أَأَغلِبُ هذا الدهرَ أَمْ هو غَالبي

وعزمي مَعي والمَشْرفيُّ مُصاحِبي

Shall I overcome this life or will it overcome me,

While my determination is with me and Al-Mushrifi accompanies me?

أَصُونُ ضُلوعي عن مُعَالجةِ الهَوى

وأَتركُهَا نَصبَ الرماحِ النَّواشِبِ

I protect my ribs from falling in love,

And I leave that to the spears of brave knights.

وما العِزُّ الاَّ قطعةٌ من خَلائقي

وما المَجْدُ الاَّ اِربةٌ من مآربِي

Honor is but a part of my nature,

And glory is just one of my goals.

وتَزعمُ يا قلبي بأَنَّكَ صَاحبي

وأَنتَ سِنانٌ في الحَشا والتَّرائِبِ

And you, my heart, claim that you are my companion,

While you are just a grindstone amid thorns and tribulations.

فلولا الذي أَمسيتَ مَنزِلَ سِرِّةِ

سكبتُكَ ما بينَ الدموعِ السَّواكِبِ

Were it not for the one whose secret dwelling you have become,

I would have poured you amid the falling tears.

لكَ الويلُ ما هذا التَمَلمُلُ والأسى

على اِثرِ مفقودٍ من العيشِ ذَاهِبِ

Woe to you! What is this anxiety and sorrow

Over something lost from life and gone?

وما العَيْشُ الا سَدُّكَ الجوَّ بالثَّري

وَسَدُّ الثَّري بالمقرباتِ السَّلاهِبِ

What is life but to fill your stomach with wealth

And fill wealth with slaves and maidservants?

وتَصْييرُ تِيجَانِ الجَبابرةِ الذرى

مقاعدَ أولادِ الاماءِ الحواطِبِ

And to make the crowns of emperors into seats

For the children of slave women and singing girls?

شَرِقْتُ على دَارِ الحبيبِ بأَدمعي

وقد شَرِقَتْ أَطلالُها بالمَصَائِبِ

I rose at the abode of the beloved with my tears,

While its ruins have risen with calamities.

اذا لَعِبَتْ أَيدي الرياحِ بتُربِهَا

فَتَقْنَ فتيتَ المِسْكِ بينَ المَلاعِبِ

When the winds play with its soil,

The musk is crushed between playthings.

ألا يا خليلَ القلبِ دونَ حِجَابِهِ

خَليلُكَ لا يَلقى هَواكَ بحَاجِبِ

O intimate of the heart without its veil,

Your intimate does not meet your love with a frown.

أَعنّي بسيفٍ أَو بعُذرٍ تَقُولهُ

والا فأَنتَ اليومَ عونُ النَّوائِبِ

Help me with a sword or an excuse you can make,

Otherwise today you are the helper of tribulations.

تقولُ ليَ الأيامُ خَوَّلْتُكَ الغِنَى

وهلْ أَنا آخذْ مِثْلُ واهِبِ

The days tell me, “I have appointed you rich,”

But am I one who takes anything like a giver?

أُشرِّفُها بالأَخذِ منها لأَنَّهُ

يُشَرِقُنِي في أَخْذِهِ كلُّ راغِبِ

I ennoble them by taking from them, for

Every aspirant shines when he takes from them.

أَعُدُّ نُجُومَ الليلِ والرملَ والحَصَى

ولكنني أَعيا بِعَدِّ العَجَائِبِ

I count the stars of the night, the sand, and the pebbles,

But I tire counting the wonders.

زَماني زَمانٌ قَدْ زَمِنَّ صُروفُهُ

بصَبري فما يطلُبنَ غيرَ مَطَالِبي

My time is a time whose turns

Have grown old, but my patience does not seek but my requests.

تَعَوَّدَ منَي كلَّما جَر نكبةً

تلقيتُها من صَرفِه بالمَرَاحِبِ

Whenever it dragged me into misfortune,

I faced it with acceptance and calm.

كما يتلقَّى صاعدٌ مُسْتَميحهُ

والا كما يلقي صُدورَ الكتائِبِ

As one who climbs up a ladder accepts what is handed to him,

Or as the squadrons of horsemen accept their fallen.

فتَى الجُودِ لا تَسْأَلْهُ نَزْراً فانَّهُ

يَرى البَحْرَ لا يكفي عَطاءً لِشَارِبِ

So O young man of generosity, do not ask him for a pittance, for he

Sees the sea as insufficient to quench the thirst of a drinker.

