هاتِيكَ دارُهُمُ فقِفْ بمَغَانِها

تَجِدِ الدُّمُوعَ تَجِدُّ في هَمَلانِها

You will find tears flowing in its slopes,

We spurred our mounts through it, so it stirred up our fervor,

عُجْنَا الرِّكابَ بها فَهَيَّجَ وَجْدَنَا

دِمَنٌ ذَعَرْنَ السِّرْبَ مِن إِدْمَانِهَا

Blood-red, the flocks scattered in fright from our onslaught,

An abode I knew in my youth as a sanctuary,

دارٌ عَهِدْتُ بها الصّبا لِيَ دَوْحةً

أَتفيَّأُ الفَرَحاتِ مِن أَفْنَانِهَا

I savored joy in its gardens,

I would graze on the meadows of companionship in its air,

أَرْعى على بَقَرِ الأَنِيسِ بجَوِّها

وأُحكِّمُ الصَّبَواتِ في غِزْلانِهَا

And play with gazelles in its thickets,

And when the tender branches swayed gently in the sun,

وإِذا تَهَادَتْ بالشُّمُوسِ نَوَاعِماً

فيها الغُصُونُ جَنَيْتُ مِن رُمّانِهَا

I would pluck pomegranates from its branches,

Fate destroyed them wrongfully while time supported it,

قَضَتِ النَّوَى بذِيادِ رُجَّحِ عينِهِمْ

ظُلْماً وكانَ الدَّهْرُ مِن أَعْوَانِهَا

They were estranged by the warbling of the separation crows,

So the face of parting appeared to them, cracked,

زَجَرُوا اغْتِراباً مِن نَعِيبِ غُرابِهِمْ

وقَضَوا ببَيْنٍ مِن مُغرِّدِ بانِهَا

Bringing the news of the bier through its information,

They shed tears like pearls on the day of parting

فبَدا لهم وَجْهُ الفِرَاقِ مُوَقَّحاً

آتٍ على خَبَرِ النَّوَى بعِيانِهَا

From a gathering where grief toyed with its pearls

I bade them farewell, while the sparks of a goblet

يَقْذِفْنَ دُرَّ الدَّمْعِ في يَوْمِ النَّوَى

عن جُمّةٍ لَعِبَ الأَسَى بجُمانِهَا

Kindled fires beneath my ribs through its flames,

And I let flow the melting of my eyelids as if

وَدَّعْتُهُمْ وزِنَادُ قَدْحٍ في الحَشَا

دُونَ الضُّلوعِ يَشُبُّ مِن نِيرانِهَا

They were the hands of Bani Mansur in its outpouring

O my two companions, if your camel drivers travel on,

وأَسَلْتُهَا ذَوْبَ الجُفُونِ كَأَنَّهَا

أَيْدِي بَنِي المَنصْور في سَيَلانِهَا

Split open by the breaths from its walls,

And head for the wide plain, perhaps

يا صاحِبَيَّ إِذا وَنَى حادِيكُمَا

فَتَنَشَّقَا النَّفَحَاتِ مِن ظَيَّانِهَا

Youth will intercede so I become one of its branches,

I recalled living there and what had passed

وخُذَا لِمُرْتَبَع الحِسانِ فرُبَّمَا

شَفَعَ الشَّبَابُ فصْرتُ مِن أَخدانِهَا

Of my youth, and folded away its times,

So I wept for a time whose stages I had crossed

عَاوَدتُ ذِكْرَ العَيْشِ فيه وما انْقَضَى

مِن صَبْوتِي وطَوَيْتُ مِن أَزْمانِهَا

And a youth I had culled from its prime,

I would graze on a verdant beloved from the face of the sky,

فَبَكَيْتُ مِن زَمَنٍ قَطَعْتُ مَراحِلاً

وشَبيبَةٍ أَخْلَقْتُ مِن رَيْعَانِهَا

When the full moon emerged from its cover,

As if the sprinkling of stars amidst it

ورَعَيْتُ مِن وَجْهِ السَّمَاءِ خَمِيلةً

خَضْرَاءَ لاحَ البَدْرُ مِن غُدْرانِهَا

Were sheep being herded by the Great Bear as their shepherd,

As if the Pleiades therein were gems

وكأَنَّ نَثْرَ النَّجْمِ ضَأْنٌ وسْطَهَا

وكأَنَّمَا الجَوْزاءُ راعِي ضانِهَا

Scattered by a hand across its expanse,

As if Aldebaran were a noble lady of a tribe

وكأَنَّما فيه الثُّريّا جوْهرٌ

نَثَرتْ فَرَائِدهُ يدا دبرانِهَا

Who descended upon the top of Al-Nasr from its children,

As if the Milky Way were a path

وكأَنَّما الشِّعْرى عقِيلةُ معْشَرٍ

نَزَلَتْ بأَعْلى النَّسْرِ مِن وِلدانِهَا

To al-‘Amariyya illuminated from its lanterns

Those who rush forth with their spears

