1. خُذي مِن وِدادي العين يا قُرّة العَين

    وَفي عبد عين ما رأى مِنكَ مِن عينِ

    Take the essence of my affection, O delight of my eye.

    And be faithful to an eye's slave, who has seen no flaw in you.

  2. وَهاك وُجُودي يا اِبنة القَوم فاِسمحي

    وَجُودي بِما تَحوي يَدايَ مِن العينِ

    Here is my whole being, O daughter of the tribe; be gracious,

    and be generous with whatever gold my two hands hold.

  3. وَلا تبعديني عَمدَ عينٍ فَتشمتي

    وشاتي وَتغري في المَلامة بي عيني

    Do not knowingly cast me away, making

    my slanderers rejoice and inciting my watcher to reproach me.

  4. هَواكِ دَعا عَيني تَفيض عُيونها

    وَداعي الهَوى يا هِند لَيسَ سِوى العينِ

    Love of you bids my eye pour forth its springs;

    and love's summoner, O Hind, is none but the eye.

  5. وَيا رَبّة الخال الَّتي شابَ عارِضي

    بِها وَغَرامي السالف العَهد كَالعينِ

    O mistress of the beauty spot, for whom my beard has turned gray,

    while my longstanding passion remains like a spring.

  6. صِلي وَاِذكُري العَهد الَّذي كانَ بَيننا

    بِجلّق لا في بَعلبكَّ وَلا العينِ

    Unite with me, and remember the pledge that bound us

    in Jilliq—not in Baalbek or al-'Ayn.

  7. سَقى عَهدَنا بِالخيف صَوب عهاده

    وَحيّا الحَيا الدار الأَنيسة بِالعينِ

    May the downpour of returning showers water our days at al-Khayf,

    and may rain revive the pleasant abode at al-'Ayn.

  8. أَلا لَيتَ شِعري هَل عفت بعد بعدنا

    فَما بال عَيني لا تَرى ثَمَّ مِن عينِ

    Ah, would that I knew: have its traces vanished since our parting?

    Why does my eye see no one there?

  9. فَيا نَسمَةً يَحدو بِها الشَوق لِلحمى

    خُذي خَبر الأَشجان عَنّي دُعا عينِ

    O breeze, driven by longing toward the protected pasture,

    carry tidings of my sorrows from me, an eye's plea.

  10. وَيا راكب الوَجناء يَفري بِها الفَلا

    كَأَنّ ذراعيها جَناحان لِلعينِ

    O rider of the sturdy she-camel, cleaving the wastes upon her,

    as though, to the eye, her forelegs were two wings.

  11. وَحيّ مَغاني الغانيات بِسفحهِ

    فَقَد نَظَرت مِنها الحَدائق بِالعينِ

    And greet the dwellings of the beautiful women at its foot;

    for the gardens there have gazed with an eye.

  12. وَسَل ظبية الوَعساء ما بال صبّها

    يَخطّ أَديم الأَرض بِالدَمع كَالعينِ

    And ask the gazelle of the sandy rise why her lover

    furrows the earth's surface with tears, like a spring.

  13. وَعَيناء حور العين حارَت بِحُسنِها

    وَعوّّذها راقي الجَمالِ مِن العينِ

    And a large-eyed beauty whose loveliness bewildered the dark, wide-eyed maidens,

    whom beauty's spell-reciter protected from the evil eye.

  14. تُشاهد عَيني مِن سَناها شَواهِداً

    وَلَكن لِقَلبي شَرحها لَيسَ لِلعينِ

    My eye beholds signs of her radiance,

    but their explanation belongs to my heart, not to the eye.

  15. مُحجَّبَةً لَو طَيفها زارَ مَضجَعي

    لَكانَ رَقيبي لَيله وَالسُها عيني

    Veiled—if her phantom visited my resting place,

    its night would be my watcher, and al-Suha my spy.

  16. مُمنّعة بَينَ الصَوارم وَالقَنا

    مُنعَّمة بِالغيد مُنعَمة العينِ

    Protected amid sharp swords and spears,

    pampered among graceful women, her eye content.

