1. أَيا دَمعُ هل للحُزنِ عندكَ مَطْمَعُ

    فما كلُّ محزونٍ الى الدَّمعِ يَفْزَعُ

    O tears, has sorrow any hope in you?

    For not every grieving person seeks refuge in tears.

  2. وانْ كنتَ قد أَفنيتَ ما آلَ فاستَعِرْ

    دمَ القلبِ واعلمْ أَنَّ ضَرَّكَ يَنْفَعُ

    And if you have exhausted what has come to you, borrow

    the heart's blood, and know that your harm brings benefit.

  3. تداعتْ بلا طَعْنٍ أَنابيبُ عاملي

    وأَصبحَ حَدّي بالنوائبِ يُقْطَعُ

    The segments of my spear-shaft collapsed without a thrust,

    and my edge is now cut through by calamities.

  4. نفوسٌ على زَاذَانَ ينشدها الحِجى

    وليسَ لها حتى القيامةِ مَرجِعُ

    Souls at Zadhan that reason seeks,

    with no return for them until the Resurrection.

  5. وقبرانِ بالزوراءِ أُمّى ووالدي

    كلا طَرفي مَجْدي يُجَّبُ ويُجْدَعُ

    And two graves at al-Zawra: my mother and my father;

    both ends of my glory are severed and mutilated.

  6. وبالرى اسماعيلُ أوهنَ كيدُهُ

    وأَرماحُه دونَ المنيةِ شُرَّعُ

    And at al-Rayy, Isma'il—his stratagem enfeebled,

    and his spears leveled against death.

  7. وليس بخير من رجالٍ رزئتُهم

    على أَنَّ حِدثانَ المصائبِ أَوجَعُ

    He is no better than men whose loss I suffered,

    though fresh calamities hurt more.

  8. فقدتُ كبيراً بِرَّ أُمٍ حَفِيَّةٍ

    كما فقدَ الثديَ المُعَلّلَ مُرضَعُ

    As a grown man, I lost a loving mother's kindness,

    as a suckling loses the soothing breast.

  9. اذا اختفرتْ زانَ الحِجَالَ عَفَافُهَا

    وانْ سَفَرتْ فبالحياءِ تُقَنَّعُ

    When she withdrew in modesty, her chastity adorned the curtained chambers;

    and when unveiled, she was veiled in modesty.

  10. أَخافُ عليكِ الموتَ في شهرِ ناجِرٍ

    ولم أَدرِ أَنَّ الامرَ أَوحى وأسْرَعُ

    I feared death for you in the month of Najir,

    not knowing the event would come more suddenly and swiftly,

  11. وانَّ المنايا اذْ غَدوتِ قَريرة

    غَدتْ لكِ في أثَوابها تَتَصَنَّعُ

    and that the fates of death, when you rose content,

    had begun preening for you in their garments,

  12. تُبادرُ نحوي تبتغي أَنْ تَسُرني

    ولم تدر أَنى بالسرورِ أُروَّعُ

    hurrying toward me, seeking to delight me,

    not knowing that delight would terrify me.

  13. فليتَ النساءَ المُعْولاتِ فدينَها

    من السوءِ أَو ضاجعنَها حيثُ تَضْجعُ

    If only the wailing women had ransomed her

    from harm, or lain beside her where she lies,

  14. عَشِيَّةَ يَسْتَصرِخنْنَي لدُعائِها

    وهلْ يدفعُ الناسُ الحِمامَ فأَدفَعُ

    that evening when they cried to me for help at her call.

    Can people ward off death, that I should ward it off?

  15. لقد فَطَنَ الدهرُ الغبيُّ لنكْبةٍ

    يذلُّ لها عبدُ العَزيزِ وَيَضْرعُ

    Dull-witted Time has indeed found a calamity

    before which 'Abd al-'Aziz is humbled and supplicates.

  16. هَنيئاً له أَنى المتُ لِصَرفهِ

    وأَنيَّ من أَحْداثِهِ أَتَخَشَّعُ

    May it rejoice that I have suffered from its reversals,

    and that its blows make me humble myself.

  17. ولم ترعَ لى يا دَهرُ حقَّ نَزاهَتى

    وتركى لكَ الشىءَ الذي كنتُ امنَعُ

    Time, you did not respect the claim of my integrity,

    nor my leaving to you what I once withheld.

  18. عسى قائم المأثورِ يركبُ صدرَه

    اليكَ وما بَيني وبينكَ أصبَعُ

    May the patterned sword's hilt mount its breast,

    toward you, with not a finger's breadth between me and you.

