1. يا أيُّها القلبُ الخَفوقُ بجانبي

    قد صِرتَ وَيحْكَ حاضراً كالغائِبِ

    O heart throbbing at my side,

    You have become—alas for you—present as one absent.

  2. الحَقْ بأهلِكَ في العِراقِ وخَلِّني

    بالشأمِ في أهلي فلستَ بصاحبي

    Join your people in Iraq, and leave me

    In Syria among my people, for you are no companion of mine.

  3. فَتَنَتكَ أفئِدةُ الرِّجالِ فلم تكن

    مِمَّنْ أُصيبَ بأعيُنٍ وحواجبِ

    Men's hearts have captivated you, so you were not

    Among those stricken by eyes and eyebrows.

  4. عاطيتَ لكنْ لا بكأسِ مُنادمٍ

    فَسكِرتَ لكِنْ لا بخَمرةِ شاربِ

    You shared a draught, but not from a drinking companion's cup;

    And grew drunk, but not on a drinker's wine.

  5. ذُقتَ الهَوَى صِرْفاً وما كُلُّ الهَوَى

    يَجِدُ الفتى فيهِ السبيلَ لعائبِ

    You tasted love unmixed; not every love

    Affords a young man grounds for a faultfinder's reproach.

  6. حُبُّ الكريمِ كَرامةٌ لمُحِبِّهِ

    ونَباهةُ المطلوبِ مجدُ الطالبِ

    To love a noble man is an honor to his lover,

    And the sought one's eminence is the seeker's glory.

  7. قد شاقَكَ العُمَرِيُّ قُطبُ زَمانهِ

    مُتباعداً في صُورةِ المُتقاربِ

    Al-Umari, the pole of his age, has stirred your longing,

    Far away, yet in the guise of one near.

  8. مُتَواترُ الآثارِ أردَفَ كُتْبَهُ

    فأتَتْ كتزكيةِ الشُّهودِ لكاتبِ

    His deeds widely reported, he sent letter after letter;

    They came like witnesses attesting to their writer's worth.

  9. هذا إمامٌ في الأئمَّةِ ذِكرُهُ

    قد شاعَ بينَ مَشارقٍ ومَغاربِ

    This is a master among masters, whose renown

    Has spread through lands of sunrise and sunset.

  10. ولَئنْ تأخَّرَ في الزَّمانِ فإنَّهُ

    عَقْدٌ يلي الآحادَ عندَ الحاسبِ

    And though he came later in time, he is

    A ten following the units in a reckoner's count.

  11. نَجْني الفرائدَ من بحارِ قريضِهِ

    منظومةً من صُنعِ فِكرٍ ثاقبِ

    We gather rare pearls from the seas of his verse,

    Strung together by a penetrating mind's craft.

  12. من كلِّ قافيةٍ شَرُودٍ بيتُها

    ضُربَتْ لهُ الأوتادُ بينَ ترائبِ

    From every far-roaming rhyme, whose verse-tent

    Has pegs driven for it among the breastbones.

  13. أثْنى جميلاً مَن تَعوَّدَ سَمْعَهُ

    فيهِ ولكن بالخَليقِ الواجبِ

    He praised me graciously—he who is used to hearing it

    Of himself—but with praise befitting and due.

  14. أثْنى بما هُوَ أهلُهُ فكأنَّما

    أهدَى لنا من نفسِهِ بمناقبِ

    He praised me in terms he himself deserves, as though

    He had bestowed upon us virtues from his own self.

  15. شَرَفٌ لَبِستُ طِرازَهُ فاهتزَّني

    عُجباً إلى ما فوقَ فوقِ مراتبي

    An honor whose embroidered trim I wore; it lifted me

    In pride far, far above my station.

  16. فإذا ادَّعيتُ جعلتُ ذلكَ شاهدي

    وإذا افتخرتُ جعلتُ ذلكَ ناسبي

    When I make a claim, I make that my witness;

    And when I boast, I make that my genealogist.

  17. يا جابرَ القلبِ الكسيرِ بلُطفهِ

    ماذا تَرَى في أمرِ قلبٍ ذائبِ

    O mender of the broken heart through your kindness,

    What is your view of the plight of a melting heart?

  18. ما زالَ يقُعِدُهُ الهَوَى ويُقيمهُ

    كالفعلِ بينَ جوازمٍ ونواصبِ

    Love keeps making it sit down and rise,

    Like a verb between jussive and subjunctive particles.

  19. أُردُدْ فُؤاداً لي أراك غَصَبتَهُ

    مني فإنَّ الرَدَّ حُكمُ الغاصبِ

    Return my heart, which I see you have seized

    From me, for restitution is the usurper's obligation.

