هذه الدَّارُ ما عسى أن تكونا

فاقضِ فيها لها عَليك دُيونا

This abode - what might it become,

So fulfill in it what is due from you,

كانَ عهدي بها ومن كانَ فيها

أشرَقَتْ ولانتْ غصونا

My covenant with it was when it contained

Branches that shone and bent down.

يا دياراً عَهِدتُها قبلَ هذا

جنَّةً أزْلِفَتْ وحوراً وعِينا

O abode that I knew before this,

A paradise drawn near with houris and springs,

كنتِ للشادن الأَغنّ كناساً

مثلما كنتِ للهزبر عرينا

You were to the happy and wealthy a goblet

Just as you were to the devout a nest.

قَد وقفنا على بقايا رسومٍ

دارساتٍ كأسطرٍ قد مُحينا

We stood upon the ruins of dwellings

Whose contours were like erased lines,

فبذلنا لها ذخائر دمعٍ

كانَ لولا الوقوف فيها مصونا

So we shed for it treasures of tears,

Which had they not stopped would be guarded.

ذكَّرتْنا الهوى وعهد التَّصابي

فذكرنا من عهدها ما نسينا

It reminded us of love and the pact of companionship

So we remembered what we forgot of its era,

هلْ عَجِبْتُمْ والحبُّ أمرٌ عجيبٌ

كيفَ يَستعذبُ العذابَ المهينا

Are you surprised - for love is a wondrous thing -

How it makes anguish taste sweet?

أو سألتم بعد النوى عن فؤادي

فسَلوا الظاعنين والنازحينا

Or did you ask, after resolve, about my heart

Then ask the passionate and the emigrating,

وبنفسي أحبَّة يومَ بانوا

حَرَّموا النومَ أنْ يمَسَّ الجفونا

And by my soul, the day they left

They forbade sleep to touch my eyelids,

عَرَّضوا حين أعرضوا ثمَّ قالوا

قَدْ فتنَّاك في الغرامِ فتونا

When they turned away they said

"We have tempted you with love's trials,"

إنْ أطلنا الحنينَ شوقاً إليكم

فعلى الصَّبِّ أنْ يطيل الحنينا

If we prolong yearning out of longing for you

Then it is for enduring to prolong the yearning,

ربَّ ورقاءَ غَرَّدَتْ فشجتني

وكذاك الحزين يشجي الحزينا

The warbler sang, so it cracked me,

Just as the sorrowful person cracks the sorrowful,

رَدَّدَتْ نَوحَها فردَّدت منِّي

زفرةً تصدع الحشا وأنينا

It echoed its lament, so I echoed from me

A moan that splits mountainsides and groans,

ردِّدي ما استطعت أيَّتها الوُرْقُ

شجوناً من الأَسى ولحونا

Echo, O leaves, what you can

Of sorrows of grief and melodies,

وأعيدي شكوى الغرام عَلَيْنا

واجهدي لا شقيتِ أنْ تسعدينا

And repeat to us the plaint of passion,

And strain yourself - you have not brought joy to us,

لو شكوناك ما بنا لشرحنا

لكِ من لوعة الغرامِ متونا

Had we complained to you of the malady of passion that afflicted us

We would have unloaded onto you its burdens,

ما أطعنا اللُّوَّامَ والحبُّ يأبى

أنْ يطيعَ المتيَّمُ الَّلائمينا

We do not obey censurers while love refuses

That the enamored obey the blamers,

لهف نفسي على مراشف ألْمى

أوْدَعَ الثغرَ منه داراً ثمينا

My soul yearns for the pillows of my pain

It has made my cheek a precious abode,

لانَ عطفاً مهفهفُ القدِّ قاسٍ

كلَّما زادَ قسوةً زدْتُ لينا

The beloved’s tender bending branch is harsh

The more harshness increases the more gentleness I show,

يا شفائي من عِلَّةٍ بَرَّحَتْ بي

إنَّ في القلبِ منك داءً دفينا

My remedy from an ailment that has relieved me,

Indeed, in my heart from you is a hidden sickness,

يا ترى تجمع المقادير ما كانَ

وأنَّى لنا بها أنْ تكونا

I wonder, will the decrees bring back what is gone?

And how can we attain it?

في ليالٍ أمضيتُها بعناق

لا يظنُّ المريب فينا الظنونا

Nights I spent in intimate embrace,

The suspicious cannot think ill thoughts of us,

فرَّقَتْنا أيدي النوى فافترقنا

ورمينا ببَيْنها وابتلينا

The resolve of fate separated us, so we parted,

And we were tested by separation.

