سَنا بَرْقٍ تَبَلَّجَ واستَنارا

أثارَ من الصَّبابة ما أثارا

A lightning flash gleamed and lit up,

Stirring up the youthful passions within me.

وهاج لي الغرام وهيّجت بي

فؤاداً يا أُميمة مستطارا

Love kindled in me, igniting

A heart, O Umima, aflame with desire.

فبرقاً شِمْتُه واللَّيل داج

كما أوْقَدْتَ في الظَّلماء نارا

The lightning whose flash I perceived in the dark night

Was like a fire you kindled in the gloom.

كأَنَّ وميضَه لمعانُ عَضبٍ

يشقُّ من الدُّجى نقعاً مثارا

Its glimmer was like the shining of wrath

Ripping through the darkness in fiery shreds.

ذكرتُ به ابتسامك يا سُليمى

فأبكاني اشتياقاً وادّكارا

It reminded me of your smile, O Suleima,

Which made me weep in yearning and recollection.

فما مرَّ الخيال إذنْ بطرفي

ولَمْ أذُقِ الكرى إلاَّ غرارا

Thus did memory pass before my eyes

And I tasted nothing but deceitful mirage.

وذكرى ما مضى من طيب عيشٍ

سحبت من الشباب به إزارا

The memory of a life of goodness gone by

Has dragged away my mantle of youth.

وعهد هوىً لأيام التصابي

وإنْ كانت لياليه قصارا

And the passion of days of trysts,

Although their nights were brief.

أخَذْتُ بجانب اللَّذات منها

على طَربي وعاقرتُ العقارا

I took my share of pleasures from them,

Disturbing my joy and keeping away the cups.

وكم من لذَّةٍ بكُمَيْت راحٍ

أغَرْناها فأبْعَدْنا المغارا

How many delights we neglected in our haste,

Driving them away to distance and remoteness!

منظمة الحباب كأنَّ كسرى

أماطَ الطَّوق فيها والسّوارا

The wine-pourer Dispenser of drinks was as though

Khosrow had removed his collar and bracelet for her.

مزجناها وقد كانت عقيقاً

فصيَّرها المزاج لنا نضارا

We blended the wine, and it had been pure ruby,

But blending turned it refreshing for us.

فلو طار السرور بمجتليها

على الندمان يومئذٍ لطارا

Had joy flown with it to its drinking haunts

It would have flown that day to each grapevine.

وقد كانَ الشباب لنا لبوساً

يَلَذُّ بِخَلْعِنا فيه العذارا

For youth was our garb,

Taking pleasure in our shedding it like a slough.

فواهاً للشبيبة كيف ولّتْ

وما استرجعتُ حلْيا مستعارا

Alas for youth! How it deserted us,

And I could not recover a loaned ornament.

تنافَرَتْ الظباء وبان سِربٌ

ولم أُنْكِرْ من الظبي النفارا

The gazelles are scattered, and the herd is manifest;

I do not deny that the small gazelles have fled from me.

وشطّ نزارُ من أهواه عنِّي

ومن لي أن أزورَ وأنْ أُزارا

The blossoms of those I loved have departed from me,

And who do I have to visit or keep company with?

إلام أُسائل الرُّكبانَ عَنهمْ

وأستَقْري المنازلَ والديارا

Why should I ask the caravans about them

Or inquire about the dwellings and abodes?

وقوفاً بالمطيِّ على رسومٍ

أُعاني ما تُعانيه البوارا

Standing beside my mount at the ruins

I suffer what is suffered by the sleepless night.

أُرقْرِقُ عَبرة وأذوبُ شوقاً

ويَعدِمُني بها الشَّوقُ القرارا

I whimper with sadness and melt with yearning,

Yearning deprives me of rest at every halt.

وحنَّتْ أنيقي وبكَتْ رفاقي

وأرسَلَتِ الدُّموع لها غزارا

My companions have grieved for me and wept,

Sending copious tears flowing forth.

أشوّقك العرارُ لأرض نجدٍ

ولا شيحاً شَمِمْتَ ولا عرارا

Longing for the land of Najd makes you homesick,

But you have not smelled its winds or inhaled its dust.

أضَرَّ بك الهوى لا باختيار

وما كانَ الهوى إلاَّ اضطرارا

Passion has harmed you, not by your choice,

For passion is nothing but compulsion.

سَقَتْها المزنُ سحًّا من نياقٍ

وصَبَّ على معالمها القطارا

It drove them to give a draught from a waterskin,

And poured down showers on its landmarks.

وصَلْتُ بها المهامه والفيافي

وجُبْتُ بها الفدافد والقفارا

I reached the stony plains and wilderness with it,

Traveling the Bedouin deserts and wastelands.

مُعلِّلتي بممرضتي حَديثاً

لقد داويت بالخمرِ الخمارا

Justifying my treatment at the hands of my nurse

Is that I have been healed by drink from the imbiber of wine.

بمن لا زلت تحييني التفاتاً

وتقتُلُني صُدوداً وازورارا

With her whose glance still gives me life

And whose estrangement kills me, little by little.

هي الحدق المراض فتكْنَ فينا

وألطف من ظبا البيض احورارا

She is the tender-eyed gazelle, so she glanced at us,

More gentle than the shy wild cows with lovely eyes.

فلولا فتكها ما بتُّ أشكو

بأحشائي لها جرحاً جُبارا

If not for her slaughtering me, I would not complain

Of the deep, gaping wounds she has torn in my guts.

