ضحكَتْ فبانَ لنا عُقودُ جُمانِ
فجلَتْ لنا فلقَ الصّباحِ الثّاني
She laughed, and the pearls of her teeth appeared
Like the rising of a second dawn to us
وتزحْزَحَتْ ظُلَمُ البراقِعِ عن سَنى
وجَناتِها فتثلّثَ القَمَرانِ
The darkness of her veils moved away from her radiance
And the two moons became three
وتحدّثَتْ فسمِعْتُ لفظاً نُطْقُه
سحرٌ ومعناهُ سُلافةُ حانِ
She spoke, and I heard words whose utterance
Was magic, and whose meaning was the flowing of fate
ورنَتْ فجرّحَتِ القُلوبَ بمُقلةً
طرْفُ السِّنانِ وطرفُها سِيّانِ
She rang, and wounded hearts with a glancing blow
Her black eye and it are equal in hitting their mark
وترنّمَتْ فشدَتْ حمائِمُ حَليِها
وكذاكَ دأبُ حَمائِمِ الأغصانِ
She hummed, and her necklaces drew tight
As is the habit of necklaces on branches
لم تلْقَ غُصْناً قبلَها من فِضّةٍ
يهتزُّ في ورَقٍ من العِقْيانِ
No branch before her was of silver
That sways with leaves of `uqyan
عربيّةٌ سعدُ العشيرةِ أصلُها
والفَرْعُ منها من بَني السّودانِ
An Arab lady, auspicious is the origin of her clan
And its branches are from the blacks of Sudan
خودٌ تُصوَّبُ عندَ رؤيةِ خدِّها
آراءُ مَنْ عكَفوا على النّيرانِ
Proud, who corrects the opinions of those
Bent over fires when seeing her cheek
يبدو محيّاها فلولا نُطْقُها
لحَسِبْتُها وثَناً من الأوثانِ
Her smile appears and were it not for her speech
I would have reckoned her an idol of idols
لم تصلِبِ القُرْطَ البريَّ لغايةٍ
إلّا لتنصُرَ دولةَ الصُّلبانِ
She wore the Christian earring not for any purpose
Except to champion the state of the crucaders
وكذاك لم تضْعُفْ جُفونُ عُيونِها
إلّا لتَقوى فِتنةُ الشيطانِ
And she did not weaken her eyelids
Except to strengthen the seduction of Satan
خلخالُها يُخفي الأنينَ وقرطُها
قلِقٌ كقَلْبِ الصّبِّ في الخَفقانِ
Her anklet conceals groans, and her earring
Is restless like the heart of a lover in throbbing
تهوى الأهلّةُ أن تُصاغَ أساوِراً
لتحِلَّ منها في محلِّ الجاني
She wishes that bracelets would be forged
For her hands from it in place of the culprit
بخِمارِها غسَقٌ وتحت لِثامِها
شفَقٌ وفي أكمامِها الفَجرانِ
With her veil is nightfall, and beneath her wrappings
Is sunset, and in her sleeves are the two dawns
سُبحانَ مَنْ بالخدِّ صوّر خالَها
فأزانَ عينَ الشّمسِ بالإنسانِ
Glory to Him who with the cheek pictured her mole
And balanced the eye of the sun with mankind
أمرَ الهَوى قلبي يَهيمُ بحبُّها
فأطاعَهُ ونَهَيْتُه فعَصاني
Passion ordered my heart distracted by love for her
And it obeyed, though I forbade it, disobeying me
هيَ في غَديرِ الشّهْدِ تخزِنُ لؤلؤاً
وأُجاجُ دَمْعي مخرَجُ المرجانِ
She in the pond of nectar stores pearls
While my tears' surges come out as coral
كثُرَتْ عليَّ العاذِلونَ بها فلَو
عدّدْتُهم ساوَوْا ذُنوبَ زَماني
Numerous are they who blame me for her, and if
I counted them, they would equal my lifetime's sins
يا قلبُ دعْ قولَ الوُشاةِ فإنّهُم
لو أنصَفوكَ لكُنتَ أعذرَ جانِ
O heart, leave the words of the slanderers, for if
They were equitable towards you, you would be most excused
أصحابُ موسى بعدَه في عِجْلِهم
فُتِنوا وأنتَ بأملَحِ الغِزلانِ
The companions of Moses after him in their haste
Were tempted, while you are with the most tempting of gazelles
عذُبَ العَذابُ بها لديّ فصحّتي
سُقْمي وعِزّي في الهَوى بهَواني
Sweet torture in her love is upon me, so my illness
And my weakness in passion became my humiliation
للّهِ نُعمانُ الأراكِ فطالَما
نعِمَتْ به روحي على نُعْمانِ
To God belong the Meadows of Al-Arak, for my soul
Has long delighted in them at Nu'man
وسَقى الحَيا بمنىً كِرامَ عشيرةٍ
كفَلوا صيانتَها بكُلِّ أمانِ
And the (divine) preservation has watered the protected
