1. دَعاني الهَوى العُذريُّ بالقسْمَ موهناً

    لبرقٍ تنشَّت من عمان سحائبهْ

    Chaste love summoned me with an oath, late at night,

    to lightning whose clouds arose from Oman.

  2. فأرَّقني والخاليُ البالِ هاجعٌ

    فبِتُّ له حتى الصَباح أراقُبهْ

    It kept me sleepless while the carefree lay asleep,

    so I spent the night watching it until morning.

  3. كأنَّ يمانيَاً تبطَّنَ عنترٌ

    وَهزَّ يَمانيّاً خشيبا مُضاربُهْ

    As though ʿAntar had wrapped himself in a Yemeni cloak,

    and brandished a Yemeni blade with rough-forged striking edges.

  4. كأني إذا ما أنعقَّ واعْتنَّ وانجلت

    غَياطلهُ عنْ لمِعِه وغياهبُهْ

    It is as though, when it flashes and appears, and there disperse

    its dense clouds and darkness from its gleam,

  5. لِذكرَةِ أهلي بعد ماَ حال دُونهمْ

    خِضمٌ كأمثَالِ الجبَال غَواربُهْ

    recalling my people, now that between us lie

    a vast sea whose crests are like mountains,

  6. يظلُّ به المَلاَّحُ يندُبُ نفسَهُ

    من الخوف والبوصيُّ تهفو جوانُبهْ

    where the sailor keeps lamenting his own fate

    in fear, while the ship's sides sway;

  7. وأغَبر عَوَّآءٌ به الذّئبُ أقفرتْ

    من الأنس إِلاّمِ الوحوش سَباسبُهْ

    and a dusty wilderness where the wolf howls, whose plains lie empty

    of human company, save for wild beasts—

  8. أشيرُ بكفَّيْ واترٍ ذيَ سَخيمةٍ

    تضيقُ لديهِ بالأسير مَذاهبُهْ

    I gesture with both hands of a wrongdoer full of rancor,

    before whom the captive's paths grow narrow.

  9. إذا قالَ مهلاً يطلبُ العفو أدركتْ

    حسيكتَهُ وازوَرَّ للبُغضِ حاجبُهْ

    When the captive says, 'Spare me,' seeking pardon, he is met by

    his foe's rancor, and his brow turns aside in hatred.

  10. خليليَّ هَلْ أبصرتما أو سَمعتِما

    بما نابني والدَّهرُ جمٌّ نوائبُهْ

    My two friends, have you seen or heard

    what has befallen me? Time's calamities are many.

  11. إذا لانَ وَاحلولي لقومٍ تكدرت

    لهُمْ وقستْ أخلاقُهُ ومشاربهْ

    Whenever it grows gentle and sweet toward a people, it turns bitter,

    and its temper and ways grow harsh toward them.

  12. ألا مالِ هذا الفجرُ لم يبدُ نورهُ

    وما بال ليلي لا تغورُ كواكبُهْ

    Ah, what ails this dawn, that its light has not appeared?

    And what ails my night, that its stars do not set?

  13. إذا قُلتُ ينجاب الظلام ترادفت

    كتائبُ همّي خلفهُ وكتائبُهْ

    Whenever I say, 'The darkness is lifting,' there follow in succession

    the battalions of my grief behind it, and its own battalions.

  14. ألا هلْ سُلافٌ اطردُ الهمَّ مقصراً

    بها اللَّيلَ أو ريمٌ كريمٌ ألاعُبهْ

    Ah, is there choice wine to drive away care, shortening

    the night with it—or a noble gazelle with whom I might play?

  15. خَليلي هَلْ حصنُ العمُيريّ عامرٌ

    وهلْ عقرُ نزوي مخصباتٌ ملاعُبهْ

    My two friends, is al-ʿUmayrī's fortress inhabited?

    And are the playgrounds of Nizwa's ʿAqr lush?

  16. وَهل سَمرتْ بعدَ الهدوّ بربعهِ

    معَاصرةُ الخُمص الحشَا وكواعُبهْ

    And, after the hush, did they converse by night in its quarter—

    slender-waisted maidens and its budding-breasted girls?

  17. وهلَ شرعُ بُهلي ذُو المعاقلَ عائدٌ

    بأيَّامنا لذّاتُه ومطاربُهْ

    And will Sharʿ of Bahlā, with its strongholds, return

    with our days, its pleasures and its delights?

