لمن الطلول كأنهنَّ رقومُ

تَضْحَى لعينك تارة وتَغيمُ

The gazelles are like parchments

At times clear to your eye or clouded

يعهَدنَ بالإقواءِ عهداً حادثا

وكأنّه مما بَلينَ قديمُ

They make a new covenant of rising

As if it were of old wrinkled things

ما كنتُ أعرفُ أنهنَّ نشيدتي

حتى تحدَّث بينهنّ نسيمُ

I did not know they were my poem

Until the breeze conversed among them

وكأنما عَبَقُ الترائب دلّني

أو ضلّ في عَرَصاتهنّ لطيمُ

It seemed to me the scent of the meadows told me

Or a sojourner strayed in their pastures

أسمعتِني يا دارُ دون صحابتي

والوحيُ عند أخي الهوى مفهومُ

You heard me without my companions

And revelation with my brother love is understood

أين الموالكُ فيكِ أعناقَ المنى

والراقياتُ العيشَ وهو سليمُ

Where are the camels in you, the wishes of longing

And those rising the life while it is unblemished?

والسارياتُ لنا شموسا في الدجى

والطالعاتُ ضحىً وهن نجومُ

Those unleashing suns for us in the darkness

And those rising at dawn while they are stars

لا يُقتَضَيْنَ وفي الديون علهيمُ

قلبي ولا يُقضَى لهنّ غريمُ

They are not sought while laden with worries

My heart and no covenant to them is fulfilled

لم يبقَ فيكِ لناشدٍ أوطارَه

إلا الوقوفُ عليكِ والتسليمُ

There remains in you for an elegist only

Standing over you and surrendering

ومقيَّدٌ ذو رُمّتين كأنه

غِبَّ السواري مِعصم موشومُ

And bound with two wristlets as if

The bracelets slipped off a tattooed wrist

دُسْنا ترابَكِ بالمناسِم والهوى

لو أنه بشفاهنا ملثومُ

We buried the dust of you with parting and passion

If only it were sealed by our lips

ومن الوفاء لساكنيكِ قيامُنا

وشكولُهن من الظباء جثُومُ

And our rising for your inhabitants is loyalty

While their setting from the meadows is lying down

ولقد وقفتُ فما رُفِدتُ بمسعِدٍ

وشكوتُ لو سمِع الشكاةَ رحيمُ

And I had stood but was not given success

And complained, if only the complainer hears the Merciful

والعينُ تسمَح ثم تبخلُ حَيْرةً

والركبُ يَعذِر تارةً ويلومُ

The eye is lenient then stingy in confusion

And the riders excuse and blame in turns

وكأنني فوق الرِّحالة خالعٌ

لعبت بأمّ عظامِهِ الخُرطومُ

It's as if I'm above the travelers, renouncing

Sport for the mother bones of its trunk

لا الرهنُ يا لمياءُ مفكوكٌ ولا

حبلُ الوثيقة باللِّوى مصرومُ

No mortgage, O Lamiya, is unfastened, nor

Is the cord of obligation untied

يُنسَى كما تُنسَى المفاقرُ في الغنى

خلفَ الجوانح سرُّكِ المكتومُ

It is forgotten like pouches in wealth

Behind the ribs your secret concealed

إنّ الذي عن بِغضةٍ زاورِتهِ

لونُ الصدود بِلمَّتي مأدومُ

That he who visited me with hatred

The sheen of aloofness was dyed by my smear

حَكَمٌ يجورُ على سنيَّ وكيف بال

عَدْوَى عليه وأنتِ فيه خصيمُ

A unjust judge rules over my tooth and how not

My enmity over him while you are against him?

حمَّلتِنِي أوساقه ونفيتنِي

فأنا الطريدُ وغاربي المهدومُ

You burdened me with his saddlebags and exiled me

So I am expelled and my tents destroyed

ماذا يمسُّكِ من شبابٍ راحلٍ

عنّي وبَلبالي عليكِ مقيمُ

What takes you from a youth departed

From me while my mind stays with you

أوما رأيتِ الشَّيبَ جانسَ لونَه

في العين دُرُّ لثاتِك المنظومُ

Or did you not see the gray mingled its color

In the eye a pearl for your threaded poem?

