1. أجيرانَنا بالغور والركبُ مُتهِمُ

    أيعلَمُ خالٍ كيف بات المتيَّمُ

    O neighbors of ours in al-Ghawr, while the caravan heads toward Tihamah,

    does one free of love know how love's captive spent the night?

  2. رحَلتم وعمرُ الليل فينا وفيكُمُ

    سواءُ وفيكم ساهرون ونوَّمُ

    You departed, and the night's length for us and for you

    was equal, yet among you were wakeful ones and sleepers.

  3. بنا أنتُمُ من ظاعنين وخَلَّفوا

    قلوبا أبت أن تعرف الصبر عنهُمُ

    Our lives would ransom you, departing travelers, who left behind

    hearts that refused to know patience without you.

  4. يقُون الوجوه الشمسَ والشمسُ فيهُمُ

    ويسترشدون النجمَ والنجمُ منهمُ

    They shield their faces from the sun, though the sun is among them,

    and seek guidance from the star, though the star is one of them.

  5. أُناشِدُ نَعمانَ الأخابيرَ عنهُمُ

    كفَى خبرةً مستفصحٌ وهو أعجمُ

    I implore Na'man for tidings of them;

    one asked to speak, though mute, is knowledge enough.

  6. وأحلُمُ إشفاقا وللبين أنّةٌ

    يبينُ عليها الطائشُ المتحلِّمُ

    I keep my composure out of apprehension, but parting has a groan

    that exposes the rash man feigning restraint.

  7. ولمّا جلا التوديع عما عهدتُه

    ولم يَبقَ إلا نظرةٌ تُتَغنَّمُ

    When farewell stripped away what I had known,

    and nothing remained but a glance to be seized,

  8. بكيتُ على الوادي فحرَّمتُ ماءه

    وكيف يحلّ الماءُ أكثره دمُ

    I wept over the valley and made its water forbidden:

    how can water be lawful when most of it is blood?

  9. ونفَّرت بالأنفاس عنّي حُدوجَهم

    كأنّ مطاياهم بهنّ تُوسَّمُ

    With my sighs I drove their howdahs away from me,

    as though their mounts were being branded by those sighs.

  10. أعاذلَ إن كان السلوّ لغدرةٍ

    فأصدقُ ما حدَّثتَ أنّيَ مغرمُ

    O reproacher, if forgetting is indeed a betrayal,

    then your truest statement is that I am love-stricken.

  11. وددتُ الهوى يومين وصلا وهِجرةً

    به اليومَ يشقَى من به أمسِ ينعَمُ

    I wished love were two days: union and estrangement,

    through which today's sufferer enjoyed bliss yesterday;

  12. وأن ملوكا في بَرُوجِرْد كُرِّمَتْ

    بهم بذلوا الإنصافَ فيما تكرَّموا

    and that kings in Borujerd, which was honored

    through them, had dealt fairly in their generosity,

  13. فمُيِّز من أعدائهم أولياؤُهم

    إذا انتقموا يوم الجزاءِ وأنعموا

    so their friends were distinguished from their enemies

    when they punished and bestowed favors on the day of recompense.

  14. ولكنّهم والجور من دين غيرهم

    طريقا بسهم الجوْر في الناس قسَّموا

    Yet they—though injustice is the creed of others—

    apportioned a path among people with injustice's arrow.

  15. فلا ماءَ إلا في الحسود مرقرَقٌ

    ولا نارَ إلا في المحبِّ تضرَّمُ

    No water ripples except within the envious,

    and no fire blazes except within the lover.

  16. ألا راكبٌ بين الجبال سبيلُه

    يُظنُّ نشاطا مُسهلا وهو محزِمُ

    Is there a rider whose path lies among the mountains,

    so spirited he seems to cross plains, though traversing rugged heights,

  17. يبلّغُ من بعدِ السلام رسالةً

    عساه على أخطارهَا بيَ يَسلَمُ

    to deliver, after greetings, a message—

    may he, despite its perils, find safety through me?

  18. يحُطُّ بضَبِّيِّينَ جمرةُ فخرهم

    بحيثُ انتمَوْا وملكُهم حيثُ خيَّموا

    He alights among the Dabbis; the ember of their pride

    is where they trace their descent, their kingdom wherever they camp.

  19. فيطرقُ أسماعا تصَمُّ عن الخنا

    وتُصغِي إلى داعي الندى فتصمِّمُ

    He reaches ears that are deaf to obscenity

    but listen to generosity's caller and act with resolve.

  20. إلام وكان البِرُّ منكم سجيَّة

    تَواصُلُنا يخفَى وكم نتظلَّمُ

    How long—when kindness was your nature—

    must our bond go unnoticed, and how often must we complain?

  21. وما بالُ غصنٍ فيكُمُ طاب أصلُه

    فَرَعْتُم له الهِجرانَ فيما فرعتُمُ

    What of a branch among you whose root was sound?

    You raised estrangement as its branch among the branches you raised.

