لقَد حازَني وَجْدٌ بمَنْ حازَهُ بُعْدُ

فيَا لَيْتَني بُعدٌ ويا لَيتَهُ وَجْدُ

Longing has saddened me for one longed for by remoteness

Passion has seized me for one seized by distance,

Would that I were remoteness, would that he were longing

Oh, would that I were the distance, and it were the passion!

أُسَرّ بتَجديدِ الهَوَى ذِكْرَ ما مضَى

وإنْ كانَ لا يَبقَى له الحجرُ الصّلدُ

I delight in renewing passion’s memory of what is past

I find joy when renewed love recalls the past,

And though it has no lasting stone or solid structure

Though even solid stone could not endure its weight.

سُهادٌ أتانا منكِ في العَينِ عِنْدَنَا

رُقادٌ وقُلاّمٌ رَعَى سَرْبُكمْ وَرْدُ

Your presence has come to me in my eye though you are far

From you, sleeplessness has come to dwell in my eyes,

My heart’s a sleeper and my pens tend your roses’ herd

While yours hold sleep, and calm grazing by the water.

مُمَثَّلَةٌ حتى كأنْ لمْ تُفارِقي

وحتى كأنّ اليأسَ من وَصْلكِ الوَعدُ

You are envisioned as though you never left

Your image stands before me as though you never left,

As though hopes of your union were sincere promises

As though despair of reaching you were but a promise made.

وحتى تَكادي تَمْسَحينَ مَدامعي

ويَعْبَقُ في ثَوْبيَّ من رِيحِكِ النَّدُّ

You almost seem to wipe away my streaming tears

Until you seem near enough to wipe away my tears,

And your breeze’s fragrance to perfume my robe

And the fragrance of your incense clings to my robes.

إذا غَدَرَتْ حَسناءُ وفّتْ بعَهدها

فمِنْ عَهدِها أن لا يَدومَ لها عَهدُ

When a beauty betrays and breaks her vow

If a beauty betrays, she has but kept her vow;

Her habit is vows have no enduring quality

For it is her nature that no covenant remains.

وإنْ عَشِقَتْ كانتْ أشَدّ صَبابَةً

وإن فَرِكتْ فاذهبْ فما فِركها قَصدُ

If she loved she’d be most ardent in devotion

If she loves, she burns with the fiercest fire,

If she flirted go, she intended no flirtation

And if she loathes, depart—her loathing knows no bounds.

وإنْ حقَدَتْ لم يَبقَ في قَلبِها رِضًى

وإنْ رَضِيَتْ لم يَبقَ في قَلبِها حِقدُ

If she resented no contentment would remain in her heart

If she bears malice, no trace of contentment stays,

If she approved no resentment would remain in her heart

And if she is pleased, no shadow of malice remains.

كذلِكَ أخلاقُ النّساءِ ورُبّمَا

يَضِلُّ بها الهادي ويخفى بها الرّشدُ

Such is the nature of women and by it sometimes

Such are the ways of women; through them, perhaps,

The guided man goes astray and discernment is obscured

The guide goes astray, and wisdom is obscured.

ولكنّ حُبّاً خامَرَ القَلْبَ في الصِّبَا

يَزيدُ على مَرّ الزّمانِ ويَشْتَدُّ

But the love which stirred the heart in youth

Yet a love that mingled with the heart in youth,

Increases in bitterness across the years

Grows stronger with time's passage and intensifies.

سَقَى ابنُ عَليٍّ كلَّ مُزنٍ سقَتكمُ

مُكافأةً يَغْدو إلَيْها كمَا تَغدُو

The son of Ali watered the gardens of the tribe of Muzainah

May Ibn Ali water every cloud that watered you,

Returning their watering as they make return

A recompense that flows to them as they flow to you.

لتَرْوَى كمَا تُرْوي بلاداً سكَنْتِها

ويَنْبُتَ فيها فَوْقَكِ الفَخرُ والمجدُ

That you might be watered as you’ve watered the lands you dwell

To be quenched as you quench the lands wherein you dwell,

And over you might grow pride and glory

So that pride and glory may bloom there above you.

بمن تَشخَصُ الأبصارُ يوْمَ رُكوبِهِ

ويُخْرَقُ من زَحْمٍ على الرّجلِ البُرْدُ

By whom do gazes stand to attention on the day he rides forth

He on whom all eyes are fixed the day he rides,

And the coats of mail are ripped by the thronging crowd?