وعلى المقلَّد والمعصَّب منك بال

نسَبيْن أخوالٌ له وعُمومُ

And on the turbaned and veiled, blameworthy

Are maternal uncles to him and paternal uncles

أفتقنعين مع القرابةِ أنه

يُقصَى وإقصاءُ الأقاربِ لُومُ

Will you be content in kinship that he

Is excluded and excluding kin is blameworthy?

لولا تلافِي الفجرِ خابطةَ السُّرَى

لقضى عليها الليل وهو بهيمُ

If not for the dawn's challenging the Pleiades

The night would have finished it and it is beastly

هيهات أعوزَ أن يجامَلَ مُبْغَضٌ

بخديعةٍ أو يُحمَدَ المذمومُ

Alas! A hater will not flatter

With guile nor will the blameworthy be praised

ما عِفنَه حتى رأينَ ذُبولَه

كيف انتجاعُ النبتِ وهو هشيمُ

What decayed until you saw its drying up

How can the plant grow and it is rabble?

يا برقَةَ الفَودينِ إني لم أزل

للبرق من خللِ الخطوب أشيمُ

O delicacy of the two cheeks, I have not stopped

Being struck by lightning in the midst of calamities a sharer

ما كنتِ أوّلَ ما الزمانُ محمِّلي

أنا عَوْدُه ذو الجُلْبة المزمومُ

You were not the first since time loaded me

I am its branch of dense foliage

يجنِي وعندي حاقرا لا عاجزا

فيما جناه الصبرُ والتسليمُ

It reaps while with me despised, not helpless

In what patience and surrender reaped

أوفِضْ سهامَك يا زمانُ فإنه

ترمِي الحنيَّةُ والرميُّ سليمُ

Or unleash your arrows O time, for

Kindness strikes and the striking is proper

نُطني بكلّ غريبةٍ محذورة

أَرجعْ إليك وداؤها محسومُ

We are laden with every feared thing

I return to you and its harm predetermined

إلاّ سؤالَ الباخلين فإنه

غُمَّى عليَّ سبيلُها مغمومُ

Except asking the misers, for it

Became gloomy for me the way of it is grievous

ولقد كفاني في العفافِ بصيرةً

ذلُّ الحريصِ ورزقُه مقسومُ

Andrestraint from decency gave me insight

The humiliation of the covetous and his provision apportioned

والناسُ إما واجدٌ متعذِّرٌ

أو مغرمٌ بالجود وهو عديمُ

And people are either obliging while excusing

Or infatuated with generosity and destitute

هذا يضَنُّ وذاك يَقصُر مالُه

فقد استوى المحظوظُ والمحرومُ

This one hoards and that one's wealth is short

So the fortunate and deprived are equal

إمَّا ترى نقدَ العيون يردُّني

والبابُ دوني مرتجٌ مقرومُ

Either you see the ready cash of eyes refuse me

And the path before me half-closed and tied

عُريانَ من ورَق النضارة سوقطت

كِنَنِي وضاع ببُردِيَ التسهيمُ

Stripped of the leaf of vitality, I fell

My crutch gone and in my cold the allotment

مُلقىً تَنابذُني الأكفُّ كأنّني

قعبٌ تفاوتَ صدعُهُ مرجومُ

Cast off, hands push me away as if I

Am a waterskin whose stitching came undone

بين الغنى والفقر لا هو جاهلٌ

حظِّي ولا هو في الحظوظ حكيمُ

Between wealth and poverty, not heedless of my fortune

Nor in fortunes wise

فوراءَ غِمدي صارمٌ ما ضرَّه

شعَثُ النّجاد وغربُه المثلومُ

For behind my scabbard is a sword not harmed

By the dishevelment of sheaths and their roughness

خَلَسَ الردى قومي فأقعد نهضتي

أن لا يقومَ سواي حين أقومُ

Vileness crept up on my people so I sat

Lest any rise but me when I rise

ما جهد من وجد السلاحَ وَنفسُه

ملآى وَناصرُ غيظهِ معدومُ

No effort from one who found weapons and himself

Filled and victorious, his wrath void

وطىء الزمانُ بهم محاسنَ وجهه

فجبينُه بشِجاجِهِ مأمومُ

Time has tread on their beauty with its forehead

