1. كالشمس من جمرة عبد شمسِ

    غضبى سخت نفسي لها بنفسي

    Like the sun, from the fiery clan of ʿAbd Shams,

    angry; my soul freely gave her my very self.

  2. ماطلةٌ غريمها لا يَقتضي

    ديونَه ودَينَها لا يُنسِي

    She delays payment; her creditor does not demand

    his dues, while she lets no one forget her own.

  3. في بلدٍ يحرمُ صيدُ وحشِهِ

    وهي به تُحلّ صيدَ الإنسِ

    In a land where hunting its wild beasts is forbidden,

    she makes hunting humans lawful there.

  4. ترى دمَ العشاق في بنانها

    علامةً قد مُوِّهتْ بالوَرسِ

    You see lovers' blood upon her fingertips,

    a mark glossed over with yellow wars dye.

  5. تُفسِدُ خَلْقاً ليِّناً معتدلاً

    لها بأخلاقٍ جِعادٍ شُمسِ

    She mars a supple, well-proportioned form

    of hers with harsh, unbridled manners.

  6. في طرفها تغزُّلٌ وقلبها

    حماسة تنسبها للحُمسِ

    In her gaze is amorous play, and in her heart

    a valor that links her to the Ḥums.

  7. ذكّرتها العهد على كاظمةٍ

    قالت نسيتُ والفراقُ يُنسي

    I reminded her of the pledge at Kāẓima;

    she said, “I forgot; parting makes one forget.”

  8. أُنكرُ منها حِليةً غريبةً

    تشوب لي معرفةً بلَبْسِ

    I find strange in her an unfamiliar adornment

    that mingles recognition for me with confusion,

  9. وشَعَراً مبدَّلاً بشَعَرٍ

    بَدَّلَ فيها بالنفار أنسي

    and hair exchanged for other hair,

    which turned my intimacy with her into aversion.

  10. هل هو إلا الشيب أمَّ مالك

    لابدّ أن يصبحَ ليلُ الممسي

    Is it anything but gray hair, Umm Mālik?

    The night of one who has reached evening must dawn.

  11. وما عليكِ والهوى مكانَهُ

    أن الثَّغامَ في مكانِ النِّقسِ

    And what does it matter to you, with love unchanged,

    that white thaghām stands where black ink stood?

  12. غالِ بها عند الغواني لِمَّةً

    ما لم تبعها حَدَداً بلبُسِ

    Prize those locks highly among the beauties,

    so long as you do not sell them at a loss through disguise.

  13. إن الكرامَ درَستْ آثارُهم

    فلم أطق ضبطاً لها بدرسِ

    If the traces of the noble have faded,

    and I could not preserve them through study,

  14. إلا من البيت الذ خُطَّتُه

    يرشخ فيها مجدها فيُرسي

    except those of the house whose grounds

    hold its glory rooted and firmly anchored.

  15. شادَ بنو عبد الرحيم في العلا

    خيرَ بناءٍ فوق خير أُسِّ

    The sons of ʿAbd al-Raḥīm raised on high

    the finest building upon the finest foundation.

  16. اِدفع بهم غضبةَ كلِّ لَزْبَةٍ

    عمياءَ تَدفَعْ ربوةً بقُدسِ

    With them repel the fury of every crushing calamity,

    blind as it is: you will repel a hill with Mount Quds.

  17. والق بنجم منهُمُ وسعدهِ

    تخلُصْ نجيّاً كلَّ يومِ نحسِ

    And confront it with one of their stars and his good fortune;

    you will escape safely every ill-starred day.

  18. إني عجمتُ بالحسين زمني

    فلم يُثَلَّمْ وهو صُلْبٌ ضِرسي

    With al-Ḥusayn I tested my times by biting,

    and though they were hard, my molar was not chipped.

  19. وذبَّ عني فوفيتُ ناهضاً

    من الخطوب بذئابٍ طُلْسِ

    He shielded me, and I rose unscathed

    from calamities beset with dusky wolves.

  20. أنشَرَ آمالي وكنّ رمماً

    يا من رأى حياةَ ما في الرمسِ

    He revived my hopes, though they were crumbling remains.

    O you who have seen life in what lies in the grave!

  21. ومدَّ لي كفّاً فكانت رُقيةً

    والدهر أفعَى فاغرٌ لنهسي

    He stretched out a hand to me, and it became a charm,

    while Time was a viper, mouth agape to bite me.

  22. صافحتُها فصفَحتْ بلينها

    عنّي ضروسَ السنَوات اليُبْسِ

    I clasped it, and its gentleness turned away

    from me the grinding teeth of the barren years.

  23. ما استصبحتْ عينٌ بمثل وجهه

    واليومُ عبّاسُ العشيّ مُمْسي

    No eye has ever found a lamp like his face,

    while day scowls at dusk and sinks into evening.

