لو ألمَّت فأباحتني لما لها

لشفت غلَّة قلبي شفتاها

If she caused me pain, so she made me desire her

I would have revealed the anguish of my heart, her lips would have revealed it

ضحكت خنساءُ يومَ المنحنى

من ولوعي وبكى لي عاذلاها

Khensa laughed the day she inclined away

From my misery and reproached her lover

أيُّها اللاحي عداني صبرهُ

لا تسل ما فعلت بي مقلتاها

O you who blame me, lend me your patience

Do not ask what she has done to me, her glances did it

كتم الفرعُ سرى أشباحها

إنما صبحُ ثناياها ثناها

The branch concealed the secret of her apparitions

But the dawn revealed her folds and undulations

فسقى الأشباه دمعي والحيا

قدّها والغصنَ والبرقَ وفاها

So her apparitions watered my tears and my life

Her stature, the branch, lightning and clouds sustained her

طرقت تسألني كيف الهوى

وبدور التمّ في الليل سراها

She came knocking, asking me about passion

While the houses turned in the night, she roamed them

ففداها ما أباحت من دمي

وتباريح الأسى قولي فداها

So my blood that she allowed, ransomed her

And the laments of grief, my words ransomed her

ضمنت ريقتها بردَ المنى

وحوت نارَ غرامي وجنتاها

Her saliva mixed with the cool of purpose

And contained the fire of my passion, and its heat

فهي في الضدّين سخطٌ ورضى

عفوها يرجى كما يخشى سطاها

So in opposites she is anger and pleasure

I hope for her pardon as I fear her tyranny

بأبي هندٌ فأيام الصّبا

وربى نجدٍ وأنفاس صباها

By my father Hind in the days of youth

And the scent of Najd and its breaths

في سبيل الحبّ دمعي والضَّنا

ودمي لو رضيتْ عني دماها

My tears and grief are for the sake of love

And my blood if she would be pleased with it, would flood her

يا أخلاَّي وأن شطَّ بنا

حادثُ الأيَّام عنكم وثناها

O my dear ones though the days

Have departed from you and withdrawn

حبَّذا غاديةٌ شاميةٌ

حملت عنكم إلى النفس مناها

Good is a Syrian woman who traveled

Bearing to my soul its wishes from you

ما حداها الرعدُ إلاَّ قصَرتْ

شقّةَ الفسطاس ممدودُ خطاها

Thunder did not drive her back, she only shortened

Her pace stretching the saddlecloth

وجد القطرَ سهاماً فرمى

ومن البرق سيوفاً فانتضاها

The rain found arrows so shot them

And from lightning, swords so brandished them

فأصابت مقلةً داميةً

وفؤاداً طال فيكم ما أتقاها

So she hit a tearful eyelid

And a heart that longed for you and feared for you

نقلت عنكم أحاديث الصّبا

فأقرّ الله عينى من وعاها

She conveyed news of youth from you

So may God delight my eye from what it perceived

بلَّغت عنكم شفاها حبَّذا

حبَّذا ما بلغت عنكم شفاها

She conveyed on your behalf, good is she

As good as she conveyed your lips

لا تلم عيني على طول البكا

كيف لا تدمع والبينُ قذاها

Do not blame my eye for ever weeping

Why wouldn't it weep when we are separated

وقليبُ القلب ما زال بهِ

فاتحاً إنسانها حتى أماها

While my heart, the heart, still holds

Its purpose, awake until it falls asleep

طال ليلي طول وجدي بكمُ

فزماني ليلةٌ مات ضحاها

My night grew long in length like my anguish for you

So my time is a night whose morning died

لو يسير الطيف في أثنائهِ

وهو لطيفُ أو النجمُ لتاها

If an apparition would walk in it

Though it's intangible, or a lost star

ما على ما طل دينى ولو قضى

وعلى قاتل نفسي لو وداها

Neither the length of my debt nor if it's paid

Not even my murderer if I befriended him

فقرها إلاَّ إليكم مشتهى

وجميلٌ عنكمُ إلاَّ غناها

I desire nothing but you,

And nothing's beautiful from you unless you grant it

وجدت من نأيكم ما وجدت

فإلى عالمِ بثي مشتكاها

I found in your absence what I found

So to whom do I complain what I suffered?

قسماً ما بقيت عن سلوةٍ

إنما يحمل عنها من بلاها

I swore never to enjoy comfort

Without you, only bearing what torments me

أمر الدهرُ عليها ونهى

يأمر الحرصُ بما ينهى نهاها

The days command and forbid her

Greed commands what its prohibition forbids her

دعوة الشوق لكم مسموعةٌ

فإذا ما هتفت كنتَ صداها

My call of longing to you is heard

So when I cry out, you are its echo

يا أبا اليمنِ وهل منقبةٌ

خطبت قطّ فما كنت أباها

O father of Yeme, was any glory ever sought

That you didn't seek, and nothing glorified that you didn't glorify?