So their brows are cracked by its blows

نُسِفوا بأيدي الحادثات كأنّهم

وَبَرٌ تطارده الصَّبَا مجلومُ

They were blown away by the hands of events as if

They are blades stalked by the gusts wound up

أُخِّرتُ عنهم للشقاوة بعدَهم

ونجا بهم من عيشِيَ التقديمُ

I was delayed from them for misery after them

And deliverance from my life of antiquity was successful for them

قَسَماً بها معهونةً أعناقُها

وظهورُها الموشيُّ والمرقومُ

By the most high, bent necks

And backs adorned and sculpted

قُطُراً تَراقصُ في الحبال إمامُها

مَرَحاً فيأخذ إِخذَه المأمومُ

Drop by drop dancing in ropes, their leader

Frolicking and taking its celebration responsively

مشْيَ الخرائد ينبعثن مع الطُّلى

حتى تعوقَ روادفٌ وجسومُ

The walk of ostriches rising with the dawn

Until stirring haunches and bodies

يَطرحْن أشباحا بمكَّةَ كالقنا

شُعثاً وهنّ مسنَّماتٌ كُومُ

They cast mirages at Mecca like the lanterns

Disheveled while they are marked

عقَدوا الحُبَى حيثُ الحلالُ محرَّم

بِمنىً وحيثُ يحلَّلُ التحريمُ

They tied desires where permitted is forbidden

At Mina and where prohibitions are permitted

لَنَدى بني عبد الرحيم ومجدِهم

من جِنَّةِ الدنيا رُقىً وتميمُ

By the splendor of Banu Abdul Rahim and their glory

A lofty degree from the garden of life and a safeguard

المانعوُن فما يُدَعْدَعُ جارُهُم

والحالبون وسرحُهم مصرومُ

The obstructers but their neighborhood is not shaken

And the milkers while their cattle are tied

فيهم عن النظَر المُريب تخاوُصٌ

وعلى جهالاتِ الزمانِ حُلومُ

Among them is conniving from suspicious glances

And stupidities of time are overcome

وإذا السنونَ أحلْنَ أخلاقَ الحيا

أقلعنَ عنهم والكريمُ كريمُ

And if years render the morals of life wicked

They refrain from them while the noble remains noble

نصبوا على وضَح الطريق مَقارياً

في الجدب يُطعِمُ ليلُها ويُنيمُ

They erected signposts on the clear path

In barren times it feeds their nights and lays them down to rest

وتسلَّبوا للطارقين وأيقنوا

في الحمد أنّ الغانمَ المغنومُ

And they slipped away to the passersby and were certain

That in praise the gainer is the gained

وإذا تزاحمت الخطوب وضاق عن

نَفَسِ الجبان ونَفْسِه الحَيزومُ

And when calamities crowded and the breadth

For the soul of the coward and his hated soul narrowed

سلُّوا لهم آراءهم فتفرّجتْ

ومن السيوف خواطرٌ وعَزيمُ

They turned over their opinions so thoughts were relieved

And from the swords, notions and resolve

وإذا الحسين رأيتَ سؤددَ نفسه

وصفَ البعيدَ المدرَكُ المعلومُ

And when you see Hussein cheapen his soul

And describe the distant known and perceived

بالصاحب ابتدأوا المكارمَ وانتَهوْا

فالفخرُ مفتتَحٌ به مختومُ

With the companion he began favors and ended

So pride is a beginning sealed by it

مدَّ الفراتُ فما وفَى بيمينه

وسما فحلَّق والسحابُ يحومُ

Euphrates extended but did not fulfill his oath

And reached high but clouds hover

ورأى مكانَ نظيرهِ لصديقه

بالودّ وهو على الملوك زعيمُ

And he saw a peer's place for his friend

In affection and he is leader of kings

يا وافيا للملك والأخُ غادرٌ

ومصمِّما وحسامُه مهزومُ

O you loyal to the kingdom and the brother betraying

And determined while his sword is defeated

ما ضرَّه يُتْمٌ وأنت له أبٌ

حانٍ وأمٌّ بالحفاظِ رَؤومُ

No harm to him that you are orphan