With honorable drink from a clan who guaranteed her protection in all safety
أهلُ الحميّةِ لا تزالُ بُدورُهم
تحمي الشّموسَ بأنْجُمِ الخِرصانِ
The people of zeal, their abodes will never cease
To protect the suns with the stars of Khorasan
أُسْدٌ تخوضُ السّابِغات رماحُهُم
خوضَ الأفاعي راكِدَ الغُدْرانِ
A lion who plies the late nights with their spears
Like serpents ploughing the darkness of betrayal
تَروى بهم رُبْدٌ كأنّ سِهامَهم
وهَبَتْ لهنّ قوادِمَ العِقْبانِ
With them a meadow is watered as if their arrows
Brought for it the arrivals of eagles
كم من مطوّقةٍ بهم تَشدو على
رَطْبِ الغُصونِ ويابِسِ العِيدانِ
How many slender waisted ones sing with them
The moisture of the tender branches and the dryness of the boughs
لانَتْ معاطِفُهم وطابَ أريجُهم
فكأنّهم قُضُبٌ من الرّيْحانِ
Their outer garments shone and their scent wafted
As if they were rods of basil
من كلِّ واضحةٍ كأنّ جَبينَها
قبَسٌ تقنّع في خِمارِ دُخانِ
From every radiant faced one it is as if her brow
Is a gleaming candle veiled in a smoky wrapping
ويْلاهُ كم أشقى بهِم وإلى متى
فيهِم يخلَّدُ بالجَحيمِ جَناني
Woe to me! How miserable with them and for how long
Will my soul in them be immortalized in hellfire?
ولقد تصفَّحْتُ الزّمانَ وأهلَهُ
ونقَدْتُ أهلَ الحُسْنِ والإحسانِ
And I examined time and its people
And appraised the people of beauty and beneficence
فقَصَرْتُ تَشبيبي على ظَبَياتِهم
وحصَرْتُ مَدْحي في عليِّ الشّانِ
Yet I confined my passion to their gazelles
And restricted my praise to the sublime and lofty
فهُمُ دَعوني للنّسيبِ فصُغْتُه
وأبو الحُسَيْنِ إلى المَديحِ دَعاني
The substance of what its branches rained upon me
And what its tongue brought out, I made clear
ملِكٌ عليّ إذا همَمْتُ بمَدْحِه
تُملي شمائِلُه بَديعَ مَعاني
I whispered to it, and through its words
The ear of Moses was ennobled, and my tongue's knot was untied
جارَيْتُ أهلَ النّظْمِ تحتَ ثَنائِه
فتَلَوْا وحلْبَتُهُم خُيولُ رِهانِ
Forgiving, whenever you wish to describe its attainment
Speak without embarrassment, even of the deluge
مضمونُ ما نثرَتْ عليّ بنانُه
ولِسانُه أبرَزْتُه ببَيانِ
Use the sea for it, and the clouds for its name
And the moon, and the Pleiades, not so and so
ناجَيْتُه فتشرّفَتْ بكلامِه
أُذُنُ الكَليمِ وحُلَّ عَقْدُ لِساني
Its hungry wolves became stuffed carcasses
Filled with the entrails of crows
سَمْحٌ إذا ما شِئْتَ وصفَ نَوالِه
حدِّثْ ولا حرَجٌ عن الطّوفانِ
A hero who shows you, when its coat of mail is removed
The lion of the lair in the garb of a serpent
بالبحرِ كَنِّ وبالغَمامِ عن اِسمِه
والبدرِ والضِّرغامِ لا بفلانِ
Sipping the late night drink from the blades for it
Is sipping reddened wine from flashing teeth
صرعَتْ ثعالبُه الأسودَ فأصبحَتْ
محشوّةً بحواصلِ الغِربانِ
It rests from the falling of swords upon the skulls
As if their ringing were songs
بطلٌ يُريكَ إذا تحلّل دِرعُه
أسدَ العرين بحلّةِ الثّعبانِ
And it sees the reddened tips of lances as the red (lips)
Of wild cows, and the whiteness of Indian swords as gazelles
رشفُ النّجيعِ من الأسنّة عندَه
رشَفاتُ حُمرِ بوارِقِ الأسنانِ
It could not enjoy any strings but
The strings of every melodious and flexible lutist
يرتاحُ من وقْعِ السّيوفِ على الطُلا
حتّى كأنّ صليلَهُنّ أغاني
A horn that matches its fortune with its sword
So it returns successful, slaughtering its peers
ويرى كُعوبَ السُّمرِ سُمرَ كَواعبٍ
وذُكور بيضِ الهِند بيضَ غَواني
A shouter whom the myrtle sways to the dew
In it is the creeping of intoxication with aromatics
لم يستطِعْ وتَراً يلَذُّ له سوى
أوتارِ كلِّ حَنيّةٍ مِرنانِ
Of ease that is wounds for the enemy
And what ease is there for the wretched?
