٍ زاحفٍ فإذا رأى

    عَطاءَ عَلِيٍّ كان من مَدّهِ جزرُ

    It advances like a marching army; but when it sees

    Ali's bounty, its rising tide becomes an ebb.

  21. أَما يَخجَلُ البحرُ الأُجاجُ حُلولَه

    ببحرٍ فراتٍ ما للجَّتِهِ عَبرُ

    Does the briny sea not blush to dwell

    beside a sweet-water sea whose depths have no shore?

  22. جَوادٌ إِذا أَسدى الغنى مِن يَمينِهِ

    تَحَوَّلَ عن أَيمانِ قُصّادِهِ الفقرُ

    A generous man: when his right hand bestows wealth,

    poverty retreats from the right hands of those who seek him.

  23. حَمى ثغرَه بالسيف والرمح مُقْدِماً

    ويحمي عرينَ القَسْوَرِ النابُ والظفرُ

    He boldly defended his frontier with sword and spear,

    and fang and claw defend the lion's lair.

  24. إذا ما كَسونا المدحَ أوصافَهُ ازدَهى

    فَطيّبَ أفواه القوافي له ذكرُ

    When we clothe praise in his qualities, it glories,

    and mention of him perfumes the mouths of rhymes.

  25. يَصولُ بِعَضبٍ في الكفاحِ كأنَّه

    لِسانُ شواظٍ مِنهُ يَضطَرِمُ الذعرُ

    He attacks with a keen sword in battle, as though it were

    a tongue of flame from which terror blazes.

  26. وَتَحسَبُ مِنهُ الريحَ تَغدو بِضَيغَمٍ

    على جِسمِهِ نهيٌ وفي يده نَهْرُ

    And seeing him, you think the wind goes forth bearing a lion,

    with a pool upon his body and a river in his hand.

  27. ومُعتَذِرٌ عمّا تنيلُ يمينه

    وكلّ المنى في البعض منه فما العذرُ

    And he apologizes for what his right hand gives,

    though a fraction of it fulfills every wish—why apologize?

  28. بصيرٌ بمردي الطعن يُغْري سنانه

    بجارحةٍ في طيّها الوِرْدُ والغَمْرُ

    Skilled in death-dealing thrusts, he urges his spearpoint

    toward an organ holding within it both draught and flood.

  29. يجول فيلقي طعنةً فوق طعنةٍ

    فأولاهما كَلْمٌ وأخراهما سَبْرُ

    He wheels about, delivering thrust upon thrust;

    the first is a wound, the second a probing.

  30. إذا رفعَ المغرورُ للحَيْنِ رأسهُ

    يُعَجِّلُهُ من مَدّ عامله قَصْرُ

    When a deluded man lifts his head to meet his doom,

    his outstretched spearshaft swiftly cuts that life short.

  31. وهَيجاءُ لا يُفْشي بها الموتُ سرّهُ

    إِذا لَم يَكُن بِالضَّرب من بيضها جَهْرُ

    And a battle in which Death will not reveal his secret

    unless the blows of its bright swords proclaim it aloud.

  32. تهادى بها جُرْدٌ كأنَّ قتامها

    ظلامٌ وأطرافَ القنا أنجمٌ زهرُ

    Sleek steeds sway through it, as though their dust

    were darkness and the tips of the spears shining stars.

  33. إذا قَدّتِ البيضُ الدروعَ حسِبتها

    جداول في الأيمان شُقّتْ بها غُدرُ

    When bright swords slice through armor, you would think them

    streams in right hands, splitting pools asunder.

  34. فَكَم صافَحَتْ مِنها الحروبَ صفائحٌ

    وَفَتْ بحصادِ الهام أوراقها الخضرُ

    How many of those blades have shaken hands with wars,

    their green leaves duly reaping a harvest of heads!

  35. لِيَهْنِ الرعايا منك عَدلُ سياسَةٍ

    ودفعُ خطوبٍ لليالي بها غدرُ

    May the subjects rejoice in your just governance,

    and in your warding off of calamities dealt by treacherous nights,

  36. ويسرٌ حَسَمْتَ العُسْرَ عنهم بصنعه

    كما حَسَمَ الإسلامُ ما صَنَعَ الكفرُ

    and in ease, by whose provision you banished hardship from them,

    as Islam banished what unbelief had wrought.

  37. فلا زلت تجني بالظبا قِممَ العِدى

    وتُثمِرُ في الأيدي بها الأسَل السمرُ

    May you never cease to reap your foes' heads with sword-edges,

    and may the brown spears bear those heads as fruit in their wielders' hands.