1. خيلُكَ من صفا لك في البعادِ

    وجارُك من أذمَّ على الودادِ

    Your cavalry are those who stay true to you when far away;

    and your neighbor is one who pledges himself to affection.

  2. وحظُّك من صديقك أن تراه

    عدوّاً في هواك لمن تعادي

    Your share in a friend is to see him

    hostile, out of love for you, to those you oppose.

  3. وربَّ أخٍ قَصيِّ العِرق فيه

    سلوٌّ عن أخيك من الوِلادِ

    Many a brother of distant lineage holds

    solace enough to make you forget your brother by birth.

  4. فلا تغررْك ألسنةٌ رطابٌ

    بطائنهنَّ أكبادٌ صَوادي

    So let no moist tongues deceive you:

    their inner linings are parched livers.

  5. وعِش إمَّا قرين أخٍ وفيّ

    أمينِ الغيبِ أو عيشَ الوحادِ

    Live either as the companion of a faithful brother,

    trustworthy in your absence, or live alone.

  6. فإني بعدَ تجريبي لأمرٍ

    أنستُ ولا أغشُّك بانفرادي

    For after putting a matter to the test,

    I found comfort—I do not deceive you—in my solitude.

  7. تريدُ خلائقُ الأيّام مَكراً

    لتُغضِبَني على خُلقي وعادي

    The ways of the days plot deceit

    to turn me against my character and customary ways.

  8. وتغمزني الخطوبُ تظنُّ أني

    ألين على عرائكها الشِّدادِ

    Calamities press me, thinking that I

    will yield beneath their harsh trials.

  9. وما ثهلانُ تشرف قُنَّتاه

    بأحملَ للنوائب من فؤادي

    Yet Thahlan, whose twin summits tower,

    is no better at bearing calamities than my heart.

  10. تغرِّبُ في تقلُّبها الليالي

    عليّ بكلّ طارقةٍ نآدِ

    The nights spring strange surprises in their changes,

    upon me with every crushing visitation.

  11. إذا قلتُ اكتفت مني وكفَّت

    نزتْ بالداء ثائرة العِدادِ

    Whenever I say, “They have had enough of me and ceased,”

    they spring back with disease, its recurring pangs raging.

  12. رعَى سِمنُ الحوادثِ في هُزالي

    كأنّ صلاحَهن على فسادي

    Calamities grow fat by grazing on my leanness,

    as though their well-being depended on my ruin.

  13. فيوماً في الذخيرة من صديقي

    ويوماً في الذخيرة من تِلادي

    One day they feed on the treasure I have in my friend,

    and another on the treasure of my ancestral wealth.

  14. يذمُّ النومَ دون الحرص قومٌ

    وقلتُ لرقدتي عنه حَمادِ

    Some condemn sleep rather than covetous striving;

    I tell my slumber, for sparing me that: “Well done!”

  15. وما ان الغِنَى إلا يسيراً

    لو أنّ الرزقَ يبعثه اجتهادي

    Wealth would be nothing but an easy matter,

    if my exertion were what sent forth livelihood.

  16. وضاحكةٍ إلى شَعرٍ غريبٍ

    شُكمتُ به فأسلس من قيادي

    Many a woman laughs at a strange lock of hair,

    which bridled me and made me more yielding to the rein.

  17. تَعُدُّ سِنِيَّ تَعجَبُ من بياضي

    وأعجبُ منه لو علمتْ سوادي

    She counts my years, astonished at my white hair;

    my black hair is more astonishing still, if she only knew.

  18. أَمانٍ كَّ يومٍ في انتقاصٍ

    يساوقُهنَّ هَمٌّ في ازديادِ

    Hopes diminish with every passing day,

    while worry keeps pace with them, increasing.

  19. وفُرقةُ صاحبٍ قَلِقِ المطايا

    به قَلَقُ المدامعِ والوسادِ

    And separation from a friend whose mounts are restless—

    for him, tearful eyes and the pillow know no rest.

