أَزائِرٌ يا خَيالُ أَم عائِد

أَم عِندَ مَولاكَ أَنَّني راقِد

Visions, are you returning or going?

O Phantom, are you visiting or returning once again?

Or are you with your Master while I slumber?

Or does your master deem that I am sleeping in my den?

لَيسَ كَما ظَنَّ غَشيَةٌ عَرَضَت

فَجِئتَني في خِلالِها قاصِد

It is not as I thought, an illusion occurred,

It is not as he thought; a swoon overcame me,

So you came to me amidst it with purpose.

And in that lapse, you came to me purposely.

عُد وَأَعِدها فَحَبَّذا تَلَفٌ

أَلصَقَ ثَديِي بِثَديِكِ الناهِد

Return and repeat it, for it would be great

Return and bring it back! How sweet is that demise

If our breasts pressed, yours supple, mine firm.

That pressed my chest against your swelling breast to rise.

وَجُدتَ فيهِ بِما يَشِحُّ بِهِ

مِنَ الشَتيتِ المُؤَشَّرِ البارِد

You found in it, with what it lacks,

And you bestowed therein what is strictly withheld:

Of the cool, scattered, dotted fragments.

The moisture of cool, serrated teeth, unparalleled.

إِذا خَيالاتُهُ أَطَفنَ بِنا

أَضحَكَهُ أَنَّني لَها حامِد

When its visions envelop us,

When his phantoms encircle us around,

It laughs that I praise them.

It makes him laugh that I, for them, in praise am found.

وَقالَ إِن كانَ قَد قَضى أَرَباً

مِنّا فَما بالُ شَوقِهِ زائِد

And says, “If we have spent time,

He asked: 'If he has quenched his heart's desire from us,

Why does his passion persist?”

Why then does his longing wax so vigorous?'

لا أَجحَدُ الفَضلَ رُبَّما فَعَلَت

ما لَم يَكُن فاعِلاً وَلا واعِد

I cannot deny the merit, perhaps it did

I deny not the grace; perhaps the phantom achieved

What no other did, nor promised.

What the real one neither did nor promised, nor conceived.

لا تَعرِفُ العَينُ فَرقَ بَينِهِما

كُلٌّ خَيالٌ وِصالُهُ نافِد

The eye cannot tell the difference between them,

The eye discerns no difference between the two;

Both are visions, their union fleeting.

Each is a phantom, whose union bids adieu.

يا طَفلَةَ الكَفِّ عَبلَةَ الساعِد

عَلى البَعيرِ المُقَلَّدِ الواخِد

O child of palms, wrists bound

O soft of palm, with forearm round and fair,

On the adorned, pacing camel.

Upon the garlanded camel, pacing there.

زيدي أَذى مُهجَتي أَزِدكِ هَوىً

فَأَجهَلُ الناسِ عاشِقٌ حاقِد

Increase my torment, increase your love,

Increase my soul's torment, and I shall increase my love;

That I remain the most ignorant, hateful lover.

The most foolish lover is he who bears a grudge above.

حَكَيتَ يا لَيلُ فَرعَها الوارِد

فَاِحكِ نَواها لِجَفنِيَ الساهِد

You narrated, oh night, her fresh stream,

O Night, you mimic her flowing hair so deep;

So repeat her softness to my sleepy eyes.

Now mimic her distance to my eyes that cannot sleep.

طالَ بُكائي عَلى تَذَكُّرِها

وَصُلتَ حَتّى كِلاكُما واحِد

My crying for remembering her was long,

My weeping lasted long in memory of her grace,

Until you both became one.

And you, O Night, joined in until you held one space.

ما بالُ هَذي النُجومِ حائِرَةً

كَأَنَّها العُميُ ما لَها قائِد

Why are these stars wandering astray?

What ails these stars? They seem bewildered, lost,

As if they are the blind with no guide.

Like blind men without a guide, tossed and crossed.

أَو عُصبَةٌ مِن مُلوكِ ناحِيَةٍ

أَبو شُجاعٍ عَلَيهِمُ واجِد

Or a group of kings from a region,

Or like a band of petty kings from some domain,

Abu Shuja’ upon them, prevailing.

With whom Abu Shuja' is wroth and does disdain.

إِن هَرَبوا أَدرَكوا وَإِن وَقَفوا

خَشوا ذَهابِ الطَريفِ وَالتالِد

If they fled, he would catch them, if they stood

If they flee, they are overtaken; if they stand,

They feared the loss of nobility and ancestry.

They fear the loss of ancestral and new-won land.

فَهُم يُرَجّونَ عَفوَ مُقتَدِرٍ

مُبارَكِ الوَجهِ جائِدٍ ماجِد

So they hope for the pardon of the Almighty,

They hope for pardon from a potentate of might,

The blessed faced, triumphant, glorious.

