دَعْ بينَ أثوابي وبينَ وِسادي

شَبَحاً يَصُدُّ فوارسي وجِيادي

Let a phantom remain between my clothes and pillow

It repels my horsemen and steeds

إنّي أخافُ عليكَ إنْ أخرجتَهُم

يوماً كيومِ الحارثِ بنِ عُبَادِ

I fear for you if you let them out

One day like the day of Al-Harith ibn 'Ubad

ما زلتُ أخشى أن أعادَ من الهَوى

حتى خَفِيَ جسَدي عن العُوّادِ

I still fear returning to love

Until my body was hidden from visitors

أَمُمَلِّكَ الحادي عزيزَ قِيادِهِ

لمَ لا تُملِّكُني ذَليلَ قِيادي

Do you allow the passionate his dear leadership

While you do not allow me my humble leadership?

نادَى المُنادي بالرّحيلِ فخِلْتُهُ

بينَ الجوانحِ بالرحيلِ يُنادي

The caller called for departure, so I left him

Calling for departure between my wings

واستبطنوا الوادي وماذا ضرَّهُمْ

ألاّ يجودَ الغيثُ بطنَ الوادي

And they penetrated the valley, so what did it harm them

That rain does not generously flow in the valley's interior?

دَعهم وقلبي ما أريدُ رُجوعَهُ

أبَداً فقلبي كانَ أصلَ فَسادي

Leave them and my heart does not want

To ever return, for my heart was the origin of my misery

لو يَعلمونَ صلاحَ حالي عندهم

ما فرّقوا بيني وبينَ فُؤادي

If they knew my good state with them

They would not separate me from my heart

مَثَلٌ خلَعْتُ على الزّمانِ رِداءَهُ

عَوَزُ الدّراهِمِ آفَةُ الأجْوادِ

I have removed from time its cloak

Lack of money is the bane of generosity

يا سعدُ سعدَ بني تميم شيخكم

لا يستقلُّ بظهرهِ في النّادي

O Sa'd, felicity of Bani Tamim, their Shaikh

Whose back cannot bear him in the club

ولِعَتْ بصحةِ جِسمهِ أيامُهُ

ولعَ الهَوى بصحائِحِ الأكبادِ

The days have toyed with his bodily health

And passion has toyed with the sincerity of livers

فانهوا سفيهتكم فقد حذرتُها

ما تحذرُ الأيامُ من إيعادي

So end your foolishness, for I have warned her

As the days do not warn of my return

جعلتْ بحارَ الأرضِ مثلَ أناملي

ولو انصفتْ ما كنَّ من أنْدادي

I made the earth's seas like my fingers

And had it been fair, they would not have been my peers

ورأَتْ نجومَ الليلِ في أفْلاكِها

فتوَهّمَتْها من شِرارِ زِنادي

It saw the stars in their orbits

And imagined them to be sparks of my fire-sticks

أنا عبدُ من لو قال للشّمْسِ اغرُبي

غَرَبَتْ وقد طَلَعَتْ على الأشْهادِ

I am a slave, if He told the sun to set

It would set even after rising in the horizons

المُستَقِلُّ من الوَزارةِ رُتْبَةً

إشراقُها فوق الخلافةِ بادِ

The independent in station from ministry

Its shining above the caliphate has waned

لا تَحسِبي أحَداً يمُجّدُ فِعلَهُ

والأزد في الدّنيا من الأمجادِ

Do not think anyone praises his deed

And the Azd are, in the world, of glories

قومٌ إذا هطَلَ السحابُ ببلدةٍ

هطَلَتْ أكفُّهم بكلِّ بِلادِ

A people, if clouds poured on a land

Their palms poured on every country

لو قيل للأيامِ هاتي جائداً

ودعي الوزيرَ لما أتَتْ بجَوادِ

If the days were told, "Bring a gallant!"

And the minister was called, it would not bring noble ones

الواهبُ الآدابِ مثلَ هِباتِهِ ال

أموالَ والرّفادَ للرفَادِ

The giver of manners is, in his gifts, not

Wealth and pension for the penniless

وفتى المكارمِ والأيادي مَنْ غدتْ

من عقلهِ عندَ العقولِ أيَادِ

And the young man of favors and hands when

His reason became, to minds, hands

لا تأمَنوا آراءَهُ وظُنونَه

إنّ الغُيوبَ لها من الأمدادِ

Do not trust his opinions and suspicions

For the unseen has supplies for it

وتعَوّذوا باللهِ من أقلامِهِ

إنّ السّيوفَ لها منَ الحُسّادِ

And seek refuge in Allah from his pens

For the swords have some enviers

لا تألفُ الأفكارُ ساحةَ همِّه

إلاّ كإلْفِ البرقِ للأرعادِ

Minds do not habituate the sphere of his concern

Except as lightning habituates meadows

كلُّ الملوكِ عبيدُه في أرضِهِ

لا فخرَ بالآباءِ والأجْدادِ

All kings are his slaves in his land

No pride in ancestors and forefathers

أوَ مَا كَفاكُمْ أنه مولاكُم

هلْ من مَزيدٍ للفَتى المزدادِ

Is it not enough for you that he is your patron

Is there any increase for the newly born lad?

