1. أَيَحْسُن بعد ضَنِّكَ حُسْنُ ظنّي

    فأَجمعَ بين يأسي والتَّمنّي

    Is my good opinion fitting after your withholding,

    so that I join my despair with longing?

  2. وما نَفْعي بعَطْفِك بعد فَوْتٍ

    كَرِقّة شامتٍ من بعد دفن

    What use is your tenderness to me once the chance is gone,

    like a gloater's pity after burial?

  3. أَأَطْمَعُ أَن أَكون شهيدَ حُبٍّ

    فأَصْحبَ منك حُوريّاً بعَدْن

    May I hope to be a martyr of love,

    and have a houri in you as my companion in Eden?

  4. ملكتَ عليَّ أَجفاني وقلبي

    فأَبعدتَ الكرى والعَذْل عنّي

    You have mastered my eyelids and my heart,

    driving sleep and reproach away from me.

  5. فكم أَرعيتَ غير اللَّوْمِ سمعي

    وكم أَوْعيتَ غير النوم جفَني

    How often you made my hearing heed something other than blame,

    and filled my eyelid with something other than sleep!

  6. صَدَدْتَ وما سوى إِفراطِ وَجْدي

    لك الداعي إلى فَرْط التجنّي

    You turned away, and nothing but my excessive passion

    spurred you to such excessive unjust blame.

  7. لقد أَبديتَ لي في كلّ حُسْنًٍ

    ضروباً أَبدعت كلَّ حُزن

    Indeed, in every beauty you revealed to me

    varieties that fashioned every kind of grief.

  8. فكم فنٍّ من البلوى عَراني

    لِعْشق الوصفِ منك بكلِّ فنِّ

    How many kinds of affliction have assailed me

    through loving your qualities in all their forms!

  9. كأَنّكَ رُمْتَ أَن أَسلوك حتى

    أَقمتَ الشِّبْه في بَدْرٍ وغُصْن

    As though you wished me to forget you, you even

    set your likeness in a full moon and a bough.

  10. فأَلْبَسَ وجهُك الأَقمارَ تمّاً

    وعلَّم قَدُّك البانَ التثنّي

    Your face clothed the moons in fullness,

    and your figure taught the moringa trees to sway.

  11. رماني في هواك طِماحُ طَرْفي

    إلى حُسْنٍ فأَخلف فيك ظنّي

    What cast me into love for you was my gaze's yearning

    for beauty; then my hopes of you proved false.

  12. فكم دمعٍ حَمَلْتُ عليه عيني

    وكم نَدَمٍ قَرَعْتُ عليه سِنّي

    How many tears I compelled my eye to shed,

    and how much regret I gnashed my teeth over!

  13. غدرتَ وما رأَيتَ سوى وفاءٍ

    فهّلا قبل يَغْلَقُ فيك رَهْني

    You betrayed me, though you had seen nothing but fidelity;

    then why not before my pledge to you became forfeit?

  14. ولو حكم الهوى فينا بعدلٍ

    لكنتَ أَحَقَّ بالتعذيب مِنّي

    If love judged justly between us,

    you would deserve torment more than I.

  15. أَقمتَ الموتَ لي رَصَداً فأَخشى

    زيارتَه وإِن يك لم يَزُرني

    You set death in ambush for me, and I fear

    its visit, though it has not visited me—

  16. كما رَصد العِدى في كلِّ يومٍ

    صلاح الدين في سَهْلٍ وحَزْن

    just as foes are stalked every day

    by Salah al-Din, on plains and rugged ground.

  17. يَرَوْن خياله كالطيف يَسْري

    فلو هَجَعوا أَتاهم بعد وَهْن

    They see his image gliding like a night-phantom;

    if they sleep, he comes to them late at night.

  18. أَبادَهُمُ تَخَوُّفُه فأَمسى

    مُناهُمْ لو يُبَيِّتُهم بأَمْن

    Fear of him destroyed them, until

    their wish was for his night assault to bring them safety.

  19. تملَّكَ حولهم شرقاً وغرباً

    فصاروا لاقتناصٍ تحتَ رَهْنِ

    He took possession around them, east and west,

    so they were held in pledge, awaiting capture.

