1. ما أنتِ بعد البين من أوطاني

    دارَ الهوى والدارُ بالجيرانِ

    After parting, you are no longer one of my homelands,

    O dwelling of love—a dwelling is made by its neighbors.

  2. كنتِ المنى من قبل طارقةِ النوى

    والشملُ شملي والزمانُ زماني

    You were my heart's desire before separation came knocking,

    and the gathered company was mine, and time was mine.

  3. ولئن خلوتِ فليس أوّل حادثٍ

    خلَت الكناسُ له من الغزلانِ

    And if you stand empty, this is not the first calamity

    that has left the gazelles' covert empty.

  4. طرَبُ الحمامِ بطبعهنّ وإنما اس

    تَملَين فيكِ النوحَ من أحزاني

    The doves' delight is in their nature; they only took

    their lament within you by dictation from my sorrows.

  5. أمخيّمون على اللوى من عالج

    أم لاحقون الماء في ماوانِ

    Are they encamped on al-Liwa in Alij,

    or making for water in Mawan?

  6. دعهم وقلبي ما وفَوا بضمانه

    ودع البكاء لهم يفي بضمانِ

    Leave them and my heart—they did not keep their pledge to it;

    and let weeping for them fulfill its pledge.

  7. رحلوا بأحلامي فقلتُ لمقلتي

    إن النهى حجرٌ على الأجفانِ

    They departed with my reason, and I said to my eye:

    Reason is a restraint upon the eyelids.

  8. بيضاءُ في الغادين يومي أسودٌ

    من بعدها وبكايَ أحمرُ قاني

    A white-skinned beauty is among those departing; my day is black

    after her, and my weeping is deep crimson-red.

  9. عطف الفؤادَ على الحدائق أنها

    خلعتْ تعطُّفَها على الأغصانِ

    What drew my heart toward the gardens was that she

    had clothed the branches in her graceful sway.

  10. يا شمسُ طال الليل بعدَ فراقها

    طالَ الصباحُ وأنتِ في الأظعانِ

    O sun, the night has grown long since parting from her;

    the morning has grown long while you are among the departing caravans.

  11. إن النميرَ لِواردي فتعلّما

    يا صاحبيَّ من الذي ترِدانِ

    The pure, sweet water is for those who come to me; so learn,

    my two companions, whose water you are seeking.

  12. يتعاورُ الحسَّادُ أخذِي طائعا

    بيدٍ لحقِّ الله من شيطاني

    The envious take turns leading me, willingly,

    by the hand, from my devil toward my duty to God.

  13. هي فِطرةٌ ما زلتُ من ثقتي بها

    قِدْما أشُمُّ العزَّ من أرداني

    It is an inborn nature; trusting in it, I have never ceased—

    from long ago—to breathe honor's scent from my sleeves.

  14. وقناعةٌ بالعفو تؤذن أنها

    للفضل إن الحرص للنقصانِ

    And a contentment with what is freely given declares that it

    belongs to excellence; greed belongs to deficiency.

  15. ما ضرَّ من أفقرتُ فيه خواطري

    وهو الغنيّ لوَ انه أغناني

    What harm would it have done the man for whom I impoverished my thoughts,

    rich as he is, if he had enriched me?

  16. ليت البخيلَ القابلِي والباخسي

    حقيِّ كما هو مانعي ياباني

    Would that the miser who receives me and cheats me of

    my due would reject me, just as he withholds from me.

  17. ما سرَّني منه وفي أفعالِهِ

    سخطُ المكارم أنه يرضاني

    It does not please me that he—while his deeds

    incur noble virtues' wrath—is pleased with me.

  18. لا شيءَ في ميزان شعري عنده

    وأخفّ شيء في الجَدا ميزاني

    My poetry weighs nothing in his scales,

    and in bounty my scale is the lightest thing.

  19. في الناسِ من يَرضَى بجُبن يمينه

    إن عُدّ يومَ الرَّوْع غيرَ جبانِ

    Among men is one content with his right hand's cowardice,

    if, on the day of terror, he is not counted a coward.

  20. ولقد تكون يدُ الكميِّ قصيرةً

    بالبخل وهي مع السماح يدانِ

    An armored warrior's hand may indeed be short

    through stinginess, though with generosity it is two hands.

  21. كثرُ الحديثث عن الكرام وكلُّ من

    جرّبتُ ألفاظٌ بغير معاني

    Much is said of the generous, and everyone

    I have tested is words without meaning,

  22. إلا بسعدٍ من تنبّه للعلا

    هيهات نُوَّمُهمُ من اليقظانِ

    except Sa'd, who has awakened to the heights.

    How far their sleepers are from the wakeful one!

