لا تَحسَبوا رَبعَكُم وَلا طَلَلَه

أَوَّلَ حَيٍّ فِراقُكُم قَتَلَه

Do not think your encampment or your ruins

Do not reckon that your campsite, nor its ruined traces,

Are the first places to miss you and grieve for you

Were the first living things that your departure slew.

قَد تَلِفَت قَبلَهُ النُفوسُ بِكُم

وَأَكثَرَت في هَواكُمُ العَذَلَه

Souls were fascinated by you before them

For souls have perished because of you long before this,

And passion for you grew in more than one infatuated heart

And have cast excessive blame regarding your love.

خَلا وَفيهِ أَهلٌ وَأَوحَشَنا

وَفيهِ صِرمٌ مُرَوِّحٌ إِبِلَه

It lies empty, though it contains a family, and we find it desolate

The place seemed empty though inhabited, and struck us with desolation,

Yet it contains a shelter, a resting place for camels

Even while a clan was there, driving home their camels.

لَو سارَ ذاكَ الحَبيبُ عَن فَلَكٍ

ما رَضِيَ الشَمسَ بُرجُهُ بَدَلَه

If that beloved were to travel from orbit

Had that beloved departed from a celestial sphere,

The sun would not be content with another to take its place

Its constellation would not accept the sun in his stead.

أُحِبُّهُ وَالهَوى وَأَدأُرَهُ

وَكُلُّ حُبٍّ صَبابَةٌ وَوَلَه

I love him, and love is madness and folly

I love him, and the passion itself, and his abodes,

And all love is foolishness and madness

For all love is but deep yearning and obsession.

يَنصُرُها الغَيثُ وَهيَ ظامِئَةٌ

إِلى سِواهُ وَسُحبُها هَطِلَه

The rain helps revive her when she is thirsty

The rain aids these ruins though they remain athirst

While her clouds pour down and flood the land

For something other than water, even as clouds pour down.

واحَرَبا مِنكِ يا جَدايَتَها

مُقيمَةً فَاِعلَمي وَمُرتَحِلَه

Keep the war away from you, O my chief!

Alas for my deprivation from you, O barren stones,

Both you who stay and you who travel on

Whether you remain, know this, or whether you depart.

لَو خُلِطَ المِسكُ وَالعَبيرُ بِها

وَلَستِ فيها لَخِلتُها تَفِلَه

If musk and ambergris were mixed with it

Were musk and ambergris mixed into that very soil,

Its refuse would still smell better than perfumes

Yet you were absent, I would deem it foul and scentless.

أَنا اِبنُ مَن بَعضُهُ يَفوقُ أَبا ال

باحِثِ وَالنَجلُ بَعضُ مَن نَجَلَه

I am the son of one whose superior qualities

I am the son of one whose mere fragment surpasses the sire

Surpass my father’s in the search, while his heir exceeds the excellence of his predecessor

Of the genealogical seeker; and the son is but part of his begetter.

وَإِنَّما يَذكُرُ الجُدودَ لَهُم

مَن نَفَروهُ وَأَنفَدوا حِيَلَه

One recalls ancestors because of their deeds-

Men only cite their ancestors when they are

Those who shunned and exhausted every stratagem

Defeated by a rival and have exhausted all their wiles.

فَخراً لِعَضبٍ أَروحُ مُشتَمِلَه

وَسَمهَرِيٍّ أَروحُ مُعتَقَلَه

So my pride is a Arab who travels protected

Glory belongs to the sharp blade I go forth wearing,

And a Samharite who journeys well-guarded

And the Samhari spear that I march clutching tight.

وَليَفخَرِ الفَخرُ إِذ غَدَوتُ بِهِ

مُرتَدِياً خَيرَهُ وَمُنتَعِلَه

And let pride then glory since I have ridden forth with it

Let Pride itself be proud that I have dawned within it,

Wearing the best of it and donning the finest

Clad in its finest essence and shod in its very grandeur.

أَنا الَّذي بَيَّنَ الإِلَهُ بِهِ ال

أَقدارَ وَالمَرءُ حَيثُما جَعَلَه

I am the one who God has shown thereby

I am the one through whom God has revealed the

Fates, and man is wherever God has placed him

True measures of men; for a man is where God places him.

