1. لعلَّ لها مع النَّسريْن سِرَّاً

    فدعها طائراتٍ أن تَمُرَّا

    Perhaps they share a secret with the two Eagles,

    so let them pass, flying.

  2. ركائب واثقين من الأماني

    وأظهُرِها بما قتلَتْه خُبْرا

    Mounts of men confident of their hopes,

    and of their backs, through what they have thoroughly learned.

  3. تلوح خواطفاً فتظُنُّ أمراً

    بها في السير وهي تُريد أمرا

    They flash by, darting, and you imagine one purpose

    in their journey, while they intend another.

  4. سواءٌ عند أعينها سِراراً

    قطعنَ الشهرَ أو سايرن بدرا

    All is the same to their eyes: whether in moonless nights

    they cross the month, or keep pace with a full moon.

  5. ولولا أن يخضن مع الدرارِي

    سوادَ الليل لم يُخْلَقنَ حُمرا

    Were they not to wade with the brilliant stars

    through the night's blackness, they would not have been made red.

  6. يُحَطُّ المَيْسُ منها عن جُنوبٍ

    محلَّقَةٍ وكنَّ رحَلنَ شُعْرَا

    The hackberry-wood saddle-frames are taken off their flanks,

    now shorn, though they had set out shaggy.

  7. إذا أرسِلنَ في الحاجات خَطْباً

    حَبَوْنَك ثيِّباً منها وبِكرا

    When sent to court the things one needs,

    they grant you the once-wed among them and the virgin.

  8. يَكُنَّ إلى فَوارِكها شفيعاً

    يُقرُّ نِفارَها ويكُنَّ مَهْرا

    They intercede with their reluctant brides,

    stilling their aversion, and become the bridal gift.

  9. وراءَ العزّ نطلبُهُ فإما

    وصلنا أو بلغنا فيه عُذرا

    After glory we go, seeking it; either

    we attain it, or earn an excuse in its pursuit.

  10. وماء تُحبَسُ الأنفاسُ منه

    وتُستشرَى به اللَّهَوَاتُ حَرَّا

    And water that makes one hold one's breath,

    and fiercely inflames the throats with heat—

  11. وردت مع القطا الكُدريِّ منه

    أَجُوناً من بقايا الصَّيف كَدْرا

    with the dusky sandgrouse I came to drink of it:

    a stagnant, turbid remnant of summer.

  12. أسيغُ شرابهُ المكروهَ حلواً

    إذا قايستُهُ بالذلِّ مُرَّا

    I swallow its loathsome draught as sweet

    when I compare it with bitter humiliation.

  13. وبيتِ قِرىً تشرَّف ساكنوه

    يَفاعاً يَقسِرون العيشَ قَسْرا

    And a house of hospitality, whose dwellers stood aloft

    on high ground, wresting their livelihood by force.

  14. نزلتُ به وفيه غِنىً لقوم

    وسرتُ بجودهم وتركتُ فَقرا

    I lodged there, where a people's riches lay;

    I left with their bounty, leaving poverty there.

  15. وكالمُهَراتِ في فَتَياتِ حيٍّ

    حَكيْنَ رماحَه فخطَرنَ سُمرا

    And girls like fillies among a tribe's maidens,

    who resembled its spears, swaying, dusky-brown.

  16. يُردن الخيرَ إلا أنَّ قولاً

    يُظِنُّ المستريبَ بهنَّ شَرَّا

    They mean well, though a word

    makes the suspicious think ill of them.

  17. خلوتُ بنومهنَّ فلم أوسِّدْ

    يدِي جنباً ولا جنبيَّ نُكْرا

    I was alone as they slept, yet did not pillow

    my hand on a flank, nor my own sides on wrongdoing.

  18. ورحتُ وقد ملاتُ الودَّ عيناً

    بما أودعتُها وملأتُ صدرا

    I went away, having filled affection's eye

    with what I had placed in it, and filled its breast.

  19. وقافيةٍ على الراوي لَجوجٍ

    خدعتُ نِفارَها حتى استَقرَّا

    And a rhyme stubbornly defying the reciter—

    I beguiled its wildness until it settled.

  20. تموتُ بموتِ قائلها القوافي

    وتبقَى لي وللممدوحِ ذِكْرا

    Rhymes die with the death of their maker,

    yet endure as a memorial to me and the man I praise.

  21. فصُحتُ ليعرُبٍ فيها كأنّي

    عَجُمتُ ببابلٍ فنَفَثْتُ سِحْرا

    I spoke eloquent Arabic in it to Ya'rub, as though

    I had spoken a foreign tongue in Babylon and breathed out magic.

  22. طلبتُ لها من الفتيان فَذَّاً

    يكون لِعقدها المنظومِ نَحرا

    For it I sought a peerless man among the young men,

    to be the neck for its strung necklace.

  23. فلم يَعْدُ ابنَ أيّوبَ اختياري

    وقد عمَّقتُ في ذا الناسِ سَبْرا

    My choice went no further than Ibn Ayyub,

    after I had probed these people deeply.

