1. أتذيلُ دَمعك كُلُّه إن بانوا

    صُن بعضَهُ فوراك الأوطانُ

    Will you squander all your tears if they depart?

    Save some of them, for the homelands lie behind you.

  2. حَقّ الديار كحقِّ من عاشرتَهُم

    فيها كذا حكَمت به الفتيانُ

    The dwellings have a claim like that of those you lived with

    in them; thus have the young men ruled on the matter.

  3. سَلني أقفك على الهوى وشروطهِ

    لا عار أن يستسقي الظمآنُ

    Ask me: I shall acquaint you with love and its conditions.

    There is no shame in the thirsty asking for water.

  4. أُبدي السُلوَّ عو الأحبَّة إن نأوا

    عمداً وأنأى منهمُ السلوانُ

    I pretend to have forgotten the beloved if they go far away,

    deliberately—yet forgetfulness is farther from me than they.

  5. غالطتُ عاذلتي بذاك ولم يزَل

    لي في مُغالطةِ العواذل شانُ

    I misled the woman who reproached me with that, and have always

    had a knack for misleading reproachful women.

  6. ومن البليَّةِ انّ كتمانَ الهوى

    دأبي وإن اودي بيَ الكتمانُ

    And part of my affliction is that concealing love

    is my habit, even if concealment destroys me.

  7. ومَلولةٍ ألِفَت فنافعُ بذلها

    شرٌ وضائرُ مَنعِها إعلانُ

    And a fickle woman I befriended: the benefit of her giving

    is evil, and the harm of her withholding is public disclosure.

  8. وقف الجنون على جنان مُحبّها

    انّ المجانةَ عندها مجَّانُ

    Madness has settled upon her lover's heart,

    for wantonness with her is free of charge.

  9. غازلتُها سَحَراً وقلتُ لها اسحري

    قد طالما سَحَرَتني الغزلانُ

    I wooed her before dawn and told her, “Cast your spell;

    how often the gazelles have bewitched me!

  10. عِينُ الصَّريم عُيونُهنَّ صوارمٌ

    مسلولةٌ أجفانها الأجفانُ

    The wide-eyed ones of the thicket—their eyes are swords,

    drawn, whose sheaths are eyelids.

  11. فَخُذي الى ديوان عطفِك وقّعي

    يُكتَب لنا من مُقلتيك أمانُ

    So turn to the chancery of your compassion and sign:

    let a safe-conduct be written for us from your eyes.

  12. أمن الحبيب تعلُّلٌ وتعزّزٌ

    ومن الرقيب تهدُّدٌ وهوانُ

    Is it evasion and haughtiness from the beloved,

    and threats and humiliation from the watcher?”

  13. فتبسَّمَت واستعجلَتها عَبرةٌ

    واضاء دُرٌّ واستهلَّ جُمانُ

    She smiled, and a tear overtook her;

    pearls gleamed, and pearl-drops rained down.

  14. وقفَت تعضُّ على الوشاة بَنانَها

    فاخُطُّ خدّي والدموعُ بَنانُ

    She stood biting her fingers in anger at the slanderers,

    so I trace lines upon my cheek, with tears for fingers.

  15. تشكو الصَّبابةَ بامتداد تَنَفُّسٍ

    تشكو غوائل حرِّه النيرانُ

    She laments passionate longing with a long-drawn breath;

    the fires themselves lament the ravages of its heat.

  16. حَرٌّ لو انَّ المشركين بلوا به

    فيما مضى لم تعبدِ الأوثانُ

    A heat that, had the polytheists been afflicted with it

    in times past, no idols would have been worshipped.

  17. فكم التصبّرُ والوداع حقيقة

    وكم التجلّدُ والفراق عيانُ

    How long this forced patience, when farewell is real?

    And how long this fortitude, when parting is plain to see?

  18. وكم امتعاضُ الكاشحينَ من النَّوى

    كانوا هُمُ سَبَبُ النوى لا كانوا

    And how much the ill-wishers resent separation!

    They themselves caused the separation—may they be no more!

  19. وأعِزَّةٍ قد كنتُ دِنتُ بحبّهم

    ولذاك سائرهم بحبّي دانوا

    And dear ones to whose love I once pledged allegiance:

    for that, all of them pledged allegiance to loving me.

  20. كنتُ المُفَدَّى بينهم ولديهم

    بحياةِ رأسي كانت الإيمان

    I was the one they would ransom, among them and in their esteem;

    their oaths were sworn by the life of my head.

  21. فَسَعى الأعادي بالنمائم بيننا

    حتى تنافرنا فبنتُ وبانوا

    Then the enemies spread slanders between us,

    until we grew estranged: I departed, and they departed.