Present and mother in protection inclined

نامت عيون الكالئاتِ تواكُلاً

عنه وعينُك نومُها تهويمُ

While the eyes of pixies slept neglectfully

About him and your eye its sleep agitating

حتى أعدتَ الدُّرْدَ من أنيابه

والليثُ مفتَرَسٌ بها مضغومُ

Until you restored his jaw from its fangs

And the lion voracious with it chewed up

وأتاك معترِفا بزَلَّةِ رأيه

من كان يزعُم أنه معصومُ

And he came to you admitting the error of his view

He who claimed to be infallible

إن الذي فتل العداوة كِفّةً

لك عاد قبل الصيد وهي رميمُ

That he who cut enmity like a load

For you returned before the hunt and it is weak

ما زال يُنْشِبُ في المطامع كفَّه

حتى تحيّفَ ظُفْرَه التقليمُ

He did not stop plunging his palms in greed

Until his claws were blunted by the clipping

نطَحَ الصفاةَ أجمَّ يعلم إنَّها

لَتَرُدُّ ذا الرَّوْقَينِ وهو حطيمُ

He gored the does altogether, knowing they

Will return the two gashes and he is wrecked

قطع الحبالَ وجاء يركَبُ رأسَه

فهوى يودُّ لوَ اَنه مخطوم

He cut ties and came to ride his head

So he fell, wishing he were tied up

يستولد الآمال شراً والمنى

أمٌّ على طول السفاد عقيمُ

Evil hopes give birth to evil and wishes

Are a barren mother throughout vileness

حبَراتُ فحلٍ راقصتْ ألحاظَه

وحلا بفيه شهدُها المسمومُ

The dances of a stallion enticed his glances

And confusion with its honey poisoned entered his mouth

علِقَ الحصارَ مدافعا عن يومه

لو أنّ إملاءَ الحصار يدومُ

He laid siege, defending against his day

If only besieging were lasting

يخشى الفرارَ ولا يقدِّم نفسَه

فيموتُ تحت السيف وهو كريمُ

He fears fleeing and does not offer himself

So dies under the sword and he is noble

فاختار أُخرى ذلَّ فيها أنفُه

لخَشاشة يُدمَى بها الخيشومُ

So he chose another, his dignity debased in it

For baseness the muzzle is bloodied by it

شرّ البليّة في الحروب أسيرُها

يُسلَى القتيلُ ويُعذَر المهزومُ

The worst calamity in wars is its prisoner

The slain are excused and the defeated blamed

أسكنتَه دارَ الشقاءِ وإنها

في جنب ما هو خائف لنعيمُ

You settled him in the abode of misery, and it

Compared to what he fears of bliss is slight

عاداتُ جَدّك في علاك وإنما

رمُح الكميِّ بحَدّه مدعومُ

The customs of your grandfather in your heights, though

The spear of the whole with its edge is supported

لهم اعوجاجُ الأمر إن طعَنوا به

ولكفّك التثقيفُ والتقويمُ

For them the crookedness of affairs if they are faulted in it

And for your palm the guidance and correction

وأرى الوزارةَ تُستَرقُّ وإنما

هي حُرّة وتباحُ وهي حريمُ

And I see ministry is eclipsed, though

It is free and permissive and inviolable

لعبتْ بها الهمم القصارُ وأصبحتْ

وسرورُها عند الرجال همومُ

It was played with by little spirits and became

Though its bliss to men is worries

في كلّ يوم نابت نبعت به

عوجاءُ شائكةُ الغصونِ عَذومُ

In every day, twisted and thorny of branches sprouted in it

No shade above the ground protecting anyone in it

لا ظلّ فوق الأرض يَحمِي قائلا

فيها ولا تحت التراب أرومُ

Nor under earth a pillar

Destroying, time passes its fragments

خوَّارة يمضي شَظايا طُيَّحاً

تحت النواجذِ عُودُها المعجومُ

Beneath claws its sculpted wood

It meets him while knowing the secret of his face

تلقاه عارفةً أسرّةَ وجهه

بالذلِّ وهو بعزِّها موسومُ

In humiliation while he in its glory is marked

