1. علَّمتْها الأيامُ أن تتجنَّى

    فأحالتْ أخلاقَها السُّمْحَ هُجْنا

    The days taught her to accuse unjustly,

    so she turned her gracious ways to baseness.

  2. وتعدَّى غدرُ الزمانِ إليها

    فرأتْ رعيَها الأمانةَ غَبْنا

    And time's treachery spread to her,

    so she considered keeping faith a loss.

  3. صبَغَ الدهرُ عندها بيضَ أيا

    مِيَ سودا بولنه أو دُكْنا

    Time, in her eyes, dyed my white days

    black [with its color?], or dusky.

  4. فعهودٌ ما شئت تُلغَى وأيما

    نٌ على غير حِلِّها تُستثنى

    So pledges, as many as you please, are annulled, and oaths

    are evaded where no release is lawful.

  5. لم تزل تكذِبُ الأمانيُّ حتى

    منعتْني بالغيب أن أتمنَّى

    Hopes kept proving false, until

    they barred me from hoping for the unseen.

  6. يا لَحا الله وُدَّ مثلكِ ما أن

    زرَ رِفدا عندي وأكثرَ منَّا

    Ah, may God curse the love of one like you: how

    scant its gifts to me, how lavish its reminders of favor!

  7. كم خضوعٍ وليس يُخجِلُ عينا

    وعتابٍ وليس يخرُق أُذْنا

    How much submission, yet it makes no eye blush,

    and reproach, yet it pierces no ear!

  8. أعتفي منكِ صخرةً ليس تُثنَي

    وهي في العين بانَةٌ تتثنَّى

    I seek bounty from a rock in you, one that cannot be bent,

    though to the eye she is a swaying bān tree.

  9. وأرى في جبينِك الشمسَ للعا

    لَم حُسنا ولي شقاءً وحزنا

    And in your brow I see the sun: for the world,

    beauty; for me, misery and sorrow.

  10. ما خَذولٌ في رأس أرعنَ يُمسي

    شاهقا دون نيلها معتنَّا

    No solitary doe on a rugged mountain's summit, looming at dusk

    high and forbidding, beyond anyone's reach,

  11. عبرَتْ وحدَها به ترِد العذ

    بَ لِصابا عُمقاً وترعَى الحَزنا

    having crossed it alone, seeking sweet

    water in deep clefts and grazing rugged ground,

  12. نجوةً توجَدُ الضحى هي والشم

    سُ وتمسي مع الكواكب أمنا

    in a high refuge where at forenoon she and the sun are found,

    and at evening she is safe among the stars—

  13. لو رماها بكلّ ما عنده الطَّر

    فُ لأعيا من دونها وتعنَّى

    if the gaze cast all it had toward her,

    it would tire short of her and strain in vain—

  14. منكِ أنأَى ولستِ منها إذا كن

    تِ مكانَ الوشاح منّيَ أدنى

    is more remote than you; nor are you nearer than she, even when

    you lie against me where my sash lies.

  15. أستعيد الأحلامَ ذكرَك إن خا

    لس طرفي لُماظةَ النوم وهْنا

    I ask dreams to bring back the memory of you, if

    my eye steals a morsel of sleep late at night.

  16. فكأنّي أدعو الصدى وكأنْ ما

    سلَك الطيفُ قطُّ بالنوم جفنا

    So it is as though I call an echo, and as though no

    phantom had ever passed through an eyelid in sleep.

  17. أسأل الدهرَ عن خلائقه الأو

    لى وقد نُقِّلتْ فحالَ وحُلْنا

    I ask time about its former ways,

    though they have been altered: it has changed, and so have we.

  18. وأروم الوفاء من زمن الغد

    ر وهل للسَّحوقِ باليد مجنَى

    And I seek fidelity from an age of treachery—

    can a towering palm's fruit be gathered by hand?

