ألا ويك تيهي إذ عليك عقود

وميدي حياء فالخرود تميد

Alas! When covenants burden you,

And modesty prevents you from responding,

فلو عنك ألقين المقانع أشرقت

لخدك أنوار لهن وقود

Were you to remove the veils from yourself, you would shine

With lights fueled by their passion for you.

لبانك برَّاق وخدك زاهر

وأنفك كالسيف الصقيل رؤود

Your cheeks gleam brightly and your face blooms

Your nose like a polished smooth sword.

وجعدك لو لم تلبسي الحلي والحلى

لغطاك حتى لا يراك حسود

Were you not to wear jewelry and adornment

It would cover you so none could envy you.

تكامل فيك الحسن والحسن عاطف

على العقلا يسبيهم ويصيد

In you beauty and charm are complete

Captivating minds and capturing hearts.

فها أنا ذا مع ما أحاول وامق

محب لربات الحجال ودود

So here I am, despite my attempts and resistance,

A lover of coy and affectionate ladies.

فلا تحسبي هجرتك خمسة أشهر

إلى مائة أني عليك حقود

Think not that five months’ estrangement

Is equal to a hundred of my being spiteful toward you.

هجرتك هجران المدلّ فوسعي

علي فإن الحل منك أريد

Your estrangement is but two estrangements by the full moon, so forgive me,

For the solution lies with you, and that is what I seek.

وتااللّه ما أعرضت إعراض مبغض

ولا عاق قلبي عن هواك صدود

By God, I turned not away in disgust

Nor did a resentful heart spurn my passion for you.

ولكن كذا من حاول الحرب لم يمل

لباه ولو مالت إليه خدود

Rather, thus is he who wages war - he grows not tired

Even if cheeks incline toward him.

لك العهد إمَّا بعد أظهر أنني

أزور وأقضي حقكم وأعود

You have my vow: soon after I appear

I will visit and fulfill your rights and return.

على أن عهدي لا يرثُّ وموثقي

وثيق وأما موعدي فأكيد

Moreover, my pact is no ephemeral thing; my covenant is binding

And my appointment is sure.

ألم تنظريني يا ابنة الخير أنتمي

لشرق وغرب والأنام قعود

Have you not looked upon me, O virtuous girl,

As belonging to East and West where people dwell?

وفيت بعهدي والأرازل ما وفوا

بعهد وما للأرزلين عهود

I have fulfilled my word whileBedouin pacts were never kept -

Those wandering tribesmen have no covenants.

عجب لهم إذ دبروا كيف دبروا

وما وردتهم بالسيوف جنود

Wondrous that they schemed as they schemed

When armies with swords never marched against them.

لقد خضعوا قبل اللقاء وأهطعوا

كما هطعت قبل العذاب ثمود

They submitted before battle and fled away

Like Thamūd who fled before punishment.

عجبت لدهر أهله أهل غفلة

سواء عليهم يقضة ورقود

Strange is a world whose people are heedless -

It matters not to them whether awake or asleep.

مدحت فما اهتز واذممت فأعرضوا

سكتُّ فناموا والإله شهيد

I praised but they stirred not, and I blamed but they turned away.

I was silent and they fell asleep though God witnesses all.

رضوا بمحل الذل حلاً وإنما

يذل قليل الاحتيال بليد

Content with the seat of humiliation they made peace,

For the witless are soon humiliated.

وصرت فتي سمحاً بدنياي مخبتاً

شحيحاً على ديني وعنه أذود

I have become a proud man in my earthly life, though withdrawn

Stingy toward my religion, from which I ward off harm.

وقلبي وعزمي صارمان وصعدتي

وسيفي رقيق الشفرتين جديد

My heart and resolve are hardened, my ascent is steep,

My sword keen of double edge and fresh forged.

فلا متُّ إلا والقنا متحطّم

لدي وحولي للنسور وفود

I will not die except with the spears broken

Around me, as flocks descend on carrion.

عدمت مفاجاة الفتى بين نسوة

يظل على وجهي لهن نهود

I ceased to suddenly raid the young one among ladies,

Shading their faces from me though they glance.

فيا أسفاً من لي بقوم أعزة

يكون لهم تحت السيوف ورود

Oh what misfortune that I have not noble tribes

Who beneath the swords would have beds of roses!

ويا أسفاً حتى متى تشرب الظبى

دم الهام أو تلقى التراب خدود

Oh what misfortune! How long will the white oryx

Drink the blood of wild cows or dust soil their cheeks?

متى ما سقت قيعان واد من الدما

ظبى البيض لم يلبث بهن عنيد

When I watered the ravines of a valley with blood

The fleeing white oryx did not last with their mulishness.

هما السيف والسوط اللذان هما الدوا

فإني حمول للدواء جليد

The sword and the whip - those two are the cures!

For I am resolved to apply the remedy unsparingly.

وأين ومن ذا ثم يحمي وهل بقى

ألا لا بلى واللّه عاد سعيد

But where? Who? Then will protect? Or has any strength remained?

