وساقيةٍ تَرتمِي بالحَبَابِ

وتبكي لحبّ أزاهِيرِها

With a water-pourer scattering bubbles,

Weeping for the love of its flowers.

جرى دمعها جرىَ دمعِ المحبّ

وناحت بصوت نواعِيرِها

Its tears flowed like the tears of a lover,

Lamenting in the voice of its streams.

فأدمُعها مَزْج أقداحِنا

وريحاننا نَشْرُ كافورِها

Its tears mingle in our cups,

Its basil is the diffusion of its camphor.

لدى روضةٍ حَلْيُها نوْرها

حمتها عيونُ نواطيرِها

In a garden where its adornment is its light,

Protected by the eyes of its guards.

إذا شاقنا رَقْم أعلامِها

سبتْنا عيونُ يعافِيرِها

When we pluck the flowers of its standards,

The eyes of its maids captivate us.

تعيد أديم الضحى مُذْهبا

إذا لاح فوق دنانِيرها

The plain of dawn returns golden

When it shines above its dinars.

وأحسنُ من عَبَرات الغيومِ

إذا قذفت بقواريرِها

And better than the expressions of clouds

When they hurl their containers.

وقوفُ الندى فوق محمرّها

ونفخ الصبَا في مزاميرها

The standing of dew above its redness,

And the blowing of the breeze in its flutes.

أطعنا الصبا في مواخِيرِها

ونِلنا المنى في مقاصِيرها

We stabbed the morning breeze in its nostrils,

And attained our purpose in its cups.

وشاطِرةِ الزِيّ مخطوفةٍ

إذا برزت في زنانِيرها

And the excellent-dressed girl is enchanted

When she steps out in her bracelets.

أدارت علينا كؤوس المدامِ

وتأثيرُها فوق تأثِيرِها

She passes around to us cups of wine,

And her influence above her influence.

كأن لُبَانه ألحاظِها

تحاوِل بسطَ معاذِيرِها

As if its incense were her glances,

Trying to justify her excuses.

ولا خير في الراح إن لم تُعَنْ

بسُقْم العيون وتفتِيرها

No good in joy unless you aid it

With the sickness of eyes and their allurement.

ومودَعةٍ بطنَ مغبّرة

تحدِّث عن عهد سابورِها

And a farewell to a dusty belly

Telling tales of its past revelry.

حججنا إلى بيت خَمَّارِها

لنشربها في معاصِيرِها

We made pilgrimage to the tavern

To drink it in its cups.

سُلاَف تسلَّف منها الزمان

قذاها وأبقى على خِيرها

Vintages handed down, from which time

Refined its wine and preserved its goodness.

يقبِّل منها النديمُ الصباح

ويصبِغُ كُمَّيه من نورها

The reveler kisses it in the dawn

And dyes his sleeve from its light.

فلا تعذِر النفس في تركها

فلست عليه بمعذورها

So do not blame the soul for leaving it,

For you have no excuse.

وطاوٍ على حسدٍ كشحَه

قديم العداوة مشهورها

And covering over a miser’s envy,

Old in enmity and notorious.

يُساء بكسبي العلا كلّما

أغرْتُ بجُودي على عِيرِها

He speaks ill of my noble livelihood whenever

I boast of my generosity over his criticism.

ويأمل شأوي وهل يغتدِي

أميرُ المعالي كمأمورِها

And he hopes for my downfall - but can he transgress?

The prince of grandeur is like his ruler.

فإن تك هاشمُ قد عدِّلت

منابتنا في عناصِرها

If you are Hashim then you have disciplined

Our roots among its elements.

فما نستوي في الحِجا والندى

وطيّ الأمور ومنشورِها

We are not equal in glory and splendor,

And the folding of affairs and their distribution.

دعُوا لِي العلا دون ساداتِكم

فإنيّ سُورٌ على سُورها

Leave the grandeur to me apart from your masters

For I am a wall upon its wall.

وإني نهضت بمكسورِها

وآنست وحشة مهجورها

And I rose with its broken ones

And consoled the loneliness of its abandoned ones.

وأنتم تطُون ذُنابَي العلا

وتزدحمون على زورها

While you all covet the heights of glory

And crowd each other out through falsehood.

ملأت عيونكُم بالغُبار

فحسبكُم مسحُ تغبِيرها

You have filled your eyes with dust -

So enough for you is its wiping.

ولا تطلبوا رتبتي إنني

ملأت السماء بتكثيرها

And do not seek my status, for I

Have filled the sky with its multiplication.

ولا تفعلوا فعل آبائكم

فتَخْطُونَ خطوي بتطهيرها

And do not do the deed of your fathers

Thus overstepping my path with its cleansing.

ورِثت سياسة مَهْدِيّها

وحُزت شجاعة منصورِها

I inherited the politics of its rightly-guided one,

And seized the courage of its victorious one.

ولم أنحرف عن سجايا المعِزّ

وقائمة يوم تقريرها

And I did not deviate from the qualities of the mighty,

And the day it was affirmed.

ولم أُلقِ من ناظري نظرة

إلى منظَر غيرِ منظورها

Nor did I glance with my eyes

Upon a spectacle other than its spectacle.

ولم ترِثوا غيرَ أنسابكم

ولكن وَلِعتم بتكديرها

And you have not inherited anything but your lineages,

Yet you are obsessed with muddying it.