تذكر نجدا فحن ادكارا وأرقه — Al Sari Al Raffa

He remembered Najd and yearned as he recalled it,

and lightning kept him sleepless as it flashed far and wide.

His longing killed his patience,

though he had thought to die enduring patiently.

Passion wronged him, so he sought refuge in tears,

when he found no refuge but them.

We halted—how much passing bashfulness

dyed the roses of cheeks a safflower red!

And white gazelles: when he sought the cruelty of parting,

they sought refuge in floods of tears for redress.

They lavish their necks upon me,

and show me roses and pomegranate blossoms.

And if I am bereft [of] solace, or stray

from right guidance, waywardness has not clothed me in shame.

For a lover's betrayal is the blackness of his cheek-down,

when love has stripped him of his bridle.

Far be it from one led astray by youth that it be said:

'He disobeyed his waywardness and obeyed dignity.'

And a virgin raincloud, driven by the south wind:

you would think pregnant she-camels were heading toward pregnant she-camels.

You see lightning smile secretly within it,

when thunder sobs aloud inside it.

When its early-season raincloud takes on a leopard's spots,

its lightning turns safflower-yellow and flashes far and wide.

The breeze crosses its path in the air,

and scatters little pearls in the garden.

The gardens almost move toward it,

when water streams through them and flows onward.

At times it rends the collars of modesty,

and at times pours down copious tears.

As though the prince had lent the hills

his virtues, and they had donned what he lent.

He is the rain: one town grows rich through him,

while another yearns for him in need.

His favors have clouds brimming with rain,

overflowing at evening and pouring at dawn.

And an arm which, when the day of battle grows long,

leaves a people's lives short.

He will not fear the sword until he sees

water and fire on the sword's flat.

Abu al-Hasan, you chose noble praise,

and one like you chooses well.

How often you have trodden the enemies' dwellings,

against their will, ranging through their homes,

with horses that spread darkness over them,

and bright swords that bring daylight back upon them.

You raised the stars of the spears there,

and they do not set when the star sets.

And on the day of al-Mada'in, when you visited it,

though sword-edges had barred it from being visited,

your steeds waded through blood there,

having earlier come stirring up dust.

Had Kisra been in its great hall,

your assaults would have gifted him defeat.

You gave the spears blood to drink, and they bent,

drunk, as though they had drunk wine.

Long though they are, they shorten the enemies' stride,

and show their stumbling in every breast.

How many kings you have threatened,

though far from them, and they died of dread!

You raced and outwore the winds in their course,

and passed beyond being matched in speed.

You departed and became the Euphrates' neighbor,

having earlier been a neighbor to the Tigris.

So they have found refuge in you, an armored warrior,

who lavishes inherited wealth and guards what is inviolable.

In a raincloud that gives when the rain withholds,

and a lion that rises when battle-dust rises,

and a thick-necked lion: if he marches among Taghlib,

you hear the brown spears clashing.

The rhymes of praise are jealous over him,

and, if you [unclear], refuse anything but racing to be first.

And a rhyme has every right, if it lacks

his exploits as its adornment, to be jealous.

A cloud surely reminded me of his cheerful face,

lighting the night's darkness until it shone bright.

It passed over the garden like a libertine,

singing and trailing his waistcloth through it.

Then I knew that I would obey separation,

and defy passion, going wherever he went.

The frontier towns called you, having seen

looming death and ruinous doom.

After you left, the delegation of praise found

a scant watering-place and a desolate dwelling.

They say, when hardship comes by night:

Has that generosity gone to Najd, or down to the lowlands?

For their lodging is no lodging to them

when they lose you, nor is a home a home.