لميٍّ بوادى المنحنَى طللٌ قَفْرُ

سقاهُ الحيَا الوسْمِى من نؤيه الفَقْرُ

Of Mayy, in the valley of the bend, a desolate campsite remains.

May the life-giving seasonal rain water its broken trench;

وغاداه منهل مِن المزْن هاملُ

وعلَّ ثَرَاه مرعدٌ واكفُ غَمْرُ

and may a streaming cloudburst visit it each morning,

while thundering, steady, engulfing rain drenches its soil anew.

وقفتُ به لما مررتُ بربْعِه

أسائِله عنهم ولى أدمعٌ غُزْرُ

I stopped there when I passed by its encampment,

asking it about them, while my tears poured freely.

وعهدى به يُنض شموس كواعبِ

تسيل دماً مهما تَوَهَّمها الفِكرُ

I remember it when it teemed with proud, budding maidens

whose blush ran blood-red whenever thought so much as pictured them—

زواهرُ أمثال الأهلّةِ وُضَّحُ

حِسان التَّثنِّى دونها الأنجمُ الزُّهْرُ

radiant, bright as crescent moons,

fair in their graceful swaying, before whom the shining stars pale.

وفيهنَّ مَعسُولُ المراشِفِ غادةٌ

مُهَفْهَفَةٌ لمياءُ وَهْنانةٌ بِكْرُ

Among them was a maiden with honey-sweet lips,

slender-waisted, dark-lipped, languid, and untouched.

لها مُقْلَةٌ تُسْبى العقولَ ملاحةً

كأنَّ بها سحراً وليس بها سِحْرُ

She had an eye whose beauty enthralled the mind,

as though it held magic—though no magic was there—

وريقةُ ثغرٍ كالسُّلافَةِ طَعمُها

أو الشهدِ بلْ من دونها الشهدُ والخمرُ

and the moisture of her mouth tasted like pure wine,

or honey—rather, honey and wine both fell beneath it.

شفاءَ قلوبِ العاشقين مزارُها

وداؤُهم منه الموشح والنَّحْرُ

A visit from her was healing for lovers’ hearts,

yet their malady in her lay in her sash-girdled waist and breast.

سرَى طيفُها مِن حاجرٍ بعد هَجعةٍ

إلى مضجعى من بعد ما شَفَّنِى الهجْرُ

Her phantom journeyed by night from Hājir after a stretch of sleep

to my bed, after estrangement had worn me thin.

فأحْيَتْ برؤيا طيفِها قلبَ عاشقٍ

أخى وَلَهٍ قد خَانَهُ بعدها الصبرُ

The vision of her phantom revived a lover’s heart—

a brother to rapture, whose patience failed once she was gone.

فبِتْنَا جميعاً في نعيم ولذةٍ

وإيفاءِ وعدٍ لا يكدِّرُه الغَدْرُ

Together we passed the night in bliss and delight,

with a promise fulfilled, unclouded by betrayal.

أبثُّ لها الشكْوى وتُبْدِى ملاحة

إلى أن طوى أثوابَ ليلَتِنا الفجرُ

I poured out my complaint while she revealed her charms,

until dawn folded away the garments of our night.

فقامتْ سريعاً للوداعِ ودمعُها

على خدّها يَحْكِيه ما ضمَّه الثغرُ

She rose swiftly to take her leave, her tears

upon her cheek mirrored by what her mouth enclosed.

فولَّتْ ولى دمعٌ يسيلُ كأنّه

نَدَى كفِّ سلطان بن سيف هُو البحرُ

She turned away, while my own tears streamed as though they were

the dew—the bounty—of Sultan ibn Sayf’s hand: he is the sea.

إمام هدًى زاكِى الأرومةِ ماجدٌ

مليكُ الورَى أضحى له النَّهْى والأمرُ

An imam of guidance, noble and pure of stock,

the sovereign of humankind, whose are command and prohibition.

إذا جادَ بالإحسانِ لا جودُ حاتمٍ

وإن كرَّ في الفرسان لا مِثلُه عمرُو

When he gives in beneficence, Hātim’s giving is no generosity;

and when he charges among the horsemen, even ʿAmr is not his equal.

جوادٌ له في ثَغْرٍ وبلْدةٍ

لكثرةِ ما يُسْدِى على أهلها ذِكْرُ

Openhanded, he has renown in every frontier post and town

from the abundance of what he bestows upon their people.

حليمٌ يقيسُ الأمرَ قبل وُقوعه

فكلُّ عظيمٍ عنده ما لَهُ قَدْرُ

Forbearing, he weighs a matter before it comes to pass,

so every daunting thing, to him, has no weight.

كذَا الدهرُ فعَّالُ لما هو كائنٌ

ولا شكَّ أن العُسْرَ يتبعه اليُسْرُ

Thus does Time bring about whatever is to be,

and there is no doubt that hardship is followed by ease.

ودونَك شِعراً يا بن سيف بن مالك

سليمَ القوافي زانَه اللف والنَّشْرُ

Here, then, is a poem for you, O son of Sayf ibn Mālik,

sound in its rhymes, adorned with entwining and unfolding.

ولا زِلْتُ في نُعْماك في اليُسْرِ والغنَى

وما مسّ نفسى مُذْ صَحِبتكمُ العُسْرُ

May I remain amid your favors, in ease and wealth;

hardship has not touched my soul since I entered your company.

فدمْ وابْقَ في عزٍّ وملكٍ مُخلّدٍ

ومَجْدٍ أثيلٍ لا يغيرهُ العصرُ

So endure and remain in glory and everlasting rule,

and in deep-rooted splendor that the age can never alter.