1. مَن مبلغٌ عنّي وإن تعذَّرت

    عَوْفاً وجارت بيَ في أحكامِها

    Who will convey on my behalf, though she proved unyielding,

    to Awf, who wronged me in her judgments,

  2. ومنعَتْنِي النَّصف وهو دِينها

    وبذلَها من غير ما إعدامِها

    and denied me fair dealing, though it is her creed,

    and her bounty, despite no poverty on her part,

  3. وطرحَتْ بين مَنابذ الحصى

    عهدي على المحفوظ من ذِمامِها

    and cast among the places where pebbles are thrown

    my covenant, despite her otherwise guarded pledges—

  4. حيث اطمأنَّ الملكُ في قِبابها

    وضَفت الدنيا على خيامِها

    where sovereignty settled in her domes,

    and the world spread richly over her tents,

  5. وعُلِّقتْ من أمرها ونَهيها

    بذروة العلياء أو سَنامِها

    and through her commands and prohibitions she was suspended

    at glory's summit, or upon its hump;

  6. لا تتعدّى حكمَها قبيلةٌ

    ولا تُعدّيها إلى أحكامِها

    no tribe oversteps her judgment,

    nor brings her over to its own judgments—

  7. ألوكةً إن سمِع المجدُ بها

    قام وكيلاً ليَ في خصامِها

    a message which, if Glory heard of it,

    would make him rise as my advocate against her,

  8. وخجِلتْ منها أسرَّةُ الندى

    فردّت المحدورَ من لثامِها

    and make Generosity's brows blush at it

    and lift again the veil they had let fall?

  9. أبعدَ أن أرسلتَها دوافعاً

    ينثالُ حَشدُ السيل في ازدحامها

    After you sent them forth in surging floods,

    the torrent's mass pouring through their press,

  10. قاطعةً بمدحكم عرضَ الفلا

    بين مَهاويها إلى آكامِها

    crossing the wilderness's breadth with praise of you,

    among its chasms and on toward its hills,

  11. معلوطةً بذكركم وُسومها

    في الخيل والإبل على وسامِها

    their brands stamped with mention of you,

    on horses and camels, over their markings,

  12. في سلمكم تُتلَى على كؤسكم

    والحربِ بين بِيضها ولامِها

    recited in your peace above your cups,

    and in war amid its bright swords and armor—

  13. كَلَّ لسانٌ أفصحت بشكره

    أوابدُ القول على إعجامِها

    a tongue grew weary, whose gratitude was voiced clearly

    by untamed words, despite their inarticulacy—

  14. تسرُّكم وللعدا من غيظها

    ما يؤلم الأطرافَ باصطلامِها

    delighting you, while their fury gives your foes

    the pain of limbs being severed;

  15. لم يسمعوا لمجدكم بمثلها

    في سالف الدنيا ولا قُدّامِها

    they have heard no like of them for your glory,

    in the world's past or in what lies ahead;

  16. تحسدُكم فيها وتستغربُها

    ألسنةٌ ما دُرنَ في كلامِها

    you are envied for them, and they are marveled at

    by tongues that never ranged within their language—

  17. نبا بأيديكم مضاءُ حدّها

    وطاش ما ريَّشتُ من سهامِها

    did their keen edge fail in your hands,

    and the arrows I had feathered fly wide?

  18. ورجعَتْ قهقرةً أبياتُها

    تبكى أياماها على أيتامِها

    Their verses came retreating back,

    their widows weeping over their orphans.

  19. أحللتُمُ بغير مهرٍ بُضْعَها

    ظلماً وإصراراً على حرامِها

    You took their bridal favors without a dower,

    unjustly, persisting in violating their sanctity.

  20. أَبلغْ بما أرعتك من أسماعها

    عَطفاً وما أولتك من أفهامِها

    Deliver it through whatever hearing she lends you

    in sympathy, and whatever understanding she grants you.

  21. فإن لوت صدّاً فقل لبحرِها

    والقمرِ المشتقِّ من غمامِها

    But if she turns away in rejection, speak to her sea

    and the moon cleft from her cloud.