  22. فطبَّقتُم الآفاق وقْفاً بصيته

    فلمّا نمَى سوئلتُمُ فمسكتُمُ

    You filled the horizons with its renown while it stood still;

    but when it grew and you were asked, you withheld.

  23. أواشٍ دهاني عندكم أم خيانةٌ

    جنتها يدٌ حاشايَ من ذاك أو فمُ

    Has a slanderer undone me in your eyes, or some betrayal

    committed by a hand—far be it from me—or a mouth?

  24. أراجعُ نفسي أيُّ ذنب رمى بها

    إلى السخط منكم والظنونُ تُرَجِّمُ

    I question myself: what sin has cast it

    into your displeasure, while conjectures guess blindly?

  25. فلا جرماً ما ناصفَت في حسابِها

    سوى أن ملِلْتم والملالُ تَجَرُّمُ

    It finds no crime when judging its account fairly,

    except that you grew weary—and weariness invents offenses—

  26. وأن حسودا ربّما كان غاظه

    على حظّه بالعجزِ حظِّيَ منكُمُ

    and that an envious man was perhaps angered

    by my share of your favor against his share of failure.

  27. تخلَّتْ لما أسداه بعدي وُجوهُكُم

    فظلَّ ولَلخْالي الشجاعةِ يُلحِمُ

    Your faces turned wholly toward what he offered in my absence;

    he kept stirring strife—courage comes easily to the unopposed.

  28. وبي ما به من غيظه بمحاسني

    لأن كنتُ فيكم واقفا حيث يُرغَمُ

    I, too, feel what he feels in his rage at my merits,

    because I stood among you where he was humbled.

  29. وما أنا ممّن يستغرُّ بخدعةٍ

    يعود على أعقابها يتندَّمُ

    I am not one to be beguiled by a trick,

    then turn back in its wake in regret.

  30. أسادتَنا والجودُ صيَّرنا لكم

    عبيدا وعن قومٍ نَعِزُّ ونكرُمُ

    O our masters, generosity has made us your

    slaves, though before other people we are proud and noble.

  31. بأيّ المساعي تكبِتون عدوّكم

    إذا أنتُمُ أُغريتُمُ فقبلتُمُ

    By what endeavors do you thwart your enemy

    if you accept the incitement offered you?

  32. وفي أيّما حكمٍ تظنّون زَلَّةً

    فيظهرُ من تأديبكم إن حَرمتُمُ

    And by what judgment do you suppose a lapse

    will be exposed by your discipline, if you withhold?

  33. ومغريكُمُ بي أن تكفُّوا نوالَكم

    بمجدِكُمُ أغراكُمُ لو علمتُمُ

    Whoever incites you against me to withhold your bounty

    has incited you against your glory, if only you knew.

  34. أعيذُكم من مذنبٍ في عقوبةٍ

    بقِيتم له عذرا ويقدَحُ فيكُمُ

    I seek protection for you from an offender under punishment

    for whom you remain an excuse, while he disparages you.

  35. ولو أنكم لمّا وجدتُم عتبتُمُ

    وأَعطيتُمُ أصلحتُمُ وشُكِرتُمُ

    Had you, when angered, reproached

    and given, you would have set things right and been thanked.

  36. نقَصتم بحذفِ اسمى صحيفةَ رِفدكم

    فما زاد في أموالكم ما نقَصتُمُ

    You diminished the register of your bounty by deleting my name,

    but what you removed added nothing to your wealth.

  37. وما الفقُر إذ أغفلتُمُ ما منعتُمُ

    وليس الغنَى لو جدتُمُ ما بذلتُمُ

    What you withheld when you neglected me is not what makes me poor,

    nor would what you gave, if generous, be what makes me rich.

  38. ولا كان قدرُ المال قدرَ انتقامكم

    ألا بئس فتْكاتُ الملوك فتكَتُمُ

    The sum of money was not commensurate with your vengeance;

    how wretched the royal assaults you have made!

  39. ووالله ما لله فيما حفِظتم

    ولا للعلا حقٌّ وحقِّي أضعتمُ

    By God, in what you kept, neither God

    nor high honor received its due, while you squandered mine.

  40. ولا بيَ ميزانُ العطاءِ وإنه

    ليصغُرُ عندي وهو في الدهر يعظُمُ

    Nor am I concerned with the measure of gifts; indeed, it

    is small in my eyes, though great in the world.

  41. ولا ذلَّة عاما فعاما تجدُّ لي

    على صَعدةٍ من عطفكم ليس تُعْجَمُ

    Nor does humiliation renew itself for me year after year

    upon a straight shaft of your kindness that is never tested.

  42. وإني لأرضى من كثير طريقةِ اب

    تذالي قليلا بالعفاف يُتمِّمُ

    I would indeed prefer, to much gained through debasing

    myself, a little made complete by integrity.

  43. وحسبيَ فيما أدّعيه بعلمكم

    متى قلتُمُ في عفّتي ما عرفتمُ

    Your knowledge suffices to support what I claim,

    whenever you say of my integrity what you know.

