لئن زهت الدنيا بحسن غضارها

وعزت ملاهى لهوها وازدهارها

Even if the world glories in the beauty of its freshness,

and the diversions of its revelry and splendor are prized,

فإني عنها في البرية مخدر

لكل غرير آمن من عثارها

I am [a warner] against it among mankind,

to every unwary man who feels safe from its pitfalls.

على أنني طلقتها وخلعتها

وأصدقتها اللذات بعد اختبارها

Though I have divorced it and cast it off,

and given it pleasures as its dowry after testing it.

وذلك لما رأيت سوى الذي

يراه الورى من صغرها واحتقارها

That is because I saw something other than what

mankind sees—its littleness and contemptibility.

ألم يكفني ما كان من فعلها بمن

مضى قبلنا من مكرها واغترارها

Was it not enough for me, what it did to those

who passed before us, through its cunning and beguilement?

ولولا زخاريف الشياطين للورى

للاح لهم ما أكننت من عوارها

Were it not for the devils' embellishments before mankind,

its hidden flaws would become clear to them.

ولكنما المغرور يصبو إذا بدت

تهرول في أحجالها وسوارها

But the deluded man yearns when it appears,

trotting in its anklets and bracelet,

وقد خضبت بالعطر ثم تدثرت

من عفرة يصبو الفتى لاصفرارها

having stained itself with perfume, then wrapped itself

in a tawny hue whose yellowness makes the young man yearn.

وكم سلبت من قشعم كان واثقاً

إليها سقته السم تحت دثارها

How many an old man it has despoiled, who trusted

in it; beneath its cloak it made him drink poison.

هي الفخ والصياد باز وحبلها

غضارتها مع حسنها واخضرارها

It is the snare, the hunter a hawk, and its cord

is its freshness, together with its beauty and verdure.

وما أن أرى في اللوم عنها بمقلة

سعيداً سوى معتوهها أو صغارها

And, regarding it with reproach, I see with my eye

no happy man except its simpleton or its children,

ومثل الذي لم يلتفت لدعائها

مخافة أخراه ودار بوارها

or one like him who never heeded its summons,

fearing his hereafter and its abode of ruin,

وأظهر فيها للمهيمن نصحه

لفاسقها أو برها وخيارها

and showed his sincerity there to the All-Guardian,

toward its sinner or its righteous man and its best,

ولم يخش في الرحمن لومة لائم

ولا خاف في الأرذال بطش شرارها

and feared no censurer's blame in serving the Merciful,

nor feared, among the base, the violence of its wicked.

ولكنه لم يلتبس بخيانة

ولا حسب كالمؤثرين لدارها

Yet he was never tainted with treachery,

nor reckoned among those who preferred its abode.

طوى زهرة طابت لطيف غوامض

صفت بيقين منه ضوء نجارها

He put away a pleasing blossom, discerning hidden matters,

whose native light grew clear through his certainty.

فيا بن حميد إنني لست جاهلاً

فضائلك اللاتي علت باشتهارها

O son of Humayd, I am not ignorant

of your virtues, exalted through their renown.

مقالك عندي العذب مثل عساكر

وإن كبرت فالقول منك كبارها

Your sweet speech is to me like armies;

however mighty they are, your speech is their mightiest.

فزد زد وزد قدماً لنفسك ما به

يقيك ورب الحق مورٍ بوارها

So add, add, and add, advancing for yourself that which

will shield you—by the Lord of Truth—from its surging ruin.

وقل لشراة المسلمين بأنني

صبرت على البلوى خلاف اصطبارها

Tell the Muslim Shurat that I

have borne affliction beyond ordinary endurance.

وإني لم أحسب وذي العرش أنني

أعاين ما عاينته من قرارها

By the Lord of the Throne, I never thought that I

would behold what I have beheld of its stillness.

أما علمت أن المقيم بخدره

على فرشه أولى بلبس خمارها

Did you not know that the man staying in his private chamber,

upon his bedding, is fitter to wear her veil?

فلو أن ذاك الأرذل الجبس آمناً

معيناً لا وسعنا له في مزارها

Had that vilest, craven man been safe,

a helper, we would not have made room for him at its place of visitation.

ولكن ذا الآلاء بالغ أمره

وكم قد قبلت مهجة من عثارها

But the Giver of blessings accomplishes His purpose,

and many a soul has been accepted through its stumblings.

ومن بعدها قل للشراة معاذراً

وكيف وعندي موتها كاعتذارها

After that, speak to the Shurat, offering excuses—

yet how, when to me its death is like its apology?

على أنني ما عشت أطلب عزها

وللدولة الزهراء علو منارها

Still, as long as I live, I seek its honor,

and for the radiant state, the raising of its beacon.