  22. نَأَت المسافةُ والتذكّر حظّهُم

    منّي وحظي منهُمُ النسيانُ

    The distance widened; remembrance is their share

    from me, and my share from them is forgetfulness.

  23. دعوى الاخاء على الرجاء كثيرةً

    بل في الشدائد تعرف الأخوانُ

    Claims of brotherhood founded on hope are many;

    but it is in adversity that brothers are known.

  24. الدمعُ وافٍ إن وفوا أو أخلَفوا

    والشوقُ راعٍ إن رَعَوا أو خانُوا

    Tears are faithful, whether they keep faith or break their word,

    and longing keeps watch, whether they care for me or betray me.

  25. مالي على الأيّام إن بخلوا يدٌ

    وعلى الزمان اذا نبوا سُلطان

    I have no power over the days if they are miserly,

    nor authority over time if they turn away.

  26. كالموج اثر الموج ليس بفاترٍ

    فقدانُ إلفٍ اثرَهُ فقدانُ

    Like wave after wave, never subsiding:

    the loss of a companion, followed by another loss.

  27. ولقد فرى حالي بمخلب ضيمه

    ليثٌ خلى عن مثله خفَّانُ

    And my fortunes have indeed been torn by its oppressive claw,

    by a lion whose like Khaffan does not harbor.

  28. يُبدي الشجاعةَ في اقتناص ذوي النُّهى

    وعن اقتناص المقترين جَبانُ

    It shows courage in hunting down people of understanding,

    but is cowardly about hunting the destitute.

  29. نَزع الغني عنّي ليصدأ شيمتي

    عَجَباً له هل يصدأ العِقيانُ

    It stripped me of wealth to make my character rust;

    how strange of it! Can pure gold rust?

  30. وأهانني والمسكُ طيبُ نسيمِه

    يزداد تحت السحق حين يُهان

    It humiliated me, but the sweetness of musk's scent

    increases under grinding, when it is humiliated.

  31. لمّا حُرِمتُ به الثَّراءَ حَرَمتُهُ

    منّي الثناءَ فَعَمَّنا الحرمانُ

    When I was denied wealth through it, I denied it

    my praise, so deprivation encompassed us both.

  32. أربِح بصفقة تاجرٍ يبتاعني

    ولمن سعى في بَيعي الخسرانُ

    How profitable the bargain of a merchant who buys me!

    And whoever seeks to sell me incurs the loss.

  33. مثلي يُضَنُّ به ويحمل جاهُه

    طوعاً على حَدَقِ العُلى ويُصان

    One like me is treasured, and his prestige is borne

    willingly upon the pupils of glory, and kept safe.

  34. وأنا الذي أضنَتهُ هِمَّةُ نَفسِه

    لا الهَمُّ أضناهُ ولا الاحزانُ

    And I am worn down by my own ambition,

    not by worry or by sorrows.

  35. عطل المروَّةِ خَانَهُ إمكانُه

    إنَّ المروَّة حَليُها الامكانُ

    His noble virtue is unadorned: his means have failed him;

    for means are the adornment of noble virtue.

  36. واذا أَحَبَّتني العراقُ فَهَيِّنٌ

    عندي إِذا نشزَت عليَّ عمانُ

    And if Iraq loves me, it is a small matter

    to me if Oman turns against me.

  37. سَيُعيدُ أيامي كأيّام الصِّبا

    حُرٌّ أعَزُّ من الملوك هجانُ

    He will make my days again like the days of youth:

    a noble man of pure lineage, more exalted than kings.

  38. قمراً يُسامرُ فكره تحت الأجى

    في المكرمات هجانُ

    A moon, keeping his thoughts company beneath [perhaps darkness],

    pure in noble deeds.

  39. وينام حين ينام غِبَّ سُهادِه

    والمجدُ بين ظلوعه يقضان

    And he sleeps, when he does sleep, after his vigil,

    while glory stays awake between his ribs.

  40. أرضى ملوك بني بُوَيه بِنُصحِه

    والنجحُ جسمٌ روحُه الايمان

    He pleased the kings of Banu Buwayh with his sincere counsel,

    and success is a body whose soul is faith.

  41. ولو انّ أمر الملك نيطَ بغيره

    أبت الاسرَّةُ والتِّيجانُ

    And had the realm's affairs been entrusted to another,

    the thrones and crowns would have refused.

  42. بَشَّرتَ آمالي ببشرك انَّه

    لكتاب ادراك الغنى عنوانُ

    You gladdened my hopes with your cheerfulness; indeed, it

    is the title of the book of attaining wealth.

  43. أيّامُ فخر الملك أكثر بهجةً

    من أن يقومَ بوصفهنَّ لسانُ

    Fakhr al-Mulk's days are too splendid

    for any tongue to do justice to their description.