  44. ولكن مودَّاتٌ عذارَى نكحتُها

    وإنّيَ من تطليقها أتذمَّمُ

    But these are virgin affections I have wed,

    and I shrink from the shame of divorcing them.

  45. ونفسٌ قضَتْ فيكم زمانَ شبابها

    رجَتْ أنَّها فيكم تَشيبُ وتهرَمُ

    A soul that spent its youth among you

    hoped to turn gray and grow old among you.

  46. ويُخجلني أن ينشرَ الناسُ أنكم

    طويتم من التنويه ما بي نشرتمُ

    It shames me that people should spread word that you

    have folded away the renown you once spread for me.

  47. إذا صور الإشفاقُ لي كيفَ أنتمُ

    وكيف إذا ما عنّ ذكريَ صرتمُ

    When solicitude pictures for me how you are,

    and what you become whenever my mention comes to mind,

  48. تنفسْتُ عن عتبٍ فؤاديَ مفصحٌ

    به ولساني للحفاظ مجمجِمُ

    I sigh forth reproach, which my heart declares

    plainly, while my tongue falters for loyalty's sake.

  49. وفي فيَّ ماءٌ من بقايا ودادكم

    كثيراً به من ماء وجهي أرقتمُ

    In my mouth remains water from the remnants of your affection,

    with which you spilled much of my face's water.

  50. أضمُّ فمي صمتاً عليه وبينه

    وبين انسكابٍ ريثما أتكلَّمُ

    I close my mouth over it in silence, and between it

    and spilling there is only the time it takes me to speak.

  51. لمن يَذخَر المالَ الفتى وهو قادرٌ

    به أن يحوزَ الحمدَ وهو مذمَّمُ

    For whom does a young man hoard money, when he can

    win praise with it, yet remains reviled?

  52. ألمِّظُ نفسي عتبَكم وهو حنظلٌ

    وأُورَدُ ما استَطْيَبْتُمُ وهو علقمُ

    I make my soul taste reproach of you, though it is colocynth,

    and am led to drink what you find sweet, though it is bitter gall.

  53. فلا مات عِرض المرء وهو ابن حرّةٍ

    وفي الأرض دينارٌ يعيش ودرهمُ

    May a man's honor never die while he is freeborn,

    and a dinar and a dirham still live upon the earth.

  54. أأربابَ نُعمايَ التي مذ عدِمتها

    علمتُ وقد أثريتُ أنّيَ معدمُ

    O masters of my blessings, ever since I lost them,

    I have known, though grown rich, that I am destitute.

  55. وخُطَّابَ أفكاري التي وَلدَتْ لهم

    ذكورا كراما والقرائحُ تَعقُمُ

    And suitors to my thoughts, which bore for them

    noble sons while poetic gifts were barren,

  56. متى اعتضتُمُ منّي خطيبا بفضلكم

    وهل مثلُ شعري عن علاكم مترجمُ

    when did you find an orator for your merit in my place?

    Does anything like my verse interpret your eminence?

  57. وما غيرُ مدحي طبَّق الأرض فيكُمُ

    وإن كان مِلءَ الأرض ما قد مُدحتمُ

    No praise but mine has filled the earth with you,

    though the praise you have received fills the earth;

  58. سواءٌ إذا لم تسْرِ قبلُ أوانسي

    وشاعرُ ما لم يروه الناسُ مُفحَمُ

    all is alike unless my familiar verses have traveled first,

    and a poet is speechless until people recite him.

  59. فما بالُ عامَيْ هجرِكم لي جفاهما

    جَدِيبَيْن عامُ الهجرةِ المتقدِّمُ

    What of your two years of estrangement from me, spurned,

    both barren, by the preceding year of estrangement?

  60. أثَقَّلتُ أم كنتُ المَعيدِيَّ عندكم

    سمعتم به غيرَ الذي قد نظرتمُ

    Was I burdensome, or was I al-Ma'idi in your eyes—

    someone you heard of differently from what you saw?

  61. فلا شكروا فضلَ العتاب فإنه

    فُضالاتُ داء الصدر والداءُ يُكظَمُ

    Let them not give thanks for the gift of reproach, for it is

    the overflow of sickness in the breast, a sickness held in check.

  62. وما فاضَ حتى ضاق عنه إناؤه

    وقد يملأ القَطرُ الإناءَ فيُفعَمُ

    It did not overflow until its vessel grew too narrow,

    and raindrops may fill a vessel until it brims over.

  63. صبَرت لكم حولين تِلوَيْن راجيا

    أخيبُ ووقعُ الجرح في الجرح مؤلمُ

    I endured for you two successive years, hoping,

    only to be disappointed; a wound upon a wound is painful.

  64. وأشهد إن لم تغنني العامَ هذه

    فلا ريع ممنوعٌ ولا جاد منعِمُ

    And I declare: if this poem does not enrich me this year,

    then no yield is withheld and no benefactor has been generous.

  65. إذا شئتمُ أن تنظروا كيف يبتني ال

    علاءَ الثناءُ فانظروا كيف أنتمُ

    If you wish to see how praise builds

    lofty glory, then look at what you are.