يا هَل شجاكَ نَوى الخليطِ الظاعن

إذ بانَ عنكَ وكلُّ إلفٍ بائنِ

O the one whose heart was hurt by the disloyal camp's betrayal,

When they turned away from you though every covenant has ended.

بانَ الخليطُ فبان صبركَ عنده

ولقد يقيم مع المقيم القاطن

The disloyal turned away, so your patience with them dissipated,

And the resident can handle staying with another resident.

ليت الأحبَّة يوم زمّوا عيرهم

سمحوا بنظرةِ ذي الشبابِ الفاتنِ

If only the loved ones, when they loaded their camels,

Had allowed a look from the charming youth.

شحطوا فظلتُ أريق ماء مدامعٍ

بلَّت حمائلَ ذي الرِّقابِ هواتنِ

They went far away, so I shed the water of flowing tears

That wet the braces of the slender-necked beauties.

وطفقتُ بعدهم بَهمٍ ظاهرٍ

بادٍ عليكَ بهم وَهمٍ باطنِ

After them I remained in clear anxiety,

Lost in worries about you, and hidden worries.

نَعَمِ اشمعلَّ الظاعنونَ لطيَّةٍ

زوراءَ ليس منالُها بالهَائنِ

Indeed, the disloyal hoped for a soft touch,

Falsehood whose attainment is not possible for the desperate.

هاجت بكاىَ حُدوجُهم فكأنها

والآلُ مرتكمٌ سفائن يامِنِ

Their cheeks let loose a weeping that stirred, as if

They and the family were ships, O shelterer!

يا منزلا جمحَ الزمان بأهله

فرماهمُ بتشتُّتٍ وتباينِ

O home that time has ruined its people,

And scattered them in separation and discord.

سَقيا لعهدك معهداً ظَلْنا به

نلهو ببيضٍ كالشُّموس فَواتنِ

Give to your era an era we lived in,

Playing with pearls like shining suns.

من كلِّ رائعةِ الجمالِ خريدةٍ

رَيَّا الرَّوادفِ كالوذيلة حاصِنِ

Of every elegant beauty an expensive purchase,

A doe marking the meadows, like an adorned filly.

خود تسفّه كلَّ حبر عالمٍ

يهدى الأنامَ وكلَّ طبْنٍ طابنِ

Denounce every scholar who claims wisdom,

Guiding people, and every composer singing songs,

فإذا اتَّقتكَ أرتكَ جيد غزالةٍ

وإذا رنتكَ رَنتْ بعينيْ شادِنِ

For when I meet you, I find the smooth cheek of a gazelle,

And when I call you, you call me with enchanting eyes.

أتراب رايةَ والزَّمان مساعد

والدهر يرمقنا بعينِ مهادنِ

I place the banner of the time that supports us,

And fate looks upon us with affectionate eyes,

حتى إذا عبثَ الزمان بوصلنا

فأباده والدهر أغدر خائنِ

Until when time disrupts our union,

And fate, the traitor, destroys us most wickedly.

يا رايَ قدَّ وجمال وجهكِ حِلْفةً

أيقظتِ راقدَ كلِّ حزنٍ كامنِ

O flag, your beauty and the beauty of your face pledged

To awaken every dormant sorrow.

إني لآنفُ أن أدين لغاشمٍ

ذلاً ودون الذُّل جدعُ المارنِ

I disdain to be indebted to an unjust aggressor

With humiliation - without humiliation comes the resolve of the defiant.

بل رُبَّ يومٍ قد لهوت وليلةٍ

بمزامرٍ ومخامرٍ وحواصن

Rather, many a day I have sported, and many a night

With lutes, wine cups and viols.

وشربت من كف الحبيبِ مدامة

صرفاً تحرّك كلَّ شوقٍ ساكنِ

And I have drunk from the palm of the beloved intoxicating wine

That stirs every silent passion.

ولربَّ ماذيٍ غَلافقَ آجنِ

سابقت أذؤبه سباقَ مُراهنِ

And how often have I competed with a fleet start

Outrunning the betting horsemen.

ولقد أجوب اللاَّمعات بعرمَسٍ

من عيسِ مَهرة عنتريسٍ بادنِ

And I have roamed the brilliant nights in 'Armais,

From 'Isa and Mahra's - a place of sand dunes.

