1. ليلَ الحمى بات بَدْرِي فيكَ مُعْتَنِقي

    وبات بدرُك مرمِيّاً على الطُّرُقِ

    O night of the sanctuary, my full moon spent you embracing me,

    while your full moon spent the night cast upon the roads.

  2. شتَّان ما بين بدرٍ صيغَ من ذهبٍ

    وذاكَ بدري وبدرٍ صيغَ من بَهَقِ

    How far apart are a moon fashioned from gold—

    and that is my moon—and a moon fashioned from white blotches!

  3. زار الحبيبُ وبدْرُ التِّم في كَمدٍ

    بادٍ عليه وغصنُ البان في قَلَفِ

    The beloved visited, while the full moon was in sorrow,

    plain upon it, and the bān bough was wrapped in bark.

  4. يمشي على خدِّ من يَهْوى وأَدمُعه

    تهمِي فسبحان منجِيه من الْغَرَقِ

    He walks upon the cheek of one who loves him, whose tears

    pour down—glory to the One who saves him from drowning!

  5. وقبْل ذا كان طيفاً من تكَبُّرِه

    فإِنْ سرى كان مَسْراه على الحَدَق

    And before this, because of his pride, he was a dream-phantom;

    and if he travelled by night, his path lay over the pupils of eyes.

  6. وبات باللَّثم تَحْت الختم مَبْسِمُه

    والصَّدْرُ بالضَّم تحتَ القُفل والفَلَق

    And his smiling mouth spent the night beneath the seal of kisses,

    and his chest, clasped in an embrace, beneath lock and stocks.

  7. وعِفْتُ طيفيَ لم جَاءَ سيِّدُه

    يا عين عفِّي طريقَ الطَّيفِ بالأَرَق

    And I shunned my dream-phantom when its master came.

    O eye, erase the phantom's path with sleeplessness.

  8. يا عاذِلي فيه أَمَّا خدُّه فنَدٍ

    كما تراهُ وأَمَّا ثغْره فَنَقي

    O you who blame me for him: as for his cheek, it is dewy,

    as you see it; and as for his mouth, it is pure.

  9. وما جفونك تلْويها على سَهري

    ولا ضلوعُك تطْويها على حُرَقي

    And it is not your eyelids you fold over my sleeplessness,

    nor your ribs you fold around my burning anguish.

  10. تريدُني خارِجيّاً عن مَحبَّتِه

    أَنَّى وبيعةُ ذاك الحُسنِ في عُنُقي

    You want me to be a rebel against loving him—

    how, when allegiance to that beauty binds my neck?

  11. يا صاحبَ الحسن لا تَعجل بفُرقَتِنا

    فما رمَقْتُك إِلاَّ آخِر الرَّمَقِ

    O possessor of beauty, do not hasten our parting,

    for I have gazed at you only with my last remaining breath.

  12. وساترٍ ليَ عينَيْه براحَتِه

    ليتَ الضَّنَى ليَ من عينيْه كانَ بَقي

    And one who hides his eyes from me with his palm—

    would that the wasting sickness his eyes gave me had remained!

  13. سرقتَ قلبي ولمْ أَنكرتَ سِرقته

    أَليس خدُّك مسروقاً من السَّرق

    You stole my heart; why have you denied stealing it?

    Is not your cheek itself stolen from silk?

  14. ونكهةِ لك تُحيي نفسَ ناشِقها

    بمسترقٍّ من الفِردَوْس مُستَرق

    And a fragrance of yours revives the soul of whoever inhales it,

    with a soul-enslaving scent stolen from Paradise.

  15. جاءَ الغرامُ وهذا الحسنُ في قَرنٍ

    والغيثُ يَهْمي ونورُ الدِّين في طَلَقِ

    Passion and this beauty came yoked together,

    while rain poured down and Nūr al-Dīn was at full gallop.

  16. تسابَقا فادْلهمَّ الدَّجْن في ظُلمَ

    من الْقُطوبِ وفازَ النُّورُ بالسَّبَق

    They raced; the cloud-bank blackened in darkness

    from scowling, and Nūr won the race.

  17. إِنَّ السحائِبَ جارَتْه فأَتْعَبها

    وذلكَ القطرُ بعد الجُهدِ كالْعَرَقِ

    Indeed, the clouds competed with him, and he exhausted them;

    and that rain, after their exertion, was like sweat.

  18. الأَفضلُ الملكُ المخلوقُ من كَرمٍ

    ومَنْ سواه هو المخلوقُ من عَلَقِ

    Al-Afḍal, the king, was created from generosity,

    while all others are created from clotted blood.

  19. حاشاه أَنْ يَتَعنَّى في تَكَرُّمه

    وإِنَّما هو ماش فيه مَعْ خُلُقِ

    Far be it from him to labour at generosity:

    he merely walks in step with his nature.

  20. بمدْحِه الوُرْقُ في الأَوْراق ساجعةٌ

    في جمرةِ الفَجْر أَو في فحمَةِ الْغَسَقِ

    Grey doves coo his praises among the leaves,

    in the ember-glow of dawn or the coal-black of dusk.

  21. مولى الأَنامِ عليٌّ هكذا نَقلَت

    لنا الرُّواةُ حديثاً غيرَ مختلَقِ

    ʿAlī is lord of humankind; thus was handed down

    to us by the narrators an account not fabricated.

  22. على الشهادة بالفضل المبين له

    أَهلُ المذاهبِ والآراءِ والفِرق

    His manifest excellence is attested by

    the adherents of schools, opinions, and sects.

