هاج حزني لما تفنى الحمام

وبدا لي من الهيام الحمام

My sorrow was stirred when the doves died out,

And the love-smitten doves appeared to me.

يا حماماً بدا على الروح يشدو

أنت طلق الجناح ماذا الغرام

O you doves that chirp to the soul,

You are free to fly, what is this love?

لا يحول البعاد عن نيل إلفٍ

لك فالدار إن تناءت ترام

Distance cannot prevent attaining a friend,

If the house becomes narrow, it will expand.

أنا أولى بأن أنوح وأشدو

وعلى كاهلي يعلو الرغام

I am most deserving to moan and chant,

With troubles piled high upon my shoulders.

أنا أولى إذا بكيت بدمعٍ

أذهبت نور عينه الأيام

I am most deserving if I weep with tears

That make the light in his eyes fade with time.

يا خفيف الجناح إن لم تعريف

ه فهذي تحيتي والسلام

O you swift of wing, if you do not recognize me,

Then this is my greeting and farewell.

كن حميم الزجال وامض سريعاً

تخو شهمٍ له الدجيل مقام

Be intimate, travel fast,

Before vigor gives way to old age.

قبل الأرض ثم بلغ سلامي

ثم كلم بعد السلام الكلام

Kiss the ground first, then convey my greetings,

Then speak after the greetings.

إن عبد الرحمن في الكرخ باك

بعيون لها العيون قوام

Indeed Abdurrahman weeps in Al-Karkh

With eyes that have eyes over them.

حيثما صح قولكم لأخيه

مذ بدا نثركم له والنظام

Wherever your saying to your brother is true,

Since your prose for him appeared and was composed.

جئتنا والهموم تحكي الرواسي

وعلى القلب لا يزال الغرام

You came while worries shred the pillars,

And love still weighs down upon the heart.

صار نضواً وزاده الوجد شجواً

وأعترته الأفكار والأوهام

It became bright then was increased by passion with longing,

And was struck by thoughts and illusions.

صار ذا البيت ورده كل وقتٍ

يعتريه إذا تلاه أوام

This house whenever it is mentioned

Is visited by sorrows time and again.

لهف نفسي على غريب فريد

ألفته بعد الخواص العوام

My soul yearns for a unique stranger,

Whom I befriended after the special and the general populace.

لهف نفسي على مقيمٍ بأعما

ل رجيلٍ وهو الرئيس الإمام

My soul longs for one residing in tribulations,

A firm leader who is the chief imam.

بين جلفٍ من الجفاة وبين ال

أعراب هاتيكم الطغاة الطغام

Amongst uncouth boors and uncivilized

Bedouins - those tyrants and tyrannous mobs.

وغدا بالعذاب خل كريم

بين قوم هم شحاح لئام

And tomorrow an generous soul will be

Amongst a people who are stingy and vile.

عمري له نجار إذا ما

ذكروه خرت لديه الكرام

My life is for him if he is mentioned

The generous souls bow down.

حازم قوسه الى كل قصدٍ

لم يفت سهمها إليه سهام

His bow is set towards every aim

None of its arrows at it miss their mark.

ذو خصال حسانها باسماتٍ

عن ثنايا بها يروق النظام

With traits whose beauty has markings

In its folds what pleases order lies.

يم جود تثني عليه الغوادي

والربى والوهاد والآكام

The abundance I praise overflows for him

As well as locality, settlement, and construction.

سيدي الدهر هكذا في كرامٍ

ما له قط في الكرام زمام

My master, this is how the generous souls are

For them among the generous there is no restraint.

والد ليته يكون عقيماً

حيث من ولده الطغاة اللئام

Oh father, would that he be barren

Where from his children are the vile tyrants.

أبعض الناس من بنيه لديه

ماجد كامل كريم همام

Yet some of his children with him

Are glorious, perfect, and ambitious.

روح القلب سيدي بالأماني

لا تدعه تنوشه الأسقام

My master, do not let hopes trouble his heart

And ward off harm from him.

وأنعش العقل بانتظارك لطفاً

عن قريب يأتيك وهو المرام

And revive the mind while you wait

He will come to you soon, and that is the purpose.

وعد النفس ما استطعت بنعمى

ذاكراً ما مضت به الأعوام

Promise yourself what you can with my gifts

Mentioning what the years have passed.

فرج اللَه بغتةً حيث يأتي

غير أن الرجاء برق يشام

May God suddenly relieve where it comes

Except that hoping is a perceived lightning.

فرج بعد شدة ويسار

بعد عسر قضى به العلام

Relief after distress and ease

After hardship which the All-Knowing has decreed.

دولة المرء بالسلامة لا بال

صفر والبيض فالحطام حطام

One’s state is through safety not

Through jaundice, vitiligo, and rubble is rubble.

وكمال الإنسان بالعلم والحلم

ونجر تعشو إليه الأنام

And the perfection of man is through knowledge and forbearance

To which people aspire.

والدنا قد علمت من شأنها ال

غدر ولكن جل ما تصيب الكرام

Our state, as you know is betrayal

But most of what befalls the generous is betrayal.

سيفها فيهم هو الصارم العضب

وفي الأرذلين سيف كهام

Its sword among them is sharp and quick

And among the lowest of the low, a blunt sword.

قد بلينا بغدرها ودهاها

حين أنتم للمعتفين العصام

We have been tested by its betrayal and guile

When you all were pillars for the weak.

فرددتم من بأسها كل جيش

حينما أرجفت بنا أقوام

So you drove back its every army

When tribes quaked around us.

وسعيتم لنا بكل جميلٍ

هو للدهر غرة ولئام

And you sought for us every good thing

Which for fate is deception and blame.

وانتصبتم لنفعنا ما استطعتم

وبدا منكم لنا الاحترام

And you stood for our benefit what you could

And respect for us appeared from you.

فجزيتم عنا بخير جزاء

عاجلاً قبل أن يجيء القيام

So may you be rewarded for us with the best reward

Earlier, before the Day of Judgment comes.

وأقبلن سيدي ركيك نظام

شغلتني عن حسنه الأسقام

Please accept, my master, the order of prose

Which distracted me from its goodness, troubles.

أوثقتني وقيدتني بضعف ال

قلب لا يستطاع معه نظام

It bound me and tied me in heart weakness

With which no order can be achieved.

قطعتني عن المسير فأصبح

ت وقد ثلثت لي الاقدام

It cut me off from the march so I became

Crippled, with feet faltering for me.

ألحقتني لولا ولاؤك بالما

ضين رمسي يعلو عليه الرغام

It made me, were it not for your loyalty

Join those forgotten, covered in rubble.

فلو اسطعت زرتكم كل يوم

فعليكم تحية وسلام

So had I been able, I would visit you everyday

Upon you, greetings and peace!