  23. مهلا بني الحسد الدخيلِ فإنها

    لا تُدْرَك العلياءُ بالأضغانِ

    Hold back, sons of deep-seated envy, for

    the heights cannot be attained through rancor.

  24. سعدُ بن أحمدَ أبيضٌ من أبيضٍ

    في المجد فانتسِبوا بني الألوانِ

    Sa'd ibn Ahmad is white, of white ancestry,

    in glory; so proclaim your lineage, sons of colors.

  25. بين الجبال الصُّمّ بحرٌ ثامنٌ

    يحوي جلامدَها وبدرٌ ثاني

    Among the solid mountains is an eighth sea,

    embracing their boulders, and a second full moon.

  26. من معشرٍ سبقوا إلى حاجاتهم

    شوطَ الرياح وقد جرتْ لرِهانِ

    From a people who, toward their aims, outstripped

    the winds in their course, though the winds raced for stakes.

  27. قوم إذا وزَروا الملوكَ برأيهم

    أمرتْ عمائمُهم على التيجانِ

    A people who, when they serve kings as viziers with their counsel,

    have their turbans rule over the crowns.

  28. ضربوا بمدرَجة السبيلِ قِبابَهم

    يتقارعون بها على الضِّيفانِ

    They pitched their domed tents along the traveled road,

    drawing lots there to claim the guests.

  29. ويكاد مُوقدهم يجود بنفسه

    حبَّ القِرى حطباً على النيرانِ

    And their fire-kindler almost offers himself,

    for love of hospitality, as firewood upon the flames.

  30. أبناء ضبَّةَ واسعون وفي الوغى

    يتضايقون تضايق الأسنانِ

    The sons of Dabba are openhanded, yet in battle

    they press close as tightly as teeth.

  31. يا راكبا زُهرُ الكواكب قصدُه

    قرِّب لعلّك عندها تلقاني

    O rider whose destination is the shining stars,

    draw near; perhaps you will meet me there.

  32. قف نادِ يا سعدَ الملوك رسالةً

    من عبدك القاصي بحبٍّ داني

    Stop and call out: O Sa'd of kings, a message

    from your distant servant, near in love.

  33. غالطتُ شوقي فيك قبلَ لقائنا

    والقربُ ظنٌّ والمزارُ أماني

    I beguiled my longing for you before our meeting,

    while nearness was conjecture and visiting mere wishes.

  34. حتى إذا ما الوصل أطفأ غُلَّتي

    بك كان أعطشَ لي من الهجرانِ

    Until, when union quenched my burning thirst

    through you, it left me thirstier than separation.

  35. ولربَّ وجدِ تواصُفٍ ناهضتُه

    وضعُفتُ لما صار وجدَ عِيانِ

    And many a passion born of exchanged descriptions I withstood,

    but weakened when it became passion born of sight.

  36. ولقد عكستَ عليّ ذاك لأنني

    كنتُ الحبيبَ إليك قبلَ تراني

    Yet you reversed that in my case, for I

    was beloved by you before you saw me.

  37. ومن العجائب والزمانُ ملوَّنٌ

    أن الدنُوَّ هو الذي أقصاني

    And among the wonders—time being many-colored—

    is that nearness itself drove me far away.

  38. خُبِّرتُكم تتناقلون محاسني

    قبلَ اللقاء تناقل الرَّيحانِ

    I was told you passed my virtues from one to another,

    before our meeting, as sweet basil is passed around.

  39. حتى اغتررتُ فزرتُكم وكأنني

    كَلٌّ طَرقتُ بمنكِبَيْ ثهلانِ

    Until I was deceived and visited you, as though I

    were a burden, come by night to Thahlan's two shoulders.

  40. وعرائسٍ لك عذرُها مهجورة

    من عاتقٍ أهديتُها وعَوانِ

    And many brides, their maidenhood yours, lie forsaken—

    maidens I offered you, and women once wed.

  41. ما أُنشِدتْ كانت أشدَّ تعلُّقا

    أبدا من الأقراط بالآذانِ

    Whenever recited, they clung more tightly

    to ears than earrings—always.

  42. لو أُنِصفتْ لازداد ضِعفا حسنُها

    ما أجلبَ الإحسانَ للإحسانِ

    Had they been treated fairly, their beauty would have doubled;

    how powerfully kindness draws forth kindness!

  43. فتَلافَيَنْ فرطَ الجفاء فبعد ما

    بُلَّتْ رُبايَ إذ السحابُ جفاني

    So make amends for excessive coldness, for after

    my uplands were watered, the cloud forsook me.

  44. جُدْ غائبا لي مثل جودك حاضرا

    إني أراك على البعاد تراني

    Give to me in absence as generously as in presence;

    I see you, despite the distance, seeing me.