  17. تريش سِهام الهدبِ عَن قَوس حاجب

    فَيَغدو لَها قَلب المُتيّمِ كَالعينِ

    She feathers arrows of lashes from an eyebrow's bow;

    so her besotted lover's heart becomes like a bull's-eye.

  18. فَيا ظبية السرب الَّتي سَفَكَت دَمي

    بِفَتك نِصال العين أَنتَ عَلى عيني

    O gazelle of the herd, who spilled my blood

    with the eye's deadly arrowheads—you are dear to my eye.

  19. فِدىً لَك نَفسٌ بِالنَفيس قَد اِفتَدَت

    وَمَن لي بِأَن أَفدي جَمالك بِالعينِ

    May a soul that has ransomed itself with precious things be your ransom;

    and who will let me ransom your beauty with my eye?

  20. وَيا لائِمي دَع لُؤم لومك وَاِتَّئد

    فَكَم عصبة تَلحى فَتُلحى وَكَم عينِ

    O you who blame me, leave off the baseness of your blame and be patient.

    How many a band reproaches and is reproached—and how many a notable!

  21. وَرُبَّ مَهاةٍ أَنتَ تَعذِلُني بِها

    مَتَى عينت أَصَبت فُؤادك بالعينِ

    Many an oryx for whose sake you reproach me,

    whenever you behold her, you wound your own heart with the eye.

  22. عَصيت بِها أَهلي وَأُمّي وَوالِدي

    فَماذا عَسى يُجدي المَلام مِن العينِ

    For her I disobeyed my family, my mother, and my father;

    so what could reproach from a watcher possibly achieve?

  23. وَلا آمَنُ العذّالَ إِلّا تَخلّصاً

    بِمَدح أَمين الدَولة الماجد العينِ

    I find no safety from the reproachers except in escaping

    through praise of Amin al-Dawla, the glorious notable.

  24. أَمير عُلىً قَد دَلَّ مَنظَر ذاتِهِ

    عَلى فَضلِهِ أَكرم بِذَلِكَ مِن عينِ

    An emir of lofty rank, whose very appearance has shown

    his excellence—how noble a person he is!

  25. وَطودُ نُهىً زانَ العُلى وزنه المَلا

    بِقسطاس حلم لا تَرى فيهِ مِن عينِ

    A mountain of wisdom adorning glory, whom the assembly weighed

    with a balance of forbearance in which you see no flaw.

  26. تخيّر مِن أَسنى المَعالي مَراتِباً

    فَكانَ لَهُ بَينَ الوَرى شَرَف العينِ

    He chose ranks among the loftiest honors,

    and among mankind gained an eminent man's distinction.

  27. أَرى السَبعة الزُهرَ العُلى وَهوَ بَدرها

    دَنانير لَيسَ الغَير مِنها سِوى عينِ

    I see the seven bright planets on high—and he is their full moon—

    as dinars; the others among them are nothing but coin.

  28. فَتىً ترد العافون ينبوع جودِهِ

    وَهَل يَرد الظَمآن إِلّا إِلى العينِ

    A youth to whose fountain of generosity the seekers come;

    and does the thirsty man come to anything but a spring?

  29. أنخ أَيُّها الراجي عَلى باب فَضلِهِ

    مَطايا الرَجا وَاِنزل بِنادي نَدى العينِ

    Let there kneel, O hopeful seeker, at the door of his bounty

    the mounts of hope; and alight in the court of the eminent one's bounty.

  30. تَرَ اليمن فيما فيهِ جادَت يَمينه

    وَكَم درهم لا خَير فيه وَكَم عينِ

    You will see good fortune in what his right hand has generously given;

    how many a dirham has no good in it, and how many a gold coin!

  31. فَحدّث عَن البَحر العُباب بِكُلّ ما

    رَواهُ لَنا راوي السحاب عَن العينِ

    Speak of the surging sea with everything that

    the clouds' narrator has related to us on the eye's authority.

  32. لَدى أَسد تنجاب عَن وَجهِهِ الوَغى

    كَما اِنجابَ مسكيّ الغَمام عَن العينِ

    Before a lion, battle clears away from his face

    as musk-dark cloud clears away from the sun.

  33. قَسا قَسوة الجلمودِ بَأساً وَطَبعه

    أَرقُّ مِن الماء الزُلال لَدى العينِ

    He is hard as a boulder in battle, while his nature

    is gentler than limpid water at the spring.