  22. قف وسط ناديها فحيّ قائماً

    حبّاً وإعظاماً أبا قِوامِها

    Halt amid her assembly and salute, standing,

    with love and reverence, the father of her strength:

  23. رسالةً من كلِفٍ بودّه

    متيّمِ الأشواق مستهامِها

    a message from one devoted to his friendship,

    enslaved by yearnings, driven mad by them,

  24. راضٍ عن الإعراضِ والوصلِ به

    وفي انطلاقِ الكف وانضمامِها

    content with estrangement and union with him,

    and with the opening and closing of his hand;

  25. وشاكرٍ ديمتَه إن مطرَتْ

    ليومها أو مطَلتْ بعامِها

    and thankful for his steady rain, whether it falls

    on its day or delays a year in coming,

  26. عن ثقةٍ أنّ حبالَ عهدِه

    لفاتلٍ لم يألُ في إبرامِها

    in confidence that the cords of his covenant

    are surely spun by one who spares no effort in binding them;

  27. وأنه إن بسط الأيامَ لي

    وعداً فللضيقة واحتشامِها

    and that, if he stretches out the days for me

    with promises, it is from hardship and shame over it;

  28. أو فاتت اليومَ نطافُ جوده

    فلي غداً ما شئتُ من جِمامِها

    or if the drops of his bounty pass me by today,

    tomorrow I shall have all I wish from its brimming pools;

  29. وأنّ دَينَ الشعر في ذمّته

    شريعةٌ يدين بالتزامِها

    and that the debt he owes to poetry

    is a sacred law whose observance he holds a religious duty.

  30. أمّا حماه أسد وصِيدُها

    فقد عرفتُ الشمّ من أعلامِها

    As for his refuge—Asad and her proud chiefs—

    I have known the loftiest of her great men.

  31. قمت لها موَاقفاً تُبصرُ ما

    تُعدّه السيرةُ من أيامِها

    You took stands for her in which she sees what

    her chronicle counts among her memorable days;

  32. وأبصرتْ ما خطَّ من أشياخها

    بأساً وحلماً منك في غلامِها

    and she saw what was recorded of her elders—

    valor and forbearance—in you, her young man.

  33. إن وهبتْ كنتَ عُبابَ بحرها

    أو رُهبتْ كنت شَبا حسامِها

    If she gave, you were her sea's surging flood;

    or if she was feared, you were her sword's keen edge;

  34. أو طلبتْ في الجوّ بك غايةً

    جعلتَها تحت ثرى أقدامِها

    or if through you she sought a goal in the sky,

    you set it beneath the dust of her feet.

  35. طلعتَ شمساً لصباح مَزْيدٍ

    وكوكباً يُوقَدُ في ظلامها

    You rose as a sun for Mazyad's morning,

    and a star kindled in her darkness.

  36. إن غمستْ في كرمٍ أيديَها

    حَسرتَ والأكفُّ في أكمامِها

    If she plunged her hands into generosity,

    you bared your arms while hands were still in their sleeves;

  37. أو قَصُرتْ بُوعُ قناها نُطْتَها

    بساعدٍ يَذرَع في تمامِها

    or if her spears' reach fell short, you fastened them

    to an arm that spans their full reach.

  38. أو دفعتْك حسداً عن سؤددٍ

    وقطعَتْ وصلتَ من أرحامِها

    Or if, in envy, she barred you from lordship

    and severed ties, you restored her bonds of kinship.

  39. إن مقاماً حايدوك دونه

    خامدةٌ لا بدّ من ضِرامِها

    Indeed, a station they kept you from

    is a dormant fire that must be kindled.

  40. إن قعدتْ عنك المقاديرُ بها

    فهي التي تنهَض في قيامِها

    If fate has held it back from you,

    it is with fate's rising that you rise.

  41. ذخيرةٌ عند غدٍ دولتُها

    صائرةٌ منك إلى نظامِها

    Her sovereignty is a treasure stored for tomorrow,

    destined to find its order through you.

  42. هناك فاحفظني بما أُسلفتَه

    قوافياً أبليتُ في إحكامِها

    Then remember me for what you were given in advance:

    rhymes I labored hard to perfect.

  43. واضمن لما أهملتَ من حقوقها

    غَرامةً تَبْرُدُ من غرامِها

    And guarantee, for the rights of theirs you neglected,

    a recompense to cool their consuming anguish.

  44. واشكر لها المحبوبَ من طروقها

    في زمن المحْلِ وفي إلمامِها

    And thank them for their welcome night-visits

    in a season of drought, and for their coming.

  45. ولا تكن حاشاك كمُريقِها

    بالقاعِ لم يضبِطْ قُوى عِصامِها

    And do not—far be it from you—be like one who spills them

    on bare ground, not securing the strands of their waterskin's strap;

  46. تُنكِصه البِطنةُ فيما يرتعِي

    عن حَومة العلياء واقتحامِها

    whom gluttony, amid his grazing, drives back

    from glory's arena and the rush into it.

  47. فانضح على ما خيّلتْ لهذه

    ببلّةٍ تُنقِع من أُوامِها

    Then, whatever may be thought, sprinkle this poem

    with a little moisture to slake its burning thirst.

  48. إن الكريم مَنْ قَرَى أضيافَهُ

    ما يسَعُ الإمكانُ من إكرامها

    The generous man is one who welcomes his guests

    with all the honor that his means allow.