يَجُود بما يُعطيك أَرضكَ كلها

فتحسَبه أَعطاكَ بعضَ السَّحَائِبِ

He is generous with what gives you all your land,

Yet you reckon he has only given you some clouds.

وما مرَّ يومٌ لم تعانقْ سيوفُهُ

نُحُورَ الأَعادي أَو نُحورَ الركائِبِ

No day has passed when his swords

Did not embrace the necks of the enemies or the necks of fate.

أُبايعُ في أَقلامهِ كلَّ حَاسِدٍ

يقيس شَبَاهاً بالمَنايا الشَّواعِبِ

I pledge to every envious person in his writings

Who compares my merits to the high calamities of death.

فانْ لم تكن أَمضى من الموتِ في الوَرى

فقلتُ العَوالي مثلُها في المَناصِبِ

For if you are not more decisive than death in the world,

Then I say fortunes are like it in positions.

ذكرتُكَ لما أَنكرَ السيفُ جفنَه

وجرَّرَ ذيلَ الحَربِ فوقَ الغَواَرِبِ

I remembered you when the sword refused to close its eyelid

And dragged the tail of war over the dust.

وهل أَنتَ الاَّ الهُندُ واني لاتَني

مضَاربُه مَشْغُوفةً بالضَّرائِب

Are you not India while I am its defender,

Whose abodes are preoccupied with taxes?

وَبَحْر دَمٍ هامُ الرجَالِ حُبَابُهُ

وخيلُهم في لُجةٍ كالمَراكِبِ

A sea of blood, the men are its bubbles,

And their horses are in a surge like ships.

ترفعُ شُرعُ الموت في جَنَباتِهِ

اذا ارتفعتْ فيه رياحْ القَواضِبِ

The sails of death are raised in its sides

Whenever the winds of destruction are raised in it.

وَيَغْرَقُ في تَيَّارهِ كلُّ سَابِحٍ

أَقمتَ به الاقدامَ عندَ التَّضَارُبِ

And every swimmer drowns in its currents -

You established feet there during clashes.

ويوم عليهِ للكلامِ تلاطُمٌ

تلاطمُ موج اللجَّةِ المُتَراكِبِ

And a day in which words clash against it turbulently

With the turbulence of surging waves colliding.

طعنتَ بفصلِ القولِ فيه كأَنَّما

طعنتَ بصَدْرِ الرمحِ قلبَ المُخَاطِبِ

You stabbed with the phrase amidst it as if

You stabbed the heart of the addressee with the chest of a spear.

أَلستَ من القوم الذينَ أكفهم

أَحدُّ من البيضِ الرقاقِ المَضَارِبِ

Are you not of the people whose palms

Are sharper than white thin swords in striking?

تَخِرُّ الجبالُ الشُّمُ عند ندَائِهم

وتقصُرُ عن أَعناقهم والمناكِبِ

Mountains bow low at their call

And necks and litters become too short for them.

فلا تَجْعَلَنّي كالذينَ رَأَيتَهم

وَمَنْ يَجْعَلُ الأَقدامَ مثلَ الذَّوائِبِ

So do not make me like those whom you have seen

Who make legs like wandering camels.

اذا أَبصروني نكَّسوا فكأنَّما

شواربُهم مَضْفُورةٌ بالحَواجِبِ

When they see me, they turn away sullenly as if

Their moustaches are knitted with frowns.

أَعيذُكَ مِنْ مولىً بطيءٍ عن النَّدى

سريعٍ الى دَاعي الطعامِ مُكالِبِ

I seek refuge from a slow master to kindness

Who is quick to respond when food is served hungrily.

أَما ينتهي من أَول الزَّجرِ جاهِلٌ

اذا هو لم يُضرَبْ فليس بتائِبِ

Does not an ignorant man desist

From his foolishness if he is not beaten, then he is no penitent?

وكنتُ اذا لم أُدْعَ للوِرْدِ لم أَرِدْ

ولو شَرِبَتْ روحي زُقَاقَ المَشَاربِ

I did not respond if I was not called to pray,

Even if my soul drank from the street gutters.

أَبى ذاكَ عِزٌّ طالما وصلَ العُلا

وقطَّع غيظاً في صدورِ المعائِبِ

That was pride, for long it reached highness

And cut wrath in the chests of the envious.

