حَمَلتْ ركابُ الغرب شمسَ شروقِ
وحملتُ منك العهدَ غيرَ مُطيقِ
The travelers of the West carried the sun of dawn
While I carried from you a covenant I cannot bear
عقدتْ ضمانَ وفائها من خصرها
فوهى كلا العقدين غيرَ وثيقِ
She who has tied your heart's affection belted her dress
Yet with both belts it was not secure
والغانياتُ بناتُ غدرٍ من أبٍ
يضربن في نسبٍ إليه عريقِ
The singing girls are daughters of a treacherous father
Who trace their lineage to him though it is noble
ثاروا فكم قاسٍ عليّ فؤادُه
لو لم يدلِّسه لسانُ شفيقِ
They complained, so how harsh was my heart to them
Had not the sweet-tongued mollified it
للّه عينا مالىءٍ من لؤلؤٍ
عينيه يومَ وداعنا وعقيقِ
By God, eyes brimming with pearls
Were our eyes the day we bid farewell, and how sincere
إن التي علَّقت قلبَك ودَّها
راحت بقلبٍ عنك غيرِ عَلوقِ
She who captured your heart and her love to you
Left with a heart detached from you
يا أهل عبدةَ هل يدٌ يفدَى بها
قلبٌ أسيرٌ بينكم لطليقِ
O people of `Abdah! Is there a hand that can be ransomed
For a heart captive among you now free?
أشعرتكم زمناً بعبدةَ غيرها
لو رُجِّمَ المكروهُ بالموموقِ
For a time, I distracted you from `Abdah with another
If but the hated were pelted with dried fruits
للّه ناشطةٌ جمعتُ بودّها ال
محفوظِ باعي في حبالِ ربيقِ
By God a vivacious one whose love I collected
Not guarded in the ropes of a gentle wind
ما كان أوّلُ عهد استودعته
من قلب غانيةٍ إناءَ مريقِ
It was not the first covenant I entrusted
To the heart of a singing girl, a fragile vessel
ولقد أخالفهنَّ غاياتِ الهوى
وطريقُهن من الشبابِ طريقي
I have surpassed them in the goals of passion
And my path from youth is my path
كان الهوى سكرانَ تنظر عينُه
حتى صحا فرأى بقلبِ مفيقِ
Passion was intoxicated, its eyes glancing
Until sober, it saw with an awakened heart
ونأيتُمُ ومن الغيوب مستَّر
بالإجتماع يبين بالتفريقِ
You went away, and the hidden remains veiled
Though association makes clear through separation
فانفس بنفسك أن تحطَّك حاجةٌ
إلا وصبرُك مشرفٌ من نِيقِ
So indulge yourself, no need humbles you
Except your patience is sublime and gentle
وابرز لهم جَلْداً وغصنُك مصفِرٌ
تنفي الشماتة في اهتزاز وريقِ
And show them mettle though your branch is yellowed
Dispelling gloating in the trembling of a leaf
كم باطنٍ غالطتُ وهو مرمَّقٌ
عنه الحسودَ بظاهر مرموقِ
How many a secret I wrongly suspected
Which I mollified the envious with an apparent rising
والناس أهلُ الواحدِ المثرى وأع
داءُ المقلِّ بمعشرٍ وفريقِ
People are partisans of the sole Bestower of fruit
And the foes of the little party are a group and band
سلني بهم فلقد حلبت أمورَهم
شطرين من محضٍ ومن ممذوقِ
Ask me about them - I have milked their affairs
In two parts: pure and adulterated
وخبرتُهم خُبرَ اللبيب طباعَه
فمعي على سَعةٍ عليَّ لضيقِ
I knew them with the insight of an expert into natures
With me is breadth, though me is narrowness
ما إن ضننتُ على الظنون بصاحبٍ
إلا سمحت به على التحقيقِ
Never did I stint suspicions towards a companion
Except I yielded to him upon verification
لا يُضحك الأيامَ كذبُ مطامعي
إلا إذا طالبتُها بصديقِ
The days do not mock my hopes with lies