Blessed of face, generous, noble in the light.

أَبلَجَ لَو عاذَتِ الحَمامُ بِهِ

ما خَشِيَت رامِياً وَلا صائِد

Safe, even if doves sought refuge in Him,

Radiant is he; if doves sought refuge in his shade,

From an archer or hunter they’d not dread.

Of archer or of hunter they would not be afraid.

أَو رَعَتِ الوَحشُ وَهيَ تَذكُرُهُ

ما راعَها حابِلٌ وَلا طارِد

Even if beasts remembered Him,

Or if wild beasts grazed while keeping him in mind,

No snarer or driver they would fear.

No fear of trap or chaser would they ever find.

تُهدي لَهُ كُلُّ ساعَةٍ خَبَراً

عَن جَحفَلٍ تَحتَ سَيفِهِ بائِد

Each moment they send news to Him,

Every passing hour brings him tidings

Of hosts under His sword, humbled.

Of a vast army under his sword subsiding.

وَمَوضِعاً في فِتانِ ناجِيَةٍ

يَحمِلُ في التاجِ هامَةَ العاقِد

And of a position in the temptations of Najiya,

And news of heads, once crowned, now severed and disgraced,

Bearing the turban, fastening the crown.

Within the saddle-bags of swift camels placed.

يا عَضُداً رَبُّهُ بِهِ العاضِد

وَسارِياً يَبعَثُ القَطا الهاجِد

O arm with which God gives victory,

O Arm of the State, supported by the Lord's own hand,

O banner that raises the zealous warriors.

And night-traveler, rousing the sleeping sandgrouse in the land.

وَمُمطِرَ المَوتِ وَالحَياةِ مَعاً

وَأَنتَ لا بارِقٌ وَلا راعِد

You rain both death and life together,

You rain down death and life together on the plain,

While you are neither lightning nor thunder.

Though you are neither lightning flash nor thunder rain.

نِلتَ وَما نِلتَ مِن مَضَرَّةِ وَه

شوذانَ ما نالَ رَأيُهُ الفاسِد

You gained, and what you gained in the harm of Wahh,

You struck Wahshudhan, yet the harm you dealt was less

Aberrant what his corrupt view attained.

Than what his own corrupt resolve brought of distress.

يَبدَءُ مِن كَيدِهِ بِغايَتِهِ

وَإِنَّما الحَربُ غايَةُ الكائِد

He begins with his plot at his goal,

He begins his plot with its own tragic end in sight,

War itself is the goal of the plotter.

For war is but the plotter's undoing and his blight.

ماذا عَلى مَن أَتى يُحارِبُكُم

فَذَمَّ ما اِختارَ لَو أَتى وافِد

What of one who came to fight you,

What harm would befall him who came to fight in vain,

Who blamed what he chose, had he come as an ally,

Had he come submitting, instead of choosing pain?

بِلا سِلاحٍ سِوى رَجائِكُم

فَفازِ بِالنَصرِ وَاِنثَنى راشِد

With no weapon but your protection,

With no weapon but his hope in your high grace,

And won victory, turning guided.

He would have won victory and left with honored face.

يُقارِعُ الدَهرَ مَن يُقارِعُكُم

عَلى مَكانِ المَسودِ وَالسائِد

He contends with fate, who contends with you,

He battles Fate itself who dares to battle you,

In the darkened, subjugated place.

Seeking the master's place, which is not his due.

وَلَيتَ يَومي فَناءِ عَسكَرِهِ

وَلَم تَكُن دانِياً وَلا شاهِد

Would that my day were the ruin of their camp,

I wish I saw the day his camp was overrun,

Without me there, neither witness nor seer.

Though you were far away, and the deed by others done.

وَلَم يَغِب غائِبٌ خَليفَتُهُ

جَيشُ أَبيهِ وَجَدُّهُ الصاعِد

Without an absent one whose successor,

No ruler is truly absent if he leaves behind

Was the army of his father and noble ancestors.

His father's army and a fortune unconfined.

وَكُلُّ خَطِّيَّةٍ مُثَقَّفَةٍ

يَهُزُّها مارِدٌ عَلى مارِد

And every sinful miscreant,

And every straightened spear of Samrah, true and strong,

Shaken by giant upon giant.

Wielded by giants against giants in the throng.

سَوافِكٌ ما يَدَعنَ فاصِلَةً

بَينَ طَرِيِّ الدِماءِ وَالجاسِد

Your swords, leaving no space

Shedding blood, they leave no interval or space

Between the spiller and spilled blood.

Between the fresh gore and the dry upon the face.

إِذا المَنايا بَدَت فَدَعَوتُها

أُبدِلَ نوناً بِدالِهِ الحائِد

When misfortunes appear I call them,

When fates appeared, you called them, and the ending changed:

Changing the noon letter with its straying one.

