أبَيْنا أن نطيعَكُمُ أبَيْنا

فلا تُهدوا نصيحتَكُم إلينا

We refused to obey you, we refused

So do not direct your advice to us

ركِبنا في الهوى خطَرا فإما

لنا ما قد كسَبنا أو علينا

We embarked on dangerous passion, so either

We get what we earned, or against us

فما تسآلُكم عن كلِّ صبٍّ

كأنَّ لكم على العشاق دَينا

So do not ask about every misfortune

As if you have a debt over lovers

ولو لم يَرضَ ربُّك ما رضينا

لَما أنشَا لنا قلبا وعينا

If your Lord was not pleased, we would not be pleased

If He had not created for us a heart and an eye

بنفسي رامياتٍ ليس تفنَى

نُصولُ سِهامنّ إذا رمينا

With my soul full of arrows that do not miss

When we shoot the arrows of our determination

كأنّهمُ أعدوّا للرزايا

بكلِّ كحيلةٍ زِيرا وقَينا

As if they had prepared for calamities

With every trickery, an adversary and a hater

تعوَّضنَ الخيامَ من المطايا

وحسبُك بالخيام قِلىً وبَيننا

The tents replaced the camels

And the tents, cooking pots between us, suffice you

ولوّينَ البنانَ فقلتُ زجرا

بمعيادي وآمالي لوَينا

If they diverted the camels, I would have objected

To my promise and hopes, they diverted

عجائبُ في اصلبابة لو عقلَنا

نحبُّ محاسنا فتصير حَيْنَا

Wonders in composure, if we had wisdom

We would love our qualities so they become us

نسائلُ عن ثُمامات بُحزَوى

وبانُ الرمل يعلم مَن عَنَينا

We ask about the moles of Buḥzawa

And the sands know who we long for

وقد كُشِفَ الغِظاءُ فما نبالي

أصرَّحْنا بذكرِك أم كَنَينا

The hatred has been uncovered but we do not care

Whether we confessed your love or concealed it

ولو أنى أنادي يا سُليَمى

لقالوا ما أردتَ سوى لبُيَنَى

If I called "O Sulayma!" they would have said

You wanted nothing but to reach Lubna

ألآ لله طيفٌ منكِ يسقى

بكاسات الردى زُورا ومَينا

By God, an apparition of you quenches me

With cups of predawn rain and affection

مطيَّته طَوالَ الدهرِ جفنى

فكيف شكا إليكِ وَجىً وأينا

Its she-camel has long deprived me of sleep

So how did it complain to you of fatigue and weakness?

فأمسينا كأنا ما افترقنا

وأصبحنا كأنا ما التقينا

We spent the night as if we never parted

And woke up as if we never met

ولولا نُورُ أزهرَ شمَّرِىٍّ

تبلَّج في الظلام لما اهتدينا

Were it not for the light of flowering Azhar

That shone in the darkness, we would not have found our way

عميد الدولة المعِطى القوافي

رُهونَ سِباقهنَّ إذا جرَينا

The pillar of the state, the giver of rhymes

Are at their lead if we compete

فتىً يبنى على الغُلَواء بيتا

إذا نزل المقصِّر بينَ بينا

A knight who builds on delusions a house

When the truthful descends between us

يقول لإبله مُوتى هُزالاً

ولا ترعَىْ بأكناف الهوَينَى

Saying to his thin, emaciated camels

"Do not graze in the environs of passion!"

إذا ما السُّحبُ بالأمواهِ سَحَّتْ

تهلَّل عسجدا وهَمى لُجينا

When the clouds pour down the valley

The rocky plain and the dune gleam

بكلِّ قرارةٍ وبكلِّ ربع

رياضٌ من نداه قد انتشينا

In every plain and every quarter

Gardens revived by his gleam

غصونُ مكارم قيَظا وقُراًّ

نُصيب بها ثِمارا يُجتَنَينا

Branches of generosity, hot and cold

We attain fruits we pick

وما سلبَ الشتاءُ الأرضَ إلا

تسربلنَ المحامدَ فاكتسَينا

The winter only stripped the land

So we donned praises and wore them

جَرى والسابُقون إلى المعالي

فجاء فُوَيقها وأَتَوا دُوَينا

He raced while the frontrunners to glory

Came, so he attained its peak and summit