هَل للنوى ذلكَ الظبيُ الأغنُّ سرى

أَم سارَ هاجرةً أم راحَ أم بكَرا

Did that slender gazelle pass by the Nawa,

Or did she journey as an emigrant, or did she set out at dawn?

وَهَل مدامعهُ يومَ النوى سُفحَت

وَهَل تَبرقعَ في التوديعِ أَم سَفَرا

And did her tears flow on the day of parting with Nawa,

Or did she flutter her eyelids in farewell, or did she travel?

بِهِ تجلّى لنا عندَ الوداعِ وَقَد

تَجلجلَ الدمعُ مِن جفنيهِ واِنحدَرا

When we bid her farewell, her tears flowed

And dropped from her eyelids continuously.

كَأنّما دمعهُ في الخدِّ حينَ جرى

ذرّ عَلى ذهبٍ قد لاح مُنتثِرا

As if her tears flowing on her cheek

Were pearls scattered on gold glittering brightly.

يا حبّه حبّه مِن شادنٍ جُمعت

فيهِ صفاتُ الجمالِ الدلِّ وَالخفرا

O her love, her love that gathered

All beauties of grace, gentleness and refinement.

وَناشد قَد شَدا للوجدِ قَد سكبت

مَدامعي عبراتٍ تمتري قطرا

And she complained passionately of anguish, indeed my tears flowed

Abundantly in streams dripping drop by drop.

كَأنّه ناسكٌ في الزهدِ مُنفردٌ

يَتلو الحواميمَ والأعرافَ والزمرا

As if she is an ascetic detached in devotion

Reciting Hameem, A'raaf and Zumar.

فَهيَّج الوجدَ لمّا أن سمعتُ له

سجعاً وبتُّ لِعصرٍ كان مدّكرا

So it provoked my love when I heard her chanting,

A poem I composed in a bygone time.

عصر بهِ طالَ باعُ الملهيات لنا

مِن حيثُ نرجو وَباعُ البؤسِ قد قَصرا

A time when hopes were long delayed for us,

While misery was cut short from where we hoped.

أيّام حوض الرِضى من هند لم يك في

ما بَيننا أجنى كلّاً ولا كدرا

Days when we gathered at the pond of pleasure unperturbed,

No stranger nor distress between us there.

غيداء كَم سلَبت عَقلي وَكم غَصَبت

روحي وكَم طرفُها في مُهجَتي سَحرا

Ghadeya, how often you robbed me of my reason,

And how much you seized my soul, and how your glance bewitched my infatuation!

تَميسُ في بردِها تيهاً فَتحسَبُها

عوداً منَ الخَيزُران اللدنِ إن خَطرا

Deluding me in your coldness, so I mistook you

For a pliant twig of sweet basil if it stirred.

عَيناء في جنّةٍ مِن روضِ بَهجتها

وَالقلبُ يصلى مدى أيّامهِ سَقرا

A beauty in a garden of bliss,

While my heart prays the length of its days in hellfire.

غنجاءُ فاترةُ الألحاظِ قَد رسمت

بدائع الحسنِ في ألحاظِها الحَوَرا

Ghunjah, languid of glance, painted

Marvels of beauty in her glances of maidens.

يَهنا اِبن نبهانَ إِن اللّه ناصرهُ

َوإنّه في الأعادي أُعطيَ الظَفَرا

O Son of Nabhan, indeed God is his supporter,

And indeed He granted him victory over his enemies.

وَإنّه نالَ أخذَ الثأرِ مدّركاً

بِدولةٍ حكمها تستخدمُ القَدَرا

And indeed he took vengeance, attaining it

With a state whose affairs employ destiny.

جاءَ الهلاليُّ مِن أَقصى الشمالِ إِلى

غمدانَ يقدمُ جيشاً أرعباً مَجرا

The Crescent came from the far north to

Ghmadan, leading a frightening and violent army.

