1. وشى بالذي تحوي من الحب أضلعي

    علي لدى العذال سقمي وأدمعي

    The love held within my ribs was betrayed

    to my reproachers by my sickness and tears.

  2. فأصبحت معذولاً ولو عاذلي

    رأى هواي لما أمسى بعذلٍ مقرعي

    So I became reproached; yet had my reproacher

    seen my love, he would not have scourged me with blame at evening.

  3. لي الله من قلبٍ يزيد صبابة

    ومن مدمع مهما أكفكفه يهمع

    God help me against a heart ever growing in yearning,

    and against an eye that streams however much I wipe it.

  4. يقولون عذالي دع الحب وإرعوي

    وأني لصب ذاق طعم الهوى يعي

    My reproachers say, ‘Forsake love and desist!’

    But how can a lovesick lover who has tasted passion heed them?

  5. فقلت دعوني اقضي نحبي فإنني

    أرى كل من لم يقض في الحب مدعي

    So I said, ‘Let me meet my death, for I

    deem everyone who does not die in love a pretender.’

  6. كفى أسوة من مات قبلي متيماً

    كمجنون ليلى الهائم المنزوع

    Those who died before me, enslaved by love, suffice as examples,

    like Layla's Majnun, wandering and bereft.

  7. أعيذ من السلوان مع قول عاذلي

    فؤادي المعنى بالغرام ومسمعي

    I seek protection from forgetting love and my reproacher's words

    for my heart, tormented by passion, and for my hearing.

  8. إلى الله من فرط الغرام وحره

    ومن هجر من أضنى فؤادي مفزعي

    To God I flee from passion's excess and burning,

    and from the desertion of the one who has wasted my heart.

  9. لقد ضيع الود المؤكد بيننا

    وإني له ما عشت غير مضيع

    He has squandered the firm affection between us,

    yet I shall not squander my love for him as long as I live.

  10. وأطلق دمعي بعد أن طلق الكرى

    لعيني فجنبي لا يلم بمضجع

    He loosed my tears after divorcing sleep

    from my eyes; my side never rests upon a bed.

  11. وأحرق بالهجران قلبي ولم يزل

    مصراً عليه ليس عنه بمقلع

    He burned my heart through estrangement, and still

    persists in it, never desisting.

  12. فيا مهجتي ذوبي ويا مقلتي كفي

    ويا كبدي إن دام هذا تقطعي

    So melt, my life's blood; and cease, my eye!

    And, my liver, if this endures, tear yourself apart!

  13. أأبقى كما تهوى الحواسد وامقاً

    خليعاً لنسكي تاركاً تطوعي

    Must I remain, as the envious wish, a devoted lover,

    casting off my rites, abandoning my voluntary worship?

  14. لعمري لقد أشفى هواي حواسدي

    وأضنى لمن مني بمرأ ومسمع

    By my life, my passion has gratified my enviers,

    and afflicted those within sight and hearing of me.

  15. فيا رحمتا هل لي معين على الهوى

    وهل لي إليه من شفيع مشفع

    Alas, is there anyone to help me against passion?

    And have I an intercessor with him whose plea will be accepted?

  16. لقد طال منه البعد وهو بغية

    لكل محب مغرم متولع

    His absence has lasted long, yet he is the desire

    of every lover, enthralled and ardently devoted.

  17. عجبت له يسعى لقتلي وقد رأى

    نصيري مليكاً ذا جنابٍ ممنع

    I marvel that he seeks to kill me, when he has seen

    my protector: a king whose court is impregnable,

  18. أعز الملوك الشم من يرهب العدا

    شريف اسمه إذ ما به غيره دعي

    the mightiest of lofty kings, who terrifies his foes.

    Noble is his name, even when another bears it.

  19. مروي الظبا يوم الجلاد من الطلى

    ومؤى العفا منه بأمرع مربع

    He slakes sword-edges at necks on the day of combat,

    and shelters petitioners in his lushest spring pasture.

  20. سليل سراة فيصلياً متى إستمى

    يدن كل فتاك لديه ويخضع

    A scion of noble chiefs—whenever he names himself Faisalian,

    every deadly warrior submits before him and bows.

  21. هو القائد الحمس الميامين فيصل

    حماة الوغى من كل شهم سميدع

    He is Faisal, commander of the valiant, auspicious warriors,

    battle's defenders, every gallant, noble leader.

