عرضتْ سماء الدجنِ زهرَ جنودها

وسرتْ فراعَ الجدبَ خفقُ بنودها

The sky of darkness displayed the flowers of its armies,

And the folds of barrenness were covered by the fluttering of its tenderness.

فسهامها لقطارها وسيوفها

لبروقها وقسيها لرعودها

Its arrows for its trains, its swords for its lightning,

Its brilliance and its firmness for its thunder.

وفريدةِ العرصاتِ ضمخها الحيا

طيباً تضوّع في ثياب فريدها

The unique one adorned with life,

A sweet perfume emanated from her unique attire,

كافورُ جوٍ عنهُ عنبرُ نشرها

ذو ماءِ وردٍ منهُ مسكُ صعيدها

Camphor of pleasant air which amber of its diffusion emanated,

With water of roses from which musk of its plains emanated.

غنّاء نمّ على الحا نمامها

ووشى على الأنواء وشيُ برودها

A singer slept on anxiety as if

She whispered to the breezes and murmured to its coolness.

كلفت بها فلزهوها بكمالها

نثرت على الدنيا نظامَ عقودها

I was commanded with her beauty so I completed it,

She sprinkled ornamentation on the world and scattered its necklaces.

زهرت نجوم الزّهر فوقَ غصونها

مثلَ الكواكب في بروج سعودها

The stars of flowers blossomed above its branches,

Like planets in the mansions of its happiness.

وشدت على الأفنان داوديّةُ

الألحان حين تفيض في تغريدها

And she tightened the Davidic

Melodies when they overflow in their singing.

نطقت بفضل ربيعها ربوعها

مثلَ الخطيب على ذوابة عودها

Its meadows spoke of the excellence of its spring,

Like the orator on the sandalwood pulpit.

تتلو على الأغصان آي نسيمها

فلذاك طولُ ركوعها وسجودها

She recites on the branches the verses of its breeze,

Thus the length of its bowing and prostration.

من كلّ لدنِ القدّ لولا عجزها

ألقت عليه قلادةً في جيدها

If it were not for her incapacity, she would have cast

On the Eternal a necklace around its neck.

شابت ذوائبها وتلك عجبيةٌ

أتشيبُ قبلَ فراقها لمهودها

Its braids grayed, and that is wondrous,

That it grays before parting from its beloved.

فسقى ذرى الشرفين صيّبُ مزنها

وسقى حيا جفنيّ بابَ بريدها

So the nobility of the two dynasties were watered

And the life of my eyelids was watered at the door of its post.

أوطانُ أوطاري الذي أنا عاذلٌ

في غيرها ومعذّلٌ في غيدها

My homelands, my places which I blame

In other than it and am blamed in its absence.

اخلينَ من قلبي مكانَ سلوهِ

وسلبنَ من عيني لذيذَ هجودها

Make me forget from my heart the place of its night,

And deprive my eyes of the bliss of its affection.

وأبي الهوى لولا الهوى ما بتُّ

أستسقي العبادَ لماحلاتِ عهودها

And I refused infatuation, if not for infatuation I would not

Implore people for the promises of its covenants.

ظبياتها عنفت عليَّ وأسدها

ما لي يدٌ بظبائها وأسودها

Its gazelles dismissed me and its lions,

I have no power over its gazelles or its lions.

هزّوا العوالي دونها فكأنما

منعوا رشاقَ قدودها بقدودها

They shook the highlands below it as if

They prevented the slenderness of its wrists with its wrists.

كلفي بمخطفة القوامِ طريرةِ

الألحاظ هيفاءِ المعاطفِ رودها

Entrust me with the snatcher of the waist, the chirping

Of glances, the cuddling of attire, and its calmness.

خوطيّة الحركات جاذبها الصبا

جذبَ الصبا ما لان من أملودها

Delicate in movement, youth pulls her

As youth pulls the gentle long robe.

ثقلت روادفها وخفَّ قوامها

فتهمُّ عند قيامها بقعودها

Her buttocks weighed down and her waist thinned,

So she is tempted when standing by sitting.

ابداً تموتُ بها وتحيا سلوتي

والوجدُث بين وعيدها ووعودها

I die by it and my solace lives,

And passion lies between its threats and promises.

بخلت فروحي يا عذولُ فقيدةٌ

هلا حباني جودها بوجودها

You were stingy so my soul was deprived,

If only your generosity gave me life by its life.

فالموت بين دنوها وبعادها

والموتُ بين وصاها وصدودها

For death lies between being near it and being far,

And death lies between its association and its separation.

إن أنكرت من مقلتي ما تدعي

يوماً فانَّ النجمَ بعضُ شهودها

If one day I deny what my eyelids claim,

Then the star is part of its testimonies.

فلربَّ داجيةٍ طويتُ نجومها

يوماً بحظ العينِ من تسهدها

For I folded the stars of many a shining one

One day by the delight of the eye that slumbers.

وقصيدةٍ حليت جيد بيوتها

بثناءِ تاج الدين بيتِ نشدها

And a poem whose necklace houses adorned

With praise of the crown of religion the home I sought.

بأخي الفصاحة ناطقاً بأبي المعالي

ساعياً بمجيدها ابن مجيدها

To my eloquent brother speaking of my father of greatness,

Aspiring through his glory the son of his glory.

كانت شعابُ المجدِ تمنعُ نفسها

لكن بكندةَ هان صعب كنودها

The cliffs of glory used to prevent themselves

But by your determination the difficult cliffs subsided.

بأساس علياها هلالِ سمائها

فينان دوحتها مقر عمودها

With its crescent as the pillar of its sky,

Its minarets protect the pillar of its building.

كم جبتُ هاجرةً إليه كأنها

وقد اشتملت الصبر قلب حسودها

How often I emigrated to it as if

I had cloaked myself in patience the heart of the envious.

