1. قد قنِعنا أن نرقُبَ الأحلاما

    لو أذِنتم لمقلةٍ أن تناما

    We have been content to watch for dreams,

    if only you would let an eye sleep.

  2. يالُواةَ الديون إني غريمٌ

    لكُمُ لو قضيتموه الغَراما

    O deferrers of debts, I am a creditor

    of yours—if only you would repay him in love.

  3. مالَكم لا يُذمُّ منكم بغاةُ ال

    عيبِ إلا إلّاً لكم أو ذِماما

    What ails you, that fault-seekers among you are censured

    only for kinship with you or a covenant?

  4. بقلوبٍ لا تُحسن الصفحَ غُلظٍ

    ووجوهٍ لا تُحسن الإجراما

    With hard hearts that know nothing of pardon,

    and faces that know nothing of wrongdoing.

  5. لا أُحِلّ الفراقَ من رشإٍ في

    كم أحلَّت نواه نفسا حراما

    I do not deem it lawful to part from a gazelle among

    you, whose absence has made an inviolable life forfeit.

  6. صار حظي من بعده عشق ذكرا

    ه إلى أن عشقتُ فيه الملاما

    Since his departure, my share has been love of his memory,

    until, for his sake, I came to love reproach.

  7. لا ادعت بعده الغصونُ قَواما

    عند عيني ولا البدور تَماما

    May branches claim no graceful stature after him

    in my eyes, nor full moons perfection.

  8. يا صريعَ العيون إن فتَّر الغن

    جُ لحاظا بها فَترتَ عِظاما

    O you felled by eyes, if coquetry slackens

    their glances, you grow slack to the bone.

  9. حبَّذا بابل على ذكرك السح

    رَ وعيشٌ ببابل لو داما

    How lovely is Babylon, despite the sorcery you recall,

    and life in Babylon—if only it had lasted!

  10. وطريقٌ إلى المُرَاخِ نفضنا

    ه على بعده ضناً وغراما

    And a road to al-Murākh, which we traversed

    despite its distance, in attachment and passion.

  11. وربيعٌ من عصر لهوٍ عصرَنا

    ه أنِ اللهُ لم يهبهُ أثاما

    And a springtime from an age of revelry, which we pressed,

    for God had bestowed no sin upon it.

  12. ومتى قلتَ عد ليوم مضى من

    نِي فإني لا أعرف الأياما

    And whenever you say, ‘Return to a bygone day of

    mine,’ I do not recognize the days.

  13. قل لقوم عدُّوا الغنى كلَّه البخ

    لَ وعدُّوا السماحةَ الإِعداما

    Tell those who deem miserliness the whole of wealth,

    and deem generosity destitution:

  14. حسبوا من قنوطهم أنهم لا

    يجمعون النعيم والإنعاما

    in their despair, they supposed they could not

    combine prosperity with generosity.

  15. حسبُ عبد الرحيم أنَّ بنيه

    وصلوا باتباعه الأرحاما

    It suffices ʿAbd al-Raḥīm that his sons

    have maintained kinship ties by following him.

  16. صدَقوا عنه فاستقاموا مصلّي

    ن على إثره ومرَّ أماما

    They faithfully reflected him and held their course as runners-up

    in his wake, while he went on ahead.

  17. فاقَهم وهو منهم ابن عليٍّ

    والخوافي مكفورة بالقدامى

    The son of ʿAlī surpassed them, though he is one of them;

    the secondary wing-feathers are hidden by the primaries.

  18. ساد بالمجد ثمّ ما شئت من جَد

    دٍ إذا اعوجَّت الخطوبُ استقاما

    He gained mastery through glory, then through all the fortune you could wish,

    which stayed straight when adversities grew crooked.

  19. تأكل العينُ منه ما تشربُ النف

    س اتفاقا في حبّه والتئاما

    The eye feasts on what the soul drinks of him,

    in agreement and harmony in their love for him.

  20. قمرٌ زُيِّنتْ سماءُ علاه

    بنجوم من رهطه تتسامَى

    A moon, the sky of whose eminence was adorned

    with stars from his clan, rising aloft.

  21. لا يَعُدُّ الغلامُ منهم أخاه

    ساد حتى يشأى الكهولَ غلاما

    No youth among them reckons his brother

    a master until, still young, he outstrips mature men.

  22. يالَ عبد الريم أحصدتُمُ لي

    سببا كان في سواكم رماما

    O house of ʿAbd al-Rīm, you twisted tight for me

    a cord that, with others, had been rotten.

  23. قعدَ الدهرُ بي لئيما فقمتم

    تحمِلون الخطوبَ عنّي كِراما

    Time meanly held me down, but you rose

    nobly bearing my hardships away from me.

  24. أَنهِضوني بوصفكم إنني ما اع

    تَدتُ أن أقهرَ الجبال زحاما

    Help me rise to describing you, for I am not

    used to overpowering mountains by jostling.

  25. للتهاني وصفٌ يخُصُّ وإن كا

    نت سعاداتُكم تعُمّ العاما

    Congratulations have their special praise, although

    your good fortunes encompass everyone.

  26. وَفَّر اللهُ يا أبا القاسم اليو

    مَ من الخير عندك الأقسامَا

    May God, O Abū al-Qāsim, make abundant today

    the shares of goodness allotted to you.

  27. وأراني فيك التي خيرُ حُسَّا

    دك حالاً من شمَّ فيها الرَّغاما

    And may He show me you in a state where the best-off of your enviers

    is one who has sniffed the dust.

  28. بالغا فوق ما تروم من العز

    زِ إذا فات طالبا ما راما

    Attaining more honor than you seek,

    when what a seeker sought has eluded him;

  29. في نحور العدا شجا ما غدا النا

    سُ إلى النحر سائقين السَّواما

    a bone lodged in your enemies’ throats, so long as people

    go forth driving grazing herds to slaughter.