  22. فويل لمختالٍ أبى طاعةً له

    سيشرب من كاس من الحتف منزع

    Woe to the proud man who refuses obedience to him:

    he will drink from a cup drawn from death.

  23. أيقضي عن الأعداء حاشاه طرفه

    وصارمه للهام ما يهوا يقلع

    Would his gaze turn aside from enemies? Far be it from him!

    His keen sword tears heads away whenever it descends.

  24. ويوم قراع قد تلظى وطيسه

    لكل هزبر ثابت القلب مفزع

    And a day of combat, its furnace blazing,

    a terror to every steadfast-hearted lion—

  25. يشيب به المولود قبل فصاله

    وتذهل عن طفل لها كل مرضع

    a newborn turns gray in it before his weaning,

    and every nursing mother forgets her child—

  26. به باشر الجلا على ظهر سابح

    اعز كلمح الطرف مجراه طيع

    on it he met the grave ordeal astride a coursing steed,

    mighty and obedient, its course like the blink of an eye.

  27. فجندل من أبطالها كل باتكٍ

    مشيحاً متى ما يدعى للموت يسرع

    He struck down every cleaving warrior among its champions,

    resolute, hastening whenever summoned to death,

  28. بضربٍ يزيل الهام عن مستقره

    وطعن بتارٍ واسمر أصلع

    with blows that strip heads from their resting place,

    and cleaving thrusts with a brown, bare-headed spear.

  29. وما زال حتى داخت الحرب وانطوت

    وقد غص من هام العدا كل مشرع

    He did not cease until the battle reeled and folded away,

    and every watering-place was choked with foes' heads.

  30. فحاز الثنا واحتاز ما ادخروه من

    نفيس ومن أعمالهم كل مبدع

    He won praise and seized what they had hoarded—

    precious things, and every masterpiece of their handiwork.

  31. وآب إياب الغيث يسكب جوده

    على كل من يرجوه في كل موضع

    And he returned like rain, pouring out his bounty

    upon everyone who hopes in him, in every place.

  32. هبات عن الإحصا تجل لفرطها

    فمن راتع في فضلها متطلع

    Gifts whose abundance puts them beyond counting;

    whoever revels in their bounty looks on expectantly.

  33. يود أناس أن يباروه في العلى

    وهيهات طبع النفس غير التطبع

    Some people wish to rival him in eminence,

    but far from it! Innate character is not affectation.

  34. أمثل أبي تيمور في عصرنا أمرؤ

    لقد جاء بالبهتان من كان يدعي

    Is any man in our age the equal of Abu Taymur?

    Whoever claims so has uttered a gross falsehood.

  35. ومن ذا الذي يحكيه بطشا ونائلا

    ألا من دليلٍ عند من قال مقنع

    And who can match him in might and bounty?

    Has anyone who says so any convincing proof?

  36. أيا شرف العصر الذي أنت عينه

    وجدد بالملك العظيم المتبع

    O glory of the age, whose very eye you are,

    and which was renewed by the great, obeyed sovereign!

  37. ويا ابن ملوكٍ لم يناموا على القذا

    ولم يرضهم دون العلى كل مطمع

    O son of kings who never slept with grit in their eyes,

    nor did any prize short of glory satisfy them!

  38. إليك عروساً يا بن تركي عزيزة

    يهيم ويصبو نحوها كل المع

    To you, O son of Turki, I bring a precious bride,

    for whom every brilliant man pines and yearns.

  39. عقيلة الفاظها تسلب الحجى

    يقر بتفضيل لها كل مصقع

    A noble lady, whose words steal reason away;

    every eloquent orator acknowledges her superiority.

  40. ودم سالماً سامٍ عزيزاً معظماً

    بعرش العلى واسلم وعش وتمنع

    And remain safe, exalted, mighty, and revered

    on glory's throne; be well, live, and remain unassailable!

  41. وصل على أزكى البرية احمد

    رسول الهدى الاتقى الشفيع المشفع

    And send blessings upon Ahmad, the purest of creation,

    the Messenger of guidance, most God-fearing, the intercessor whose plea is accepted,

  42. مع الآل والأصحاب ما عن ذكرهم

    وما أم ركب نحو سلع ولعلع

    together with his family and companions, as long as their remembrance arises,

    and as long as a caravan heads toward Salʿ and Laʿlaʿ,

  43. وما تم بالحب المذيب لمهجتي

    علي لدى العذال سقمي وادمعي

    and as long as the love melting my life's blood is betrayed

    to my reproachers by my sickness and tears.