ماذا عَلَيكَ وَقَد نَأَيتَ دِياراً

لَو طافَ بي ذاكَ الخَيالُ فَزارا

What is it to you, now that you've left the homelands

If that apparition were to roam around and visit me

وَنَظَمتُ مِن قُبَلٍ بِصَفحَةِ جيدِهِ

عِقداً وَقَد لَبِسَ العِناقَ شِعارا

And I had threaded a necklace on the page of his cheek

Wearing a scarf around his slender neck

فيمَ التَعَلُّلُ في هَواكَ وَقَد طَوى

مِنّي الضَنى وَبِكَ النَوى أَسرارا

Why the excuses in your love when sorrow

Has folded its hems around me and your intention secrets

وَلَرُبَّما مَنَّ النَسيمُ بِنَفحَةٍ

تَندى عَلى كَبِدٍ تَذوبُ أُوارا

And sometimes the breeze would blow a breath

That dews over a melting liver fragments

وَسَأَلتُ فيكَ اللَيلَ عَن سِنَةِ الكَرى

حَتّى أَجابَني الصَباحُ سِرارا

And I asked the night about the caprice of time

Until dawn answered me with mysteries

وَسَحَبتُ أَردانَ الظَلامِ عَلى السُرى

طولاً وَمزَّقتُ الذُيولَ عِثارا

And I dragged the tent walls of darkness

At length and tore up the skirts frayed

وَوَطِئتُ دونَ الظَبيِ غابَةَ ضَيغَمٍ

غَيرانَ أَنجَدَ في الوَعيدِ وَغارا

And I walked below the gazelle thicket of Dhigham

Angry unsheathed in threat and war

أَذكى الدُجى عَن نَظرَةٍ ناراً كَما

هَزَّ الفَلا عَن زَأرَةٍ أَقطارا

I kindled the darkness about a fiery look

As the axe had shaken from a roar frontiers

فَصَمَمتُ عَنهُ وَقَد سَمِعتُ حَمامَةً

فَاِغرَورَقَت عَيني لَها اِستِعبارا

So I ignored it when I heard a dove

My eyes flashed at it with defiance

هَزَّت كَهَزّي نَصلَ سَيفي لَوعَةً

فَرَقَقتُ حاشِيَةً وَرَقَّ غِرارا

It shook me as the blade of my sword shook with agony

So I softened its cover and the cocoon scattered

وَمَلَأتُ جَفني عَبرَةً وَلَرُبَّما

أَبكَيتُهُ فَجَرى دَماً مَوّارا

And I filled my eyelids with tears and sometimes

I would cry so it flows Copiously

وَصَبا إِلَيها أَسمَرٌ أَعدَيتُهُ

فَلَوى مَعاطِفَهُ لَها تَخطارا

And morning came to it, I resented it

So it folded its cloaks for it pretentiously

وَإِذا رَقى وَرقاءَ تَحسِبُ مُقلَةً

زَرقاءَ لَم تُطبِق لَها أَشفارا

And if it climbed the hill you'd think it a blue glance

That hasn't closed its eyelids

وَمَشى يَتيهُ بِها اِختِيالاً أَجرَدٌ

في شُقرَةٍ لَو سالَ سالَ نُضارا

And an unadorned one walked conceited

In blondeness, had it inclined it would have inclined beautifully

تَستَرقِصُ الأَعطافَ مِن طَرَبٍ بِهِ

شِيَةٌ تَدورُ عَلى العُيونِ عُقارا

You examine the bends out of his infatuation

Fears circulating around the eyes harmfully

لَو كُنتَ شاهِدَهُ وَقَد مَلَأَ الفَضا

رَكضاً وَسُدَّ عَلى الكَمِيِّ قِفارا

If you had witnessed it when it had filled space

Galloping and the wasteland closed around the palms

لَرَأَيتَ في ما قَد رَأَيتَ وَقَد بَدا

ناراً تَكونُ إِذا جَرى إِعصارا

You would have seen in what you have seen when it appeared

A fire that would be when the storm flows

أَستَعطِفُ الأَسماعَ إِطراءً لَهُ

في صورَةٍ تَستَعطِفُ الأَبصارا

I entice the ears to adulate it

In an image that entices sights

وَغَمامَةٍ نَشَرَت جَناحَ حَمامَةٍ

وَالبَرقُ قَد نَسَجَ الظَلامَ نَهارا

And a cloud that spread the wing of a dove

And lightning that wove darkness daylight

مُتَأَلِّقٌ صَدعَ الدُجى وَسَقى الثَرى

فَاِبيَضَّ ذا نوراً وَذا أَنوارا

Glistening, it cracked the gloom and quenched the land

So the one shone brightly and the other lights

في أَجرُعٍ خَلفَ الرَبيعُ بِهِ اِبنَهُ

كَرَماً فَأَخصَبَ رَبوَةً وَقَرارا

In a meadow, spring left behind its son

A vineyard, so it prospered a hill and settlements

هَفَتِ الصَبا مِنهُ بِمَسرى ديمَةٍ

هَطلاءَ قَرَّ بِها العَجاجُ وَقارا

The morning breeze shook it with a lasting felicity

Pouring which the clouds restricted and settled

وَكَفَت فَسالَت فِضَّةً وَلَرُبَّما

طَبَعَت بِكُلِّ قَرارَةٍ دينارا

And it flowed molten silver and sometimes

Stamped on every nugget a dinar

نَثَلَت بِهِ زُرقُ النِطافِ سَوابِغاً

زُرقاً وَجَرَّدَتِ الشِعابُ شِفارا

It smelted with it the blue pond fully

Blue and the crests stripped their rims

