أَلاَ قُلْ لِعبدِاللَّهِ عَنِّي مَقَالَةً

تَدُلُّ عَلَى وِدِّي وصِدْقِ وَلائِي

Say to Abdullah from me some words

That show my affection and my loyalty's truth

أيَا خَيرَ مَنْ أُوتِي نَصِيباً من العُلاَ

وزِيدَ بِهِ في عِدَّةِ الكُبَرَاءِ

O best of those granted a share of highness

And with it increased among the great ones

وَحَقِّكَ ما تَرْكِي مَدِيحَكَ ضِنَّةً

عَلَيكَ بِتَقريظِي ولا بثَنَائِي

By right you owe me not to stint my praise of you

Whether by glorifying you or extolling you

ولا مَدْحَ من كَلَّفْتَنِي بامتِدَاحِهِ

وإنْ كَانَ مَحفُوفاً بِفَرطِ هِجَائِي

Nor praise of one whom you charged me to praise

Even if fraught with excess of my zeal

فإنِّي وإنْ أصْبحتُ والشِّعرُ حِرْفَتِي

وكُنتُ امرأً من سَائِرِ الشُّعَرَاءِ

For even if I become, and poetry's my craft,

A man among all the poets

لأسْلُكُ نَهْجاً في الوَفَاءِ يُريكَ مَنْ

تَقَدَّمَ من أهْلِ الوَفَاءِ ورَائِي

I'll follow a course of loyalty that shows you one

Who went before of loyalty's people behind me

وإنَّ يداً أوليْتَنِيها وإنْ مَضى

بِها الدَّهرُ باقٍ ذِكرُهَا ببقائي

And a hand you empowered me with, and if

Time passed, its memory stays with my survival

أرَاكَ بِعَيْنَيْ عاجِزٍ عَنْ جَزَائِهَا

فَيصرُفُ وَجْهِيَ عَنْ لِقَاكَ حَيَائِي

I see you with the eye of one incapable of repaying it

So my face turns from meeting you in my shyness

فَلَسْتُ امرأً إنْ غَابَ غَابَ وَفَاؤُهُ

ولكنَّنِي إنْ أنأ يدْن وفَائِي

So I'm no man if, when absent, absent is his loyalty

But I’m one who, if I forget, forgets my loyalty

وأنتَ الذي لَمْ يَبْقَ في مَنْهَلِ النَّدَى

لِمَنْ جَاءَ يَسْخُو بعدَ سُور إنَاءِ

And you're one in whose spring of dew didn't remain

For one come to draw after the walls' enclosure

عَمَمْتَ ولَمْ تَخْصُصْ بفَضلِكَ فاغتَدَتْ

لَكَ البُعَدَاءُ الغُرْبُ كالقُرَبَاءِ

You were generous and didn't limit your favor so the

Distant east and west became like kin

رُوَيْداً فَلوْ غُولِبْتَ لَمْ تَأخُذِ الوَرَى

بغلبِكَ في أُكْرُومَةٍ وسَخَاءِ

Gently, for if you were tyrannical you wouldn't seize the land

By your might in wickedness and generosity

ولَوْلاَ وُجُوهٌ في القَطيف أخَافُهَا

لَمَا طَالَ بالبحرين عَنْكَ ثَوائِي

And were it not for faces in Qatif I fear

My sojourn wouldn't have been so long from you at the Gulf

وحُيِّيتَ عَنِّي ما حَضَرْتُ وإن تَغِبْ

يَزُرْكَ بِتَسليمي صَبَاحَ مَسَاءِ

And greet from me whenever I'm present and if I’m absent

My morning greeting visits you at evening