طلَعْتِ ربيعاً من ربيع وأربُعِ

وطالعتِ أهلاً من مَصيفٍ ومَرْبَعِ

You emerged in spring from springtime and multiplied,

And you rose as kin from summer and quadrupled.

منازلُ أستسقي السماءَ لأهلِها

وإن كنّ يستسقينَ للأرضِ أدمُعي

My abodes ask the sky for rain for its people,

Even though my tears ask the land for them.

على أنّ ما ضمتْ هوادجُهُم سوى

فؤادي لا ضمّتْ سوى عوْجِ أضلُعي

For their bosoms contained only my heart,

Not my crooked ribs.

وما خدَعوني باللِوى غيرَ أنهُم

لوَوْا نحو المطامعِ أخدَعي

They did not fool me with affection, except they

Inclined to greed my guileless.

وقاسَمني في أن يقاسِمَني النّوى

رشا معهُ قلبي وأشواقُه مَعي

And he shared with me to share with me good will,

Sprinkling my heart and its passions with me.

دعاهُ غَرامي للوصالِ فلم يُجِبْ

نداءَ مَشوقٍ قد أجابَ وما دُعي

My love called him to union but he did not answer

The call of a longing one who had answered though not called.

وفي كبدي أستغفرُ الله لوعةٌ

الى مولعٍ عنّي بما هو مولَعُ

And in my liver I ask Allah's forgiveness for a torment

To one passionately in love whom I passionately loved.

يناصبُني في الحبِّ والحبُّ حاكمٌ

يجوّزُ لي في الناصِبيّ تشيُّعي

He makes war on me in love, and love is the judge

Who permits me to take partisans in my war on him.

ومنتصر في منع مقلوبِ عقرب

بما تحتَه من لَسْعِ مقلوبِ بُرْقُعِ

And he is victorious in preventing my overturned scorpion

With what is under it of the sting of an overturned wrap.

أبت شمسُه إلا الغروبَ وقد سَما

لها مُكلِفي من كلّ عضو بيُوشَعِ

His sun refused but to set though

My limbs had vowed ritual prayer to it.

ولي من نَدى من لا يَدي أمرَ مُهجٍ

من لم يوقع بها قلت أوقعِ

And I have the dew of one whose command my love-sick one

Did not obey when I said obey!

وليل نزعْنا منهُ عن متجهّمٍ

أغمِّ القَفا والوجهُ ليس بأنزَعِ

And we stripped the night of a frowner

The back of his head and face not being stripped.

تأبّى ذراعُ الليثِ أن يعتَلي به

لنا ذنَبُ السرْحانِ مقدارَ إصبَعِ

The foreleg of a lion refused that we climb on it

While the tail of a goat is the measure of a finger to us.

فلما ارتمَتْ كفُّ الصَديعِ بأنجمٍ

قواريرُها قد أوذِنَتْ بالتصدّع

So when the hand of one scattering stars faltered

Its pots had warned of cracking.

دعاني السَرى أتعبتَ طِرْفَكَ فاسترحْ

وقال الكَرى أسهرتَ طَرْفَكَ فاهْجَعِ

My bed calls me: you have wearied your eye so rest,

And my pillow says: you have not slept, so sleep!

وإني وإيضاعي وإشرافَ همّتي

لأعلمُ عند الأشرفِ النَدْبِ موضِعي

But I and my wakefulness and the rising of my concerns—

I know in the noblest wakefulness the place of my call.

أنالُ به ما شئتُ غيرَ مُمانعٍ

على أنني ما شئتُ غيرُ ممنّعِ

With it I attain what I want with none preventing,

For what I wanted was not prevented.

ويطمعُ في شأوي أناسٌ تنافَسوا

على مَطعِمٍ في راحتيْهِ ومُطْمِعِ

And people who competed

For a portion in my ease and gain hope in my affairs.

سكنتُ فقد ظنوا احتقاريَ شأنَهُمُ

سكونُ تخشٍّ منهمُ أو تخشّعِ

I fell silent so they thought slighting them was

My silence, fearing them or being cowed.