  20. أَطاف عليهمُ مِنْ كلِّ فَجٍّ

    قبائلَ يُقبلون بغير وَهْنِ

    From every mountain pass he brought around them

    tribes advancing without weakness.

  21. أَقام بآل أَيوب رِباطاً

    رأَت منه الفَرَنْجُ مَضيقَ سِجن

    Through the house of Ayyub he established a frontier stronghold,

    in which the Franks saw the narrow confines of a prison.

  22. فهم للدّين والدُّنيا جبالٌ

    رواسٍ لا تُرى أَبداً كَعِهْن

    For faith and worldly life they are mountains,

    firmly rooted, never seen as dyed wool.

  23. إذا اتبّعوا له عَزماً ورأْياً

    غَنُوا في الحرب عن ضربٍ وطعن

    When they follow his resolve and judgment,

    in war they need neither blows nor thrusts.

  24. وإِنْ نادى نَزَالِ فلن يُبالوا

    قتالَهُمُ لإِنسٍ أَو لجنّ

    If he cries, 'Come to battle!' they will not care

    whether they fight humans or jinn.

  25. رجا أَقصى الملوكِ السّلمَ منهم

    ولم ير جهده في البأس يُغني

    The most distant king sought peace from them,

    finding his utmost effort in battle unavailing.

  26. وخافتهم ملوك الناس جَمْعاً

    فلم تقِلب لهم ظَهْرَ المِجَنِّ

    All the kings of men feared them,

    and none turned the back of the shield against them.

  27. لهم من بأسه رُكْنٌ شديد

    ولو طُلِبوا لما آوَوْا لِرُكْن

    In his might they have a sturdy support,

    yet, even if pursued, they would seek no stronghold.

  28. حِوتْ آفاقُ مِصْرِهُمُ حُصوناً

    فكيف إِذا أَداروا كُلَّ حِصْن

    The reaches of their Egypt contain fortresses;

    what then, when they encircle every fortress?

  29. غَطارِفَةٌ لهم سُلْطانُ عَدْلٍ

    يَسُنُّ لهم مَكارِمَهم ويُسْني

    Noble lords, they have a just sovereign

    who establishes their noble ways and gives lavishly.

  30. وكم معنًى من الإِحسان فاقوا

    به كرماً على كَعْبٍ ومَعْنِ

    In how many forms of beneficence they have excelled,

    surpassing Ka'b and Ma'n in generosity!

  31. لهم من يوسفَ الدُّنيا جميعاً

    وليس له نصيبٌ غيرُ مُثْنِ

    From Yusuf they have the whole world,

    while his only share is someone to praise him.

  32. أَرى رأى التناسخ مِصْرَ حقّاً

    بضمّ اسمٍ إِلى عَدْلٍ وحُسْن

    I see the belief in reincarnation proved true in Egypt,

    through a name joined to justice and beauty.

  33. ولم أَر مثله ملكاً جواداً

    خزائنُه قِفارٌ وهو مُغْن

    I have seen no king as generous as he:

    his treasuries are barren wastes, yet he enriches others.

  34. غدا كالشمس يوم وغىً بنَقْعٍ

    فَشَقّ النورُ منه مِلاءَ دَجْن

    On a day of battle he was like the sun amid dust,

    his light rending the mantles of gloom.

  35. أَرى داويَّةَ الكفّار خافت

    به داءً يُضَعِّف كُلَّ مَتْنِ

    I see the unbelievers' Templars fearing

    a malady from him that weakens every back.

  36. أَبَوْا نَسْلاً مَخافَة نَسْلِ بنتٍ

    تُفارِق دينَهم أَو قَتْلَه ابن

    They refused offspring, fearing to beget a daughter

    who would forsake their faith, or a son whom he would kill.

  37. فقد عقموا به من غير عَقُمٍ

    كما جَبُنوا به من غير جُبْن

    Thus through him they grew barren without sterility,

    as through him they grew cowardly without cowardice.