  24. وما طوَّفت في الآفاق إلا

    وجدتُك أنتَ أينَ طلبتُ حُرّا

    I never roamed the horizons without

    finding you yourself wherever I sought a noble man.

  25. جنَبتُ بك الهوى كهلاً كأني

    جنبتُ يدِي الشبابَ المسبَكرَّا

    In middle age I led love beside you, as though

    I were leading youth in its full vigor by the hand.

  26. وعلَّقتُ المودّةَ منك كفِّي

    على زِلقٍ متينِ الفتلِ شَزْرا

    And I hung my hand, in affection for you,

    on a smooth cord, stoutly counter-twisted.

  27. دعوتُك والحوادثُ ذاهباتٌ

    بسَرحِ تصوُّني طرداً وطَرَّا

    I called on you as calamities carried off

    the herd of my self-respect, driving it all away.

  28. وقد طَلَقَتْ بناتُ الصبرِ منّي

    كأني لم أكن للصّبر صِهرا

    Patience's daughters had been divorced from me,

    as though I had never been patience's son-in-law.

  29. فكنتَ أخي هوىً وأَبى حُنُوَّاً

    ونفسي نُصرةً وبُنيَّ بِرَّا

    You were my brother in affection, my father in tenderness,

    my own self in support, my little son in devotion.

  30. حملتَ حمالةَ الأيّامِ عنّي

    قُلُوصاً فكَّني منها وكَرَّا

    You bore the burden of the days away from me,

    a young she-camel and a stout rope, freeing me from it.

  31. مغارمُ أَشكَلَتْ أقضَيْتَ حقَّ ال

    مودّةِ أم قضَيْتَ بهنَّ نَذْرا

    Payments that left me unsure: did you discharge the claims of

    affection, or fulfill a vow through them?

  32. أشرتُ إلى يديك فصُبتَ عفواً

    وقد أتعبت أيدي المزن غَفْرا

    I gestured toward your hands; you poured freely,

    though I had wearied the rainclouds' hands seeking cover.

  33. ولما ثَلَّمت منّي الليالي

    أريتُك خَلَّةً فسددتَ عَشْرا

    And when the nights had chipped away at me,

    I showed you one breach, and you filled ten.

  34. مَكارمُ لم تُسابَقْ في مداها

    وقد حَرصَتْ عليها الرِيحُ حَصْرا

    Noble deeds never matched in their course,

    though the wind pursued them eagerly, breathless.

  35. وأخلاقٌ صفت من كلِّ غِشٍّ

    سكرتُ بها وما عوطيت خمرا

    And virtues clear of every deceit—

    I grew drunk on them, though given no wine.

  36. ملكتَ حسابَها إرثاً حلالاً

    فصرنَ لديك حقَّاً مستَقرَّا

    You possessed their full measure by lawful inheritance,

    so they became your firmly established right.

  37. أباً فأباً من الأعلام فيها

    نعدّهُمُ إليك هلمَّ جرَّا

    Father after father, each a great figure in them,

    we count them down to you, one after another.

  38. لَعَمْرُ الحاسديك وهل يُبَقِّي

    لهم حَسَدُ الكمالِ عليك عَمْرا

    By your enviers' lives—yet does

    envy of your perfection leave them any life?

  39. لقد ليموا بما نقموا وإني

    لأوسعُهم بما حسدوك عُذرا

    They were indeed blamed for what they resented, yet I

    grant them ample excuse for what they envied in you.

  40. أقِلْني العجزَ إن قَصَّرتُ وصفاً

    لِما أوليتَ أو قَصَّرتُ شكرا

    Pardon my inadequacy if I fall short in describing

    what you have bestowed, or fall short in thanks.

  41. فإنَّ عليّ جَهْدَ الفكرِ قولاً

    وليس عليَّ عند الغيثِ قَطْرا

    For my duty is thought's utmost effort in words,

    not to offer drops in the presence of rain.

  42. على أنّ القوافي الغُرَّ عني

    كوافلُ بالذي أَرضَى وسَرَّا

    Yet the radiant rhymes, on my behalf,

    stand surety for what brings pleasure and delight.

  43. تروح عليك أو تغدو التهاني

    بهنّ حوافلَ الأخلافِ غُزْرا

    Congratulations visit you at evening or at dawn,

    through them, with brimming teats and abundant flow.

  44. إذا مَطَرَتْ ترى الأحسابَ بيضاً

    بما يُثنِينَ والأعراضَ خُضْرا

    When they rain, you see lineages white

    through their praises, and reputations green.

  45. كأن لطيمةً منها أُنيختْ

    ببابك فارتدعْ ما شئتَ عِطرا

    As though a perfume caravan of theirs had been made to kneel

    at your gate: anoint yourself with as much perfume as you wish.

  46. تعدّ الدهرَ نيروزاً وعيداً

    وصوماً راجعاً أبداً وفِطرا

    You reckon time in Nowruz and feasts,

    and fasting ever returning, and fast-breaking.

  47. فتصحَبُه بأنفذَ منه أمراً

    على الدنيا وأطولَ فيه عُمرا

    So you accompany it, more commanding than it

    over the world, and longer-lived within it.