سَعِدَت غَربَةُ النَوى بِسُعادِ

فَهيَ طَوعُ الإِتهامِ وَالإِنجادِ

The exile of separation grew happy through Suʿād,

for she submits alike to Tihama and to Najd.

فارَقَتنا وَلِلمَدامِعِ أَنوا

ءٌ سَوارٍ عَلى الخُدودِ غَوادِ

She left us, and tears became rain-

clouds coursing over cheeks morning after morning.

كُلَّ يَومٍ يَسفَحنَ دَمعاً طَريفاً

يَمتَري مُزنَهُ بِشَوقٍ تَلادِ

Every day they pour a fresh flood of tears,

milking its cloud with an ancient longing.

واقِعاً بِالخُدودِ وَالحِرُّ مِنهُ

واقِعٌ بِالقُلوبِ وَالأَكبادِ

They fall upon the cheeks, while their heat

falls upon hearts and livers.

وَعَلى العيسِ خُرَّدٌ يَتَبَسَّم

نَ عَنِ الأَشنَبِ الشَتيتِ البُرادِ

And on the white camels, sheltered maidens smile,

revealing cool, sweet, evenly spaced teeth.

كانَ شَوكَ السَيالِ حُسناً فَأَمسى

دونَهُ لِلفِراقِ شَوكُ القَتادِ

The thorns of the sayāl once seemed beautiful; now

the thorns of qatād stand before it in separation.

شابَ رَأسي وَما رَأَيتُ مَشيبَ ال

رَأسِ إِلّا مِن فَضلِ شَيبِ الفُؤادِ

My head has greyed, though I never saw the greying of the

head except through the heart’s prior greying.

وَكَذاكَ القُلوبُ في كُلِّ بُؤسٍ

وَنَعيمٍ طَلائِعُ الأَجسادِ

So too, in every misery

and bliss, hearts are the bodies’ advance guard.

طالَ إِنكارِيَ البَياضَ وَإِن عُم

مِرتُ حيناً أَنكَرتُ لَونَ السَوادِ

Long have I denied the whiteness; and if I am granted

longer life, I shall come to deny the color black.

نالَ رَأسي مِن ثُغرَةِ الهَمِّ ما لَم

يَستَنِلهُ مِن ثُغرَةِ الميلادِ

My head gained from care’s breach what it never

gained from the opening of birth.

زارَني شَخصُهُ بِطَلعَةِ ضَيمٍ

عَمَّرَت مَجلِسي مِنَ العُوّادِ

Its specter visited me with an aspect of oppression

that filled my gathering with callers on the sick.

يا أَبا عَبدَ اللَهِ أَورَيتَ زَنداً

في يَدي كانَ دائِمَ الإِصلادِ

O Abū ʿAbd Allāh, you struck fire from a flint

in my hand that had always refused to spark.

أَنتَ جُبتَ الظَلامَ عَن سُبُلِ الآ

مالِ إِذ ضَلَّ كُلُّ هادٍ وَحادِ

You pierced the darkness from the pathways of

hope, when every guide and driver had lost the way.

فَكَأَنَّ المُغِذَّ فيها مُقيمٌ

وَكَأَنَّ الساري عَلَيهِنَّ غادِ

So one who hastens along them seems to be staying,

and the night traveler upon them seems already morning-bound.

وَضِياءُ الآمالِ أَفسَحُ في الطَر

فِ وَفي القَلبِ مِن ضِياءِ البِلادِ

The radiance of hopes reaches farther in the eye

and in the heart than the radiance of lands.

كانَ في الأَجفَلى وَفي النَقَرى عُر

فُكَ نَضرَ العُمومِ نَضرَ الوِحادِ

In hospitality to all and invitation to the few, your bene-

ficence blooms for the multitude and for each one.

وَمِنَ الحَظِّ في العُلى خُضرَةُ المَعرو

فِ في الجَمعِ مِنهُ وَالإِفرادِ

Fortune’s share in eminence is the green growth of kind-

ness, both in the whole and in the single gift.

كُنتُ عَن غَرسِهِ بَعيداً فَأَدنَت

ني إِلَيهِ يَداكَ عِندَ الجِدادِ

I had been far from its planting, but your hands brought

me near it at harvest time.