  38. ومن أَفناهم عدماً حقيقٌ

    بِحَمْدٍ مثلما وجدوا ويغني

    And he who reduced them to nothing is worthy

    of praise, as they have found, while he bestows wealth.

  39. لقد خَبر التجارِبَ منه حَزْمٌ

    وقلّبَ دهَره ظهراً لبطن

    His prudence has thoroughly tested experience,

    and turned his age over, from back to belly.

  40. فكفَّ الكفرَ أَن يَطْغى بمَكْرٍ

    يُحَيِّرُ كلَّ ذي فكرٍ وذهن

    Thus he checked unbelief from running riot by a stratagem

    that bewilders everyone endowed with thought and intellect.

  41. فساق إلى الفرنج الخيلَ برّاً

    وأَدركهم على بحرٍ بسُفْنٍ

    He drove the cavalry toward the Franks by land,

    and overtook them at sea with ships.

  42. لقد جلب الجواري بالجواري

    يَمِدْن بكلّ قدٍّ مُرْجَحِنِّ

    Indeed, he brought captive maidens aboard sailing ships,

    swaying with every full, heavy figure.

  43. يَزيدُهُم اجتماعُ الشَّمْل بُؤْساً

    فمِرنانٌ تنوح على مُرِنٍّ

    Reunion only increases their misery:

    a keening woman wails over a keening man.

  44. فما مِنْ ظبيةٍ تُفْدى بليثٍ

    ولا ليْثٌ فِدى رشإٍ أَغَنِّ

    No gazelle is ransomed for a lion,

    nor is a lion ransom for a softly nasal-voiced fawn.

  45. زهتْ إِسكندرِيَّةُ يومَ سيقوا

    ودِمياطٌ فما مُنِيا بِغَبْن

    Alexandria exulted the day they were driven in,

    and Damietta too; neither suffered loss.

  46. وخَيْرُهما هناءً ما أَتاها

    بقُرْب الملك كلُّ عُلىً يُهَنّي

    The happier of the two was she to whom came

    through the king's nearness, every lofty glory offering congratulations.

  47. فلو لَبِسَتْ به للفخر بُرْداً

    لجرّت فَضْلَ أَذيالٍ ورُدْن

    Had she donned a mantle of pride through him,

    she would have trailed its flowing hems and sleeve.

  48. لقد سبق النَّدى منه السَّبايا

    فكم عَزَبٍ بأَهلٍ بات يبَنْي

    His generosity had already preceded the captive women;

    how many bachelors spent the night consummating marriage with a wife!

  49. وأَعْجَلُه السّماحُ عن ادّكاري

    ولو أَلقاه مَنَّ بغير مَنِّ

    His generosity kept him too busy to remember me,

    but were I to meet him, he would give without vaunting his gift.

  50. فأَسْلِحةٌ تَخافُ لَدَيْه خَزْناً

    وأَموالٌ تطير بغير خَزْن

    Weapons fear being stored away with him,

    and riches fly off without being stored.

  51. وكيف يصون بحراً جودُ بحرٍ

    فيحمِل مِنّةً لأخٍ وخِدْن

    How could the bounty of one ocean sustain another,

    and make him beholden to a brother or close friend?

  52. وإِن الناصر الملك المُرجّى

    لَأْولى من وَلي حَيّاً بَهتْن

    Truly al-Nasir, the king in whom hopes rest,

    is worthier than one who tends a tribe with pouring rain.

  53. يُبيد عدُاته ويَشيد مَجْداً

    لآلٍ فهو يُفْني حين يُقني

    He destroys his enemies and builds glory

    for his house: he annihilates even as he enriches.

  54. إذا لاقى العِدى فأَشدُّ لَيْثٍ

    وإِن بَذَل النَّدى فأَسحُّ مُزْن

    When he meets foes, he is the fiercest lion;

    when he bestows bounty, the most copiously pouring raincloud.

  55. يُهنّي الملك عيداً لو عداكُمْ

    لما ظَفِرَ المُهَنّا بالمُنَهّي

    He congratulates the king on a feast; had it passed you by,

    the congratulated would not have prevailed over the forbidding one [perhaps 'the congratulator'].