ألا مَنْ لنفسي وأوصابِها

ومَن لدموعي وتَسْكابِها

Alas! Who will care for my soul and its wounds?

Who will tend to my tears as they flow?

إذا فزَّع الشوقُ حبَّ القلوبِ

كواها بشدّة تَلْهَابها

When longing stirs love in the heart

And inflames it intensely in its coals

أرِقت لبرقٍ أضاء الدّجون

وأذهب حُلْكةَ أطنابِها

I was kept awake by lightning that lit up the darkness

And took away the kohl of my eyelids

سَرى والدُّجنّة منشورةٌ

فمزّق أعلامَ أثوابها

It moved about as the darkness spread

Tearing the flags of its clothes

كأنّ السَّحاب به غادة

مُشَوَّقة بين أترابها

As though the clouds with it were maidens

Yearning amidst their companions

كأنّ البروقَ سيوفُ الغمام

إذا هزَّها ثم رامَى بها

As though the lightning were swords of the clouds

When it shook them then cast them aside

ومُنْبَحسِ القَطْر مُثْعَنْجِرٍ

جهير الرَّواعد صخَّابها

And the pouring rain was like snarling

The roar of thunder in its outbursts

كأنّ يَعالِيله في الصَّبَا

نَشَاوى نواشِرُ أطرابِها

As though its flashes in the night air

Were torches of its reveling throngs

سَقَيْن عِطاشَ مُتُون الرُّبا

وبرَّدْن غُلَّة أَقْرَابها

They quenched the thirst of the sand dunes

And cooled the heat of their hills

وأبدين تفويفَ بُسْط الرِّياض

ونشَّرن أعلامَ زِرْيابها

They revealed the expanse of the meadows

And spread the banners of their pastures

كأنّ الشقيقَ بأرْجائها

خدودٌ ثَنَتْ عَقْد تنْقابِها

As though its rain pools in its corners

Were cheeks whose necklaces were unveiled

فَعُوجا على أَرِجٍ مُونِقٍ

أنيقِ الدَّسَاكِر مِعْشابِها

So it swayed upon an aching, bending bough

Graceful, with its tents and dwellings

نُعَلَّل ما بين حَوْذانِها

وطِيبِ ثراها ولَبْلابها

Adorned between its valleys

And the fragrance of its earth and pools

بصفراء شابت ولم تَحْتَلِم

وأَنْحَلَها طولُ أحقابِها

With a yellow that had matured not fully grown

Prolonged by the passage of its eras

سُلاَفٌ إذا انتسبت للنَّديم

غدا الكَرْم أوكدَ أنسابِها

Hospitality, when associated with it

Became a most sacred tradition

كأن السُّقاةَ لها يَقْسِمون

شُعاعَ الشموش لشُرَّابها

As though its water-bearers apportioned

The rays of the sun for its drinkers

تَطوف علينا بها غادةٌ

كأنّ الضُّحى بين أَثوابها

A cloud wandering over us

As though the morning were amidst its clothes

إذا سلّطت سحرَ أجفانها

دَلالاً أشارت بعُنَّابها

When it unleashes the magic of its eyes

Gesturing coquettishly with its glances

دعاني فلستُ بُمسْتحسِن

لطُرق المجُون وآدابها

It beckoned to me, but I declined

The ways of the crazed and their manners

ألا قُلْ لمن ضلّ من هاشم

ورام اللُّحوق بأرْبابها

Say to those Hashimites who strayed

Seeking to catch up with its people

أأوسَاطُها مثل أطرافها

أَأَرؤُسها مِثلُ أذنابها

Are its centers like its edges?

Are its leaders like its stragglers?

أعبَّاسها كأبي حَرْبِها

عليٍّ وقاتِلِ نصَّابها

Its Abbas like its Abu Harb,

Ali and the killer of its foes?

وأوّلِها مؤمِناً بالإِله

وأوّلِ هادِم أَنْصابها

Its foremost believer in God

And first destroyer of its idols?

بني هاشمٍ قد تعامَيْتُمُ

فخلّوا المعالي لأصحابها

O clansmen of Hashim, you have ignored

So leave the honors to their people

أعبّاسكم كان سيفَ النبيّ

إذا أبدت الحربُ عن نابها

Your Abbas was the Prophet's sword

Whenever war bared its fang

أعبّاسكم كان قي بَدْره

يذود الكتائبَ عن غابها

Your Abbas at Badr was its protector

Shielding the regiments from its campaign

أعبّاسكم قاتِل المشركين

جِهاراً ومالِك أَسْلابِها

Your Abbas, killer of the pagans

Openly, and seizer of its spoils

أعبّاسكم كوصيّ النبيّ

ومُعْطي الرِّغاب لطُلاّبها

Your Abbas, executor of the Prophet

And granter of gifts to its seekers

أعبّاسكم شَرَح المُشْكلاتِ

وفَتَّح مُقْفَلَ أبوابها

Your Abbas clarified ambiguities

And opened the locked gates of its doors

عجِبتُ لمرتَكِبٍ بَغْيَه

غَويِّ المقالة كذَّابها

I am surprised by one who commits treason

Devious in speech, a fabricator

يقول فَيْنظم زُورَ الكلام

ويُحْكِم تَنْميقَ إذهابها

Who composes the lies of his words

And perfects the choreography of his lies

لكم حرمةٌ يا بني بنْته

ولكن بنو العمّ أوْلى بها

You have sanctity, O sons of his daughter

But the sons of the uncle are more worthy of it

وكيف يحوز سهامَ البنين

بنو العمِّ أفٍّ لغُصَّابها

And how can the paternal arrows

Belong to the sons of the uncle?

بذا أنزل اللهُ آيَ القُرَان

أتَعْمَون عن نصّ إسهابها

Is this not what God revealed in His verses?

Do you turn blind to the detail of its explanation?

لقد جار في القول عبدُ الإله

وقاسَ المطايا بِركّابها

Abdullah spoke wrongfully

And measured the steeds with its riders

ونحن لَبِسنا ثيابَ النبيّ

وأنتم جذَبْتم بِهُدَّابها

While we wore the clothes of the Prophet

You snatched away its robes

ونحن بنوه ووُرّاثه

وأهلُ الوِراثة أوْلى بها

We are his sons and heirs

And the heirs are most entitled to it

وفينا الإمامة لا فيكمُ

ونحن أحقُّ بجِلْبابها

The imamate belongs to us, not you

We have the greatest right to its mantle

ومَنْ لكمُ يا بَني عمه

بمثل البَتُول وأَنجابِها

What sons of an uncle have the likes

Of the Chaste One and her offspring?

وما لكُم كوصيّ النبيّ

أبٌ فتَرامَوْا بنُشّابها

What uncles have the Prophet's successor

As a father they boasted of?

ألَسْنا لُبابَ بني هاشمٍ

وساداتِكم عند نُسّابها

Are we not the core of Hashim's clan

And your masters with genealogists?

ألَسْنا سَبقْنا لغاياتها

أَلْسنا ذهبنا بأحسابها

Did we not precede in its goals?

Did we not excel in its accounts?

بنا صُلْتُمُ وبنا طُلْتُمُ

وليس الولاة ككُتّابها

Through us you prayed and sought rain

Rulers are not like their scribes

ولا تَسْفَهوا أنْفُساً بالكِذابِ

فذاك أشدُّ لإتعابها

Do not ruin yourselves with lies

For that is most punishing for the spirit

فأنتم كَلحْن قوافي الفَخَار

ونحن غدَوْنا كإعرابها

You are like the rhyme scheme of pottery verses

While we are their eloquent composition