ياراىَ لستُ بناكلٍ هَيَّابةٍ

يومَ الهياجِ ولا الجبان الواهِنِ

O flag, I am not one who panics and runs

On the day of battle, nor am I a coward who flees.

إني وحقكِ أمنُ قلبٍ خائفٍ

ألفَ الهُمومَ وخوف قلب الآمنِ

I swear by you, I am one whose fearful heart

Has known sorrows and the fear of the heart of the secure.

أسخو بما أحوي ويخزن آخر

ليس البذولُ لماله كالخازنِ

I am generous with what I possess and another hoards,

Not being generous with one's money like a hoarder.

أنا سيد الأملاكِ غير مدافعِ

وحِمام كلّ ممارسٍ ومطاعن

I am the master of kingdoms, not one who wards off,

And the pigeon of every competitor and spearman.

أنا سعد كلِّ مسالمٍ بل نحس كلِّ

مصارمٍ بل حتف كلِّ مشاحنِ

I am the luck of every peacemaker - rather the bad luck of each

Spearman - indeed the death of every stubborn quarreler.

أنا من تخرُّ له الجَبابرُ سجَّداً

عند الوقائعِ والهَياج الزَّابنِ

I am the one before whom the champions bow down

In times of trial and raging battle.

فمنازل المُهدى المديحَ منازلي

وخزائن العافي الفقير خزائني

My dwellings are dwellings of praise,

And my coffers are the coffers of plenty for the poor.

يَلقى المعزَّةً والغنيمةَ سائلي

فضلاً كما يلقى الحمامَ مطاعني

Those who ask me receive grace and spoils,

Just as my spears receive the pigeons.

ملك طَعون بالمثَّقفِ ضارب

فاسألْ عن الملكِ الضروب الطّاعنِ

A king striking with cultured striking,

So ask about the king of strikes, the piercing one.

كتب الإله على ذُباب مَهَّندى

أنتَ الحمامُ وفيكَ حين الحائنِ

God wrote on the fly of Muhanndan,

“You are the pigeon, and in you at the time of loss.”

إذْ جاءَ مُنتضياً حُساماً كاسمه

عضباً مُلامسُ حدِه لم يأمَنِ

When he came seeking, a sword like his name,

Angry, its sharp edge never feels safe.

يهدى أزَبَّ كذى عبُابٍ زاخرٍ

متكاثفٍ مترادفٍ متراطِنِ

It guides the humps of camels overflowing

Crowded, proceeding, aligned together.

بصوارمٍ مضريَّةٍ ولَهاذمٍ

بدرَّيةٍ وصوافنٍ فصوافنِ

With deadly swords and crushing,

Shining, bared, and bared again.

وفوارسٍ كأسودِ بيشة فيهم

ضرب يبِّلد بالشجاعِ الدَّافن

And horsemen like the lions of Bisha among them

A blow that removes with courage that buries.

فلبست لامتيَ المُفاضةَ واثقاً

بالظاهرِ المحيى المميتِ الباطنِ

So I donned the impenetrable armor confident

In the apparent reviver and hidden killer.

وركبت جفلةَ والرماحُ شوارع

والخيلُ بين تضارب وتطاعنِ

And I rode the short spear, and the spears are streets,

And the horses between striking and piercing.

والشُّوس تَهتف بالرجالِ حماسةً

والجوُّ مدَّرِع بنقعٍ شاحنِ

And the bows shout to the men passionately,

While the atmosphere is clad in roaring clamor.

في صارخٍ حَرِجٍ كأنَّ قَتامه

والبيض غيهب ذي كواكب داجنِ

With a shrieking like the darkness and the whites

Are a fog with extinguished stars.

فسقيت أولهم بكأسٍ مُرَّةٍ

من حرِّموتٍ في سِناني كامنِ

So I gave the first of them a bitter cup

From the death stored in my spearhead.

فصرعته وشرعت رُمحي خالجاً

لمدَّججٍ لذوي الشجاعةِ غابنِ

I threw him down and thrust my spear churning

For the armed with courage that destroys.

فطعنته فهوى لحُرّجبينه

متسربلاً بنجيعِ جوفٍ ساخنِ

I stabbed him so he fell with his guts spilled out

Enwrapped in the boiling entrails’ heat.