  20. تُخفِّضُ بعدَه الأيّامُ صوتي

    على لَسَني وتَخفِضُ من عمادي

    After him, the days lower my voice,

    despite my eloquence, and weaken my pillar of support.

  21. أقيمُ ولم أقمْ عنه لِمُسْلٍ

    ويرحَلُ لم يَسْرِ منّي بزادِ

    I remain, yet have not turned away from him for any solace;

    he departs on his night journey with no provision from me.

  22. كأنّا إذ خُلقنا للتصافي

    خُلقنا للقطيعة والبعادِ

    As though, when we were made for mutual affection,

    we had been made for estrangement and separation.

  23. أرى قلبي يطيش إذا المطايا

    إلى الرابين ياسَرهنَّ حادِي

    I see my heart lose its balance when the mounts

    are steered left toward al-Rabin by a camel-driver.

  24. ولم أحسب دُجَيلا من مياهي

    ولا أنّ المَطيرةَ من بلادي

    I had never reckoned Dujayl among my waters,

    nor al-Matira among my lands,

  25. ولا أني أبيت دعاى يحدو

    إلى تَكريتَ ساريةَ الغوادي

    nor that I would pass the night, my prayer driving

    the night-traveling morning rainclouds toward Tikrit.

  26. ومن صُعَداء أنفاسي شِرار

    تمرُّ مع الجَنوب بها تنادي

    Sparks rise from the sighing of my breath;

    they pass with the south wind, crying out through it.

  27. أأحبابي أثار البينَ بيني

    وبينكُمُ مساخَطةُ الأعادي

    O my beloveds, was separation stirred between me

    and you by the enemies’ hostility?

  28. سقت أخلاقُكم عهدي لديكم

    فهنَّ به أبرُّ من العِهادِ

    Your virtues watered the bond I have with you;

    they cherish it more tenderly than renewing rains.

  29. ورُدَّ عليَّ عندكُمُ زمانٌ

    مَجودُ الروضِ مشكورُ المَرادِ

    A season in your company was restored to me,

    its garden richly rained upon, its place of resort praised.

  30. أصابت طيبَ عيشي فيه عيني

    فقد جازيتُها هجرَ الرقادِ

    My own eye cast its blight on my sweet life there,

    so I repaid it by banishing sleep.

  31. فلا تحسب وظنُّك فيّ خيراً

    بقايَ وأنت ناءٍ من مُرادي

    So do not suppose, while thinking well of me,

    that living on while you are distant is my desire,

  32. ولا أنّي يسُرُّ سوادَ عيني

    بما عُوِّضتُ من هذا السوادِ

    nor that the black pupil of my eye rejoices

    in the compensation I have received in this Sawad.

  33. وكيف وما تَلِفُّ المجدَ دارٌ

    نأتْك ولا يَضُمُّ الفضلَ نادي

    How could it, when no dwelling enfolds glory

    far from you, nor any assembly contains excellence?

  34. فإن أصبْر ولم أصبر رُجوعاً

    إلى جَلدٍ ولم أحمل بآدِ

    If I endure, my endurance is no return

    to fortitude, nor do I bear it through strength.

  35. فقد تُنَى الضلوعُ على سَقامٍ

    وقد تُغضَى الجفونُ على سهادِ

    Ribs may fold around sickness,

    and eyelids may close over sleeplessness.

  36. وكنتُ وبيننا إن طال مِيلٌ

    وإما عرضُ دجلةَ وهي وادي

    I used to—when at most a mile lay between us,

    or merely the width of the Tigris, a river-channel—

  37. إذا راوحتُ دارَك لجَّ شوقي

    فلم يُقنِعه إلا أن أُغادي

    find my longing persist after an evening visit to your house;

    nothing satisfied it but a morning visit.

  38. فكيف وبيننا للأرض فَرْجٌ

    يماطِل طُولُه عَنَقَ الجيادِ

    How, then, with a gulf of land between us,

    whose length delays the swift pace of noble steeds,

  39. ومعتَرضُ الجزيرة والخوافي

    من القاطول تلمع والبوادي

    and the intervening span of al-Jazira, and the hidden reaches

    of al-Qatul gleaming, and those in view?

