هَذا الحَبيبُ وَهَذِهِ الصَهباءُ
عَذلُ المُصِرِّ عَليهِما إِغراءُ
This beloved and this dawn,
The reproach of the jealous toward them is seduction,
وَالأَغيَدُ الأَلمى يَروقُكَ مَنظَراً
في سَقيِها وَالغادَةُ اللَمياءُ
And the braided hair adorns you with its sight
As it is irrigated, and the curly hair is twisting.
يا قاتِلاً كَأسي بِكَثرَةِ مائِهِ
ما الحَيُّ عِندي وَالقَتيلُ سَواءُ
O killer of my cup with the abundance of its water,
The living and the killed are equal to me.
بِالماءِ يَحيى كُلُّ شَيءٌ هالِكٍ
إِلا الكُئوسَ هَلاكُهُنَّ الماءُ
With water everything perishing is revived
Except for cups, their perishing is from water.
وَالراحُ لَيسَ لِعاشِقيها راحَةُ
ما لَم يُساعِدهُم غِنىً وَغِناءُ
And comfort is not for its lovers a comfort
Unless enriched by wealth and songs.
أَفدي الَّذي مَرِضَت لِمَرضَتِهِ الحَشا
وَهُوَ الدَواءُ لِمُهجَتي وَالداءُ
I ransom the one whose illness made me ill,
And he is the cure for my passion and disease.
وَبِوَجنَتَيَّ وَوَجنَتَيهِ إِذا بَدا
مِن فَرطِ وَجدَينا وَحَياءُ
By my cheek and his cheek when they appear
From the intensity of our passion and shyness,
كَيفَ الوُصولُ إِلى الوِصالِ وَبَينَنا
بَينٌ وَدونَ عِناقِهِ العَنقاءُ
How is reaching union when between us
A separation, and without his embrace the slender necked!
لِلَّهِ جيراني بِجيرونٍ وَلي
بِلِحاظِهِم وَبِهِم ظُبىً وَظِباءُ
For God's sake, my neighbors with their blankets
With them moths and mosquitoes.
وَكَأَنَّهُم وَكَأَنَّ حَمرَةَ راحِهِم
في راحِهِم وَهناً دُمىً وَدِماءُ
As if they and the stench of their rest
In their rest are weakness, blood and gore.
فَكَأَنَّما سَقَتِ البِلادَ مُلِثَّها
كَفا حُسامِ الدينِ وَالأَنواءُ
So it is as if the country's diseases in its entirety
Were quenched by the sword of al-Din and time.
مَلِكٌ تَزَيَّنَتِ السَماءُ بِمَجدِهِ
وَتَجَمَّلَت بِمَديحِهِ الشُعَراءُ
A king the sky adorned itself with his glory,
And the poets beautified themselves with praising him.
يَحيى وَيَقتُلُ اللَهاذِمَ وَاللُهى
فَكَأَنَّهُ السَرّاءُ وَالضَرّاءُ
He brings life and kills the arrogant and frightened,
So he is both ease and tribulation.
مازالَ يَرقى في المَعالي صاعِداً
وَعَدُوُّهُ أَنفاسُهُ صُعَداءُ
He continues rising in glories an ascendant,
And his enemies are his puffing ascents.
مَن حاتَمُ الطائِيُّ عِندَ سَماحِهِ
هَذا النَدى لا إِبلُهُ وَالشاءُ
Who is Hatim al-Tai in his generosity,
This freshness, not his camels or sheep?
لِلمُعتَفينَ عَلى خَزائِنِ مالِهِ
في كُلِّ يَومٍ غارَةٌ شَعواءُ
For the confessors of the treasuries of his money,
Every day there is a plundering raid.
فَكَأَنَّهُ سَعدُ السُعودِ إِذا بَدا
لِلناظِرينَ وَفي الذَكاءِ ذُكاءُ
So he is the good fortune of fortune when he appears
To onlookers, and in intelligence an intelligence.
وَإِلى سُمَيساطٍ قَطَعنَ جِيادُهُ
مِن مارِدَينِ وَتِلكُمُ العَذراءُ
And to Sumeysat his steeds took him
From Mardin, and that is the virgin.
وافى أَجِنَّتَها بِكُلِّ مُدَجَّجِ
في راحَتَيهِ حَيَّةٌ صَفراءُ
It reached the shelters of her mountains with every armed
In his rest a yellow snake
تَرمي بَنيها كُلَّما حَمَلَت بِهِم
وَلها عَلَيهِم حِنَّةٌ وَبُكاءُ
Throwing its sons whenever it carried them,
And it has for them affection and crying.
وَمِنَ العَجائِبِ أَن حَظى أَسوَدٌ
وَلَهُ بِكُلِّ يَدٍ يَدٌ بَيضاءُ
And of wonders is that a black man attained
And for him in each hand a white hand.
أَحُسامَ دينِ اللَهِ وَالمُلكَ الَّذي
شَرُفَت بِهِ الأَلقابُ وَالأَسماءُ
The swords of God's religion and the kingship which
The titles and names have been ennobled by.
جابَت إِلَيكَ بَنو الرَجا جَوزَ الفَلا
مُذ شِدتَ مَجداً دونَهُ الجَوزاءُ
The clan of glory answered you the shells of peach
Since you have excelled in glory beyond the shells.
هَل تَحمِلُ الغَبراءُ مِثلَكَ أَو جَرَت
يَومَ الرِهانِ بِمِثلِكَ الغَبراءُ
Does the dusty (world) carry one like you or did
The dusty (world) race with one like you on the day of the wager?
بِسَمّي والِدُكَ اِهتَدَينا في الدُجى
وَعَنَت لَنا بِسَمّيكَ الأَعداءُ
By your father's name we were guided in the darkness
And by your name the enemies flagged for us.
نَرعى الفَراقِدَ وَالفَراقِدُ حَولَنا
شَهِدَت بِذَينِ سَماوَةٌ وَسَماءُ
We pasture the dead and the dead around us
The heaven and sky have witnessed their bloodshed.
لِلَّهِ حادِثَةٌ رَمَت بِيَ جانِبَيَّ
هَذا الحِمى وَطِمِرَّةٌ جَرداءُ
By God an accident threw me on the side of
This sanctuary and a bare wilderness.
لازالَ في الإِقبالِ غادٍ رائِحاً
ما أَقبَلَ الإِصباحُ وَالإِمساءُ
He continues advancing returning in good fortune
As long as the morning and evening come.