جَوهَرَةٌ يَفرَحُ الكِرامُ بِها

وَغُصَّةٌ لا تُسيغُها السَفِلَه

A jewel giving joy to the noble thereby

A jewel in which the noble-hearted find joy,

And a choking grief no low person can stand

And a choking obstruction the base cannot swallow.

إِنَّ الكِذابَ الَّذي أَكادُ بِهِ

أَهوَنُ عِندي مِنَ الَّذي نَقَلَه

I almost consider the lies I engage in

The slander with which I am maliciously plotted against

Better than what the transmitter has conveyed

Is more contemptible to me than the one who conveyed it.

فَلا مُبالٍ وَلا مُداجٍ وَلا

وانٍ وَلا عاجِزٌ وَلا تُكَلَه

So no weak, rejecter, complainer, incapable or gullible one,

I am neither indifferent, nor a flatterer, nor

No feeble opponent whose sword betrayed him at the encounter and the skirmishes,

Sluggish, nor helpless, nor a burden upon others.

وَدارِعٍ سِفتُهُ فَخَرَّ لَقىً

في المُلتَقى وَالعَجاجِ وَالعَجَلَه

No listening weakling whose poetry

Many an armored foe I struck so he fell prone,

Baffles the careful critic unraveling subtle expressions,

Amidst the clash, the dust of war, and the haste.

وَسامِعٍ رُعتُهُ بِقافِيَةٍ

يَحارُ فيها المُنَقِّحُ القُوَلَه

And sometimes I attend a meal with

And many a listener I have startled with a verse,

One who cannot equal the bread he eats

In which even the skilled refiner of speech is bewildered.

وَرُبَّما أُشهِدُ الطَعامَ مَعي

مَن لا يُساوي الخُبزَ الَّذي أَكَلَه

And he displays ignorance of me while I know him

And oft-times I invite to share my meal

While the pearl is still a pearl despite one who does not recognize it

One who is not worth the very bread he has eaten.

وَيُظهِرُ الجَهلَ بي وَأَعرِفُهُ

وَالدُرُّ دُرٌّ بِرَغمِ مَن جَهِلَه

I am shy before my tribes not to

He feigns ignorance of my worth, though I know him well,

Drag my train in other than their territory

Yet a pearl remains a pearl, despite one who knows it not.

مُستَحيِياً مِن أَبي العَشائِرِ أَن

أَسحَبَ في غَيرِ أَرضِهِ حُلَلَه

I drag it in the presence of a king

Feeling shame before Abu al-Asha'ir that I,

Whose clothes are from his boon companion and his intimate

Should trail the robes of his glory in a land not his own.

أَسحَبُها عِندَهُ لَدى مَلِكٍ

ثِيابُهُ مِن جَليسِهِ وَجِلَه

While the white tunics of his servants resemble

I trail them in his presence, before a sovereign,

The first camel-loads of gifts from his treasury

Whose very garments stand in awe of the one wearing them.

وَبيضُ غِلمانِهِ كَنائِلِهِ

أَوَّلُ مَحمولِ سَيبِهِ الحَمَلَه

Why should I not praise al-Husayn or

His fair pages are as bright as his benevolence,

Expend the love that he expended?

And the first to be borne by his generosity are the bearers themselves.

ما لِيَ لا أَمدَحُ الحُسَينَ وَلا

أَبذُلُ مِثلَ الوُدِّ الَّذي بَذَلَه

Did the eye conceal from him any information

Why should I not praise Al-Husayn, and why not

Or did the two tear-ducts attain what he hoped for?

Offer affection equal to that which he has bestowed?

أَأَخفَتِ العَينُ عِندَهُ خَبَراً

أَم بَلَغَ الكَيذُبانُ ما أَمَلَه

Or is he not the striker of every obstinate head

Did the eye conceal any report concerning him?

Bared on the day of battle, made haggard?

Or has the chronic liar achieved what he hoped for?

