لِمَن طَلَلٌ لَم أُشجِهِ وَشَجاني

وَهاجَ الهَوى أَو هاجَهُ لِأَلوانِ

For whom is a long separation though it grieved me not,

Whose ruins are these? I wronged them not, yet they brought me grief,

And passion surged or it surged for various colors?

And passion was stirred—or perhaps passion stirred them—by their shifting hues.

بَلى فَازدَهَتني لِلصِبا أَريَحِيَّةٌ

يَمانِيَّةٌ إِنَّ السَماحَ يَماني

Rather, a young gazelle of Yemen enchanted me,

Nay, but a spirited impulse of youth seized me,

A Yemeni one, for the generous are Yemeni.

A Yemeni spirit, for true generosity is Yemeni born.

وَلَو شِئتُ قَد دارَت بِذي قَرقَلٍ يَدي

مِنَ اللَمسِ إِلّا مِن يُدَيِّ حَصانِ

Had I wished, my hands would have fondled the smooth skinned,

Had I wished, my hand could have embraced a beauty in silk,

Except for the hands of a steed or beautiful women.

A touch denied, save for the hands of the chaste.

وَلَكِنَّني عاهَدتُ مَن لا أَخونُهُ

فَأَيُّ وَفِيٍّ يا يَزيدُ تَراني

But I made a pact with one I will not betray,

But I have pledged a covenant to one I shall not betray;

So what faithful person, O Yazid, do you see me as?

So what manner of loyal friend, O Yazid, do you see in me?

وَخِرقٍ يَجِلُّ الكَأسَ عَن مَنطِقِ الخَنا

وَيُنزِلُها مِنهُ بِكُلِّ مَكانِ

And a liquor drinker who lifts the cup from the circle of booze,

I am a noble soul who exalts the wine-cup above vulgar speech,

And brings it down everywhere from it.

And grants it its rightful dignity in every gathering.

تَراهُ لَما ساءَ النَدامى ابنَ عَلَّةٍ

وَلِلشَيءِ لَذّوهُ رَضيعَ لِبانِ

When the repentant became miserable, son of disgrace,

You see him as a distant stranger to that which vexes his boon companions,

And the infant sucked its sweetness for milk.

But to that which delights them, he is a brother nursed at the same breast.

إِذا هُوَ أَلقى الكَأسَ يُمناهُ خانَهُ

أَماويتُ فيها وَارتِعاشُ بَنانِ

When he cast the cup aside, it betrayed its right,

When he sets down the cup, his right hand betrays him,

I wavered in it and the fingertips trembled.

Amidst the swirling mix within and the trembling of fingertips.

تَمَنَّعتُ مِنهُ ثُمَّ أَقصَرَ باطِلي

وَصَمَّمتُ كَالجاري بِغَيرِ عِنانِ

I refused it then my vain efforts shortened,

I abstained from it, and my folly came to an end,

And I resolved like an unrestrained slave girl.

And I charged forward like a steed rushing without reins.

وَعَنسٍ كَمِرداةِ القِذافِ ابتَذَلتُها

لِبِكرٍ مِنَ الحاجاتِ أَو لِعَوانِ

And an old maid degraded like a whore’s stirrup,

Upon a sturdy she-camel, like a hurled stone, which I wore down

For an unmarried man or for helpers.

In pursuit of needs both virgin-new and long-recurring.

فَلَمّا قَضَت نَفسي مِنَ السَيرِ ما قَضَت

عَلى ما بَلَت مِن شِدَّةٍ وَلَيانِ

So when my soul fulfilled what it fulfilled,

And when my soul had satisfied its measure of journeying,

Through the severity and twists it reached.

Through all it endured of hardship and ease,

أَخَذتُ بِحَبلٍ مِن حِبالِ مُحَمَّدٍ

أَمِنتُ بِهِ مِن نائِبِ الحَدَثانِ

I took the rope of Muhammad’s ropes,

I grasped a cord from the sturdy ropes of Muhammad,

I felt safe with it from the vicissitudes of events.

Finding safety thereby from the calamities of Fortune.

تَغَطَّيتُ مِن دَهري بِظِلِّ جَناحِهِ

فَعَيني تَرى دَهري وَلَيسَ يَراني

I covered myself in the shade of his wing from my fate,

I hid myself from my Age beneath the shadow of his wing,

So my eye sees my fate but it does not see me.

So my eye beholds the Age, yet the Age sees me not.

فَلَو تَسأَلَ الأَيّامَ ما اسمي لَما دَرَت

وَأَينَ مَكاني ما عَرَفنَ مَكاني

If the days were asked what my name is, they would not know,

Were you to ask the Days my name, they would not know,

And where is my place, they would not know my place.

Nor would they know my dwelling, nor where I abide.

أَذَلَّ صِعابَ المُشكِلاتِ مُحَمَّدٌ

فَأَصبَحَ مَمدوحاً بِكُلِّ لِسانِ

Muhammad made the difficulties of problems subside,

Muhammad has humbled the most stubborn of difficulties,

So he became praised by every tongue.

Becoming the praised one upon every tongue.

يُجَلُّ عَنِ التَشبيهِ جودُ مُحَمَّدٍ

إِذا مَرِحَت كَفّاهُ بِالهَطَلانِ

Muhammad's generosity is too lofty for comparison,

The generosity of Muhammad transcends all comparison,

When his palms rain with gifts.

When his palms rejoice in their torrential giving.

يُغِبُّكَ مَعروفُ السَماءِ وَكَفُّهُ

تَجودُ بِسَحِّ العُرفِ كُلَّ أَوانِ

The heavens' favors and his palm make you oblivious,

The sky's bounty may visit you intermittently, but his palm

It is generous with the nectar of palms at all times.

Pours forth a continuous rain of kindness at every hour.

وَإِن شَبَّتِ الحَربَ العُوانُ سَما لَها

بِصَولَةِ لَيثٍ في مَضاءِ سِنانِ

And if the aid of spears grew firm in war, for it

And if fierce war is kindled, he rises to meet it

With the boldness of a lion in the striking of its canines.

With the assault of a lion and the resolve of a spearhead.

فَلا أَحَدٌ أَسخى بِمُهجَةِ نَفسِهِ

عَلى المَوتِ مِنهُ وَالقَنا مُتَدانِ

So no one is more openhanded with his soul’s sacrifice,

No one is more lavish with his very lifeblood

For death and the spears are outstretched.

In the face of death, when the lances draw near.

خَلَفتَ أَبا عُثمانَ في كُلِّ صالِحٍ

وَأَقسَمتُ لا يَبني بَناءَكَ بانِ

You succeeded Abu Uthman in every righteousness,

You have succeeded Abu Uthman in every virtue,

And I swore none will build your building after you.

And I swear that no builder shall ever raise a structure like yours.