Unless I seek them through a friend
بخلوا بما وجدوا فلو قدروا لما
وجدت لهاةٌ أن تُبَلَّ بِريقِ
They were stingy with what they found, else had they been able
No paupers would have been saturated with broth
ويئستُ حتى لو بصُرت بنارِهم
لِقرىً شككتُ وقلتُ نارُ حريقِ
I despaired that even if I saw their fire
For a land, I would doubt and say, “The fire of burning”
ضحكتْ ليَ الأيامُ بعدَ عُبوسها
بابن النبيّ عن المنى المصدوقِ
After its gloom, days laughed at me
With the son of the Prophet, the trusted one from desire
آنست منه بوارقاً أمطرنني
ماءَ الحفاظِ على خِلاب بروقي
From him I glimpsed flashes that rained on me
The water of protection over the most handsome lightning
شرفٌ تنفّس فجرُه عن غُرَّتَيْ
جدٍّ نبيٍّ أو أبٍ صِدِّيقِ
A nobility whose dawn breathed from my pride:
A noble Prophet or devout father
نسبٌ تعثَّرُ منه لو عَرضتْ له ال
أفلاكُ في صعبِ المجَاز زليقِ
A lineage the orbits would stumble over
If they undertook the steep pass of metaphors
أرِجُ المنفَّس خِيلَ واصفُ طِيبهِ
عَيّاً بمسك الفارةِ المفتوقِ
Feral but fragrant his horses describe its scent
An onager with the musk of cleft pods
وإذا قريشٌ طاولت بفخارها
في عصر إيمان وعهدِ فسوقِ
And when Quraysh prided themselves in their glory
In an era of faith yet one of abomination
بنتم كما بانت على أخواتها
بِمنى ليالي النحرِ والتشريقِ
You were distinguished from your sisters
By the Minas nights of ritual sacrifice and exclamation
تتوارثون الأرضَ إرثَ فريضةٍ
وتُملَّكون الناسَ مِلكَ حقوقِ
Inheriting the land as an obligatory bequest
And empowered over people in lawful rule
يفديك مستعرٌ عليك فؤادُه
حسدَ الحضيضِ محلَّة العيُّوقِ
Your fervor which sets his heart on fire ransoms you
From the envy of lowly and towering nobles
تفضي صفاتُك بين أضلعه إلى
جُرح على سَبر الأساةِ عميقِ
Your virtues spill into his ribs
To a deep wound in enduring misery
لحق انتسابُك باتفاقٍ عزَّه
فأراد فضلَك عامداً بلُحوقِ
Your relation demanded equivalency by agreement
But your superiority intended to overtake
حتى إذا المضمار ضمكما درى
أن السوادَ لجبهة المسبوقِ
Until when the racecourse assembled both of you
He knew the lead was to the forehead of the outstripped
لما ادعى وأبيتَ نَكَّس رأسَه
خجلَ المفاخِر بالأب المسروقِ
When he claimed and you refused, he hung his head
Ashamed, the proud one, of the disavowed father
اِسمع فقلبي من سماع معاشرٍ
خُرْسٍ مكارمُهم لكلِّ نطوقِ
Hear, for my heart is deaf to the fellowship
Of those whose generosity is mute to every speaker
صمُّوا فماً فرقوا نِدايَ نِداهُمُ
ما قلتُ أم في الضأن كان نعيقي
They silenced their mouths and confused my call
Neither did I say nor in the lambs was my bleating
في كلِّ يومٍ بنتَ فكرٍ حرّةً
تَغنَى ببهجتها عن التنميقِ
Each day you built with free thought
That sings with its joy without modulation
حمّلنها كدرَ الهموم وأنجبتْ
فصفت خلوصَ الخمر بالراووقِ
I tasked it with the worries of cares and it gave birth
Clarifying the purity of wine by the filter
لم يُجدِ لي تعبي بها فكأنني
فيما يخيبُ ولدتُها لعقوقِ
My efforts with it were fruitless, as though
In that which fails, I begot it, thankless