أعيا المحاولَ ما ارتقاه من العلى

ما سيّدُ العلياءِ مثل مسودها

The aspirant despaired from what he climbed of heights,

The master of the lofty is not like its erected pillar.

ملكُ الملوكِ وما مليك فضيلةٍ

عاديةٍ كرعاعها وعبيدها

The king of kings - and what a subject of merit

Ordinary or lowly like its commoners and servants.

فهوَ السَّماءُ ونيراتُ خلالهِ

مثلُ النجوم تجلّ عن تعديدها

He is the sky and the rays of his essence

Are like the stars manifest beyond enumeration.

من أسرةٍ أضحى العلاءُ بأسرهِ

مستعبداً لجدودها وجدودها

Of a family the nobility of which became

Subjugated to its ancestors and forefathers.

المنجدون بكلِّ أبيضَ صارمٍ

داعي تهائمِ يثرب ونجودها

The victorious by every unsheathed, sharpened white sword

Calling the zeal of Yathrib and its resolve.

والجاعلونَ وقد تأجَّجت الوغى

ماءَ الطُّلى متكفلاً بخمودها

And those who, when discord blazed,

Made the water of blades responsible for its flames.

من كلِّ ذمرٍ لا يباح ذمارهُ

بذلوه وهو معفَّر في بيدها

From every reputable clan whose reputation

They sacrificed while it was still cloaked in its skin.

غصَّت مناكبها وأشرق جوَّها

برماح شاهدها وروح شهيدها

Their platforms became narrow and its air shone

With the witnesses of its martyrs and the spirit of its martyr.

لبست قلوبهم الحديد فلم تبل

أجسامهم بأساً بفقدِ حديدها

They wore iron in their hearts so their bodies would not

Sense any harm in losing its iron.

قومٌ إذا بغت القلوبَ رماحهم

وضعوا اسنتها مكانَ حقودها

A people, if hearts craved, their spears

They made into their tongues instead of their throats.

وإذا همُ شاموا بروق غمودهم

تخذوا الغمودَ الهامَ بعد غمودها

And if they smelled the lightning of their clouds,

They made the clouds their concern after its clouds.

الثابتون على الجياد إذا همُ

هّموا إلى حربٍ ثباتَ جلودها

Steadfast on steeds, if they intended for war,

The steadfastness of their skins did not waver.

وإذا الكتيبة أقبلت لم يئنِ وازعـ

ـهم ظباهم عن ورود وريدها

And if a brigade approached, their reins were not shaken

From watering its prey from the flow of its stream.

فشموسُ بيضٍ أطلعت لغروبها

ونجومُ سمرٍ سيرتْ لركودها

So whiteness suns rose for their setting,

And darkness stars traveled for their stillness.

يا من يشيبُ له الحديد وساعةٌ

خرقاءُ مفقودٌ نداءُ وليدها

O you whose iron grays, and time

Ragged, the call of its newborn is lost.

لثنوا أمانيَّ العفاةِ بجودهم

بيضَ الطلى والحاسدين بسودها

Divert the hopes of the helpless with their generosity,

The white blades and the envious with its blackness.

قسماً بعلمك فهو نيرُ أفقها

وبهاء وجهكَ فهو صبحةُ عيدها

By your banner it is the lamp of its horizon,

By the brilliance of your face it is the dawn of its feast.

لقد امتطيتَ من المعالي صهوةً

أعيا بني الدنيا صعودُ صعودها

You mounted the lofty summits of glory

That the people of the world despaired of ascending its ascent.

كم نظَّمت كفّي عقودَ مدائحٍ

فاقت عقودَ الدرّ في تنضيدها

How often I arranged my palms in necklaces of praise

Beyond the necklaces of pearls in their stringing.

كالذرّ عاطرةٌ فإن جحدَ أمروء

ما قلتهُ فقيأتنا بنديدها

Like scattered pearls, and if a noble's matter

Denies what I said, our vomit will pulverize its gravel.

هنَّ القوافي الشارداتُ لمدحكم

أضحى عبيدٌ وهو بعض عبيدها

They are the stray rhymes for your praise,

The slaves have become while it is part of its slaves.

من كلَّ معنى شاردٍ في ضمنهِ

حكمٌ يفيد العقل عقلُ شرودها

From every stray meaning in its inclusion,

A wisdom benefits the mind the mind of its straying.

حبرَّتها نقداً غداة منحتها

نقداً فتاهت لاختلافِ نقودها

I have gilded it with prose the day after

I gilded it in verse, so it wandered having differing currencies.

تكسو الجلالةَ ربَّها والفهم

سامعها وإيضاحاً لسانً معيدها

It adorns majesty, instructs its Lord, listening to it,

Clarifying, a tongue repeating its renewal.

كالخمر حسناً في أكفّ سقاتها

وبوجهِ شاربها وفي عنقودها

Like wine, beautiful in the palms of its cupbearer,

In the face of its drinker, and in its clusters.

يا منشرَ العلم الفقيدِ ثوت حشاشـ

ـتهُ خلالَ صفيحها ولحودها

O spreader of precious knowledge, collected

In the folds of its panels and its patched cloak.

لي رغبةٌ فيهِ وزهدٌ في بني الدنـ

ـيا ثناني عن طلاب زهيدها

I have a desire for it and detachment from the people

Of the world who distracted me from seeking its ascetic.

أنَّ الجديدين استمالا ناظري

عن لذَّةٍ يصيبه حسنُ جديدها

That the new distracted my sight

From a pleasure attained by the beauty of its new.

قربتَ من أملي البعيد ولا تزل

لقريب منَّةِ آملٍ وبعيدها

You brought my distant hope near while you still

Remain a blessing to a hopeful and its distant.