أبقَى الرَّسِيمُ من الرِكابِ رُسُوما

تخفَى فتُشبِهُ سِرَّكَ المَكتُوما

The breeze left traces of the riders

Hidden, resembling your guarded secret

وأراكَ ما يَجني الفِراقُ جِنايةً

إلا أخَذتَ بِها المهارَى الكُوما

I see what separation commits of crimes

Except you have taken the wary, all together

وإذا اشتِياقُكَ جارَ جرت فقدتَها

مَظلُومَةً أو يُنصِفَ المَظلُوما

And when your longing flowed, you lost it

Wronged, or the wronged is given justice

وعزَمت فاستَفرَغتَ عزماً لاقِحاً

لو لم تكُن أُمُّ السُّلُوِّ عَقِيما

You determined, exerting determined resolve

As if the mother of tranquility were not barren

ومُحجَّبٍ خافُوا عليهِ ولو بَدا

للنَّاسِ كانَ الخَوفُ مِنه عُمُوماً

A veiled one, they feared for him, and if he appeared

To people, the fear of him would be general

تُلقِي العُيونُ على النُّفوسِ حَديثَهُ

وتُرجَّع التَّوقِيفَ والتَّفهِيما

Eyes cast upon souls his discourse

And return the gesture and comprehension

حتَّى إذا عَرَفته صارَ حَوادِثاً

وتَرى هُناكَ القَبضَ والتَّسلِيما

Until when she knew him, he became events

And you see there the taking and the giving

فكأنَّهم فيما أساؤوا أحسَنُوا

حَجَبُوا بحَجبَتِهِ الرَّدى المَحتُوما

So it's as if in what they did wrong, they did good

They veiled with his veil the inevitable calamity

مُدُّوا عَلى وَحشِ الفَلاةِ سُرادِقاً

إنِّي أراهُ إذا رَأيتُ الرِّيما

They extended over the wild beast of the empty quarter a canopy

I see it when I see the sand dune

ومُعرّضٍ للطَّارِقينَ بِبَيتِهِ

طُولَ الزَّمانِ وما يُعدُّ كَرِيما

And one turning his house away from the raiders

For ages, and does not count anything precious

رُحنا وأطلَعتِ السَّماءُ نُجُومَها

وسَعَى فأطلَعَ في الكُؤوسِ نُجُوما

We walked, and the sky revealed its stars

And he strove, and revealed in the cups, stars

قلتُ ارمِها في كلِّ قَلبٍ جَذوَةً

قد صارَ شَيطانُ القُلوبِ رَجيما

I said, hurl into each heart an ember

For the devil of hearts has become banished

فكأنَّها مِن نارِ إبراهيمَ أو

دارَت عَلى ذِكرِ ابنِ إبراهِيما

So it's as if they were from the fire of Abraham

Or they mentioned the son of Abraham

فَتَذاكروا شِيماً غرسنَ مكارِماً

لو يُعتَصَرنَ لَخِلتَهنَّ كُرُوما

And they recalled noble traits planted with generosity

That if squeezed, would drip syrup

ثمَّ انتَشَوا بَحديثِ أمسِ وما مَضَى

فكأنَّهم وجَدوا بِه المَعدُوما

Then they dispersed with talk of yesterday and what has passed

As if they found in it the nonexistent

وإذا جَرَت مَجرى الشَّرابِ صِفاتُهُ

لم تَلقَ إلا ساقِياً ونَدِيما

And when his qualities flowed like drink

They did not find except a cupbearer and boon companion

ولأجلِ ذلكَ ما بَلغتُ بِمَدحِهِ

إلا إلى أن أعلَمَ المَعلُوما

And for that reason I did not, in praising him

Reach except to make known the known

وإِذا ظَننتُ بأَنَّني استَحدَثتُهُ

ألفيتُ مَن عَرفَ الحَديثَ قَدِيما

And when I thought that I innovated him

I found one who knew the discourse to be old

ومناقبٍ أجريتُ شِعري بينها

ليُكمِّل التَّوزِيعَ والتَّقسِيما

And virtues I made my poetry run between

To complete the allotment and division

ورَأيتُه عَن حَملِ ذلكَ عاجِزاً

فَعذَرتُه ورَجَعتُ عَنه مَلُوما

And I saw him incapable of bearing that

So I excused him and turned from him, blamed

بينَ الرِّئاسَةِ والسِّياسَةِ مَنزلٌ

أصبَحتَ وَحدكَ في ذُراهُ مُقِيما

Between leadership and politics is a position

You became, alone in its houses, resident

وَجَعلتَ تَفعَلُ مثلَ ما فَعلَ الألى

منهُ فَتَتَّخذ الخُطُوبَ خُصُوما

And you began to do like what the high ones did

Of it, so you take tribulations as opponents

ولَو اقتَصرتَ عَلى القَديم كَفى العُلى

إنَّ القَديِمَ لَيُوجبُ التَّقدِيما

And if you had kept to the old, the high ones suffice

For the old necessitates the precedence

للحادِثاتِ مَعي حَديثٌ مُبهَمٌ

أضحَى النَّهارُ عليَّ مِنه بَهيما

For the events with me is an ambiguous discourse

The day has become, because of it, confused for me

وصِناعَتي عَربِيَّةٌ وكأنَّني

ألقَى بأكثرِ ما صَنَعتُ الرُّوما

My craft is Arabic, and it is as if I

Cast off most of what I made, foreign

فَلِمَن أقولُ وما أقولُ وأينَ بِي

فأسيرَ أو لا أينَ بِي فأُقيما

So for whom do I speak, and what do I say, and where am I

Do I walk, or not, where am I, do I stay

وإِذا شَكوتُ إلى امرِىءٍ ما حَلَّ بي

وأَقولُ يغضَبُ أن أراهُ حَلِيما

And if I complain to a man of what befell me

And say, he gets angry that I see him forbearing