يا وحيدَ الأرض لا مستثنياً

ولبدر ألتم فضلٌ لا يضاهى

O unique on earth, with no second

Not even the full moon whose merits are matchless

بكَ عزَّ الفضلُ والدهرُ معاً

وبنى العلياءِ واشتد غماها

Through you glory was mighty and fate too

As well as the family of Ali, intensifying their glory

لك نفسٌ لم تمتها غايةٌ

في المعالي أعجزَ الناس مطاها

You have a soul that no peak exhausts

In the heights, beyond what people can aspire to

فإذا الأدناس كانت نصعتْ

وإذا كان الخنا اعتنَّ نقاها

When others were sullied, you purified yourself

And when they were wicked, you were most pure

من سواهُ من إذا لذنا بهِ

أقرأَ العصبة منَّا وقراها

When anyone enjoyed sinfulness

You disciplined him, teaching and reading to him

جاد بالعلم وثنَّى بالنهى

ثمَّ وإلى فحبا ما لا وجاها

You were generous with knowledge and turned away from sin

Then passionately loved what has no vanity

فهوَ البشرى أو الماءُ الرَّوا

يرد الأسماعَ أو يلقى الشفاها

You are good news or fresh water

Comforting souls or meeting lips

ما أناس تخذوا النقع دُّجى

في الوغى والأنجمَ الزُّهر قناها

Not people who took ignorance as their refuge

Causing mayhem, and stars their guide

فبها عن بيضة الإسلام كم

فلّ من جيشٍ وما فلّ شباها

With them the egg of Islam, how much

Was lost from armies, and how many like them perished,

الغزيرون علوماً وندىً

والمنيرون وجوهاً وجباها

Abundant in knowledge and dew

Radiant, of face and forehead

قسماً بالشُّمّ من آبائهِ

ما اصطباري عنهُ طوعاً بل كراها

I swear by the Sharqi wind from his fathers

My patience with him isn't willingly, but by compulsion

أجدُ المصرَ إذا غاب قوى

وأرى في الناس حاشاه اشتباها

I find Egypt weaker when he's absent

And see ambiguity in people, nothing unambiguous

ومتى قال امروء أنَّ لهُ

ثانياً في نبله قال سفاها

And when a man claims he has

A second in nobility, he speaks nonsense

أصبحت جلقُ مسكاً تربها

تحت أقدامك والدرُّ حصاها

Morning became pure musk, its soil

Beneath your feet, and pearls its pebbles

واللجين المحضُ من منبتهِ

بثرى دارك لو ذاب مياها

And pure mud from its source

At your abode, even if melting, remains wholesome water

فهيَ الجنَّةُ راقت مجتلىٍ

ودنا من كلّ باغٍ مجتناها

It is paradise, flourishing with beauty

Near every garden and field is its proximity

ضحك البرقُ لها سافرةً

حينَ حلَّت أدمعُ الغيث حباها

Lightning smiled at it golden

When the rain's tears mixed with its love

وتهادى دوحها لمَّا شدا

مطرب القمريِّ وأخضلَّ ثراها

And its palm trees swayed when

The singer of vines sang, greening its turf,

مائساتٌ كالدُّمى في الحلل الـ

ـخضر تيهاً ومن الزُّهر حلاها

Statuesque like dolls in green garments

Wandering in its flowers and ornaments

لذّ وأديها بعيني مثلما

شغفاً قلبي المعنَّى شرفاها

I delighted seeing it with my eyes as

My passionate heart exalted its nobility

ليَ عند البرق والريح إلى

تاجها مألكة لو بلَّغاها

To its crown from the lightning and wind I have

Angels, if they reached it, would convey it

وهو البحر فراتاً فإذا

رمتُ أن أدعو لها قلت سقاها

It is the sea, so when

I wanted to call for rain for it, I called for its drink

نظر الله إلى جيرونها

وهيَ الوهد وقد طالت رباها

God looked upon its neighbors

As it is the valley, lengthening their growth

وإلى ديماسها وهو الدجى

فغدا شمسَ ضحى عمَّ سناها

And unto its plains as night's gloom

So it became the sun's morning light, encompassing its radiance

أظلمت صبحاً فلو طيفُ الكرى

في دجى بعدك أسرى ما اهتداها

Darkening the dawn, and if the celestial orb

In night's gloom after you, would not find its guidance

لم تكن غيرَ مواتٍ سحبت

فوقها السَّحبُ فأحياها حياها

It was naught but death's lands, clouds bellowing

Over it, so He gave it life, reviving it

فعلى باب البريد المشتهى

وحشةٌ لو حاز نطقاً لشكاها

So at the door of the desired courier

Loneliness, if given speech, would lament it

ولقد أنضاهُ بينٌ بزهُ

بك أثواباً من الحسن نضاها

And separation endowed it between us with robes

Of beauty, the most splendid of its robes

تسعد الأرض وتشقى حقبةً

وكذا الدنيا توالى حالتاها

The land thrives and endures an era

As days alternate with their conditions

ولئن عشتُ ومدَّت مدَّةٌ

لم يفتني شيخها لا بل فتاها

And if I live and time stretches long

I won't forget it, not even as an old man, but as a youth

أن تفز عيسي فواها للسُّرى

أو يعقها عائقٌ عنهُ فآها

As if Jesus gushed from his mouth to the chambers

Or a barrier blocked him from it, so he sighed