  24. ولا ورى زنديَ إلا رأيُهُ

    أبيضُ منه في الخطوب الغُبسِ

    Nor has my fire-stick kindled except through his counsel,

    brighter than that amid dusky calamities.

  25. من دوحةٍ مُظِلّةٍ مطعمِةٍ

    طاب جناها الحلُو طيبَ الغرسِ

    From a spreading tree that shades and nourishes,

    its sweet fruit good as the stock it sprang from.

  26. أدَّتْهُمُ يحذوك فرعُ أصله

    لم يك دينارُهم ابنَ الفَلسِ

    It brought them forth; a branch of its stock gives to you;

    their dinar was no son of a copper coin.

  27. إن بَلِيَتْ أعراضُ قومٍ أو خبتْ

    يوماً فغطّت صحّةً بلَبْسِ

    If other people's honor wears out or fades

    one day, cloaking its soundness in doubt,

  28. باتوا بأعراضٍ عراضٍ في العلا

    يومَ الفخار ووجوهٍ مُلْسِ

    they retain ample honor upon the heights

    on the day of boasting, their faces unblemished.

  29. مكارمٌ معمّة مخولة

    تركَّبتْ من عَربٍ وفُرسِ

    Noble virtues, with paternal and maternal kin,

    compounded from Arabs and Persians.

  30. لم يتهجَّن غُرُّها وشُمُّها

    بالبُهمِ من إمائها والفُطْسِ

    Their fair-browed, high-nosed stock was not debased

    by the dark and flat-nosed among their slave women.

  31. واليوم باقٍ من حُليّ ما بكُمْ

    بقاءَ سطرٍ ناحلٍ في طِرسِ

    Today some ornament of what is yours survives,

    as a slender line survives upon a palimpsest.

  32. غيَّر أخذُ الحقّ من باطله

    طلاوةً فيهِ وفرطَ أنسِ

    Taking the truth from its falsehood has altered

    its charm and its great delight.

  33. فراعِ من حفظهِمُ في رسمهِ

    ناسجةَ العرقِ وحقَّ الجِنسِ

    So heed, in the surviving trace of their remembrance,

    the weaver of lineage and the right of kinship.

  34. واعمرْ بساعاتِ السرور ساعةً

    تُتبعُ برءَ سكرةٍ بنكسِ

    And fill an hour with hours of gladness,

    following recovery from drunkenness with a relapse,

  35. ما بين جَورِ قَدَحٍ وعدله

    وبين حثّ مِزْهَرٍ وجَسِّ

    between the tyranny of a cup and its fairness,

    and between the urging of a lute and its plucking.

  36. هذا لحرِّ فارسٍ نسبتُهُ

    وتلك من عِلج النصارَى الجِبْسِ

    This I traced to a noble man of Persia,

    while that comes from a base Christian foreigner.

  37. عجبتُ منها خَشَباً من خَشَبٍ

    جاءت ومنه ناطقاً عن خُرسِ

    I marveled at her: wood from wood

    she came; and at him, speaking out of muteness.

  38. فاشرب على ابن المُوبَذان خُرِقَتْ

    عُذْرَتُه عذراءَ بنتَ القَسِّ

    So drink, to the son of the Mūbadhān—pierced is

    his virginity—the virgin daughter of the priest.

  39. وخذ لأيام الشتاء أهبةً

    أخذَ العروس أُهُباتِ العُرسِ

    And make preparations for the days of winter,

    as a bride makes preparations for her wedding.

  40. عنديَ من جودك فيه عادةٌ

    يحبسها النسيان بعضَ الحبسِ

    In that season I am accustomed to your bounty,

    which forgetfulness delays somewhat.

  41. تدركني وقد قضت رُعيانهُ ال

    أوطارَ من تحشُّشي ولسِّي

    It reaches me after its shepherds have fulfilled the

    desires for cropping me as fodder and nibbling me.

  42. والمجدُ فيما أنت مهدٍ خالعٌ

    والنفع أن تُلبِسَ وقتَ اللُّبسِ

    Glory bestows robes through the gifts you offer,

    and usefulness is to clothe when clothing is needed.

  43. وحاجتي إذا اقترحتُ حاجةً

    في لطف حِسٍّ وبحسن مسِّ

    And my need, when I put forward a need,

    with delicate feeling and a gentle touch,

  44. في أن يكون اليوم ما يأتي غداً

    إذ كنتُ قد أجمعتكم بالأمسِ

    is that what comes tomorrow should come today,

    since I had resolved to turn to you yesterday.

  45. واعلم بنفسي أنت خيرُ عالمٍ

    أن الشتاءَ من عدو النفسِ

    And know—you know my soul best—

    that winter is among the soul's enemies.