Confined in it is supremacy, aloof

محصورةٌ فيه السيادةُ نافرٌ

من شكله التوقيرُ والتعظيمُ

From his image is veneration and glorification

He is content with prominent ones with a name having

يرضَى من العلياء باسمٍ ما لَهُ

معنىً وزِعنفةُ الأديم أديمُ

No meaning, and the arrogance of eras is an epoch

He gives lips when he wants benevolence

يُعطِي الشِّفاهَ إذا أراد كرامةً

كفًّا مُقبِّلها بها ملطومُ

A palm kissing them by it filled

Are you angry while you are its neighbors

أفتغضَبون وأنتمُ جِيرانُها

لسَوامِ مجدٍ ما لهنَّ مُسيمُ

For ambitions no beginnings for them are demarcated?

Or is all merit in time and its people

أم كلُّ فضل في الزمان وأهلِه

حتى الوزارة مهملٌ مظلومُ

Even ministry neglected and wronged?

Warble, for with you O dove is its collar

غرِّدْ فعندكَ يا حمامةُ طوقُها

وانظر ففيك لحاظُها يا ريمُ

And look, for in you are its glances O Oryx

And forgive it if you were superior to it

واسمح لها أن كنتَ عنها فاضلا

كم ناقصٍ وله بكم تتميمُ

How many deficient but for them are charms

Sit for the delegation of festival while your heel

واجلس لوفد المهرجان وكعبُك ال

عالي وأنفُ الدهر فيك رغيمُ

Not elevated and the nose of time in you a drizzle

It comes to you forcibly serving you loyally

يأتيك قَسرا خادماً لك قائما

فيه ومجدُك جالسٌ مخدومُ

In it and your glory sitting served

Wearing the garb of eternity and escorted

متسربلاً ثوبَ الخلود وشيعُهُ

حَلْيُ القريض ودرُّه المنظومُ

By the caravan of the train and its strung poem

The souls are seized from rarities, vanquishing

تهَب النفوسَ من النفائس غالبا

أمرَ الليالي أمرُك المرسومُ

The command of nights is your commanded decree

O family why do I sit withered

يا أسرتي مالي أَلُسُّ خَشاشتي

يبَساً وواديكم أغنُّ جميمُ

While your valley is abundant, ever brimming?

Refusal of precedents disdained precedents

أَنِفَ الإباءُ لوائل من وائلٍ

ففنُوا وعزَّت بالوفاءِ تميمُ

So they perished and glory in loyalty lasted

And if Qays had been content in his mother's decree

ولو اكتفَى قيسٌ بفتوَى أمِّه

لمضى عَدِيٌّ طائحاً وخَطيمُ

He would have gone straight and a piercing calamity

And I see a brother of Chosroes spend his night while his people

وأرى أخا كسرى يبيت وقومه

فيهم سيوفُ النصر وهو مَضيمُ

Among them the swords of victory and he is oppressed

My pact with you a time and my wound among you

عهدي بكم زمناً وجُرحي بينكم

يوسَى وصدعُ خَصاصتي ملمومُ

Yusuf though the cleavage of my intimacy is stitched

So if my reed whistles and in you supports

فإذا خوَى قصبي وساندَ فيكُمُ

طلبَ الرفادةِ جنبيَ المهضومُ

The seeking of heights my side undermined

Lions protected against cubs and she-camels pulled

حمت الليوثُ عن الشبول وجرجرتْ

دونَ البِكارِ مَصاعبٌ وقُرومُ

Beyond young she-camels tribulations and small hills

So why when you grew long and extended in space

فعلام إذ طُلتم وزدتم بسطةً

أنا من رضاع سحابكم مفطومُ

Am I by your clouds' suckling weaned?

I seek your enclosures but am struck away from them

أبغي حياضَكُمُ فأُضْرَبُ دونها

ضربَ الغرائب وهْي حَرَّى هِيمُ

The striking of strangers and they are hot enraged

Blame from the guide though below it your affection

عَتْبُ المدِلِّ وتحته لودادكم

صدرٌ على حزِّ الشفار سليمُ

A breast over the cleavage of chasms unharmed