وَقال لا أَنتهي عَن حَربكم أبداً

حتّى يردّ حزامٌ بعد ما قهرا

And he said: I will never stop warring against you

Until a girdle is returned after it was subjugated.

وَدونَ ملكِ حزام في تطلّبهِ

خرط القتادِ ولم بالعاقباتِ دَرى

And without knowing the consequences, he searched for

The belt of King Hazam's kingdom.

قَد دبّر الملك الأستاذ هيبته

بتدبيرِ مَن في الأحامي أَرسل النظرا

The wise King prepared his awe

With the planning of one who sends his sights into thoughts.

وفرّقَ الكتبَ مِن بهلا إلى سمدٍ

إِلى دبا آمر بالحربِ مُنتَصِرا

And he sent books from Bahla to Samad

To Dibba, commanding war and victory.

مُضمّناً كلّ طرسٍ كلّ معجزةٍ

تصمّ سمعَ العدا أَو تُذهِبُ البَصَرا

Including each miracle and marvel

That deafens the enemies’ hearing or blinds their sight.

حتّى تَكاملتِ الراياتُ جامعةً

عَساكراً تَجمعُ الأملاكَ وَالوُزَرا

Until the banners gathered completely,

Armies that gather kingdoms and ministers.

وَقَد تكاثَرَتِ الأنذارُ عنهُ إلى

أَن صدَّقَ الخصمُ لمّا اِستكثَرَ النذَرا

And warnings about him multiplied

Until the enemy believed when warnings increased.

فَحينَ أَيقنَ أنَّ الأمرَ مُشتَكِلٌ

وَإِنّما اللَيثُ في غاباتهِ زَأَرا

So when he was certain that the matter was fraught,

And that the lion only roars in his thickets.

فَمالَ نَحو صحار في ممالكهِ

يَرى منَ الأمرِ ما لا كانَ قَبل يَرى

He inclined toward Dhahirah in his realms

To see what he had not seen before.

وَأَسعرَ الحرب حتّى بعد جيء بهِ

في الآلة الأسر موثوقاً وقد أسرا

And he ignited war until he came in

The bonds of captivity, bound tight and captured.

وَاِستفتحت منهُ قسراً ثمَّ قيلَ له

عَفواً لَكَ اليوم إنّ الذنبَ قَد غُفِرا

And he was pardoned against his will, then told:

“You are forgiven today, the sin has been absolved.”

فَجدّدَ الحربَ مِن بعد الفكاكِ من ال

أسرِ الّذي كان فيهِ الحظّ قَد عَثُرا

So after being released from captivity

In which fortune had stumbled, he renewed the war.

فَحلحلَ اليشجبيّ القرم طالبهُ

كتائباً في الوغى يحملنَ أسدَ شَرا

And the Yemeni shook his spear at him

With battalions in the fray bearing a lion of evil.

فَاِنهاجَ عنهُ هزيماً والجيوشُ على

آثارهِ في الموامي تتبعُ الأثَرَا

So he fled from him in defeat and the armies

Followed his traces in the sands tracking the footsteps.

حتّى أَتى مالك الرستاقِ مُلتجئاً

مِن حيثُ لا مَلجأ يوماً وَلا وَزرا

Until he reached the Rustaq commander

Fleeing where there is no refuge or strength.

فَظلَّ والحربُ بالرستاقِ قائمةٌ

ما بينَ قصرٍ أو بين السوقِ مُحتضرا

And the war remained raging at Rustaq

Between a castle or the market ablaze.

وَاِستفرغَ الجيشَ من خيلٍ ومن رجلٍ

قتلاً وقتل صغير الشرِّ قد كبرا

And the army exerted its horses and infantry

Killing - the young evil was amplified.

ومدّ طول الوغى فيه الكماة وقد

تعاضلَ الأمرُ بينَ القومِ واِشتَجَرا

And the length of the turmoil grew in it and the matter

Escalated among the people and was inflamed.

