عَصَيتُ فيكِ مَقالَ اللائِمِ اللاحي

فَعامِلني بِغُفرانٍ وَإِسجاحِ

I disobeyed the reproach of the blamer in you,

I defied the words of the persistent critic for your sake,

So treat me with forgiveness and appeasement.

So treat me with forgiveness and gentle grace.

حَلَيتِ مِنّي مَحَلَّ الروحِ مِن جَسَدي

لا كَالمصافاةِ بَينَ الماءِ وَالراحِ

You have assumed in me the place of the soul in the body,

You have taken a place within me like the soul within my body,

Not like the strainer between the water and the jug.

A bond far deeper than the mingling of water with wine.

أَقولُ وَالقَلبُ يَهفو مِن تَحَرُّقِهِ

وَالعَينُ مِن دَمعِها في زِيِّ سَبّاحِ

I say while my heart burns from its inflammation

I speak while my heart flutters from its burning passion,

And my eye from its tears in the clothing of a swimmer.

And my eye, amidst its pouring tears, appears to swim.

لا يُبعِدِ اللَهُ أَيّامَ الشَبابِ وَما

فيهِنَّ لي مِن خَلاعاتٍ وَأَشطاحِ

May God not remove the days of youth and what

May God never banish the days of youth,

Of shedding restraints and wanderings I had in them.

Nor my moments therein of reckless revelry and wild excess.

فَكَم نَظَمتُ بِها وَالأُنسُ مُنتَظِمٌ

عَذراءِ يَشكرُ مِن أَلفاظِها الصاحي

So how much did I compose in them and intimacy was composed,

How often I composed verse then, when joy was fully aligned,

A maiden who thanks for its eloquent words her companion.

Virgin lines whose phrasing even the sober man would praise.

يَشدو بِها أَوطَفُ العَينَينِ ذو هَيفٍ

أَغَنُّ في شَدوِهِ تَرجيعُ مَيّاحِ

The tenderest-eyed sings with it, the one with passion,

Sung by one with heavy lashes and a slender waist,

The most melodious in his singing, the echo of wind instruments.

With a melodious voice that carries the vibrato of a swaying drunkard.

كَأَنَّ طُرَّتَهُ مِن فَوقِ غَرَّتِهِ

لَيلٌ تَأَلَّقَ فيهِ ضَوءُ مِصباحِ

As if his knoll above his rise

It was as if the lock of hair falling over his brow

Is a night illuminated in it by the light of a lamp.

Were a night in which the light of a lamp shines bright.

في غَفلَةِ الدَهرِ خالَلتُ السُرورَ بهِ

أَرنو بِطَرفٍ إِلى اللَذّاتِ طَمّاحِ

In the heedlessness of fate I mixed happiness with it

While time was heedless, I befriended joy through him,

Aspiring with a wink to pleasures, ambitious.

Gazing with an eye that hungrily aspired to pleasures.

لَمّا نَهاني مَشيبي وَاِستَوى أَوَدي

قَبِلتُ بَعدَ جِماجٍ قَولَ نُصّاحي

When my old age prohibited me and the valleys leveled,

But when my white hair restrained me and my posture bent,

I accepted after stubbornness the words of my advisor.

I accepted, after much defiance, the counsel of my advisors.

كَذا الجَديدانِ إِن يَصحَبهُما أَحَدٌ

يُبَدّلا مِنه دَيجوراً بِإِصباحِ

So are the two seashells, if someone accompanies them,

Such are the Night and Day: if anyone keeps their company,

They change from him late morning to daybreak.

They exchange his raven darkness for the whiteness of dawn.

لا بُدَّ أَن يَستَرِدَّ الدَهرُ ما وَهَبَت

أَيّامُهُ مِن مَسَرّاتٍ وَأَفراحِ

Fate must take back what its days

Fate must inevitably reclaim what was bestowed

Gave of joys and weddings.

By its days, of delights and joyous times.

فَاِنعَم وَلَذَّ إِذا ما أَمكَنَت فُرَصٌ

وَاِجعَل تُقى اللَهِ رَأسَ الأَمرِ يا صاحِ

So enjoy and delight when opportunities arise,

So take pleasure and delight whenever chances arise,

And make fearing God the foremost, O my friend!

But make the fear of God your highest aim, my friend.

أَجَلتُ في أَهلِ دَهري طَرفَ مُختَبِرٍ

وَسِرتُ سَيرَ مُجِدِّ العَزمِ سَيّاحِ

I tarried among the people of my time with a testing glance

I cast a testing gaze upon the people of my age,

And walked the walk of the glorious resolve, a wanderer.