بينَ شرقٍ ومغربٍ نَنْتَحيه

فشمالاً طوراً وطوراً يمينا

Between an East and West we roam,

At times northwards and at times southwards,

أسعدَ الله فِرقَةَ العزِّ لمَّا

كانَ عبد الرحمن فيها خدينا

May God prosper the separation of honor when

Abdul Rahman was among us, effacing himself,

قدَّمتْه الولاةُ واتَّخذته

في الملمَّات صاحباً ومعينا

The governors advanced him and took him as

A companion and ally in grave affairs,

واستَمدَّتْ من رأيه فَلَقَ الصُّبحِ

بَياناً منه وعلماً رصينا

And they drew from his enlightened opinion at daybreak

An elucidation and established knowledge from him,

جَذَبَ النَّاسَ بالجميل إليه

وحباهم بفضله أجمعينا

He attracted people through his kindness,

And endowed them all with his merit,

فرأتْ ما يَسُرُّها من كريمٍ

من سُراة الأَشراف والأَنجبينا

She saw what delighted her of a generous man

From the nobility of nobles and best of men.

شِيَمٌ عن إبائه في المعالي

أسلَكَتْه طريقها المسنونا

Traits from his dignified father,

Who set him upon his established path,

تَستَحيل الحزونُ فيه سهُولاً

بعدَ ما كانت السهول حزونا

The anguished through him become secure,

After security became anguish.

ويهون الأَمر العظيمُ لديه

وحَرِيٌّ بمثلِهِ أنْ يهونا

And the great matter becomes simple through him,

And it is fitting that one like him makes easy,

زانَ ما شان في حوادث شتَّى

ومحا ما يشين في ما يزينا

He piloted various events skillfully,

And erased what disgraces the adorned.

فإذا قستُه بأَبناء عَصري

كانَ أعلى كعباً وأندى يمينا

So if I judge him against the men of my time,

He is higher in status and purer of hand,

قد وَجَدْناك والرِّجال ضروبٌ

والتجاريبُ تظهرُ المكنونا

We have found you when men are of different sorts,

And trials reveal the hidden,

عروةٌ من عُرا السَّعادة وثقى

قد وثقنا بها وحبلاً متينا

A stronghold of the ropes of good fortune, we have trusted it,

And a firm rope,

هذه النَّاس منذ جئتَ إليها

زَجَرَتْ منك طائراً ميمونا

Since you came to them, this people

Have been protected by you from ill omens,

كلّ أرضٍ تحلُّها كانَ أهلو

ها بما ترتجيه مستبشرينا

Every land you settle, its inhabitants

Receive you optimistically,

وإذا رُوِّعَتْ ومثلُك فيها

أصبحوا في ديارهم آمنينا

And if it is terrified, and you are in it,

They become safe in their abodes.

يا شريفَ الأَخلاق وابنَ شريفٍ

أشرفَ النَّاس أثبتَ النَّاس دينا

O noble of character, son of a noble—

The noblest of people, firmest of faith,

أحمِدُ الله أن رأتكَ عيوني

فرأتْ ما يَقُرُّ فيك العيونا

I thank God that my eyes saw you,

For they saw what settles the eyes,

وشَمَمْنا من عَرف ذاتك طيباً

فكأنِّي إذ ذاك في دارينا

And we sensed from knowing you a goodness,

As if I, when this occurred, am in our two abodes,

وَوَرَدْنا نداك عذباً فراتاً

إنَّما أنتَ منهلُ الواردينا

And we attained your fresh sweet stream,

You are but the water-spring of those arriving,

لك في الصالحات ما سوفَ يبقى

ذكرها في الجميل حيناً فحينا

You have in righteous deeds what will remain,

Its remembrance in beauty now and then,

حُزتَ فهماً وفطنةً وذكاءً

وتَفَنَّنْتَ في الأُمور فنونا

You were granted insight, intelligence, and brilliance,

And you were excellent in diverse affairs,

وتولَّيتَ في الحقيقة أمراً

كانَ من لطفه المهيمن فينا

You undertook truthfully a matter

That was under the subtle overseer among us,

سيرة ترتضى جُبِلَتْ عليها

ومزايا ترضي بها العالمينا

An exemplary conduct formed your core,

And merits that satisfy both worlds,

فاهنأ بالصَّوم والمثوبة فيه

وجزيل الصِّيام في الصَّائمينا

So delight in fasting and its reward,

And abundant fasting of those who fast,

وبعيدٍ يعودُ في كلِّ عامٍ

لكَ بالخيرِ كافلاً وضمينا

And a holiday that comes every year

Returning to you with bounty and care,