وانكَ لو أَبصرتَني متبسماً

أكرُّ على الأَيامِ من كل جانِبِ

If you saw me smiling,

Mocking the days from every side.

رأَيتَ فتىً سُمُّ الأَفاعي شَرابُه

ومطعَمُهُ أطرافُ شَوكِ العَقَارِبِ

You would have seen a young man whose drink is viper venom

And whose food is the edges of scorpion stings.

جليداً على ريبِ الزمانِ وصرفهِ

بصيراً بأَدواءِ الخطوبِ الغَرائِبِ

Cool over the betrayals of time and its turns,

Insightful of the remedies for strange tribulations.

كتمتُ مقالَ الشعرِ حتى أضرَّني

وظنَّ المُعادي ظَنَّ كِسرى بحَاجِبِ

I concealed my poetic utterances until it harmed me,

And the enemy guessed - guessed like Chosroes with his frown.

فانْ لم يكُنْ الاَّ التشهرُ باسمِهِ

فهذا أَوانُ الطَّالِعَاتِ الثَّواقِبِ

If it were not but to become famous through his name,

Then this is the time for penetrating stars.

سَأَبعَثُ في أرضِ العِراقِ قصيدةً

يُصَلَّى الى أَبياتِها في المَحَارِبِ

I will send forth in the land of Iraq a poem

To whose verses prayers are made during wars.

يُعَوّلُ عُلاَّنُ عليها ومَعْمَرٌ

بما جَمَعَاهُ في كتابِ المَثَالِبِ

Al-'Ulā and Ma'mar will rely on it

With what they compiled in the book of parables.

باسماعِ أَملاكِ الطوائفِ وَقْعُهَا

يَشُدُّ على هاماتهم بالعَصَائِبِ

When read aloud to the rulers of dynasties, its impact

Will yoke their zeal with headbands.

عصيتُ القوافي وهي جِدُّ مُطِيْعَةٌ

وَقُمتُ على حَدٍّ من الحَقِّ لاحِبِ

I disobeyed the rhymes though they are obedient,

And I revolted against a limit of truth without lover.

أَشاوِرُ قَلباً فيكَ لو شاءَ عزمُهُ

وَقُمتُ على حَدٍّ من الحَقِّ لاحِبِ

I consult a heart in you which, if it willed determination

And I revolted against a limit of truth without lover.

وقبلكَ ما التفَّتْ عليَّ ربيعةٌ

ببيضِ المَواضي والوجوهِ الشَّواحبِ

Before you, Rabīʿah never glanced at me

With the whiteness of meadows and pale faces.

فاعرضتُ عن زلاَّتها وَمَنَحْتُهَا

فصاحةَ عبد الوُدِّ رَبٍّ التَّجَارِبِ

So I turned away from their errors and granted them

The eloquence of ʿAbd al-Wudd, Lord of experiences.

وقلتُ اذا كاتَبْتم الرومَ بعدهَا

فَشدُّوا أَواخي كتبكم بالكَتائِبِ

And I said, "If you write to the Romans after it

Then affix your letters with military units."

سَرى الليلَ طَلاَّبُ الذحولِ ولا أَرى

طلابكم الاَّ انتظارَ العَواقِبِ

The seekers of distinction travel the night while I do not see

Your seekers except awaiting consequences.

فلما أَبوا الاَّ الخلافَ تركتهم

وأُسدُهم مأْسُورةٌ للثعالِبِ

So when they refused everything but disagreement, I left them

While their lion is shackled for the foxes.

فمن مبلغ آلِ المهلبِ أَنَّني

أَلفتُهم في المجدِ اِلفَ الحَبائِبِ

Let the Āl Mahlab know that I

Have befriended them in glory like intimate friends.

فآليتُ أَلاَّ أَمدحَ الدهرَ غيرَهم

ولو عَرَضَ الأقوامُ لي بالرغائِبِ

So I decided not to praise the times but them

Even if people tempted me with wishes.

هم سلَّموا دهري اليَّ فَشِلْوُهُ

لقاً بين أَنيابي وبينَ مَخَالبي

They surrendered my life to me, so tear it apart

Between my fangs and claws.

أُمزِّقُهُ ما مزَّقَتْني صُروفُهُ

وآخذُ منه ثَارَ كلِّ مُطَالِبِ

I will shred it like its turns shredded me,

And take revenge on it for all my requests.