1. أمرتجِع لي فارطَ العيش بالحمى

    غرامي بتذكار الهوى وولوعي

    Will bygone life in the protected pasture be restored to me by

    my passion for recalling love and my ardor,

  2. وكرّي المطايا أشتكي غيرَ ضامن

    وأدعو من الأطلالِ غيرَ سميعِ

    and my wheeling back the mounts? I complain to one who offers no surety,

    and call among the ruins to one who cannot hear.

  3. نعم يُقنع المشتاقَ ما ليس طائلاً

    وإن لم يكن قبل النوى بقنوعِ

    Yes, what is of little worth satisfies the yearning lover,

    though before separation he was not easily contented.

  4. وقفنا بها أشباحَ وجدٍ ولوعةٍ

    وأشباهَ ذلٍّ للهوى وخشوعِ

    We stood there, specters of longing and anguish,

    and embodiments of abasement and submission to love:

  5. نحولُ ركابٍ ضامها السيرُ فوقه

    نحولُ جسوم في نحولِ ربوعِ

    wasted mounts, worn down by travel, bearing

    wasted bodies amid wasted dwellings.

  6. لعمر البلى ما اقتاد من ضوء ضارجٍ

    سوى مسمح للنائبات تَبيعِ

    By the life of decay, from Ḍārij's light it led away

    only a compliant follower of calamities.

  7. وقد كُسيت أطلالُ قومٍ وعُرِّيتْ

    فما مُنعتْ دارٌ كأمّ منيعِ

    Indeed, people's ruins have been clothed and stripped bare;

    yet no dwelling was so inaccessible as Umm Manī‘.

  8. رحيبة باع الحسنِ طاولتِ الدُّمَى

    فزادت بمعنىً في الجمال بديعِ

    Broad was the span of her beauty; she rivaled statues,

    surpassing them with a wondrous quality of loveliness.

  9. خطَت في الثرى خطوَ البطيء وقاسمت

    لحاظاً لها في القلب مشيُ سريعِ

    She trod the earth with a slow one's step, sharing her movement

    with glances of hers that moved swiftly through the heart.

  10. كأنّ مُطيباً قال للعِترةِ افتقى

    يقول لها جُرِّي الذيولَ وضُوعي

    As though a perfumer who told the fragrant herb, 'Open up,'

    were saying to her, 'Trail your skirts and waft your scent.'

  11. وأعهدها والدمع يجري بلونه

    فتصبغه من خدّها بنجيعِ

    I remember her when tears ran in their own color,

    and she dyed them with fresh blood from her cheek.

  12. كأنّ شعاعَ النار في وجناتها

    يُطيرُ شرارَ النار بين ضلوعي

    As though the fire's radiance in her cheeks

    sent sparks of fire flying between my ribs.

  13. وعصر الحمى عصري وضلع ظبائه

    معي وربيعُ العيشِ فيه ربيعي

    The protected pasture's days were my days, and its gazelles' favor

    was with me; life's spring there was my spring.

  14. لياليَ أغشَى كلَّ جيدٍ ومِعصمٍ

    يبيت وحيداً من فمي بضجيعِ

    Nights when I covered every neck and wrist—

    each that slept alone—with a bedfellow from my mouth.

  15. إذا رعتها من وصل أخرى بزلّةٍ

    تلافيتها من لِمّتي بشفيعِ

    If I alarmed her with the lapse of embracing another,

    I made amends with an intercessor from my locks.

  16. وفحمةِ ليل كالشعور اهتديتها

    بقدحة برق كالثغور لموعِ

    And through many a coal-black night, like hair, I found my way

    by a spark of lightning flashing like teeth,

  17. إلى حاجة من جانب الرمل سُخِّرت

    لها الشمسُ حتى ما اهتدت لطلوعِ

    toward a desire beside the sands, for which was subdued

    the sun, until it could find no way to rise.

  18. وجوهٌ تولّت من زماني وما أرى

    بأظهرها أمارة لرجوع

    Faces have passed from my days, and I do not see

    in their wake any sign of return.

  19. تعيبُ عليَّ الشيبَ خنساءُ أن رأت

    تطلّع ضوءِ الفجرِ تحت هزيعِ

    Khansā’ reproaches me for gray hair, because she saw

    dawn's light emerging beneath a stretch of night.

  20. وما شبتُ لكن ضاع فيما بكيتكم

    سوادُ عِذاري في بياض دموعي

    I have not grown gray; rather, while I wept for you,

    my sideburns' blackness was lost in my tears' whiteness.

  21. وقالت تفرقنا ونمتَ على الهوى

    سلى طيفك الزوَّارَ كيف هجوعي

    She said, 'We parted, yet you slept despite your passion.'

    'Ask your ever-visiting phantom how I sleep.'

  22. خلعتُ الهوى إلا الحفاظَ ولم أكن

    لأُخدعَ فيه عن مقام خليعِ

    I cast off passion, save fidelity, and was not one

    to be beguiled in it away from a libertine's station.

  23. وكنتُ جنيباً للبطالة فانثنى

    زمامُ نزاعي في يمين نزوعي

    I had been a led mount of idleness; then turned back

    the rein of my longing into the right hand of my renunciation.

  24. سأركبها خرقاء تذرع بوعها

    فضا كلّ خَرْق في البلاد وسيعِ

    I shall mount her, headlong, as her stride measures

    the expanse of every wide wilderness in the lands.

  25. إذا قطعتْ أرضاً أَعدّتْ لأختها

    ظنابيبَ لم تُقرع بمرّ قطيعِ

    When she crosses one land, she prepares for its sister

    shins never struck by a harsh whip.