فَكَأَنَّما فُلَّت هُناكَ كَتيبَةٌ

فَرَمَت بِهِ عَنها السِلاحَ فِرارا

As if a band had charged there

And cast off its weapons fleeing

أَرضٌ هَبَطَت بِها سَماءً طَلقَةً

وَخَبَطتُ مِن سَدَفٍ بِها أَنوارا

A land descended with it serenely open

And I extracted from its ceiling its lights

عاطَيتُ ذِكرَ أَبي الحُسَينِ بِها السُرى

رَيحانَةً يَشَتَمُّها مِعطارا

I gave mention of my father al-Hussein therein fortunes

Basil one smells and a pleat that had softened us euphoria

وَسُلافَةً خَفَّت بِنا طَرَباً لَها

وَاِستَرقَصَت مِن فِتيَةٍ وَمَهارى

And examined some youths and singers

The caprice of time toyed with it so it swayed

عَبِثَت بِها سِنَةُ الكَرى فَتَمايَدَت

في مُلتَقى أَسحارِها أَشجارا

At the meeting point of its dawn trees

And sometimes its ground oozed with it

وَلَرُبَّما سالَت أَباطِحُها بِها

في مُنتَحى أَنهارِها أَنهارا

In the grove of its rivers, rivers

My father al-Hussein, and I haven't called you small

أَأَبا الحُسَينِ وَما دَعَوتُ مُصَغَّراً

بِأَبي الحُسَينِ وَقَد دَعَوتُ كُبارا

With my father al-Hussein, while I called the great

Most generous to me, as you've resolved a relationship

أَعزِز عَلَيَّ وَقَد حَلَلتَ عَلاقَةً

بَينَ الجَوانِحِ أَن شَحَطَت جِوارا

Between the innards if it had cast neighbourhood

And I have beamed in you with a drawn out weeping

وَشَرِقتُ فيكَ بِعَبرَةٍ مَشبوبَةٍ

كَالبَرقِ يَقدَحُ في الغَمامَةِ نارا

Like lightning that strikes the cloud fire

And your summit, had fate allowed one night

وَعُلاكَ لَو سَمَحَ الزَمانُ بِلَيلَةٍ

مِنهُ لَظَلَّ بِصَفحَتَيهِ عِذارا

Would have stayed with its double meaning glory

Its cloaks fold with cheerful trembling

تَثني مَعاطِفَها اِهتِزازَ بَشاشَةٍ

تَترى وَخَفَّ بِها السُرورُ وَقارا

Speculated and joy in it settled with dignity.

So it deemed carrying the Pleiades a flaw

فَاِستَهجَنَت حَملَ الثُرَيّا تومَةً

وَاِستَصغَرَت لُبسَ الهِلالِ سِوارا

And considered wearing the crescent’s bracelet inferior

And time may, even in a case

وَعَسى الزَمانُ وَإِن عَسا في حالَةٍ

يَحنو فَيَدنو بِالوَزيرِ مَزارا

Incline so the minister comes closer

Thus blessings, which are the doe habits

فَمِنَ المُنى وَهوَ الغَزالَةُ سُنَّةً

لَو أَنَّني كُنتُ الهِلالَ سِرارا

If only I were the concealed crescent

You sought eulogies the length of most magnificent laudator

طُلتَ المَدائِحَ طولَ أَروَعَ ماجِدٍ

فَلَبِستَها حُلَلاً عَلَيكَ قِصارا

So you wore them on you short robes

And it suffices you that you are from the full moons of fellowships

وَكَفاكَ أَنَّكَ مِن بُدورِ مَعاشِرٍ

طَلَعوا لِأَوَّلِ لَيلَةٍ أَقمارا

That rose to the first night stars

And if every fading away from you

وَلَئِن عَدَتني عَنكَ كُلُّ تَنوفَةٍ

يَهفو لَها قَلبُ السَرابِ حِذارا

To which the mirage’s heart fearful flees

Sometimes noble youths have frequented my side

فَلَرُبَّما طَرَقَت جَنابي فِتيَةٌ

كَرُموا جِواراً في العُلا وَنِجارا

Who honored vicinity whether gloriously or carpentering

Nobles fluttering in the backs of howdahs

نُجَباءُ تَخفِقُ في ظُهورِ نَجائِبٍ

ما إِن تَضِلُّ وَقَد مَثَلنَ مَنارا

Whom when they stray have exemplified lighthouses

With them they split the darkness’s ceiling midnights

صَدَعَت بِهِم سُجفَ الظَلامِ أَجادِلٌ

لَزِمَت بِهِم أَكوارَها أَوكارا

Its dens have clung unto them burrows

So a hello stretched out to me with the convoy

فَسَرَت إِلَيَّ مَعَ الرِكابِ تَحِيَّةٌ

عَقَدَت عَلَيَّ لَها العُلى أَزرارا

Which for it highness a bracelet knotted

A jolting one bent to me with honor’s kindness

هَزّازَةٌ ناءَت بِعَطفي عِزَّةٍ

حَتّى جَرَرتُ عَلى المَجَرِّ إِزارا

Until I dragged on the course a garment

The felony of a tyrannous time’s disposal roared

هَدَرَت جِنايَةُ صَرفِ دَهرٍ جائِرٍ

نَفَضَ المَشيبَ بِعارِضَيَّ غُبارا

Having shaken gray hair on my temples soil

So when I incline, I have no comfort, but

فَإِذا حَنَوتُ فَلا سَلَوتُ فَإِنَّما

أَنتَ القَريبُ وَإِن شَحَطتَ دِيارا

You are near even if homelands have receded