وكأَنَّما طُرُقُ الْمَجَرَّةِ منْهَجٌ

للعامِريَّة ضاءَ من فينانِهَا

And place ambition upon their crowns,

I captured with horses until they imagined

المُعْجِلِين عِداتَهُمْ بِرماحِهِمْ

والجاعِلِين الْهَام مِن تِيجانِهَا

That the mountains had cast them with its missiles,

And the enemy assailed with regiments filling the horizon,

أَسْرى لهم بالخَيْلِ حتَّى خَيَّلُوا

أَنَّ الجِبال رمتْهُمُ برِعانِهَا

Sheathing the blade of dawn in its quivers,

On each swift steed flying with four legs

ورَمى العِدى بكَتَائِبٍ مِلءَ الفَضا

أَغْمدْنَ نَصْل الصُّبْحِ في رهَجانِهَا

Whose rear makes you forget the front’s whiteness,

They were raised in the flowers and water of kings,

مِن كُلِّ سلْهَبةٍ تَطِيرُ بأَرْبعٍ

يُنْسِيك مُؤْخَرُهَا الْتِماح لَبانِهَا

As if they were raised on its branches,

The noble Arabs showed them its swordsmanship,

نَشَأُوا بزاهِرَِة المُلُوكِ ومائِهَا

وكأَنَّهُمْ نَشَأُوا على غَسَّانِهَا

So they learned from its striking and stabbing,

I am its firmly rooted pillar, so if

وأَرتْهُمُ العُرْبُ الكِرامُ مِصاعَها

فَتَعلَّمُوا مِن ضَرْبِهَا وطِعانِهَا

The hands of misfortunes shake it from the heart of its cowardice,

And I have a boundless tendency for beautiful patience

أَنا طَوْدُهَا الرّاسِي إِذا ما زَلْزَلَتْ

أَيْدِي الحوادِثِ مِن فُؤادِ جبانِهَا

Zaghf, whereby I make the most of its youth before it passes,

As if when I was generous, though troubles exhausted

وعليَّ للصَّبْرِ الجمِيلِ مُفاضةٌ

زَغْفٌ أَفُلُّ بها شَباةَ سِنانِهَا

My land, I was absent from its events,

And the soul is a soul of martyr whose constitution

وكأَنَّنِي لمّا كَرُمْتُ وقد شَكَتْ

أَرْضِي الحوادِث غِبْتُ مِن حدثانِهَا

Is a constitution nurtured by its core,

No glance of an angry frown turned towards me

والنَّفْسُ نَفْسٌ مِن شُهَيْدٍ سِنْخُها

سِنْخٌ غَذَتْ منه العُلا بلِبانِهَا

Unless I placed an arrow in its pupil,

And if he were to gore the stars with his horn,

ما احْولَّ نَحْوِي لَحْظُ مُقْلَةِ ساخِطٍ

إِلا وضَعْتُ السَّهْم في إِنْسانِهَا

I would be the one to confront him with the bad omen of its counterpart,

And the glory of my soul, from a generous one, established a sanctuary

ولَوْ انَّهُ نَطَح النُّجُوم بقَرْنِهِ

كُنْتُ الزَّعِيمَ له بنَحْسِ قِرانِهَا

From which I became one of its branches,

O son of jasmine, from Ma'afir, by the One who made

وقَضَتْ بعِزِّ النَّفْسِ مِنِّي دوْحةٌ

مِن عامِرٍ أَصْبحْتُ مِن أَغْصانِهَا

Yazeed's palaces grander than its construction,

Your letter is most esteemed to me in my concern,

يا ابْن الأَبالِجِ مِن معافِرَ والَّذِي

أَرْبى يزِيدُ على عُلا بُنْيانِهَا

And your reply is most majestic from the darkness of its deprivation,

So surely there will emerge to you from the blossoms of love

أَعْلَى كِتَابُك في مُهِمِّي حُرْمتِي

وجلا جوابُك مِن دُجى حِرْمانِهَا

Maidens of pure gratitude, melodious in its display,

Poetry's metres are free in its people,

فَلَيطْلُعنَّ إِلَيْك مِن زَهرِ الحِجا

أَبْكَارُ شُكْرٍ لُحْن في إِبّانِهَا

Poetry is a slave among its servants,

It praises kings, and was also one of them,

حُرُّ القَوافِي ماجِدٌ في أَهْلِهَا

الشِّعْرُ عبْدٌ في بنِي عُبْدانِهَا

And it is seen that poetry is one of its wolves,

Al-Farazdaq became its peer in its kingdom,

مدح المُلُوكَ وكان أَيْضا منهُمُ

ولقد يُرى والشِّعْرُ مِن ذُؤبانِهَا

And fate flowed to it upon its paths.

أَمْسى الفَرزْدقُ كُفْؤَها في حوْكه

وَجرى القَضَاءُ لها على صَلَتَانِهَا