ثمَّ اِنثنى هارباً مِنها إِلى نحلٍ

حتّى اِستدارت برحى الهيجا وقد نصرا

Then he retreated fleeing to Nakhl

Until the millstone of war turned with triumph.

وشبَّ فيها سعيرُ الحربِ ثالثة

حتّى جَرى في وَغاها ما هُناكَ جرى

And the fires of war blazed there for three days

Until what happened there happened.

وَاِستبشروا حينَ نالوا مِن وقائِعِها

قَتلَ الحُسين وقالوا قَد مَضى هَدرا

And they rejoiced when they gained from its events

The killing of Al-Hussein and said the destruction is done.

فَأَصبَحوا مثلَ عادٍ في بَشائرهم

بِالمُزنِ يَرجو مِن نوائهِ المَطرا

So in their tidings they were like Aad

Hoping for rain from its disasters.

وَسارَ مِن بعدُ يَبغي النصرَ مُتّجهاً

نزوى فَحاشت جيوشاً حوله زمرا

And afterwards he went seeking victory heading

To Nizwa so armies gathered around him in groups.

فَهزّه عجبهُ مِن حيث ما اِجتَمعوا

عشرينَ ألفاً وَقالوا النصر قَد حَضرا

And he was shocked by their multitude wherever they gathered,

Twenty thousand, and they said: Victory is at hand!

فَصبّحتهُ جيوشُ اليشجبيّ أبي

سلطانَ يرجى له الحتف الّذي قدرا

But at dawn the armies of the Yemeni Abu

Sultan attacked him, his doom being what they determined.

فَحينَ خرّ صريعاً في المكرِّ غدوا

مثلَ النعامِ الّذي في البيدِ قد ذعرا

So when he fell dead by trickery, they became

Like ostriches startled in the desert in panic.

وَقد أَحاطَت بِهم تلكَ الجيوشُ ضحىً

كأنّها البحرُ في تيّارهِ زخرا

And those armies surrounded them at dawn

As if they were the sea in its swelling flow.

وَاِستَسلموا بعدما حمّ الردى فعفا

عَنهم وَعادتهُ يَعفو إِذا اِقتَدرا

And they surrendered after havoc intensified, so he pardoned them

It is his habit to pardon when able.

يا سائلاً عنه هَذا سرجُ مذهبهِ

فَاِفهَم مقالي وَكُن في ذاك مُختبرا

O questioner about him, this is the nature of his approach,

So understand my words and be certain of that.

هَذا الّذي فضلهُ بِالمُعجِزاتِ أَتى

حتّى غَدا خبير الدهرِ منتظرا

This one whom His miracles made excel

Came until he became the expert of time the awaited.

هَذا الّذي سَبَق الأجوادَ كلّهم

هَذا الّذي لَم يَدع للناسِ مُفتخرا

This one who surpassed all benefactors,

This one who left no boasting for people.

يُطيعهُ الفلكُ الدوّار حيثُ جرى

وَيَفعلُ الدهرُ ما قَد شاءَ أو أَمَرا

The revolving celestial sphere obeys him wherever it turns,

And time does what He wills or commands.

يا ثالثَ الشمسِ والبدر المنير فهل

مِن رابعٍ بعد في دستِ العُلا ذُكِرا

O third of the sun and the shining moon, is there

Anyone mentioned fourth in the hands of exaltation?

أَعطاهُ ربُّك مِن فتحِ المدائنِ ما

لَم يُعط قبلُ أَبا بكرٍ ولا عُمَرا

Your Lord gave him the openings of cities that

He did not give before to Abu Bakr or Umar.

وَاِسل وَدُم واِبق واِفلح يا فلاح مدى ال

أيّام مُلتَحفاً بالحمدِ مُتّزرا

Take the helm and prosper, O prosperer, for an eternity

Enwrapped in praise and girt with thanks.