أيُلْحِدُ في فضلي امرؤ لو أمتُّهُ

لأويسَ بالإلحادِ مرجوّ مَرْجِعِ

Does a man blaspheme against my superiority? If I wished

I would despair of his blasphemy, hoping for return.

إليكَ قطعتُ البحرَ أطوي سجلَّهُ

فيا بحرُ أسْجِلْ لي بحظي وأقْطِعِ

To you I crossed the sea folding its register

So O sea register my share for me and apportion!

وما بي الى الأوطانِ هجرة مِقْلَعِ

ولا لي عن الأوطارِ هجرةُ مُقلِعِ

I have no emigration to homelands

Nor any emigration from homelands.

ولولاك لم أبرح قصيّاً ولم أجد

قصيّاً فأدعو فضلَهُ بمُجمّعِ

But for you I would not have left, finding

No exile, so I call his excellence in a whole group.

نطقت بإعرابِ المقاديرِ مُفصِحاً

فيا سيبويهِ اخْفِضْ بلفظِكَ وارفعِ

You spoke with the syntax of destiny eloquently

So O Sibuwayh, in your words lower and raise!

نصبت لما شادتْ تميمٌ بناءَهُ

من المجدِ ركنَ السؤدد المترفِّعِ

You established when Tameem built

The pillar of continual loftiness from glory.

فضائلُ دعْ حصناً فما زالَ حابسٌ

يفوقُ بها مِرْداسَ في كل مَجْمَعِ

Virtues, leave a fortress so it still imprisons,

Surpassing thereby every assembly in all groups.

وأنتَ تتبعتَ الألى بمآثرٍ

تُثيرُ عجاجَ السّبْقِ في وجهِ تُبّعِ

And you followed great deeds raising

The emulous of precedence over Tubba's face.

فإحكامُ أحْكامٍ تقولُ مُبادراً

لها مشرعُ الخطّيّ ما شئتَ فاشْرِعِ

So the perfection of judgments saying readily

For them the lawgiver: what you wish, enact!

وعدلُ قضاءِ لا يميلُ به الهوى

لإرضاءِ سنيٍّ ولا مُتشيِّعِ

And the justice of judgment that desire does not incline

To please a Sunni or Shiite.

وفضلُ خطابٍ مُعجزٍ وخطابُه

روى كلُّ صِقْعٍ عنهما فضلَ مصْقع

And the surpassing eloquence of an unmatchable sermon, both

Quenching every region about them, the elite of every elite.

وظنّ كأنّ السّمعَ والعينَ شاهَدا

ومن أجلِ هذا قيلَ ذا ظنُّ ألْمَعي

You would think hearing and sight witnessed

And for this reason it was said: This, conjecturing, touches.

فيا حَسَناً قد أصبحَ الإسمُ وصْفَهُ

فأصبحَ من وجهينِ أحسنَ من دُعي

O you beautiful one, now beauty has become its attribute

So it became of two faces more beautiful than the called.

تنزهتُ في دينه عن دنيّةٍ

وشمّرتُ في دُرّاعهِ عن مدرّعِ

I withdrew in his religion from baseness

And hitched up his gown from a coat of mail.

فلحظُك للديوانِ أيقِظْهُ يحترسْ

ولفظك للإيوان جرِّدهُ يقطعِ

So your glance for the office rouses it, beware,

And your words for the hall, ready it for cutting.

وطالعْ محيّا النحْر منك بمنظرٍ

أدامَ إليهِ طرفَهُ بالتطلّع

And behold His slain purified by you with a look

That keeps its eyes always lift up to it.

كذا البيتُ قد لبّيتُ والهَدْيُ واجبٌ

عليّ لأني قائلٌ بالتمتّعِ

Thus the house I frequented, the sacrifice obligatory

For me since I am one saying enjoy.

ولم أقتنعْ بالفرْضِ فالفضلُ إنّما

يكونُ إذا حققتَهُ للتّطوّعِ

I did not satisfy myself with the duty, for favor is only

When you perfect it beyond obligation.

لسانيَ لا يعْيا وغيرُك سمعُهُ

لغفلتِه يُعْيي اللسانَ ولا يَعي

My tongue does not tire though others' hearing

Tires it by their heedlessness, and it does not perceive.