قِرْنٌ يقارنُ حظَّهُ بحُسامِه
فيعودُ سعداً ذابحَ الأقرانِ
Since houses of wealth were inhabited
Meadows of dew and love songs were in them
صاحٍ تدبُّ الأريحيّةُ للنّدى
فيهِ دَبيبَ السُّكْرِ بالنّشوانِ
For fate there are spheres that rotate in its palm
And people reckon them as the lines of the hand
ذو راحةٍ هي للعِدى جرّاحةٌ
أعيَتْ وأيّةُ راحةٍ للعاني
They turned, so in you are its night and its day
Dots and flashes of lightning and pointing with fingers
أقوَتْ بُيوتُ المالِ منذُ تعمّرتْ
فيها رُبوعٌ للنّدى ومَغانِ
Rings of favor that in his hands have become
Like finger rings, the knocking of the young
للدّهرِ أفلاكٌ تدورُ بكفِّه
والنّاسُ تحسَبُها خُطوطَ بَنانِ
With ill fortune it ordains, and good fortune, so the people
Between fear and safety, are from them
دارَتْ فعندَك ليلُها ونهارُها
نقْعٌ ولمْعُ مهنّدٍ وسِنانِ
In its ladder, the full moons sink, and in panic
With falling stars it pelts the horsemen
أطواقُ فضلٍ كالخواتمِ أصبحتْ
بيَدَيْهِ وهْي طوارقُ الحِدْثانِ
It brought smiles to the world like what
It brought of tears to swords and eyes of gazelles
بالنّحسِ تقضي والسعادةِ فالورى
منهنّ بين تخوّفٍ وأمانِ
A free man born of the lineage of Mudlib
After the tribes of Adnan
في سِلمِها تهَبُ البُدورَ وفي الوغى
بالشُّهْبِ تقذفُ ماردَ الفُرسانِ
Of Hashim, the people of glorious deeds, piety
Commanding right, forbidding wrong, and faith
قد أضحكَ الدُنيا سُروراً مثلَ ما
أبكى السّيوفَ وأعيُنَ الغِزلانِ
The house of prophethood, messengership, guidance
Revelation, the sending down, and the Criterion
حُرٌّ تولّد من سُلالةِ مطلَبٍ
خلَف الأيمّةِ من بني عَدنانِ
A people whom the tent poles of glory stood straight in
And the faith became firmly rooted in foundations
من هاشمٍ أهلِ المَفاخرِ والتُقى
والأمرِ بالمعروفِ والإيمانِ
They stayed up the night watching, and opposed
Passion's order in obedience to the Merciful
بيتِ النبوّةِ والرسالةِ والهُدى
والوحيِ والتّنزيل والفُرقانِ
All of them the full moon obliged their faces
To bear the mark of prostration, so it increased in brilliance
قَومٌ تقوّمَ فيهم أودُ العُلا
وَالدّينُ أصبحَ آبدَ الأركانِ
Spirits of light in time, their existence
Is spirit for this corporeal world
قد حالَفوا سهرَ العيون وخالَفوا
أمرَ الهَوى في طاعةِ الرّحمنِ
Peers of war, whenever they joined against
The timid, it reckoned them fierce lions
من كلّ مَنْ كالبَدرِ كلّفَ وجهَهُ
أثرَ السّجودِ فزادَ في اللّمعانِ
They wore their coats of mail for safety
Of honor, not for safety of bodies
أشباحُ نورٍ في الزّمانِ وجودُهم
روحٌ لهذا العالَمِ الجِسماني
And they bore the stab of spears because they
Do not carry the accusations of hatred
أقرانُ حربٍ كلّما اِقترَنوا لدى ال
هَيجاءِ تحسَبُهم لُيوثَ قِرانِ