  18. وَهل ذلك الرَّيمُ الأغنُّ لبعِدنا

    عن العهد أم شابته بعدي شوائبُهْ

    And has that soft-voiced gazelle, because of our absence, strayed

    from the pledge, or have his blemishes tainted him since I left?

  19. سَقى الله أكناف الحوية فالصوي

    فحيت اسبكرَّت من حبوب أخاشُبهْ

    May God water the outskirts of al-Ḥawiyya, then al-Ṣuway,

    then Ḥayt, whose rugged hills stretch out from Ḥabūb.

  20. وباكر بطحاءَ الفُليج بعارضٍ

    همي فابنَّت وارتعَنَّتْ هواضُبهْ

    And may He visit al-Fulayj's gravel plain at dawn with a raincloud

    pouring down, till its hills sprout and flourish.

  21. فإن أك قد فارقتُ قومي وأسرتي

    لإِدراك شأو شاسع أنا طالبُهْ

    For if I have left my people and my family,

    it is to reach a far-distant goal that I pursue.

  22. فَقبلي سيفٌ ربّ غسَّان طوَّحت

    به نيةٌ إذا أنكرَ الضَّيمَ جانُبهْ

    For before me, Sayf, lord of Ghassān, was sent far away

    by a resolve, when his spirit rejected humiliation.

  23. تَغرَّبَ فَرداً يطلبُ العزَّ جاهداً

    وَفاءَ بمثلِ اليمّ جاشتْ غوارُبهْ

    He went abroad alone, striving earnestly for glory,

    and returned with a host like the sea, its crests surging.

  24. فَظلَّ بعزّ يلفظ الدُرَّ تاجهُ

    بغمدانَ واحلولت إليه مشارُبهْ

    So he remained in glory, his crown scattering pearls,

    at Ghumdān, and his draughts grew sweet to him.

  25. سأفجأُ أجنادَ الطُّغاةَ بِفيلقٍ

    منَ العزمِ مَجْرٍ مردفاتٌ كتائبُهْ

    I shall fall upon the tyrants' troops with a legion

    of resolve—a mighty host whose battalions follow one another.

  26. يسيرُ بِه النَّصرُ الَّذي هو حزُبه

    وينجدهُ النَّصر الذي هوَ صاحبُهْ

    With it marches victory, which is its ally,

    and victory, its companion, comes to its aid.

  27. فلا مَلكٌ يرتادُ ما أنا طاِلبٌ

    ولا يركب الصَّعب الذي أنارأكُبهْ

    No king seeks what I seek,

    nor rides the difficult mount that I ride.

  28. إذا انعقَدتْ نفسُ ابن ملكٍ بماله

    وأدركَ منهُ سَيءُ الرأي كاذُبهْ

    When a king's son's soul becomes bound to his wealth,

    and the falsehood of his faulty judgment overtakes him,

  29. أفضتُ النَّدى من راحتيَّ تكسُّباً

    لحمدِ الورى والجودُ خيرٌ مكاسُبهْ

    I pour out bounty from my two palms, seeking to gain

    the praise of mankind; generosity's gains are best.

  30. إذا المرُء لمْ يُحرز جميلاً حياتهُ

    بما حاز َلْم تكسبهُ حمداً نوادبُهْ

    If a man wins no honor during his lifetime

    through what he has gained, his mourning women will earn him no praise.

  31. إذا اللَّيثُ لمُ يقدُم على الهول جاسراً

    وإن جلَّ لْم تقدمْ عليهِ ثعالبُهْ

    If the lion does not advance boldly upon terror,

    however great it is, his foxes will not advance against it.

  32. إذا شمتَ خلاَّءً على رأي شاهقِ

    من الطَّودِ فاحذران تخاف أرانبُهْ

    If you espy an empty place on a lofty outlook

    of the mountain, take care not to fear its rabbits.

  33. ونحنُ بنُو ماءِ السماءِ ومن يكن

    أباه فأيُّ المالِكين يناسُبهْ

    And we are sons of Māʾ al-Samāʾ; whoever has him

    as father—which ruler can match his lineage?

  34. ملكنا الورى بالسيف حتى تضاءلت

    أعَاجُمهُ ذُلاً لنَا وأعَاربُهْ

    We ruled mankind by the sword, until they shrank—

    its non-Arabs and its Arabs, humbled before us.