1. قَد زَجَرَ الشَّعرُ لَكُم فالَه

    وَطالَما جَرَّبتُ أَقوالَه

    Poetry has indeed read its omen for you,

    and often have I tested its sayings.

  2. فَلَم يَزَل يُخبِرُ فيما مَضى

    عَنكَ كَأَنَّ اللَّه أَوحى لَه

    It has never ceased, in times past, to tell

    of you, as though God had revealed to it.

  3. وَقَد رَأَى جَيشَكَ وَالنَّصرُ في

    لِوائِهِ يَسحَبُ أَذيالَه

    And it has seen your army, with victory in

    its banner, trailing its skirts.

  4. وَالرَّحبَةَ الخَضراء جَذلانَة

    بِمُلكِكَ المُقبِلِ مختالَه

    And verdant al-Rahba, rejoicing,

    glorying in your coming reign.

  5. وَمُسلِمٌ مِن دونِها مُسلِمٌ

    لا يَمنَعُ الشَّيء إِذا نالَه

    And Muslim, on its near side, is one who yields,

    defending nothing once he has gained it.

  6. إِذا هَوَت خَيلُكَ عَن بالِسٍ

    حَدا إِلى الموصِلِ أَجمالَه

    When your cavalry sweeps forth from Balis,

    he urges his camels toward Mosul.

  7. فَاعرِف لَهُ البُشرى وَكُن ضامِنا

    ظُنونَهُ فيكَ وَآمالَه

    So acknowledge its good tidings, and guarantee

    its expectations of you and its hopes.

  8. إِنَّكَ إِن أَنطَقتَهُ بِالغِنى

    فَتَحتَ دونَ الغَيبِ أَقفالَه

    For if you make it speak through riches,

    you open the locks that bar the unseen.

  9. وَلَم تُرِد مِن بَعدِهِ كاهِناً

    يُجَمجِمُ القَولَ إِذا قالَه

    And after it you will want no soothsayer

    who mumbles his speech when he utters it.

  10. يا طالِباً قَومي وَعِندي لَهُم

    رَسائِلٌ بِالنُّصحِ حَمَّالَه

    O you who seek my people—I have for them

    messages laden with sincere counsel.

  11. قُل لَهُم عَنّي وَما يَك

    ذِبُ الرّائِدُ في أَخبارِهِ آلَه

    Tell them on my behalf—and no

    scout lies to his people in his reports:

  12. إِيّاكُمُ مِن أَسَدٍ باسِلٍ

    قَد مَرَّ لِلوَثبَةِ أَشبالَه

    Beware of a valiant lion

    who has readied his cubs for the pounce.

  13. أَروَعَ لا يَعرِفُ جِيرانُهُ

    حَوادِثَ الدَّهرِ وَأَوحالَه

    A formidable one, whose neighbors never know

    time's calamities and its quagmires.

  14. كَأَنَّهُ مَتنُ رُدَينِيَّةٍ

    ذابِلَةٍ في الكَفِّ عَسّالَه

    As though he were the shaft of a Rudayni spear,

    slender and quivering in the hand.

  15. ما زُوحِمَت في المَجدِ أَعمامُهُ

    إِلّا إِذا عَدَّدَ أَخوالَه

    His paternal uncles have never been rivaled in glory,

    except when he counts his maternal uncles.

  16. أَما سَمِعتُم بِأَحاديثِهِ

    شارِدَة في الأَرضِ جَوّالَه

    Have you not heard the tales of him,

    far-ranging, roaming across the earth?

  17. في كُلِّ أُفقٍ مِن دُجى نَقعِهِ

    غَمامَةٌ بِالدَّم هَطّالَه

    On every horizon, from the darkness of his battle-dust,

    a cloud pours down torrents of blood.

  18. وَقائِعُ في الأَرضِ مَشهورَة

    زَلزَلَ مِنها الشّامُ زِلزَالَه

    Battles famous throughout the land,

    at which al-Sham quaked mightily.

  19. يا ناصِرَ المُلكِ وَقَد غالَه

    مِن هَفَواتِ المُلكِ ما غالَه

    O defender of the realm, assailed as it has been

    by those lapses of rule that assailed it.

  20. كَم ضَيَّعوهُ فَتَدارَكته

    وَاللَّيثُ لا يُسلِمُ أَغيالَه

    How often they neglected it, and you rescued it!

    And the lion does not surrender his thickets.

  21. في كُلِّ يَومٍ مِنهُمُ راحِلٌ

    يَنتَجِعُ الذُّلَّ وَيَسعى لَه

    Every day one of them departs,

    seeking out abasement and striving for it.

  22. وَنازِحٌ عَن عِزِّ أَوطانِهِ

    يُنفِقُ في الغُربَةِ أَموالَه

    And one far from the glory of his homelands

    spends his wealth in exile.

  23. جارَ وَلَو أحسن تَدبيرَهُ

    ما خَرَجَ البَدرُ عَنِ الهالَه

    He strayed; had he managed his affairs well,

    the full moon would not have left its halo.

  24. وَأَنتَ مِن دونِهِم لابِدٌ

    تُجاهِدُ الدَّهرَ وَأَهوالَه

    And you, before them, lie crouched,

    battling time and its terrors,

  25. في مَعرَكٍ تَقتُلُ أَبطالَهُ

    أَو مغرم تَحمِلُ أَثقالَه

    in a battlefield, slaying its champions,

    or a financial obligation whose burdens you bear.

  26. ما عَرفَت فيهِم نُمَيرِيَّةٌ

    مِن بَعدِ وثابٍ وَأَمثالَه

    No Numayri woman has known your equal among them

    since Waththab and his peers.

  27. وَلا لَهُم بَينكَ في ظالِمٍ

    يُنادِمُ الجَوزاء إِنزالَه

    Nor have they, between themselves and you, in Zalim—

    which carouses with Gemini—any lodging.

  28. لَو طَلَبوا سِلمَكَ كانَت لَهُم

    قُربى عَلى وُدِّكَ مُحتالَه

    Had they sought your peace, they would have had

    ties of kinship to win your affection.

  29. لَكِنَّهُم غَرَّهُم خُلَّبٌ

    شاموا عَلى غُلِّهِم آلَه

    But rainless lightning deceived them;

    in their thirst, they watched its mirage.

  30. ما أَظهَرَ الرَّأيَ لَدى فكرَةٍ

    فيهِ وَما أَكثَرَ جُهّالَه

    How clear judgment is when one reflects

    upon it—and how many are ignorant of it!

  31. خُذها بِعَفوِ الفِكرِ ما فارَقَت

    سُلافَةُ الطَّبعِ وَسِلسالَه

    Take it, from spontaneous thought, never parted from

    the pure wine of natural talent and its limpid stream.

  32. إِن لَحِقَت سامِعَها نَشوَة

    فَإِنَّها صَهباء جِريالَه

    If intoxication overtakes its listener,

    for it is tawny wine, richly red.

  33. خالِصَةً فيكَ فَما تَدَّعي

    صَبابَةَ الحُبِّ وَبِلبالَه

    Wholly devoted to you, it does not feign

    love's yearning and its turmoil.

  34. وَلا مَضى الثّاقِبُ مِن فِكرِها

    في مَنزِلٍ يَنعَتُ أَطلالَه

    Nor has its penetrating thought wandered

    through a dwelling, describing its ruins.

  35. يُشغِلُها مَدحُكَ عَن غَيرِهِ

    وَلَم تَكُن تَصلُحُ إِلّا لَه

    Praising you keeps it from all else,

    and it was suited to that alone.