While the crowd's press tears the cloaks from standing men.

وتُلْقي وما تَدري البَنانُ سِلاحَها

لكَثْرَةِ إيماءٍ إلَيْهِ إذا يَبدُو

The banners casting down their weapons for the profusion

Fingers drop their weapons, unaware and stunned,

Of signals toward him when he comes into view

From so much pointing toward him when he appears.

ضَرُوبٌ لهامِ الضّارِبي الهامِ في الوَغى

خَفيفٌ إذا ما أثقَلَ الفَرسَ اللِّبْدُ

Blow after blow against blows that strike down the valiant in battle

He strikes the heads of those who strike heads in war,

Light yet heaviest for the steed is the coat of mail

Agile and light when the saddle-pad weighs down the steed.

بَصِيرٌ بأخذِ الحَمدِ من كلّ مَوْضِعٍ

ولَوْ خَبَأتْهُ بَينَ أنْيابِها الأُسْدُ

Discerning in seizing glory on every side

Insightful in seizing praise from every source,

Even if the lion concealed it between its jaws

Even if lions hid it between their fangs.

بتَأميلِهِ يَغنى الفَتى قَبْلَ نَيْلِهِ

وبالذّعْرِ من قبلِ المهنّدِ يَنْقَدُّ

By his beauty the youth is enriched before gaining riches

By mere hope in him, a man grows rich before the gift,

And by the dread of him the firm ropes are cut

And by terror is cut down before the sword strikes.

وسَيْفي لأنْتَ السّيفُ لا ما تَسُلّهُ

لضرْبٍ وممّا السّيفُ منهُ لكَ الغِمدُ

My sword because you are the sword not what the scabbards contain

You are my sword—for you are the true blade, not the steel you draw

For slashing while the sword finds its scabbard in you

To strike; that physical sword is but a sheath for you.

ورُمْحي لأنْتَ الرّمحُ لا ما تَبُلّهُ

نجيعاً ولوْلا القَدحُ لم يُثقِبِ الزَّنْدُ

My spear because you are the spear not what the spear tips contain

And you are my spear—the true lance, not the wood you dampen

Quenching thirst, without the polish no sword pierces the coat

With blood; for without the spark, the fire-stick would not burn.

منَ القاسِمينَ الشّكرَ بَيني وبَينَهمْ

لأنّهُمُ يُسدَى إلَيهِمْ بأنْ يُسدُوا

I divide gratitude between myself and them

He is among those who share the gratitude between us,

Because they are given that they may give

For the favor is done to them when they are allowed to give.

فشُكري لهم شُكرانِ: شكرٌ على النّدى

وشكرٌ على الشّكرِ الذي وَهبوا بَعْدُ

So my gratitude to them is double: thanks for bestowal

So my thanks to them are twofold: thanks for their bounty,

And thanks for the gratitude they gave afterward

And thanks for the gratitude they bestowed thereafter.

صِيامٌ بأبْوابِ القِبابِ جِيادُهُمْ

وأشْخاصُها في قَلبِ خائِفِهمْ تَعدُو

Their steeds in vigil at the shrine-domes

Their horses stand fasting at the doors of their domes,

And they are envisioned in their fearful hearts charging

While their phantom forms gallop through the hearts of their foes.

وأنْفُسُهُمْ مَبْذولَةٌ لوُفُودِهم

وأموالهُمْ في دارِ مَنْ لم يَفِدْ وَفْدُ

Their souls exposed to meet their deputations

Their souls are generously spent for their guests,

Their wealth to one from whom no envoy profits

And their wealth reaches the homes of those who never came to ask.

كأنّ عَطِيّاتِ الحُسَينِ عَساكِرٌ

ففيها العِبِدَّى والمُطَهَّمَةُ الجُرْدُ

As if the gifts of Hussein are armies

It is as if the gifts of Al-Husayn were armies,

Among them Indian swords and armored Julian recruits

Containing slaves and sleek, noble steeds.

أرَى القمرَ ابنَ الشّمسِ قد لبسَ العُلى

رُوَيْدَكَ حتى يَلْبَسَ الشّعَرَ الخَدُّ

I see the moon-faced son of the sun wearing a turban

I see the Moon, son of the Sun, robed in eminence,

Gently, until it adorns the cheek, O youth

Wait gently until the beard adorns his cheek.

