أتظعَنُ يا قلبُ مع من ظعَنْ

حَبيبَينِ أندُبُ نفسي إذَنْ

Does my heart grieve with the one who grieves

Do you depart, O heart, with those who ride away?

For two lovers I lament my soul then

Then I mourn two beloveds, and weep my own end today.

ولم لا أصابُ وحربُ البسو

سِ بينَ جفوني وبينَ الوسَن

Why wouldn't I get hit and in confusion

Why should I not be stricken, when the War of Basus lies

Between my eyelids and the tooth

Entrenched between my eyelids and the sleep that flies?

وهل أنا بعدَكُم عائشٌ

وقد بنتَ عنّي وبانَ السكَن

Do I live after you

Can I be counted among the living now that you are gone,

When you turned away from me and home was gone

Since you have departed from me, and all peace is withdrawn?

فدى ذلكَ الوجه بدرُ الدجى

وذاك التثنّي تثنّي الغُصُن

The ransom of that face, full moon of darkness

May the full moon of the dark night be ransom for that face,

And that bending, bending of the branch

And the swaying bough bow down before your swaying grace.

فما للفراق وما للجميع

وما للرياح وما للدِمَن

What is parting and what is gathering

What business have partings, or gatherings, to do with me?

What are the winds and what are the abodes

Or the winds that sweep the ruins where our tents used to be?

كأنْ لم يكن بعد أن كان لي

كما كان لي بعد أن لم يكُن

As if it never was after it was mine

It is as if he never was mine, after once being my own,

As it was mine after it wasn't

Just as he was mine for a moment, before being unknown.

ولم يسقني الراح ممزوجَةً

بماءِ اللِّثَى لا بماءِ المُزَن

The winds didn't give me to drink, blended

He did not pour me wine diluted with the raincloud’s shower,

With the water of the sand, only of the club

But mixed with moisture from his lips, a sweet and heady dower.

لها لونُ خدّيهِ في كفِّهِ

وريحُكَ يا أحمدَ بنَ الحسَن

Her cheeks have the color in his palm

It holds the flush of his soft cheek within the cupbearer’s hand,

And your scent, O Ahmed son of Al-Hassan

Yet carries your scent, O Ahmed son of Al-Hasan, across the land.

ألَم يُلفِكَ الشرفُ اليعرُبيّ

وأنتَ غريبَةُ أهل الزَمَن

Didn't Arab nobility wrap around you

Did not the ancient honor of the Arabs find its place in you?

While you are a stranger to people of the time

For you are a unique marvel among the people of this view.

كأنَّ المحاسنَ غارَت عليكَ

فسَلَّت لدَيكَ سُيوفَ الفِتَن

As if beauty was jealous of you

It is as though all virtues grew jealous of your state,

So it unsheathed towards you the swords of strife

And drew the swords of discord to determine your fate.

لَذِكرُكَ أطيبُ من نشرِها

ومدحُكَ أحلى سماعِ الأُذُن

The mention of you is sweeter than its diffusion

The mention of your name is sweeter than the rarest scent’s spread,

And praising you is sweeter than hearing

And your praise the finest melody by which the ear is fed.

فَلَم يَرَكَ الناسُ إلا غنوا

برُؤياكَ عن قولِ هذا ابنُ مَن

So people saw you only singing

No man has ever seen you but found such richness in the sight,

About seeing you over the words of this son of Man

He need not ask "Whose son is this?" to know your noble light.

ولو قُصِدَ الطفلُ من طَيّئٍ

لشاركَ قاصِدُهُ في اللبَن

If the young one from Tai is reached

If one sought bounty from a suckling child of Tayy’s clan,

The one reaching him shares the milk

The babe would share his mother’s milk with the visiting man.

فما البَحرُ في البرِّ إلا نداكَ

وما الناسُ في الباسِ إلا اليمَن

As your equal is not the sea on land

There is no sea upon the dry land but the dew of your hand,

And people in clothing are not Yemen

And no true valor among men but the Yemen of your command.