1. مالت تسائلني إذ مثلها يسل

    خود خدلجّة ألفاظها عسل

    She leaned toward me, questioning me, when one like her is herself questioned—

    a full-limbed maiden whose words were honey.

  2. والثدى مثل مليح العاج صفرته

    والصدر منها كلون الشمس مشتعل

    Her breast, in its yellowish hue, was like lovely ivory,

    and her chest blazed like the sun's color.

  3. عن آل حجوة أهل الدين هل صدقوا

    أَو هل وفوا بعهود اللّه وابتذلوا

    About the House of Hajwah, people of faith: had they been true,

    or had they honored God's covenants and given themselves freely?

  4. والخود قد شهدت أيام حربهم

    لكنها طلبت بشرى بما فعلوا

    The maiden had witnessed the days of their warfare,

    but she sought glad tidings of what they had done.

  5. لو غاب ما صنعوا من صفو ودهم

    ما غاب ما صنعته البيض والأسل

    Even if what they did out of pure affection were hidden,

    what the gleaming swords and spears had done was not hidden.

  6. يا خود إن يك قد أرضاك مدحهم

    فالقوم ذروة أهل الدين والقلل

    O maiden, if praise of them has pleased you,

    these men are the summit and peaks among the faithful.

  7. عيسى ابن حجره هم أبناؤه وبه

    قدما وتركة موسى قامت الدول

    Isa son of Hajrah—they are his sons; through him,

    long ago, and through Musa's legacy, states arose.

  8. هموا فما لبثوا قاموا فما مكثوا

    آلوا فما نكثوا عادوا فما نكلوا

    They resolved and did not delay; they rose and did not linger.

    They swore and did not break their oaths; they returned and did not shrink back.

  9. لا تبتئس لخزان المال أنفسهم

    كلا وكيف وللارواح قد بذلوا

    Their souls do not grieve for the keepers of wealth—

    no indeed! How could they, when they have given their very lives?

  10. ما منهم رجل إلا وغرته

    إلا القليل عليها للظبا قبل

    Not a man among them but his brow—

    save a few—bears kisses from sword edges.

  11. كم طامح طمحت في الجور همته

    قد أقعدوه فأضحى خدنه الفشل

    How many an aspirant whose ambition soared toward injustice

    they brought low, until failure became his companion!

  12. كم واثب بطراً فيهم بفتنته

    قد صيروه كنعل الوطي يبتذل

    How many an attacker, insolently assailing them with his sedition,

    they made like a sandal worn down underfoot!

  13. يا آل حجوة إن الصبر مكرمة

    أيضاً وفيه ينال القوم ما أملوا

    O House of Hajwah, patience is a noble virtue,

    and through it, too, men attain what they hoped for.

  14. يا آل حجوة إن كانت أوائلكم

    نالوا العلا فبما نالوا العلا فسلوا

    O House of Hajwah, if your forebears

    attained the heights, ask by what they attained those heights:

  15. بالسيف أم بمقال اليعمريّ لنا

    عبد العزيز وفيما قاله خبل

    by the sword, or by the words to us of al-Ya'mari,

    Abd al-Aziz, whose words contain folly?

  16. إن الامام يحب السفح عادته

    والمسلمون إذا ما حاربوا حملوا

    The imam loves the low ground—that is his habit—

    while the Muslims charge whenever they fight.

  17. وهل يكون بزعم الشيخ عادته

    فوق الحصان عليه اللام تشتعل

    And would it, according to the sheikh's claim, be his habit

    to sit atop a stallion, armor blazing upon him?

  18. بل قال يركب ظهر العير مجتنباً

    لبس السلاح إلى أن يأتي الأجل

    Rather, he said, he rides an ass's back, avoiding

    the wearing of arms until his appointed end comes.

  19. لو كان ذاك لما دانت جبابرة

    صعر الخدود لأمر اللّه وامتثلوا

    Were that so, tyrants would not have yielded—

    haughty-cheeked—to God's command and obeyed,

  20. ولا الذين لدى عبد العزيز لهم

    في صحن مسجده القينات والزجل

    nor those who, with Abd al-Aziz, have

    singing slave-girls and loud song in his mosque's courtyard.

  21. لم يدر أن جنان الخلد منهجها

    وطي البطون إذا ما أحجم البطل

    He did not know that the path to the gardens of eternity

    is trampling bellies when the champion holds back.

  22. لا يحسبن بأن الحور مطلبها

    لثم الملاح وجنح الليل منسدل

    Let him not think that attaining the houris

    means kissing beauties while night's wing hangs down.

  23. لا والذي خلق الحوراء ناعمة

    حسنا المحاسن فيها يحسن الغزل

    No, by Him who created the houri soft and delicate,

    lovely in her features—love poetry about her is fitting—

  24. بيضاً مهفهفة زهراً مخلخلة

    ريَّا الخلاخل فرعا فرعها رجل

    fair-skinned, slender-waisted, radiant, adorned with anklets,

    full-fleshed at the anklets, luxuriant-haired, her hair softly waving.

  25. إِن الكواعب ما منهن كاعبة

    إِلا ذوائبها يغطى بها الكفل

    Indeed, among the full-breasted maidens there is not one

    whose tresses do not cover her rump.

  26. لكن لها كفل رابٍ يتعتعها

    عند القيام وجيد زانه النبل

    But she has a swelling rump that makes her unsteady

    when she rises, and a neck adorned by nobility.

  27. في عينها حور في لحظها فتر

    في ثغرها درر في مشيها كسل

    In her eye, black against white; in her glance, languor;

    in her mouth, pearls; in her walk, languor.

  28. إِن قلت زينها أنوار حلتها

    أو حليها فبها قد زينت الحلل

    If you say the gleams of her robe have adorned her,

    or her jewels—it is she who has adorned the garments.

  29. تلك التي ملأت بالقيظ إِن لبست

    قلب القرير بها أو حين تتصل

    That is she who fills with summer heat, if she dresses,

    the heart of one content with her—or when she draws close.

  30. تلك الشفاء فطوبى من يلاثمها

    تشفي الغليل إِذا ما مسها الرجل

    She is the cure: blessed is whoever exchanges kisses with her.

    She quenches burning thirst whenever a man touches her.

  31. في جنة خلقت للحور ساكنها

    جار المهيمن ما منها لها حور

    In a garden created for the houris, its dweller

    is the Guardian's neighbor; for her there is no return from it.

  32. فيها الفواكه والنعماء دانية

    والمصطفى وبها الأملاك والرسل

    There fruits and blessings are close at hand,

    and the Chosen One; there are angels and messengers.

  33. صلى ولم ربي جل جلَّ على

    كل الكرام وخص المصطفى الأزل

    My Lord—exalted, exalted—bestowed blessings, 'and did not' [incomplete wording], upon

    all the noble ones, and singled out the Chosen One—[unclear: 'beginningless eternity'].