Blessings upon you for a child you flowed in their wake
And reached their limit in every place
لبِسوا سوابغَهُم لأجل سلامةِ ال
أعراضِ لا لسلامةِ الأبْدانِ
You renewed their traces of glorious deeds
And inherited what they preserved of the Quran
وتحمّلوا طعنَ الرِّماحِ لأنّهم
لا يحملون مطاعِنَ الشّنآنِ
My master, the most high continued to congratulate you
With the good fortune of auspicious and generous youths
بوركْتَ من ولدٍ جرَيْتَ بإثرِهم
فبلَغْتَ غايتَهُم بكلِّ مَكانِ
A purified lineage whom you increased
With light upon light, with the purity of circumcision
جدّدْتَ آثارَ المآثرِ منهمُ
ووَرِثْتَ ما حفِظوا منَ القُرآنِ
Caliphs of glory from your sons, as if
They descended to earth from the Gardens
مولايَ لا برحَتْ تُهنّيكَ العُلا
بخِتانِ غُرٍّ أكرمِ الفتيانِ
Moons of perfection whom no waning afflicts
Save by the night of the battleground's cloudiness
نُطَفٌ مطهّرةُ الذواتِ أزَدْتَهم
نوراً على نورٍ بطُهر خِتانِ
And chicks of conquest who before growing their feathers
Aspired with their talons for hunting the brave
خُلَفاءُ مجدٍ من بَنيكَ كأنّهم
للأرضِ قد هبَطوا من الرُّضوانِ
Like gems they were always carried
Above diadems or upon crowns
أقمارُ تِمٍّ لا يُوَقّى نقصها
إلّا بلَيلِ عجاجَةِ المَيدانِ
They attained though they did not reach speaking, and grasped
The maturity of elders in the prime of youth
وفِراخُ فتح قبلَ ينبُتُ ريشُها
همّتْ بصيدِ جوارحِ الشُجعانِ
They did not exceed the measure of arrows in their tallness
Yet they grew tall and ascended above the lofty
مثل اللآلي لم تزلْ محمولةً
فوقَ التّراقي أو على التّيجانِ
Sparks hid in your flints when they sparked
They became joyful suns and moons
بلغوا وما بلغوا الكلامَ فأدرَكوا
رُشْدَ الكُهولِ بغرّةِ الصِّبيانِ
Lights plucked to return to encounter
As flames melting away hatreds
ما جاوَزوا قدرَ السِّهامِ بطولِهم
فتطوّلوا وسمَوْا على المُرّانِ
They will restore to you the High Lands and the fort
And in your hands every day will witness spears
شررٌ توارَتْ في زِنادِك إذ وَرَتْ
أمسَتْ شُموسَ مسرّةٍ وتَهانِ
And the white falcons will laugh at them with their claws
The laughter of lightning in a gathering of clouds
قبَساتُ أنوارٍ تعودُ إلى اللِّقا
شُعَلاً تُذيبُ مواضِعَ الأضغانِ
And their spears will incline from the wine of late night
Like the intoxicated in the flowing of casks
ستردُّ عنكَ المشرفيّةَ والقَنا
ولدَيْكَ تشهَدُ كلَّ يومِ طِعانِ
So join and stay with them in most ample prosperity
And most delicious life in most excellent assembly
وستضْحَكُ البيضُ الظُّبا بأكفّهم
ضحك البُروقِ بعارضٍ هتّانِ
وتَميلُ من خَمر النّجيعِ رماحُهم
مثلَ السُّكارى في سُلافِ دِنانِ
فاِسْلَمْ ودُمْ معهم بأسبغِ نعمةٍ
وألذِّ عيشٍ في أتمِّ تَدانِ