وغالَ فُضُولَ الدّرْعِ مِن جَنَباتها

على بَدَنٍ قَدُّ القَنَاةِ لَهُ قَدُّ

The excess links of his coat of mail billowing

He fills out the excess of the armor from within,

Around a waist slender as a channeled lance shaft

With a body as straight and slender as a spear.

وباشَرَ أبْكارَ المَكارِمِ أمْرَداً

وكانَ كَذا آباؤهُ وهُمُ مُرْدُ

He takes up the virgin deeds of nobility as one impeccable

He embraced the virgins of noble deeds while yet beardless,

And so were his forefathers, outstanding singularly

Just as his fathers did when they were young.

مَدَحْتُ أباهُ قَبْلَهُ فشَفَى يَدي

مِنَ العُدم مَنْ تُشفَى به الأعينُ الرُّمدُ

I praised his father before him and it healed my hand

I praised his father before him, and he healed my hand

Of insignificance, by whom afflicted eyes are cleared of clouds

Of poverty—he by whom sore eyes are cured.

حَبَاني بأثْمانِ السّوابِقِ دونَهَا

مَخافةَ سَيرِي إنّها للنّوَى جُنْدُ

He granted me gifts beyond peers to avoid

He granted me the value of racehorses, sparing the steeds themselves,

My censure, they are surely for current expenses

Fearing my departure, for horses are the soldiers of separation.

وشَهْوَةَ عَوْدٍ إنَّ جُودَ يَمينِهِ

ثُنَاءٌ ثُنَاءٌ والجَوادُ بها فَرْدُ

The pleasure of one liberal whose open-handedness

And desiring my return; for truly the bounty of his right hand

Is praise, praise, and the generous one is unparalleled by it

Comes in pairs upon pairs, though he, the Giver, is unique.

فلا زِلْتُ ألقَى الحاسِدينَ بمِثْلِها

وفي يدهم غَيضٌ وفي يديَ الرِّفْدُ

So I did counter detractors with the likes of it

May I ever meet the envious with such fortune,

In their hands rancor and in my hands riposte

While rage fills their hands, and the gift fills mine.

وعِندي قَباطيّ الهُمَامِ ومَالُهُ

وعندَهُمُ ممّا ظَفِرْتُ بهِ الجَحدُ

Within my grasp are the banners of glorious deeds and his assets

I possess the fine linens and wealth of the hero,

While in theirs is whatever I gained despite their envy

While they possess only denial of what I have won.

يَرومُونَ شأوي في الكَلامِ وإنّمَا

يحاكي الفتى فيما خَلا المَنطقَ القِرْدُ

They aspire to lower me by speaking but

They aim to reach my stature in verse, but verily,

Only an ape rivals a man’s eloquence

The ape mimics man in all things save the power of speech.

فَهُمْ في جُموعٍ لا يراها ابنُ دأيَةٍ

وهم في ضَجيجٍ لا يُحسّ به الخلدُ

To Ibn Dhi'aybah they are crowds he cannot see

They are in crowds unnoticed by the carrion crow,

And clamor he cannot hear in his eternity

And in a clamor that the mole underneath does not sense.

ومني استفادَ النّاسُ كُلَّ غَريبَةٍ

فجازوا بتَرْكِ الذّمّ إن لم يكنْ حمدُ

And from me people gained each new wonder

From me, people have gleaned every rare gem of thought,

They refrained from blame if not also praise

So let them repay by withholding blame, if they cannot offer praise.

وجَدْتُ عَليّاً وابنَهُ خيرَ قوْمِهِ

وهم خيرُ قوْمٍ واستوَى الحُرُّ والعبدُ

I found Ali and his son the best of their people

I found Ali and his son to be the best of their kin,

The best of a people, freeman and slave equal

And they are the best of people, where free and slave agree.

وأصْبَحَ شِعري منهُما في مكانِهِ

وفي عُنُقِ الحَسْناءِ يُستَحسنُ العِقدُ

And my poetry about them remains in its place

My poetry has found its rightful place in them,

A pleasing necklace on a maiden’s neck

Just as a necklace finds its beauty on a lovely neck.