  40. وُفودٌ من مطايا الماءِ سودٌ

    روادفُها تطول على الهوادي

    Black companies of water-steeds,

    their hindquarters tower above their foreparts.

  41. إذا كنّ الليالي مقمراتٍ

    فراكبُهنّ يخبطُ في الدَّآدي

    Even when the nights are moonlit,

    their rider gropes through moonless darkness.

  42. لهنَّ من الرياح الهوجِ حادٍ

    ومن خُلُجِ المياه العوجِ هادي

    The wild winds provide them with a driver,

    and the winding water-channels with a guide.

  43. إذا قمصت على الأمواج خِيلتْ

    على الأحشاء تقمِصُ أو فؤادي

    When they buck upon the waves, they seem

    to buck upon my entrails or my heart.

  44. فهل لي أن أراك وأن تراني

    وهل من عُدَّتي هي أو عَتادي

    May I see you, and may you see me?

    And do I have the resources or equipment for it?

  45. سأنتظر الزمانَ لها ويوماً

    يطيل يدَ الصديق على المعادي

    For it I shall wait upon time, and upon a day

    that extends the friend’s hand against the enemy.

  46. ظمئنا بعدكم أسفاً وشوقاً

    كما جِيدتْ بكم يُبْسُ البلادِ

    After you, we thirsted with grief and longing,

    just as the parched lands were drenched through you.

  47. لعل محمداً ذكَرتْه نُعمَى

    تراني ناسياً فيه اعتقادي

    Perhaps a blessing has remembered Muhammad—

    you see me as forgetting my trust in him.

  48. وعل اللّهَ يحبرُ بالتداني

    كسيرةَ قانطٍ حَسْبُ التمادي

    And may God gladden, through reunion,

    the broken heart of a despairing man—enough of this delay!

  49. وأقربُ ما رجوتُ الأمرَ فيه

    على اللّه اعتمادُك واعتمادي

    The best hope I have for this matter

    is your reliance on God and mine.

  50. فلا تعدَم ولا يعدَمْك خلاً

    متى ما تعْدُهُ عنك العوادي

    May you never lack a friend, nor may he lack you;

    whenever calamities keep him far from you,

  51. يزُرْك كرائماً متكفِّلاتٍ

    بجمع الأُنسِ قيل له بَدادِ

    he visits you through noble verses pledged

    to reunite a fellowship told, “Disperse!”

  52. نواحبَ في التعازي والتشاكي

    حبائبَ للتهاني والتهادي

    lamenting in condolence and shared complaint,

    beloved companions for congratulations and exchanged gifts,

  53. طوالعَ في سوادِ الهم بيضاً

    طلوعَ المكرماتِ أو الأيادي

    rising white against the blackness of grief,

    like the dawning of noble deeds or benefactions.

  54. إذا جرَّتْ ذلاذلَها بجوٍّ

    تضوَّع حاضرٌ منه وبادي

    When they trail their hems through a region,

    town-dweller and nomad there exhale fragrance.

  55. لها فعلُ الدروع عليك صوتاً

    وفي الأعداء أفعالُ الصِّعادِ

    Their sound acts upon you like armor,

    and against the enemies like straight spears.

  56. رَبتْ يا آلَ أيّوبٍ وأَثَّت

    رُبايَ بكم على السَّنَةِ الجمادِ

    They have risen, O house of Ayyub, and grown luxuriant—

    my hillocks, through you, despite the barren year.

  57. فهل رجلٌ يدُلُّ إذا عَدِمتم

    على رجلٍ وفيّ أو جوادِ

    Is there any man, when you are absent, who can point

    to a faithful man or a generous one?

  58. ومَن أخذَ المحاسنَ عن سواكم

    كمن أخذَ المناسبَ عن زيادِ

    Whoever takes virtues from anyone but you

    is like one who takes lineages from Ziyad.