  19. ترديتَ تَهوى بعدما كنتَ والسُّهَا

    يقولُ الممارى أَيُّ هذين أرفَعُ

    You fell headlong, though once you and al-Suha

    made a disputant ask, 'Which of these two is higher?'

  20. أخالُك صَباً بالاقامةِ مُعْجَباً

    وأنتَ على وشكِ التفرقِ مُزْمِعُ

    I think you enamored of staying, delighted with it,

    yet, on the verge of parting, you are resolved to go.

  21. فوا أَسفى لم ادرِ أَنَّكَ خائنٌ

    فكنتُ بأَقصى لمحةٍ أَتمتَعُ

    Ah, my grief! I did not know you were treacherous;

    then I would have treasured the very last glimpse,

  22. لدى وقفةٍ لا تأملُ العينُ نَظْرَةً

    سِواها ولا يرجو اللقاءَ مُوَدَّعُ

    at a halt where the eye hopes for no glance

    beyond it, nor does one bid farewell hope to meet again.

  23. الى أَيّ تعليلٍ وأَيّ مَبَرَّةٍ

    وَوُدِّ نصيحٍ بعد وُدِّكِ أَرجِعُ

    To what consolation, what kindness,

    and what sincere affection can I return after your love?

  24. ولم تبقَ في الاَيامِ بَعْدَكِ لذةٌ

    ولا متعةٌ يلهو بها المتمتِّعُ

    No pleasure remains in the days after you,

    nor any delight in which a pleasure-seeker might revel.

  25. أَبى الدمعُ يومَ الدورِ أَنْ يَنصُر الأَسى

    فلا ذرفتْ عينٌ ولا فاضَ مَدْمَعُ

    On the day of al-Dur, tears refused to aid grief;

    may no eye ever weep, nor any tear-duct overflow!

  26. ويا ليتَه لما حكى جفوةَ الكَرى

    حكى جَزعي أَوْ كانَ للبينِ يَجْزَعُ

    If only, when they imitated sleep's estrangement,

    they had imitated my anguish, or grieved at separation!

  27. بنفسي ونفسِ المكُرماتِ حُشَاشَةٌ

    تَصَعَّدُ في أَنفاسِهَا وتَرَفَّعُ

    May my life and the life of noble deeds ransom a last flicker of life

    that rises amid her breaths and ascends.

  28. شَهِدتَ فما أُغنيتَ عنها قُلامةً

    وأَنتَ تَرى ما لا تُحِبُّ وَتَسمَعُ

    You were present, yet helped her not a nail-paring's worth,

    as you see and hear what you do not wish.

  29. صَرِيْعٌ على أَيدى العَوائدِ مُدْنَفٌ

    يُغالبُ فيه رَوعَةَ اليأسِ مَطْمَعُ

    A stricken one, gravely ill, in the hands of visiting women,

    within whom hope contends with the terror of despair.

  30. أَصابَ الردى قَومى بسهمٍ أَصابَهُ

    ولم يَدرِ رَامٍ قلبه كيفَ يَصْنَع

    Death struck my people with an arrow that struck him,

    and the archer did not know how his heart would act.

  31. وكنتُ بهم جاراً فَصِرتُ مجاوراً

    أَأُطرَدُ عن سُورِ الحِياضِ وأَقْزَعُ

    With them I was a protected neighbor; now I am a sojourner.

    Am I driven from the wall of the watering pools, and must I flee?

  32. أحُلُّ مع البَرشَاءِ داراً ذَليلَةً

    بها الكلبُ يُحْمَى والصَّديقُ يُضَيَّعُ

    I dwell with al-Barsha in a lowly abode,

    where the dog is protected and the friend neglected.

  33. تُدَابِرُ مُستنَّ الرياحِ بيوتُهم

    وليس لرحلى في المَواطِنِ مُوضِعُ

    Their houses turn away from the winds' course,

    but there is no place for my baggage among the dwellings.

  34. فلا أَنا راضٍ بالدنيَّةِ فيهم

    ولا غضبى عندَ الحَفِيظَةِ يَنفَعُ

    I am not content with humiliation among them,

    nor does my anger help in the hour of indignation.

  35. وكنتُ دَفَنتُ العزَّ يومَ عُرَيْعِرٍ

    وأَيقنتُ أَنى بَعْدَهُ أَتَضَعْضَعُ

    I had buried glory on the day of 'Uray'ir,

    and knew for certain that after him I would falter.