فتلك فلا تلقى بغير قواضب

يطير لهام القوم حد شفارها

That cannot be attained without keen swords,

whose blade-edges fly at the heads of men,

وزرق كأمثال الشهاب تهزها

كماة على خيل ترى في اعتكارها

and blue spearheads like shooting stars, brandished

by armored warriors on horses, amid whose wheeling you see

صهيلاً ونقعاً في الورى وقساطلاً

يصول الفتى الضرغام تحت غبارها

neighing, dust, and clouds of dust among men,

while the lion-like youth charges beneath their dust.

فناد بها صوتاً وصوتاً لعلها

تؤلف عن ارغامها واضطرارها

Call out for it, cry after cry, perhaps it

will be rallied through coercion and constraint.

فإنك لو ناديت بالغيد أقبلت

تسائل ماذا قلت تحت ستارها

For if you called upon the graceful women, they would come,

asking beneath their veils, 'What did you say?'

وكم سكبت من دمعها أم كهمس

على كهمس دمعاً بدار قرارها

How many tears Umm Kahmas poured

for Kahmas, in the home where she dwelt,

وقالت الهى قد تقربت فأقبلن

إليك بنجلي فارتدى باختيارها

saying, 'My God, I have drawn near—do accept!—

to You through my son'; and he robed himself by her choice.

وفاز وفازت بالجنان وخلدها

ولذتها مع لحمها وثمارها

He triumphed, and she triumphed, in the Gardens and their eternity,

their delight, their meat, and their fruits.

فكيف شراة المسلمين وقد خبت

لبيعة ذي الآلاء يوم ابتدارها

What, then, of the Muslim Shurat, who hastened

to pledge allegiance to the Giver of blessings on the day of their rush?

فأما بنو سهل الكرام فإنها

أجابت ندا الأعدا غداة انحدارها

As for the noble Banu Sahl, they indeed

answered the enemies' call on the morning of their descent.

وفرت عدات الحق سفاه كندة

وحمير لما أيقنت باقتهارها

The enemies of truth fled—the fools of Kinda

and Himyar—when they knew they would be subdued.

فنالت به ذلاً فإن هي أنكرت

فقد بان إذ عادت بوجه انكسارها

They met humiliation through it; if they deny it,

it was plain when they returned with defeat upon their faces.

على إنها ترضى الرفيق بمنعها

وتلقى المنا يا السود من دون جارها

Yet they satisfy a companion with their protection,

and face grim deaths in defense of their neighbor.

وها نحن في حاليهما إن رآى لنا

وللدين حقاً أو لحفظ ذمارها

Here we are, in both their conditions, if he recognizes for us

and for religion a claim, or the safeguarding of their honor.

هي ائتلفتنا والحريم معاً إلى

منازلها قصداً ورحب ديارها

They brought us and the womenfolk together

to their homes deliberately, and to their spacious lands.

وما فعلت هذاك إلا لعزها

ومنعتها أيضاً وحسن اعتبارها

They did this only for their honor,

for their strength as well, and out of sound consideration.

ولست أراها تحرب الدهر جارهاً

وتشمت أعداها بخلع عذارها

I do not see them ever despoiling their neighbor,

or delighting their enemies by casting off their bridle.

فإن خذلتنا وهي في حال عزها

وضعف أعاديها وحال انتشارها

If they forsake us while they are strong,

while their enemies are weak and they are spread far and wide,

فلا ذل إلا ذل من حل نحوها

ولا عار إلا مقصر دون عارها

then no abasement equals that of one who settles near them,

and no disgrace but falls short of theirs.

إذا رمتها أرجو انتصاراً لذي العلا

ولم أبلغ المأمول عند اقتدارها

If I seek them, hoping for victory for the Exalted One,

and fail to gain what I hope for while they have power,

فسكنى الفلا والبيد والنجد والذرى

ووحشتنا خير لنا من جوارها

then dwelling in wastes, deserts, uplands, and peaks,

and our loneliness, are better for us than living beside them.

ولكن في ظني وعندي بأنها

تحوط وتحمى بالقنا عن ذمارها

Yet I think, and hold it my belief, that they

will guard and defend their honor with spears,

وتكبت أعداء الإله بثورة

تطول بها في بدوها وقرارها

and crush God's enemies in an uprising

through which they gain eminence in desert and settlement,

بحول الهى ماله من معاند

له في برارى أرضه وبحارها

by my God's might, for there is no opponent

to Him in the wastes of His earth and its seas.

وصلى على المختار ما لاح بارق

وهمهم رعد للحيا وانهمارها

May He bless the Chosen One as long as lightning flashes

and thunder rumbles for rain and its downpour.