The 'D' of his 'Defiance' to the 'N' of 'Doom' arranged.

إِذا دَرى الحِصنُ مَن رَماهُ بِها

خَرَّ لَها في أَساسِهِ ساجِد

When the fortress sees who struck it with them,

If the fortress knew who cast these fates its way,

It kneels to them, prostrate in its foundation.

It would have crumbled, prostrate, in the clay.

ما كانَتِ الطَرمُ في عَجاجَتِها

إِلّا بَعيراً أَضَلَّهُ ناشِد

The catapults in their clamor,

Al-Tarm, amidst the dust of war, appeared to be

Were but camels led astray by their guide.

Nothing but a stray camel found by destiny.

تَسأَلُ أَهلَ القِلاعِ عَن مَلِكٍ

قَد مَسَخَتهُ نَعامَةً شارِد

They ask the people of citadels about a king,

You ask the castle dwellers where their king has gone;

Whom they turned into a lost ostrich.

A fleeing ostrich now, wandering the wastes alone.

تَستَوحِشُ الأَرضُ أَن تَقِرَّ بِهِ

فَكُلُّها مُنكَرٌ لَهُ جاحِد

The land feels estranged at his presence,

The very earth repels his rest, disdains his state;

All deny and disavow him.

All lands deny him shelter, locking every gate.

فَلا مُشادٌ وَلا مَشيدٌ حَمى

وَلا مَشيدٌ أَغنى وَلا شائِد

So neither praiser nor built to protect remains,

No lofty tower, no fortress built on high,

Nor builder who enriched or led.

Could save him, nor could any builder’s art reply.

فَاِغتَظ بِقَومٍ وَهشوذَ ما خُلِقوا

إِلّا لِغَيظِ العَدوِّ وَالحاسِد

So he is enraged at people who were only created,

So rage at such a people, O Wahshudhan, in vain;

To anger the enemy and envious.

Created but to cause the enemy and envier pain.

رَأَوكَ لَمّا بَلَوكَ نابِتَةً

يَأكُلُها قَبلَ أَهلِهِ الرائِد

They saw you, when tried, flourishing,

They saw you, when they tested you, as merely weed,

And ate you before your people, the pioneers.

On which the scout, before his tribe, begins to feed.

وَخَلِّ زِيّاً لِمَن يُحَقِّقَهُ

ما كُلُّ دامٍ جَبينُهُ عابِد

Leave the garb for one who actualizes it,

Abandon then a guise that belongs to the true;

Not all stoic-faced are worshipers.

Not every bleeding forehead marks a saintly view.

إِن كانَ لَم يَعمِدِ الأَميرُ لِما

لَقيتَ مِنهُ فَيُمنُهُ عامِد

If the Prince did not intend what

If the Prince did not intend the blow you met,

You received from him, may he guide him.

Then know his Fortune struck, and his aim was set.

يُقلِقُهُ الصُبحُ لا يَرى مَعَهُ

بُشرى بِفَتحٍ كَأَنَّهُ فاقِد

Dawn disturbs him, he sees with it

The morning vexes him if it brings no tale

No good tidings, as if he has lost.

Of conquest won, as if his powers fail.

وَالأَمرُ لِلَّهِ رُبَّ مُجتَهِدٍ

ما خابَ إِلّا لِأَنَّهُ جاهِد

The matter belongs to God, Lord of the striving,

The command belongs to God; how many strove in vain,

None despair except those who struggle.

And failed precisely because they strove with such strain.

وَمُتَّقٍ وَالسِهامُ مُرسَلَةٌ

يَحيدُ عَن حابِضٍ إِلى صارِد

And the God-fearing, as arrows are shot,

And he who guards himself when arrows fly around,

Deflecting from the crouched to the aiming.

Dodges the missing shaft, only to be found.

فَلا يُبَل قاتِلٌ أَعاديهِ

أَقائِماً نالَ ذاكَ أَم قاعِد

So I do not mind a killer of my enemies,

So let the slayer of his foes not care a whit,

Whether he stands or sits.

Whether he won the day while standing or whilst he sit.

لَيتَ ثَنائي الَّذي أَصوغُ فِدى

مَن صيغَ فيهِ فَإِنَّهُ خالِد

Would that my praise that I compose were ransom,

Would that the praise I craft could be a ransom paid

For one whose praise in it is eternal.

For him I praise—for he is eternal and unswayed.

لَوَيتُهُ دُملُجاً عَلى عَضُدٍ

لِدَولَةٍ رُكنُها لَهُ والِد

Would that it were a eulogy upon the shoulder,

I've wound it like a bracelet 'round the Arm of State,

Of a state whose pillar is his father.

For a realm whose pillar stands as father to its fate.