  36. وفارقتُ فتياناً كأَنَّ خُدودَهم

    متونُ صِفاحٍ في قَناً يَتَزَعْزَعُ

    I parted from young men whose cheeks seemed

    the flats of broad blades on swaying spear-shafts.

  37. أُشيِّعُ منهم هَالكاً بعدَ هالِكٍ

    وكانَ النَّدى أَنْ لا يَعُودَ المُشَيَّعُ

    I escort one dead man after another from among them;

    and generosity meant that the one escorted would not return.

  38. فلا لبُيِّتَتْ بالغَوثِ دعوةُ صَارخِ

    دعاهُم الى آجالهم فَتَسرعوا

    May the caller's cry never be answered with rescue:

    he summoned them to their fated deaths, and they hastened.

  39. أَرى منهم ظَهْرَ البَسيطَةِ عارياً

    وما اجتمعوا الاَّ لأَنْ يَتَصَدَّعُوا

    I see the earth's surface bare of them;

    they gathered only to be scattered.

  40. برابيةِ الدورِ الشَّجاعةُ والنَّدى

    أَقاما وقالا حبَّذا المتربَّعُ

    On the hill of al-Dur, courage and generosity

    settled and said, 'How fine a resting place!'

  41. فمن لذبابِ الشر يُخْشَى ويُتَّقى

    وللخيرِ يرجوه الضريكُ المُدفَّعُ

    Who will face evil's sharp edge, feared and guarded against,

    and bring the good hoped for by the destitute, rebuffed man?

  42. سَقَى الرائحُ الغادي قَبوراً كأَنَّها

    ظهورُ جِمَالٍ بُرِّكَتْ وهي ضُلَّعُ

    May the cloud that comes at dusk and dawn water graves like

    the backs of broad-ribbed camels made to kneel.

  43. ولا زالَ هَدَّارٌ من الرعد مُغْمَدٌ

    يَحِنُ ومسلولٌ من البرقِ يَلْمَعُ

    May a roaring peal of thunder, sheathed, never cease

    to moan, while an unsheathed flash of lightning gleams.

  44. معاهدُ يأسٍ كل يومٍ تَزورُهَا

    دُمُوعُ البواكى والنَّحيبُ المُرَجَّعُ

    Abodes of despair, visited every day

    by weeping women's tears and echoing lamentation.

  45. وذاكَ الوفاءُ لا وفاءُ مفارِقٍ

    يَشُطُّ به نأىُ الدِّيَارِ وَيْجمَعُ

    That is fidelity—not the fidelity of one departing,

    whom the remoteness of homes takes far away and carries off.

  46. غنيتُ من الدُّنيا فلا أَنا عُسرهَا

    أَخافُ ولا ميسورها أَتَوَقَّعُ

    I have had my fill of the world; its hardship I do not

    fear, nor do I await its ease.

  47. تُمَلُّ سِوى آمالِنا ورجائِنا

    وكيف يُمَلُّ المَطَلَبُ المتوقَّعُ

    It grows wearisome, save for our hopes and expectations;

    and how can an awaited goal grow wearisome?

  48. اذا جَنَّ ليلٌ قيلَ أَينَ صَباحُهُ

    وكلُّهُمُ بالليل والصُّبْحِ يُخْدَعُ

    When night falls, people ask, 'Where is its dawn?'

    yet all are deceived by night and dawn.

  49. وكم من نعيمٍ قد لبستُ رِداءَهُ

    وشرٍ له كلُّ المطالعِ مطلعُ

    How many a joy have I worn as a robe,

    and evils for which every horizon is a rising-place;

  50. ومن لَذَّةٍ وَلَّتْ كأَنَّ وصالَها

    وصالُ خَيالٍ في الكرّى حينَ أَهْجَعُ

    and pleasures that passed, whose embrace was like

    the embrace of a phantom in sleep when I slumber.

  51. مع الوقتِ بمضى بؤسُهُ ونعيمُه

    كأَنْ لم يكن والوقتُ عمركَ أَجمعُ

    With time, its misery and its bliss pass away,

    as though it had never been—and time is your whole life.

  52. وما خيرُ عيشٍ نصفُهُ سِنَةُ الكَرى

    ونصفٌ به يَعْتَلُّ أو يَتَفَجَّعُ

    What good is a life half of which is sleep's drowsiness,

    and half is spent in illness or grief?

  53. وأقسِمُ لو أَعطيتَهُ مُتَخَيِّراً

    لما كنتُ الاَّ بالوثيقةِ أَقَنعُ

    I swear, if I were given it and allowed to choose,

    I would be content only with a firm guarantee.