فشككت آخره فجلجلَ رابعاً

فهوى ورُبَّة مصْلتٍ كالحاقنِ

I made the fourth one clatter after I broke another,

And he fell while a fragment of my sword was the injector.

وفتى عزيزٍ قد هَتكتُ بضربةٍ

جلبت له قَدَرَ القضاء الكائنِ

And a dear man whom I had struck with a blow

That brought him the ordained fate.

وافى إليّ بشأنِ شانٍ جاسرٍ

ثم انثنى عني بشأنٍ شائنِ

And he approached me boldly then recoiled

From me with changed purpose.

وأخا قُضاعةَ قد أطرتُ فراخه

بالقرنِ حتى خرَّ أهونَ هائنِ

And a brother of Quda'a whose chicks

I clipped with the horn until the slightest fell.

فربحت حمدَ الجَحفليْن بنجدتي

إن المحامدَ خير ربح الثَّامنِ

So I gained the praised of the two tribes with my help -

Praise is the best profit of the protector.

فتضعضعتْ عني الفوارسُ إذ رأتْ

حملاتِ حيدرَ في غزاة هوازن

The horsemen were shaken from me when they saw

The onslaughts of Haydar among the Hawazin warriors.

ورجعت بالقرن الخِشيب مثلمّا

ودمٌ على ثوبيَّ هامٍ هاتنِ

And I returned with the wooden horn just as I had,

While blood on my clothes is forbidden and passionate.

فغدا يقول شريفُهم ووضيعُهم

قولاً يهيَّجُ كلَّ ثاوٍ كامنِ

So in the morning their nobility and lowly

Spoke words that stir every complacent sleeper:

لله دَرُّ أبي علّيٍ إنه

أحيا النّدى وأمات كلَّ مشاحن

“Praise be to Ali's father, he

Revived chivalry and killed every quarreler.

بذلَ الطريف وصان عرضاً طاهراً

للهِ من ملكٍ بَذولٍ صائنِ

He gave graciously and protected a pure honor,

By God, from a generous, helping king.”

إني لأُقسم بالإلِه أليَّةً

واللهُ يكسو الخزى وجهَ الخائنِ

I swear by God truly,

And God clothes the shame of the traitor’s face.

لو كان غير أخي المحاولُ عثرتى

لسقيته كأسَ الحَمامِ الآسنِ

If another besides my attempting brother were my stumbling,

I would have given him the bitter cup of the spearhead.

إذ كنت أعلم ما مُعادٍ مُقِلعٌ

عما يحاول كالمُعادي العادِنِ

Since I knew the consequence of what he attempts

Is far from what the transgressing enemy does.

أبلغْ حُساماً والحوادث جمَّة

من ذي حشىً يَغلي بنار ضغائنِ

Inform Husam while events are all around

Of one who boils with the fires of grudges.

ما بالُ دولتك التي أمَّلتها

حادتْ ولم تُقدِمْ حيادَ الحارنِ

Why has your state that I wished for

Deviated, and not taken the path of the cautioned?

طارت بعقلكَ في قتاليَ عُصبةٌ

لم يأس إذ يمشي بجّدٍ واهنِ

Passion for fighting me has flown off with your reason,

One who does not despair when he walks with weakness.

لا زلت تدعوني نزالَ مجاهدٍ

دعوى امرئٍ لدُهاه غير الحاقنِ

You still call me to the struggle of a warrior,

The claim of a fool, not the truth-teller.

حتى إذا ما الحربُ شبَّ لهيبُها

وعلت كرهتُ مُطاعِني ومعايني

Until when war flared up intensely,

And I disliked my spears and their facing me,

فعليكَ نفسك ألزْمنَها رُشدها

وأقمْ مَقامَ العاقلِ المتطامِنِ

Upon yourself, make it keep to righteousness,

And take the stand of the composed wise one.

إني أنا الموتُ الذي لا بدَّ من

لقِيانه والموتُ ليس ببائنِ

I am death which is inevitable

To meet, and death does not disappear.

قسماً لانَّ لجانبي لمواثبٌ

لا عادَ ربك أيَّ ثاوٍ ماكنِ

I swear the attackers on my side do not cease,

Your Lord has not returned any complacent sleeper.

والنصرُ من عندِ الإلهِ قضى به

لي في الوقائع في قضاه الكائنِ

And victory is from God, He decided it

For me in the tribulations, in His decided fate.