And traveled like a determined wanderer.

فَكانَ أَكرَمَ مَن لاقَيتُ مِن بَشَرٍ

وَمَن سَمِعتُ بهِ في الحَيّ وَالماحي

The most generous of people I met

And the noblest human being I encountered,

And whom I heard of alive or dead,

Or heard of among the tribes and across the lands,

عيسى وَأَبناؤُهُ الغُرُّ الذينَ لهُم

في المَجدِ بَحرٌ خِضَمٌّ غَيرُ ضَحضاحِ

Was Jesus and his noble sons who have

Was Isa, and his illustrious sons, who possess

In glory an abundant, copious sea.

A vast, deep ocean of glory, never shallow.

قَومٌ إِذا نَزَلوا أَو نازَلوا ذُكِروا

في الحالَتَينِ لِمَرهوقٍ وَمُمتاحِ

A people, if they descend or settle, are mentioned

A people who are praised whether they host in peace or strike in war,

In both states to the panting and afforded.

In both states aiding the burdened and the seeker of bounty.

هُمُ أَجاروا عَلى كِسرى طَريدَتَهُ

لَمّا تَبَرَّأَ مِنها كُلُّ شَحشاحِ

They gave refuge to the outcast Chosroes

They granted asylum against Chosroes to his fugitive prey,

When every lowly outcast disavowed him.

When every other bold leader had disowned her.

وَنازَلوهُ بِضَربٍ صادِقٍ خَذِمٍ

مُفَرِّقٍ بَين أَبدانٍ وَأَرواحِ

And gave him lodging with a true, loyal,

They confronted him with true, sharp strikes,

Separating blow between bodies and souls.

That sever souls from their bodies.

نَفسي الفِداءُ لِمَن تَحكي أَنامِلُهُ

شُؤبوبَ مُنبَعِقِ الأَرجاءِ سَجّاحِ

My soul is ransom for one whose fingers

My soul be ransom for him whose fingertips resemble

Scatter the joints of the crackling charger.

A bursting rainstorm that pours across the lands.

غَيثٌ مِنَ العُرفِ قَد عَمَّت مَواقِعُهُ

مَن في البِلادِ وَمن يَمشي بِقَرواحِ

A rain from eminence whose places encompassed

A rain of beneficence whose fall encompasses

Those in the country and those walking lightly.

Those who dwell in towns and those who tread the open wilds.

جَمِّ الفَواضِلِ مِقدامٍ أَخي ثِقَةٍ

يُرجى وَيُخشى لِبَطشٍ أَو لِإِصلاح

The collection of virtues, my brother of confidence,

Abundant in virtue, daring, a brother of trust,

Hoped for and feared for might or reform.

He is hoped for and feared, for his might or his mercy.

صُلبِ النِجارِ إِذا ما الحادِثاتُ طَمَت

وَلَيسَ بِالكُثرِ في الدُنيا بِمِفراحِ

The hard wood when disasters swell

Of sturdy stock when calamities rise like floods,

And excess in the world is no comfort.

And not made vain by worldly abundance.

زَفَّت إِلَيهِ المَعالي نَفسَها وَرَنَت

شَوقاً إِلى ماجِدِ الأَعراقِ جِحَجاحِ

The lofty ideals marched themselves to him and purred

Glory presented itself to him like a bride, gazing

Yearning for the glorious lineage’s clamor.

With longing at the noble-rooted, masterful chief.

لَو كانَ يَدري كُليبٌ ما بَنَيتَ لَه

مِنَ الَفاخِرِ أَضحى جِدَّ مُرتاحِ

If Kulayb knew what you built for him

If Kulayb knew the legacy you have built for him

Of the magnificent, he would be very content.

Of pride, he would surely be most content.

تَدومُ ما دُمتَ لِلعَلياءِ تَعمُرُها

في طولِ عُمرٍ أَنيقِ العَيشِ فَيّاحِ

You remain as long as you inhabit them for the eminent

May you endure as long as you cultivate high glory,

In a lifetime of pleasant, spacious living.

In a long life of elegant living and boundless space.

ثم الصلاةُ وَتَسليمُ الإلهِ على

ماحي الضَلالَةِ حتى سُمِّيَ الماحي

Then prayer and peace upon

Then, may the prayers and peace of God be upon

The eraser of misguidance, who was named eraser.

The eraser of error, until he was named "The Eraser."