Unless, no! By God Saeed has returned!

سعيد بأرض غير أرضي وإنني

به واثق بعد الإله شديد

Saeed, in an alien land, but I trust him

After God explicitly with formidable certainty.

سعيد سخا بالمال للوفيد رغبة

وقال صلوني بعدها فأزيد

Happy Saeed, generous with wealth for companions,

Seeking more - "Pray God grant me increase," he said.

سعيد غريب في البرية واحد

وأولاده شمَّ الأنوف أسود

Happy Saeed, stranger in the waste, alone,

His sons black-nosed and honorable.

فمن مبلغ عني سعيداً وولده

يلجّ به حسن الثنا ويعود

Who will inform Saeed and his sons about me

To gain their good praise and return it?

أبا القاسم اسمع لاعدمتك قصتي

لتعجب من أمري وأنت رشيد

Abu'l Qasim, hear my tale that you may wonder

And you, being wise, consider my affair:

طلبت بوادي حضرموت فلم أجد

بها أحداً ينكي العدا ويكيد

I sought in the valley of Hadhramaut but found

No one to thwart enemies and plot against them.

فسرت عماناً قلت علي أجد بها

شراة تسامي والمكان بعيد

I traveled to Oman. I said, “I will find there

Valiant tribes” - but the place was too distant.

فجادوا ببذل المال دون نفوسهم

وعدت حميداً والامام حميد

They freely gave wealth, not lives, to serve me

So I returned, rejected though the Imam is wise.

وما ثقتي أن قمت إن زارعقوتي

وقمت بثقل الخطب وهو بليد

I did not trust that if I stirred up conflict

And stirred heavy troubles he could respond capably.

وسرت على نهج الشراة محكماً

بجيشي ورايات لهن بنود

I took the path of valiance, leading my army

And banners heralding our presence.

فلما رآى أهل الضلال شرارتي

تزيد حياة والضلال يبيد

When the misguided ones saw my burning resolve

Adding life while misguidance was dying,

بدا لهم أن ينكثوا فتسللوا

لواذاً وعال المسلمين خمود

It became clear to destroy me through betrayal,

So they slipped away in flight while the Muslims slumbered.

فحسبك نوراً أخمدوه وإنهم

بنا لعلى ما يفعلون شهود

Sufficient are you as a light they extinguished! But they

Are witness to what they do.

وما نقموا مني سوى أن همتي

عن الإثم والحجر الأثيم تحيد

They resented none save that my resolve

Deviated from sin and the accursed stone.

رأوني فتى لا ألبس الحق باطلاً

ولا أتبع الضَّلال حيث يريد

They saw me as a man who clads not truth in falseness

Nor follows misguidance wherever it leads.

فطارت لخوف اللّه عني عقولهم

فهاهم لهم جمع عليه حقود

So their minds took flight in fear of God -

Behold them, their many gathered against me in hatred!

تلاءمت الأضداد من أجل خيفتي

ضراراً وما التامت علي حشود

Opposites allied to frighten me

Harmfully, but crowds did not assemble against me.

فلو طمع الأشرار مني بهفوة

إلى الظلم قالوا ما سواك يسود

If the wicked hoped to find in me some weakness toward injustice,

“None rules but you,” they would say.

فكيف وأصل الظلم عجز وفزعة

دناة يراني اللّه فيه أقود

But how so when injustice at its root is impotence and alarm

Of sinners - would I drive them God sees me?

أذلّ وديني خالص هكذا ولا

أعزّ وديني تزدهيه قرود

I would be humiliated even as my religion remains pure; never

Would I be honored if monkeys blemished my religion!

إذا لم أجد ماء طهوراً مطهراً

قراحاً كفاني للصلاة صعيد

If I found no pure, cleansing water

God’s earth sufficed me for ritual prayer.

وإن مد لي جهد البلاء حباله

وطال فصبري للبلاء مديد

And if the ropes of tribulation pulled taut for me

And it lingered, my patience for it was long.

وأما فؤادي للأياس فطارد

فما دمت حياً فالأياس طريد

As for my heart, to despair - it took flight!

So as long as I live, despair is exiled.

فنفسك طيب يا ابن صلت فإنني

أموت وعزمي في الجهاد جديد

Good fortune to you, O son of my kinship,

For I die with my determination still fresh

وأنت فدم دم للمهيمنين ناصراً

وثق أنه بالنصر سوف يجود

While you - shed blood liberally for the oppressed champions!

Trust that, with victory, it will be bountiful.

كما نصر المختار أحمد بعد ما

جفى ورمي بالفرث وهو وحيد

Just as God helped Al Mukhtar Ahmad after

His people denied him and he was abandoned with filth and stones cast on him, alone.

فصلى عليه اللّه ما لاح بارق

وما همهمت في المعصرات رعود

May God bless him! No dawn broke

Without him being moved by the clouds’ tumult.