  23. أَقامَ في الأَرضِ سوق الخلق قاطبةً

    بالقسطِ من جَعَل الأَمْلاَك كالسُّوق

    He established on earth the market of all creation,

    through justice—he who made kings mere commoners.

  24. تضاءَلوا مِنه وانقادُوا لعزَّتِه

    إِلى التَّذَلُّل وانقادوا إِلى الملَق

    They dwindled before him and submitted to his might,

    in self-abasement, and took to flattery.

  25. من أَقْبلَ الدِّينُ في إِقبالِ دوْلته

    شوقاً إِليه وفرَّ الكفرُ من فَرق

    He at whose reign's advance religion advanced

    in longing for him, while unbelief fled in fear.

  26. تَصْبو إِلى معرَكِ الهيجاءِ عزمتُه

    كأَنَّها منه في مُسْتَنْزَهٍ أَنِق

    His resolve yearns for the arena of battle,

    as though it were there in a delightful pleasure-ground.

  27. وراحةٌ منه لا تنفَكُّ عاشقةً

    للأَسمرِ اللَّدنِ أَو للمُرهَفِ اللَّبِق

    And a palm of his never ceases to be in love

    with the supple brown spear or the keen, deft sword.

  28. وقتْه جُنَّةُ تقْوى في مَعارِكه

    وجنَّةُ الصَّبر فيها لِلتَّقِيِّ تَقي

    The shield of piety protected him in his battles,

    and there the shield of patience protects the pious.

  29. استخبر الكفرَ ماذا حلَّ مِنه بِه

    وما الَّذي مِنه في يوم اللِّقاءِ لَقي

    Ask unbelief what befell it at his hand,

    and what it met from him on the day of battle.

  30. همَّ الأَعَادِي وما نالوا بِزعْمهمُ

    ما أَمَّلوا هلْ تُنال الشَّمس في الأُفُقِ

    The enemies schemed but did not gain, for all their claims,

    what they hoped for—can the sun be reached on the horizon?

  31. أَشقى به اللهُ من عَادى عُلاهُ ومن

    عادَى عَلياً من الجُهَّالُ فَهْو شَقي

    Through him God made wretched whoever opposed his eminence; and whoever

    among the ignorant opposed ʿAlī is wretched.

  32. يا فالقَ الصُّبح من سيْف براحَتِه

    أَنتَ الَّذي فَلَق الهاماتِ بالْفَلَقِ

    O you who cleave dawn from a sword in your palm,

    you are the one who split skulls with that daybreak.

  33. في موقف ضاق حتى لا مجالَ به

    لكنَّ ذَرْعك لمَّا ضَاق لم يَضِقِ

    In a battle-stand so cramped that there was no room to move,

    yet, when it narrowed, your spirit was not straitened.

  34. فكم تركتَ بها كَفَّاً بلا عَضُدٍ

    وقد توسَّدها رأْسٌ بلا عُنق

    How many a hand you left there without an arm,

    and a head without a neck lay pillowed upon it!

  35. يرْوِي عدوُّك منها ماءَ لَبته

    بالنَّحر مِنها وبعضُ الرِّي كالشَّرق

    Your enemy is quenched by it with the water of his throat,

    through its throat-slitting—and some slaking is like choking.

  36. عذرْتَهم يوم فرُّوا منك حينَ رَأَوْا

    ضرباً يُعيد جديدَ الدِّرع كالْخَلَق

    You excused them the day they fled from you, when they saw

    blows that make new armour like worn-out cloth.

  37. فَما نَجا مِنْك لا مَن كانَ في شَرفٍ

    فوقَ السَّماءِ ولا مَن كانَ في نَفَقِ

    So none escaped you: neither one on a height

    above the sky, nor one within a tunnel.

  38. قطعتَ بالموتِ مِنْ أَرْواحِهم عَلَقاً

    والموتُ قطَّاع مَا يَلْقى من الْعَلَقِ

    Through death you severed the clinging bonds of their souls,

    and death severs whatever clinging bonds it encounters.

  39. بكى لهم من وَراءِ البحرِ بحرُ دمٍ

    حتىَّ تحمَّر ما في العينِ من زَرَق

    Beyond the sea, a sea of blood wept for them,

    until the blue within the eye turned red.

  40. ما أَعجزَ الفِكرَ عن وصْفٍ يُحيط به

    ولو أَطاق لكانَ القولُ لم يُطِق

    How helpless thought is to frame a description encompassing him!

    Even if it could, speech would still be unable.

  41. يُثني لِساني وقلبي منه في جَذَلٍ

    وأَنْثَني لقصورٍ عنه في حَنَق

    My tongue praises him, while my heart rejoices in him,

    yet I turn back in vexation at falling short of his worth.

  42. وكم لَحَانِيَ فيه كُلُّ ذي حَسدٍ

    لما رآني من نُعماهُ في غَدَق

    And how often every envious person blamed me over him,

    on seeing me amid the abundance of his bounty!

  43. وإِنَّني منه في عَيْش بلا نكدٍ

    وإِنَّني منه في صَفْوٍ بِلاَ رَنَقِ

    And indeed, through him I live without hardship,

    and indeed, through him I enjoy clarity without murk.

  44. لما كسانيَ أَثوابَ الغِنى حَسُنَت

    فيها حِلايَ وحُسْن الغُصْن بالوَرَق

    When he clothed me in the robes of wealth, lovelier grew

    my adornments within them; a bough's beauty lies in its leaves.

  45. عذرتُ عاذِل مدحي في مَناقِبه

    إِذ كانَ يدخلُ بين المِسْك والعَبَق

    I excused the critic of my praise of his virtues,

    for he was intruding between musk and its fragrance.