خليليَّ من قيس بن عيلان حليا

ركابي تُعرّج نحو مُنعرَجاتِها

My companion, from Qays ibn Al-Aylān a greeting

My steed turns toward its winding paths

بعيشكما ذات اليمين فإنني

أُراحُ لشمِّ الريحِ من عَقَدَاتِها

By your life, for I find rest in the scent of the breeze from its knots

The scent of the ostriches has become fragrant, as if

فقد عبقت ريحُ النعامي كأنما

سلام سُلَيمَى راحَ في نَفَحَاتِها

The greetings of Sulaymā had traveled in its breaths

And Tīmā’ is a dwelling for the heartsick heart

وتيماءُ للقلب المتيم منزلٌ

فَعُوجَا بتسليم على سَلَماتِها

So it leaned to greet its stairways

And if you both find bliss from the ladder of patience, his heart

وإن تُسعدا من سلم الصبر قلبه

يُعرِّس بدوح البان من عَرَصَاتِها

Becomes a groom in the abode of separation from its threshing floors

Its wilderness became inhabited by a friendly inhabitant

فبانتُها الغيناءُ مألفُ بانة

جنيتُ الغَرامَ البرح من ثمراتِها

I harvested the tender love from its fruits

And its meadow hosted a melodious meadow

وروضتُها الغنَّاءُ مسرحُ روضةٍ

تبختر في الموشيّ من حبراتِها

Prideful in its embroidered clothes from its needles

There, threads in the roots of dignity

هنالِك خُوطٌ في منابت عزَة

تخال القنا الخطيَ بعض نباتِها

Resembling the slender line some of its plants

Feelings of infatuation and the Ka’bah of charm

مشاعرُ تهيامٍ وكعبةُ فتنةٍ

فؤادي من حُجَّابها ودعاتِها

My heart from its veils and supplications

So how it shook my hand in its bedouins, the hand of wishes

فكم صافَحَتني في مُناها يدُ المُنى

وكم هَبَّ عَرفُ اللهو من عَرَفاتِها

And how the recognized passion blew from its known places

I promised them idols when I promised her

عهدتُ بها أصنام حين عهدتني

هَوَى عَبدِ عُزَّاها وعبد مَنَاتِها

The love of a slave of her pride and a slave of her temples

I came with my longings to her and was virtuous

أهل بأشواقي إليها وأتقى

شرائعها في الحُبِّ حقَ تُقاتِها

In its laws of love, truly pious

Love like the courage of Ibn Ma’n and a lover

غرام كإقدام ابن معنٍ ومغرمٌ

كإنعامه والأرضُ في أزماتِها

Like his generosity, and the land in its crises

And how many a group has seen the view of the dissenters

وكم قد رأت رأي الخوارج فرقةٌ

فكنت علياً في حُروب شُراتِها

So I was Ali in the wars of its evils

With the resolve of a father whose radiance does not fade

بعزمِ أبيٍّ لا يرد مضاؤه

وهل تُملكُ الأفلاك عن حَرَكاتها

And can the cosmos possess power over its motions?

He who makes the excited one weak and his teeth

هو الجاعلُ الهَيجا هشاً وسنانهُ

هوىً فَهوَ لا يَعدُو قُلُوب كماتِها

Passion so he does not exceed the hearts in its burials

And how often Egypt courted me in the Nile of its Nile

وكم خطبتني مصرُ في نيل نِيلها

ورامت بِنَا بَغدادُ وردَ فُراتِها

And Baghdad intended for us its Euphrates

And I was not pleased by any land but the place of my upbringing

ولم أرضَ أرضا غير مبدإ نشأتي

ولو لُحتُ شمساً في سَمَاء ولاتِها

Even if I were a sun in the sky of its heights

And I have hope that if luck makes its attainment successful

ولي أملٌ إن يُسعدَ السعدُ نيلُهُ

يُفهمُ سرُّ النفس في زَمَرَاتِها

The secret of the soul will be understood in its groups

And the sweetest wishes are what is attained in the bloom of youth

وأسنى المنى ما نِيلَ في مَيعَةِ الصِّبَا

وهل تُحسنُ الأشياء بعدُ فَواتِها

And can things be good after their loss?