كأنَّ جفونَها بالسِّحرِ منها

سُكارى والنفوس بها سُكارى

As if by sorcery, her eyelids intoxicate

Souls until they are drunk, all drunk.

بَلَوْتُ بني الزمان وعرفَتْني

تجاريبي سرائِرَهم جهارا

I have tasted the days, and they have taught me;

Their intimate secrets lay bare to me.

وإنَّك إن بلوتْ النَّاس مثلي

وجَدْتَ النَّاس أكثرهم شرارا

And if you tested people as I have,

You would find most people wicked.

وإنْ قِسْتَ الرجال وهم كبار

بمجد محمد كانت صغارا

If you judged men when they were elders

By the glory of Muhammed, they would seem small.

بأهداهم إلى المعروف برًّا

وأسرعهم إلى الحسنى بدارا

In guiding them to righteousness and goodness

And hastening them to the most virtuous abodes.

وكم لحقته في ميدان فضل

فما شَقَّتْ له فيه غبارا

How much virtue he attained in the arena of merit,

Not stirring up in it a speck of dust!

بروحي من إذا ما جار خطبٌ

فَرَرْتُ إليه يومئذٍ فرارا

By my soul! When disaster befalls,

I flee to him for refuge and escape.

يرى في ظلِّه العافون عيشاً

يَروقُ العينَ بهجته اخضرارا

In his shade the prosperous live a life

That delights the eye with its greenery and freshness.

ويُنفِقُ في سبيل الله مالاً

بهِ ادَّخرَ الثوابَ له ادِّخارا

And he spends money in God's cause,

Hoarding reward for himself by stockpiling it.

ويَرعى في صَنائِعِهِ ذِماراً

بجيلٍ قلَّ من يرعَى الذّمارا

And he cares in his affairs for the weak,

Few care for the weak as he cares!

تبصَّر في الأُمور وحنكته

التجاريب اختباراً واعتبارا

Insight illuminates his affairs,

And his experience tests and deduces.

وحلَّتْهُ فضائله بحِلْيٍ

لعمرك لن يُباعَ ولنْ يُعارا

His virtues have adorned him with an ornament

That will surely neither be sold nor lent.

وأبدعَ بالمكارم والأَيادي

فما يأْتي بها إلاَّ ابتكارا

He created novel acts of kindness and charity

Rarely accomplished except through invention.

وما زالتْ كرامُ بني زهير

خياراً تنتجُ القوم الخيارا

The nobility of the Bani Zuhayr

Have always been the elite who engender the elite.

نِجار أُبوَّةٍ ونتاج فخرٍ

فحيَّا الله ذيَّاك النجارا

Carpentry of glorious ancestry and product of pride,

May God keep you, that excellent carpenter!

هم الجبل المنيع من المعالي

يُجيرُ من الخطوب من استجارا

They are the lofty mountain of glory,

Sheltering from disasters whoever seeks their refuge.

وإنَّ محمَّداً أندى يميناً

وأَوفرُ نائلاً وأَعزُّ جارا

Indeed, Muhammad was the most loyal ally,

The most abundant winner and the noblest neighbor.

أبا عبد الحميد رُفِعتَ قدراً

وقد أُوتِيتَ حِلماً واقتدارا

O Father of Abdul-Hamid, you have been raised in esteem

And granted forbearance and ability.

سَبقْتَ الأَوَّلين فلا تُجارى

إلى أَمَد العلاء ولا تبارى

You surpassed past peoples, so none can compare

To your stature and glory, or rival you.

فسبحان الَّذي أَعطاك حِلماً

فوازَنْتَ الجبالَ به وقارا

Glory to Him who granted you forbearance

So you outweighed mountains in dignity and gravity!

وألهَمَكَ الصَّوابَ بكلِّ رأيٍ

يُريك ظلامَ حندسِهِ نهارا

And inspired you with wisdom in every view,

Showing you the bright sunlight in its darkness.

عليك النَّاس ما بَرحتْ عيالاً

ولم تبْرح لدائرها مدارا

The people have not ceased being your dependents,

Never ceasing to revolve around you.

تُشَيِّدُ من عُلاك لهم مقاماً

وتُوضِحُ من سَناك لهم منارا

You built with your ascendancy a station for them

And illuminated with your brilliance a beacon for them.

لك النَّظر الدَّقيق يلوح منهم

هُدى قومٍ به كانتْ حيارى

Yours is the discerning view from which guidance appears,

A guide that led people who had been perplexed.

وفيك فطانة وثقوب ذهنٍ

يَراكَ به المشيرُ المستشارا

In you are shrewdness and sharpness of mind,

The advisor and consultant see you thus.

بقد سارَتْ مناقبك السَّواري

فما اتَّخذت في الأرض لها دارا

Your outstanding qualities have risen so high

That they have not taken any home on earth.

تَقَلَّدْتَ القوافي الغرَّ منها

بأحسنَ ما تقلَّدتِ العذارى

You have assumed the most eloquent rhymes,

Better than the virgins assume their necklaces.

وما استَقْصَتْ مدائحك القوافي

نظاماً في علاك ولا نثارا

The rhymes have not encompassed your praises,

Neither in the systemization nor scattering of verse.

لئنْ قصَّرتُ فيما جئتُ منها

فقد تتلى اقتصاراً واختصارا

If I fall short in what I have brought of them,

Recitation of them has been both concise and brief.

ليهنِك رُتْبَةٌ تعلو وتسمو

ونيشانٌ نُؤرِّخه افتخارا

May you occupy a rank, ascending and soaring,

And a title that we can proudly commemorate!