أَبعدَ الخليطِ تَرى الأثل أثلا

كما كنتَ تعهد والرَّملَ رملا

Beyond the mixture you see the pure tribe purely

As you used to promise, and the sand as sand

طلول تفّقٌ نزّالها

وما اِجتمعوا مدَّة العشر شملا

Tall, pouring down their locks

And they did not gather for ten days in one embrace

إِذا وعدوك النَوَى والرحي

لَ هزلاً فلا تجعل الهزلَ هزلا

If they promise you intimacy and closeness

Not jokingly, then do not take the joke as a joke

تَولّوا فسارَ على إثرهم

غداةَ التفرّق صبري وولّى

They turned away so I walked in their wake

The morning after parting, my patience left and turned away

أَلا اِرفق بمن لمتَ يا لائمي

وقلِّل من اللَّومِ فالصَّبر أقلى

Oh, be gentle with those whom you blame, my critic

And lessen the blame, for patience is most fitting

عذابُ الهوى عندَ أهلِ الهَوى

فما كانَ أعذب طعماً وأحلا

The torment of love to the people of love

Was never sweeter in taste nor more lawful

وكحلاء أضحى لأجفانها

عن الكحلِ مستطرف السِّحرِ كحلا

As kohl that came to adorn her eyelids

Surpassing kohl in bewitching eyes with kohl

جراحاتُها في الحشا أصبحت

غداةَ العتاب من البخلِ بخلا

Its wounds in ardor have become

The morning after reproach, very miserly

تجلَّت فلاحت كشمسِ الضّحى

أو البدرِ في الحُسنِ لمّا تجلِّى

She appeared, shining like the sun at dawn

Or the full moon in beauty when it shows itself

توشَّح من حجلها خصرها

وتدني الوشاح على الساقِ خجلا

She donned from her bodice her waist

And brought down her wrap upon her leg bashfully

أجودُ وأَهوَى ولم تقضني

على ذاكَ إلّا صدوداً وبخلا

Most generous am I, most passionate, and she did not finish me

Except with aloofness and stinginess

مموَّهة الوعدِ في وعدها

فلا الهجر هجراً ولا الوصل وصلا

Deceiving in her promise, her promise

Neither estrangement truly nor union united

ولمّا رمتني أكفُّ الزمانِ

بسهمِ الحوادثِ جهراً وختلا

And when she spurned me, the times

Struck me with the arrows of events openly and treacherously

رحلتُ من العيس عيديّة

إلى العيد تنسب فرعاً وأصلا

I traveled from sadness, festively

To the feast, a branch tracing back to origin

وأشحذت عزماً لحدّ السرى

وودَّعت داراً وجاراً وأهلا

And I sharpened a resolve up to the highest horizon

And bid farewell to a house, neighbor, and family

وقلتُ لها يمِّمي واِقصدي

وجدّي المسير لأرض بهلا

And I said to her lead straight

And hurry the journey to a desolate land

عسى من فلاحٍ أرى غُرَّةً

بعيني وألثم كمّاً ونعلا

Hopefully I will see from the country

With my eyes a joy and press on feet and sandals

وأقضي هنالك من واجب الز

زياراتِ والوصلِ فرضاً ونفلا

And I will fulfill there the duty of ties

Of visitations and connections as obligation and voluntary

وَأكرعُ في حوضِ نعماه لي

بحسب الإرادة نهلاً وعلّا

And I will hurry to his basin of bounty

For me in proportion to will, drawing and raising high

فتىً كم أفاد وأسدى وكم

تحمَّل من معظم الأمرِ ثقلا

A youth who has benefitted and given and borne

The heaviest of matters and the most difficult

وألحَقني عنده نعمةً

وقلّدني منه مَنّاً وفضلا

And join me in his bounty

And honor me with his gifts and preference

وقرَّبني بين جلّاسهِ

وأجلسني في المعالي محلّا

And bring me close among his intimates

And seat me in the heights in an honored place

متى تسألن عنه مُستخبراً

تجده المليكَ الأعزَّ الأجلّا

When you ask about him inquisitively

You will find him the most glorious and noble king

تحيط الأقاليمَ أقلامُه

وتوضح آفاقها منه عدلا

His pens encompass the regions

And his justice illuminates their horizons

وكم للضلالة من خيمةٍ

طواها كطيِّ السِّجلِّ السِّجلَّا

And how many tents of misguidance

He has folded up like the folding of scrolls

فمن في الأنامِ اِصطفى غيرَهُ

فلا غرو فيمن عن الرُّشدِ ضلَّا

So who among the people has been chosen but him

No wonder that those far from the path have strayed

فأصحابُ موسى لَدى السَّامري

ي قَد عبدوا في الضلالةِ عجلا

So the companions of Moses with the Samaritan

Worshipped in misguidance a calf

أيا أرحبَ الناسِ بحبوحةً

ويا أحمدَ الناسِ قولاً وفعلا

O most hospitable of people in refuge

And most praiseworthy of people in word and deed

نسخت بعدلكَ جورَ العدَا

فأضحى بهم شربهم مضمحلَّا

You have overwritten with your justice the injustice of enemies

So their drinking of it has withered

وأنش فيهم غداةَ اللقى

سحائب يمطرنَ خيلاً ورجلا

And you inspired in them the morning of meeting

Clouds that rain horses and men

فلمَّا اِرجحنّت همى ودقها

فأضحت تسحُّ الأسيّة وبلا

So when the resolve in her firmed and its timing exact

She came pouring down the misfortunes and afflictions

فكنتَ سليمانَ في جندِه

وكانوا لمجتمع النّمل نملا

You were Solomon in his troops

And they were to the gathering of ants as ants

فألبست شامسهم بعدما

اِستحقُّوا من الذلِّ قيداً وغلَّا

So you clothed their chieftain after

They deserved from humiliation shackles and chains