  20. ما كانَ أسمَحَني به لكنَّهُ

    وَقفُ العِراقِ فلا يَصِحُّ لِواهبِ

    How willing I was to give it! But it is

    An endowment to Iraq, which no donor may give away.

  21. شَوْقي إلى من لم تَراهُ نواظري

    في قُطرِ أرضٍ لم تَطأهُ ركائبي

    My longing is for one my eyes have never seen,

    In a stretch of land my riding camels have never trodden.

  22. أحببتُ زَوراءَ العِراقِ لأجلِهِ

    ولأجلِها أطرافَ ذاكَ الجانبِ

    I loved Iraq's Zawra for his sake,

    And for her sake, the reaches of that region.

  23. حَقُّ المحبَّةِ للقُلوبِ فقد أرَى

    حُبَّ الوُجوهِ عليهِ لَمْحةُ كاذبِ

    Hearts have the rightful claim to love, for I see

    A liar's glint upon the love of faces.

  24. وإذا تَعرَّضَ دُونَ عينٍ حاجبٌ

    فهُناكَ قلبٌ لا يُرَدُّ بحاجبِ

    And if a gatekeeper stands in an eye's way,

    There is a heart no gatekeeper can turn back.

  25. أفديكَ يا مَن ليسَ لي في حُبّهِ

    فضلٌ فذاكَ علَيَّ ضَربةُ لازبِ

    I would ransom you, O you in loving whom I have

    No merit: that is an inescapable obligation upon me.

  26. أحسنتَ في قَولٍ وفِعلٍ بارعاً

    وكِلاهُما للنَّفسِ أكبرُ جاذبِ

    You have excelled brilliantly in speech and deed,

    And both are the soul's most powerful lure.

  27. أنتَ الذي نالَ الكمالَ موفَّقاً

    مَن رازقٍ من شاءَ غيرَ مُحاسبِ

    You are the one who attained perfection, aided

    By a Provider who gives to whom He wills without reckoning.

  28. فإذا نظمتَ فأنتَ أبلغُ شاعرٍ

    وإذا نثرتَ فأنتَ أفصحُ خاطبِ

    When you compose verse, you are the most eloquent poet;

    And when you write prose, you are the most articulate orator.

  29. وإذا نظرتَ فعن شِهابٍ ثاقبٍ

    وإذا فَكَرْتَ فعن حُسامٍ قاضبِ

    And when you look, it is as from a piercing meteor;

    And when you think, it is as from a cleaving sword.

  30. وإذا جَرَتْ لكَ في الطُروسِ يَراعةٌ

    فسوادُ وَشمٍ في مَعاصِمِ كاعبِ

    And when your reed pen runs across the parchment,

    It is the black of a tattoo on a maiden's wrists.

  31. هذِهْ رَسولٌ لي إليكَ وليتني

    كُنتُ الرَسولَ لها بَمعْرِضِ نائبِ

    This is my messenger to you; would that I

    Were her messenger in a deputy's guise.

  32. شاميَّةٌ من آلِ عيسى أقبلَتْ

    في ذِمَّةِ العُمَريِّ تحتَ مَضاربِ

    A Syrian from the house of Jesus, she has come

    Under al-Umari's protection, beneath the tents.

  33. عذراءُ يَثْنيها الحَياءُ مهَابةً

    وتَقُودُها الأشواقُ قَوْدَ جنائبِ

    A virgin whom modesty holds back in awe,

    While yearnings lead her as spare mounts are led.

  34. نَزَعتْ إلى ماءِ الفُراتِ وما دَرَتْ

    كم أغْرَقَتْ صَهَواتُهُ من راكبِ

    She yearned for the waters of the Euphrates, not knowing

    How many riders its crests have drowned.

  35. تلكَ البقيَّةُ من ذخائرِ أعجَمٍ

    تَلقَى البقيَّةَ من كِرامِ أعاربِ

    That remnant of a non-Arab's treasures

    Meets the remnant of the noble Arabs.

  36. من كل نابغةٍ يُفيضُ كأنَّما

    نُشِرَ الفَرَزْدَقُ في تميمَ لغالبِ

    Each a genius pouring forth verse, as though

    Al-Farazdaq had risen again among Tamim for Ghalib.

  37. ماذا يقومُ ولو تَطاوَلَ قاصرٌ

    بِمَدىً تُقصِّرُ فيهِ جُرْدُ سَلاهبِ

    What can one who falls short achieve, however he strains,

    At a distance where sleek, long-bodied steeds fall short?

  38. فلكَ الجميلُ إذا عَذَرتَ وإن تَلُمْ

    فلقد أصَبْتَ وما المَلُومُ بعاتبِ

    Yours is the kindness if you excuse me; and if you blame me,

    Then you are right, and the blamed man has no complaint.