عقَّ الكُماةُ لخوفِه هيجاءَهُم

وهُمُ لطاعتِها منَ الأوْلادِ

The rulers limited their madness fearing his madness

And they are obedient children to it

وتقنّعُوا بالنّزْرِ من أيامِهِمْ

حتى ظنناهُم من الزُّهادِ

They sufficed with the trifle from their days

Until we thought them among the ascetics

ومن الترابِ عَجاجُهُمْ وعَجاجُهُ

ممّا يُحَطّمُ من قَنا وجِيادِ

Their roaring and his roaring

Is that which smashes canes and steeds

القابلُ الجردِ العِتاقِ كُماتُها

أُسْدٌ مخالِبُها صدورُ صِعادِ

The bare-knuckled receiver, their rulers

A lion whose claws are the breasts of mountains

قومٌ إذا طعَنوا الفوارِسَ في الوَغى

غرِقَتْ رِماحُهُم إلى الأعضادِ

A people, if they stabbed the horsemen in battle

Their spears sank to the shoulders

سلبَ الكواكبَ نورَها وكأنّهُ

قومٌ بها فوقَ الكواكبِ صادِ

He robbed the stars of their light as if

They were a people above the stars hunting

قلْ لي فأينَ تُريدُ قد حُزْتَ المدى

وعلوتَ حتى صِرتَ بالمِرصادِ

Tell me, then, where do you want to go when you have spanned the distance

And ascended until you became lying in wait?

السّيفُ لحظُكَ والجبالُ ضَرائبٌ

والرمحُ خوفُكَ والنجومُ أعَادِ

The sword is your glance, the mountains are taxes

The spear is your fright, and the stars are your times

ما اسْتشرفتْ عيناكَ رأسَ مُدَجَّجٍ

إلا تحدَّرَ قبلَ ضَربِ الهادِي

Your eyes have not glimpsed a crowned head

Except it slid down before the guide struck

ما للطّوائِفِ يَمنعونَكَ طاعَةً

أعْطاكَها صرفُ الزّمانِ العادي

Why do the sects prevent you from obeying

When the course of time gave it to you out of custom?

لتُصَبِّحَنّ بك المَنايا أرضَهُمْ

في جحْفَلٍ يأتي بِلا ميعادِ

By you, ruin will greet their lands in the morning

In a flood that comes without appointment

تشكو إليكَ الشّمسُ حَرَّ صدورِه

فَرَقاً إذا زَفَرَتْ منَ الأحْقادِ

The sun complains to you of the heat of its core

When it sighs from rancor

حتى يُقالَ إذا غدَتْ أسيافُهُ

تَرمي أعالي طيرِهِ بالزّادِ

Until it is said, when its swords rise in the morning

They strike down the peak of its birds with provision

أَجثوم طيرٍ طرنَ عن هاماتِهِم

أمْ هامُهم طارتْ عن الأجْسادِ

Are they the shoulders of birds whose necks creaked

Or are their shoulders on which necks flew from the bodies?

كذَبَ المحدثُ بالشّجاعةِ والنّدى

عن خِنْدِفٍ وربيعةٍ وإيادِ

The storyteller has lied about courage and bounty

From Khandaf, Rabi'ah, and Iyad

لو أبصرتْ عيناكَ آل مهلّبٍ

والخيلُ راويةُ النحورِ صَوادِ

If your eyes saw the family of Muhallab

And the horses with dripping necks hunting

يخْرُجْنَ من رَهَجِ العَجاجِ كأنّها

أسْيافُهُمْ خرَجَتْ من الأغْمادِ

Coming out of the din of the roaring as if

Their swords came out from the scabbards

وضِرابَهم قُلَلَ الكُماةِ وفي القَنا

قِصَرٌ ولم يُسْفَكْ نَجيعُ قُرادِ

And their striking the summits of the rulers, and in battle

A palace wherein the blood of jars was not shed

أو لَوْ رأيتَ جَنابَهم متدفقاً

متوسّعاً لتضايُقِ الرُّوّادِ

Or if you saw their side flowing

Expanding to narrow the visitors

ووُجوهَهُمْ للبذلِ من إشراقِها

قد قنّعَتْ شمسَ الضُحى بسَوادِ

And their faces illuminating generosity

Have sufficed the sun of morning with blackness

لرأيتَ أو كلتَ جفونكَ أنْ تَرى

لُجَجَ البحارِ وآنفَ الأطْوادِ

You would have seen, or swallowed your eyelids from seeing

The deeps of seas and the sides of dunes

وعلِمتَ أنّهم على رغمِ العِدى

ذهبوا بكلِّ نَدى وكلِّ جِلادِ

And known that despite the animosity

They took all dew and every skin

يا من نُصغِرُهُ إذا قلنا لهُ

ملِكَ الملوكِ وماجِدَ الأمجادِ

O you we belittle when we say to him

King of kings and glorifier of glories

وتُجاوِزُ الفُلكَ المُدارَ إرادتي

وأرى عطاياه تَجوزُ مُرادي

My will exceeds orbiting constellations

And I see his gifts exceeding my wishes

وذبابُ سيفكِ أنّهُ قَسَمُ الوَغى

والموتُ في ثوبٍ من الفِرْصادِ

The buzzing of your sword, it is the division of battle

And death in a coat of ambush

لأُطرِّزَنّ بكَ الزّمانَ مَدائِحاً

تَختالُ بينَ الشدوِ والإنشادِ

I will embroider the age with praises of you

That strut between chanting and singing

تَدَعُ المَسامِعَ والقُلوبَ لحُسْنِها

عِندَ الرُّواةِ تُشدُّ بالأصْفادِ

Their beauty will leave hearing and hearts

Held by narrators in chains