  19. عجباً كيف لامني في قنوطي

    من رأى البحرَ غاضَ والقَطرَ ضَنّا

    Strange—how could he blame me for despair,

    who saw the sea ebb and the rain grow miserly?

  20. كنتُ أشكو الأيام قبلُ وفي أخ

    لافها مَذْقةٌ إذا ما حلبنا

    I complained of the days before, though in their udders

    there was a little watered milk whenever we milked them.

  21. وأذمُّ الدنيا وللناس آذا

    نٌ بواقٍ إذا عُذلنَ سمعنا

    And I reviled the world, though people had ears

    still left that listened when rebuked.

  22. فبودِّ المنى لوَ اَنّ ليالي

    يَ اللواتي بكيتُ منهنّ عُدنا

    So my dearest wish is that my nights,

    those I wept over, might return.

  23. حكَم اللهُ بين قلبي وإخوا

    ني وولَّى الملامَ من جارَ مِنّا

    May God judge between my heart and my brothers,

    and lay the blame on whichever of us acted unjustly;

  24. ورعَى لي في دوحةِ المجد غصنا

    كيفما هُزَّ هُزَّ أخضَرَ لَدْنا

    and preserve for me a branch in glory's spreading tree,

    green and supple however it is shaken,

  25. نابتاً في أرومةٍ للعلا غي

    ناءَ شَقَّتْ ترابَ أرضٍ غَنَّا

    sprung from a luxuriant rootstock of high honor,

    which cleft the soil of fertile earth,

  26. وَصَفَت طيبَ عِرقِها بالجنَى الحُل

    وِ ومدَّت فنّا وَرِيقاً ففنَّا

    proclaimed its root's goodness through sweet

    fruit, and spread leafy bough after bough;

  27. وسقاها ماءَ الندى فكساها

    واسعَ الظلِّ والثرى المطمئنّا

    and water it with bounty's water, clothing it

    in broad shade and firm, settled soil.

  28. غَرسُ عبد الرحيم ثم أطال ال

    لَهُ منها فرعا له ابنا فابنا

    ʿAbd al-Raḥīm's planting; then God lengthened

    a branch from it for him, son after son.

  29. أسرة لم يكذب الدهر وعدا

    في علاهم ولم يخيب ظنا

    A family for whom time never belied a promise

    of their high rank, nor disappointed an expectation.

  30. أمراءُ الجُلَّى وألسنة النا

    دي إذا استُصرخوا خطابا وطعنا

    Lords of great crises, tongues of the assembly,

    when summoned to help, with speeches and spear-thrusts.

  31. لا يبالون والمكارمُ فيهم

    باقياتٌ ما ابتزَّ خطبٌ فأفنَى

    They care nothing—while their noble virtues

    endure—for what calamity plunders and destroys.

  32. ركبوا كلَّ غايةٍ يأخذون ال

    سبق حتى ردُّوا الصرائحَ هُجنا

    They rode toward every goal, seizing

    the lead, until they made purebreds seem mongrels.

  33. وترى كلَّ نافر عندهُم يأ

    نَسُ إلَّا ما كان بخلا وجبنا

    And you see every skittish thing grow at ease among them,

    except miserliness and cowardice.

  34. وإذا العامُ جفَّ مدُّوا عليه

    أيدياً يعصِرون منها المُزْنا

    And when the year runs dry, they stretch over it

    hands from which they wring rainclouds.

  35. كلُّ رِخو الإزار حتى إذا سا

    ر طوَى شَملةً وقلَّص رُدْنا

    Each wears his girdle loosely until, setting forth,

    he gathers his cloak and draws up his sleeve.

  36. لا يهاب السرَى وراءَ المعالي

    واحدا خاضَ ليلَها أو مَثْنى

    He fears no night journey in pursuit of high honors,

    whether he plunges into their night alone or in a pair.

  37. يحمِل الطودَ مستقلّاً ولا يح

    مِلُ وزنَ السَّفاةِ ثأرا وضِغنا

    He carries a mountain, deeming it light, but does not carry

    an awn's weight of vengeance or rancor.