  26. ضوامن في الحاجاتِ كلَّ بعيدة

    وصائل في الآمال كلَّ قطوعِ

    They secure every far-off need,

    and reconnect every broken hope.

  27. تزور بني عبد الرحيم فتعتلي

    بأخفافها خضراءَ كلِّ ربيعِ

    She visits the sons of ‘Abd al-Raḥīm and climbs

    with her padded hooves the green of every spring.

  28. تحطّ بماءٍ للندى مترقرقٍ

    مَعينٍ وواد للسماح مَريعِ

    She alights by the rippling waters of generosity,

    ever flowing, and a lush valley of largesse.

  29. ترى المدح وسماً والثناءَ معلَّقاً

    لهم بين أغراض لها ونسوع

    You see praise as a brand, and encomium hung

    for them between her saddle-girths and straps.

  30. وكائنْ لديهم من قراعٍ لنكبةٍ

    وللمجد فيهم من أخٍ وقريعِ

    How many a clash with calamity is theirs,

    and how many a brother and champion glory has among them!

  31. وعندهم من نعمةٍ صاحبيّةٍ

    تَرُبُّ أصولاً من علا بفروعِ

    And theirs is a patron's bounty,

    nurturing roots of eminence with its branches.

  32. حموا بالندى أعراضَهم فوقاهُمُ

    من العار ما لا يُتَّقَى بدروعِ

    They shielded their honor with generosity, which guarded them

    against disgrace that cannot be warded off with armor.

  33. ونالوا بأقلامٍ تجول بأنملٍ

    مَطارحَ أرماحٍ تطول ببوعِ

    With pens moving among fingertips, they attained

    the reach of spears extending a full armspan.

  34. بنو كلِّ مفطومٍ من اللؤم والخنا

    وليد وتِربٍ للسماح رضيعِ

    Sons of every man weaned from baseness and obscenity

    as a newborn, and a suckling peer of generosity.

  35. إذا حولموا زادوا بأوفى موازنٍ

    وإن فاخروا كالوا بأوفر صُوعِ

    When rivaled in forbearance, they surpass with the fullest counterweight;

    and when they vie in glory, they measure with the fullest measures.

  36. وإن ريع جار أو تنكَّر منزلٌ

    فربَّ جنابٍ للحسين مَريعِ

    If a neighbor is frightened, or an abode turns hostile,

    then many a lush refuge is al-Ḥusayn's.

  37. رعى اللّهُ للآمال جامعَ شملها

    مُشتِّاً من الأموالِ كلَّ جميعِ

    God preserve for hopes the gatherer of their company,

    who scatters every gathered store of wealth,

  38. وحافظَ سِرب المكرمات ولم تكن

    لتُحفظَ إلا في يمين مضيعِ

    and the guardian of noble deeds' flock, which was not

    to be guarded save in a squanderer's right hand.

  39. أخو الحرب أنَّى ربُّها كان ربَّها

    وأبطالُها من سجَّدٍ وركوعِ

    A brother of war: wherever its lord might be, he was its lord,

    its champions prostrating and bowing.

  40. وكالراح أخلاقاً إذا امتزجت به

    ولكنه للكأس غيرُ صريعِ

    And in temper he is like wine when it mingles with him,

    yet he is not laid low by the cup.

  41. ومشفقةٍ تنهاه من فرط جوده

    ألا تَعباً تنهين غير مطيعِ

    Many a concerned woman restrains him for his excessive generosity—

    ah, weary work! You restrain one who will not obey.

  42. تسومين كف المزن أن تضبِط الحيا

    ولا تسلم الأسرارُ عند مذيعِ

    You demand that the clouds' hand hold back the rain;

    and secrets are not safe with one who divulges them.

  43. شددت بكم أيدي وسدّدت خَلّتي

    ورشتُ جناحي والتحمت صدوعي

    Through you I strengthened my hands and met my need;

    I feathered my wing, and my fractures knit together.

  44. وأقنعني تجريب دهري وأهله

    بكم فحسمتم بذْلَتي وقنوعي

    Experience of my time and its people made me content

    with you; thus you ended my abasement and begging.

  45. فإن أنا لم أفصح بحسن بلائكم

    بشكري فذمّوني بسوء صنيعي

    If I do not proclaim the goodness of your benefactions

    in my thanks—then blame me for my poor conduct—

  46. بكلّ مطاعٍ في البلاغة أمرُها

    مخلّىً لها استطراقُ كلِّ بديعِ

    with every poem whose command in eloquence is obeyed,

    given free passage through every marvel.

  47. لها في القوافي ما لبيتك في العلا

    سَنامُ نصابٍ لا يُنالُ رفيعِ

    In rhyme it has what your house has in eminence:

    an unattainable summit of lofty standing.

  48. إذا عَرِي الشعرُ ارتدت من بروده

    بكل وسيم الطرتين وشيعِ

    When poetry goes naked, this ode dons its mantles,

    in every woven cloth with two handsome borders.

  49. أمدّ بها كفاً صَناعاً كأنني

    أهيب بسيفٍ في الهياج صنيعِ

    I extend through it a skilled hand, as though I

    were calling upon a well-wrought sword in the tumult of battle.

  50. على كلّ يوم طارفِ الحسن طارفٌ

    لها غيرُ مكرورٍ ولا برجيعِ

    With every day of fresh beauty comes something fresh

    for it, neither repeated nor rehashed.

  51. هدايا لكم نفسي بها نفسُ باذلٍ

    وضنيّ بها في الناس ضنُّ منوعِ

    Gifts to you: with them, mine is a giver's spirit,

    yet among others I hoard them with a miser's stinginess.