أَم لَيسَ ضَرّابَ كُلِّ جُمجُمَةٍ

مَنخُوَّةٍ ساعَةَ الوَغى زَعِلَه

The man of generosity – nothing separates him from it

Is he not the striker of every stubborn skull,

Even if generosity itself could speak, he would rebuke it

Filled with arrogance, restless in the hour of battle?

وَصاحِبَ الجودِ ما يُفارِقُهُ

لَو كانَ لِلجودِ مَنطِقٌ عَذَلَه

The rider of horror – nothing makes him dismount

He is the companion of Generosity; it never parts from him,

Even if horror itself had a girth, he would cinch it

So that were Generosity to speak, it would chide him for excess.

وَراكِبَ الهَولِ لا يُفَتِّرُهُ

لَو كانَ لِلهَولِ مَحزِمٌ هَزَلَه

The horseman in brilliant red Yemeni cloth

And the rider of Terror—it does not make him falter,

With a quiver slit open in the thick of the fighting

Were Terror to have a saddle-girth, he would wear it thin.

وَفارِسَ الأَحمَرِ المُكَلِّلَ في

طَيِّئٍ المُشرَعَ القَنا قِبَلَه

When his steeds saw his face

He is the knight of the red steed, crowned among

They swore by God they did not see his nape

The tribe of Tayy, with spears leveled towards him.

لَمّا رَأَت وَجهَهُ خُيولُهُمُ

أَقسَمَ بِاللَهِ لا رَأَت كَفَلَه

So they exaggerated his feat, yet made it seem small

When their horses beheld his face,

Though his feat was bigger than what he did

They swore by God they would never see his back in flight.

فَأَكبَروا فِعلَهُ وَأَصغَرَهُ

أَكبَرُ مِن فِعلِهِ الَّذي فَعَلَه

The perfecter and the joiner and the concealer

They magnified his deeds, yet he deemed them small;

So that no part of his favor distracted him from another

For greater than the deed is the greatness of the doer.

القاطِعُ الواصِلُ الكَميلُ فَلا

بَعضُ جَميلٍ عَن بَعضِهِ شَغَلَه

The granter while spears made him a grove

The Severer of enemies, the Joiner of friends, the Perfect One,

The thruster while blades came one after another

So that no single virtue distracts him from another.

فَواهِبٌ وَالرِماحُ تَشجُرُهُ

وَطاعِنٌ وَالهِباتُ مُتَّصِلَه

And whenever he secured the countryside he would travel on

He bestows gifts even while spears thrust at him,

And whenever a halt was unsafe he would avoid it

And he strikes with the lance while his giving remains unbroken.

وَكُلَّما آمَنَ البِلادَ سَرى

وَكُلَّما خيفَ مَنزِلٌ نَزَلَه

And whenever the enemy resisted at dawn

Whenever he has secured the lands, he travels on,

He would find a way to make it seem he had tricked them

And whenever a dwelling place is feared, there he makes camp.

وَكُلَّما جاهَرَ العَدُوَّ ضُحىً

أَمكَنَ حَتّى كَأَنَّهُ خَتَلَه

He scorns eggs and spleens when

Whenever he confronts the enemy in the broad light of noon,

The knowers of genealogy or camel spokes have authenticated his ancestry

He dominates them so fully, it seems he struck by stealth.

يَحتَقِرُ البيضَ وَاللِدانَ إِذا

سَنَّ عَلَيهِ الدِلاصَ أَو نَثَلَه

Eloquence refined my poetry for him

He holds swords and pliable spears in contempt whenever

While jurisprudence refined his reason for me

He dons his smooth armor or casts it aside.

قَد هَذَّبَت فَهمَهُ الفَقاهَةُ لي

وَهَذَّبَت شِعرِيَ الفَصاحَةَ لَه

So I became like a quiescent sword - no one

Deep wisdom has refined his understanding for my sake,

Praises the sword except the one who wields it

Just as eloquence has refined my poetry for him.

فَصِرتُ كَالسَيفِ حامِداً يَدَهُ

لا يَحمَدُ السَيفُ كُلَّ مَن حَمَلَه

Thus I have become like the sword that praises his hand—

For the sword does not offer praise to just any who wield it.