  38. كعميدِ الكفاة لا تجد الغِي

    بَةُ في جنبه ولا الغمزُ وهْنا

    Like ʿAmīd al-Kufāt, the Chief of the Able: neither backbiting

    nor disparagement finds weakness in his flank.

  39. ساد رطبَ الشبابِ مقتبلَ الشر

    خ كهولاً عَدّوا الحجا والسِّنا

    Fresh in youth, at the first bloom of his prime, he surpassed

    mature men who counted their wisdom and years.

  40. أبصرَ الضيمَ خُطَّةً فأباها

    ورأى العجزَ حاجةً فاستغنى

    He saw humiliation as a course, and refused it;

    he saw helplessness as want, and became free of need.

  41. سبق الناسَ إنْ تعجَّلَ لم يك

    بُ ولم يعلَقوا به إن تأنَّى

    He outstripped all others: if he hastened, he never

    stumbled; nor could they catch him if he took his time.

  42. ووقتْه من رأيه جُنَّة لا

    تتفَرّى وصعدةٌ لا تَحَنَّى

    His judgment protected him with a shield that cannot

    be rent, and a spear-shaft that will not bend.

  43. إن دعا في مواقف الفضل لم تُب

    رِزْ إليه جحافلُ الفضل قِرْنا

    If he calls out in the arenas of excellence, no

    rival is sent against him by excellence's armies.

  44. وإذا قيل مَن توحَّد بالجو

    د ومَن فهو واحد لا يُثنَّى

    And when it is asked, 'Who stands alone in

    generosity? Who?'—he is one, with no second.

  45. لا عفا منكَ بعدَ من بانَ منهم

    ربعُ مجدٍ ولا تعطَّلَ مَغنَى

    May there never vanish from you, after those of them who departed,

    any abode of glory, nor may a dwelling stand deserted.

  46. وبقيتَ السيفَ الذي هو أمضى

    دونَهم في اليد التي هي يُمنَى

    May you remain the sword that cuts more keenly,

    in their stead, in the hand that is the right.

  47. عانيات لك الليالي يُعفِّي

    ن بحلم آثارَ ما قد جَهلنا

    With the nights captive to you, effacing

    through forbearance the traces of our rash deeds;

  48. طالعا مطلعَ النجوم لك الشع

    رى تُحيَّا بوفدها وتُهنَّا

    rising where the stars rise, with Sirius yours,

    you are greeted and congratulated by its delegation.

  49. كلّ وَلاجةٍ إذا امتطت القر

    طاسَ لم تنتظر على السمع إذنا

    Each verse that enters everywhere, once it mounts

    the parchment, waits for no permission from the ear.

  50. تُطِربُ الحاضرَ البليغَ وإن مر

    رَت بسمعِ البادي اشْرأبَّ وحنَّا

    It delights the eloquent townsman; and if it passes

    by the nomad's ear, he cranes his neck and yearns.

  51. كلّما عرَّجت بنادي قبيلٍ

    تركت ألسُنَ الفصاحةِ لُكْنا

    Whenever it stops at a tribe's assembly,

    it leaves the tongues of eloquence stammering.

  52. في عداكم تُدافُ سُمّاً وتُهدِي

    لكُمُ في الأعياد شهدا وسمنا

    For your enemies it is blended as poison, and it brings

    you, on feast days, honey and ghee.

  53. لكُمُ صفوُها وصفوُ ودادي

    كلتُموني نَصْفا بها أو غَبْنا

    Yours are its pure essence and the pure essence of my love,

    whether you give me fair measure for it or shortchange me.

  54. لم أزل في الغنى وفي الفقر يخشا

    ني زماني مذ قلتُمُ أنتَ مِنَّا

    Always, in wealth and poverty alike, I have been feared

    by my time, since you said, 'You are one of us.'