  34. حَمى الدار حامي حَوزة المَجد ما نَحا

    بَنو الدَهر مِن عَليائِهِ قطُّ مِن عينِ

    The guardian of glory's domain defended the abode; never did

    the sons of time seek any flaw in his eminence.

  35. تَلوح لَها تَحتَ العَجاجِ سُيوفه

    كَما شيم بَرق لاحَ مِن خللِ العينِ

    His swords gleam beneath the dust in its defense,

    like lightning glimpsed flashing through the gaps in a cloud.

  36. وَلَو شاء يَبلو السمهريّة لاِعتلى

    بِها الهام مِنها وَاِبتَلى العين بِالعينِ

    If he wished to test the Samhari spears, he would surmount

    their heads with them, and test eye against eye.

  37. وَردَّ عَلى أَعقابِها الخَيل شرَّعاً

    كَما رَدَّ طَه المُصطَفى عَينَ ذي العينِ

    And he would drive the horses back on their heels, with lances leveled,

    as Taha, the Chosen One, restored the eye to its owner.

  38. مَسوّمةً تَأوي الشآمَ جيادُها

    وَأَصواتها ما بينَ صنعاء والعينِ

    Its marked noble steeds find shelter in al-Sham,

    and their neighing is heard between Sanaa and al-'Ayn.

  39. فيا كعبة فضل التي هِيَ قبلَةٌ

    لَها اِنتَجَع القصّاد مُنتجع العينِ

    O Kaaba of bounty, which is a prayer's focal point,

    to which seekers traveled as to a spring-fed pasture.

  40. بِجَدواك يُروى غَرس فَضلك في المَلا

    فَيَنمو وَغَرس الغَير يسقى مِن العينِ

    Through your gifts, the planting of your bounty is watered among the people,

    and grows; the planting of others is watered from a spring.

  41. ألا في سَبيل اللَه ما أَنفَقَ الفَتى

    مِن البرّ يَوماً فَهوَ أَربى مِن العينِ

    Lo, whatever a youth spends in God's cause

    in goodness on any day is more fruitful than gold.

  42. فَهاكَ أَمين المَجد بكراً زَففتها

    زَفاف الغَواني عَن حلى الدرّ وَالعينِ

    Take, O Amin of Glory, a virgin I have led as a bride,

    as beautiful women are led, without adornments of pearls and gold.

  43. أَكرّر لَفظ العَين لا الخال إِنَّني

    إِخال القَوافي لا تَرى بِسوى العينِ

    I repeat the word 'ayn, not khal; indeed, I

    think the rhymes can see with nothing but the eye.

  44. هِيَ الغادة العَذراء عقد نظامها

    بِأَحكامِهِ يَسمو عَلى حكمة العينِ

    She is a virgin maiden; the necklace of her composition

    with its rules rises above the wisdom of the eye.

  45. فَلو أَنَّ ذا العَينين عاينها دَعا

    حُروفَ الهِجا تَعنو بِمَدحك لِلعينِ

    Had the two-eyed one beheld her, he would have summoned

    the letters of the alphabet to bow to 'ayn in your praise.

  46. فَإِن تَرَ تَقصيراً فَعَفوك لَم يَزَل

    لَهُ ساتِراً ستر الرِداء عَلى العينِ

    If you see a failing, your pardon has never ceased

    to cover it, as a cloak covers the eye.

  47. فَهبها قبولاً فَهيَ مِن أَثَر الثَنا

    لِعلياك وَالآثار تُهدى إِلى العينِ

    Grant her acceptance, for she is a token of praise

    for your eminence, and tokens are offered to the eminent man.

  48. وَدُم فاعِلاً لِلمكرمات تَصرّفاً

    كَتَصريف فاء الحَمد وَاللام وَالعينِ

    Continue doing noble deeds in all your actions,

    like the inflection of praise's fa, lam, and 'ayn.

  49. مَدى الدَهر ما يَمّمت عَلياك قائِلاً

    خُذي مِن وِدادي العينَ يا قُرّة العينِ

    throughout time, as long as I turn toward your eminence, saying:

    Take the essence of my affection, O delight of my eye.