ساعَةً لَو تَشاءُ بِالنِصفِ فيها

لَمَنَعتَ البِطاءَ خَصلَ الجِيادِ

For one hour, if you chose fairness in the matter,

you would deny slow steeds the forelocks of thoroughbreds.

لَزِموا مَركَزَ النَدى وَذَراهُ

وَعَدَتنا عَن مِثلِ ذاكَ العَوادي

They held fast to largesse’s center and its heights,

while adversities kept us from the like of that.

غَيرَ أَنَّ الرُبى إِلى سُبُلِ الأَنوا

ءِ أَدنى وَالحَظُّ حَظُّ الوِهادِ

Yet hills lie nearer the pathways of the rain-

clouds, while fortune is the valleys’ fortune.

بَعدَما أَصلَتَ الوُشاةُ سُيوفاً

قَطَعَت فِيَّ وَهيَ غَيرُ حِدادِ

After the informers had unsheathed swords

that cut into me though they had no edge—

مِن أَحاديثَ حينَ دَوَّختَها بِالرَأ

يِ كانَت ضَعيفَةَ الإِسنادِ

mere tales which, once you subdued them by sound judg-

ment, proved feeble in their chain of transmission—

فَنَفى عَنكَ زُخرُفَ القَولِ سَمعٌ

لَم يَكُن فُرصَةً لِغَيرِ السَدادِ

an ear of yours rejected the gilding of their speech,

an ear that offered no opening to anything but right.

ضَرَبَ الحِلمُ وَالوَقارُ عَلَيهِ

دونَ عورِ الكَلامِ بِالأَسدادِ

Forbearance and dignity raised over it

barriers against the shame of speech.

وَحَوانٍ أَبَت عَلَيها المَعالي

أَن تُسَمّى مَطِيَّةَ الأَحقادِ

And a restraint embraced me—high honor refused

to let it be called the mount of rancor.

وَلَعَمري أَن لَو أَصَختُ لِأَقدَم

تُ لِحَتفي ضَغينَةَ الحُسّادِ

By my life, had I listened, I would have gone forward

to my death, driven by the rancor of the envious.

حَمَلَ العِبءَ كاهِلٌ لَكَ أَمسى

لِخُطوبِ الزَمانِ بِالمِرصادِ

A shoulder has borne the burden for you and now stands

watch against the calamities of time:

عاتِقٌ مُعتَقٌ مِنَ الهونِ إِلّا

مِن مُقاساةِ مَغرَمٍ أَو نِجادِ

a shoulder freed from abasement, except

for enduring a debt or wearing a sword-belt.

لِلحَمالاتِ وَالحَمائِلِ فيهِ

كَلُحوبِ المَوارِدِ الأَعدادِ

For burdens undertaken and sword-straps borne, it bears

tracks like the well-worn approaches to crowded springs.

مُلِّئَتكَ الأَحسابُ أَيُّ حَياءٍ

وَحَيا أَزمَةٍ وَحَيَّةِ وادِ

Noble lineages have filled you—with what modesty,

what rain in crisis, what serpent of the valley!

لَو تَراخَت يَداكَ عَنها فُواقاً

أَكَلَتها الأَيّامُ أَكلَ الجَرادِ

If your hands relaxed from them for one milking’s pause,

the days would devour them like locusts.

أَنتَ ناضَلتَ دونَها بِعَطايا

رائِحاتٍ عَلى العُفاةِ غَوادي

You defended them with gifts

going morning after morning to those who plead.

فَإِذا هُلهِلَ النَوالُ أَتَتنا

ذاتَ نَيرَينِ مُطبِقاتُ الأَيادي

So when bounty is worn threadbare, there come to us

your encompassing hands, a cloth woven on twin beams.

كُلُّ شَيءٍ غَثٌّ إِذا عادَ وَال

مَعروفُ غَثٌّ ما كانَ غَيرَ مُعادِ

Everything grows meager when repeated—but kind-

ness is meager only when it is not repeated.

كادَتِ المَكرُماتُ تَنهَدُّ لَولا

أَنَّها أُيِّدَت بِخَيرِ أَيادِ

Noble deeds nearly collapsed, had they not

been upheld by the best of hands.

عِندَهُم فُرجَةُ اللَهيفِ وَتَص

ديقُ ظُنونِ الزُوّارِ وَالرُوّادِ

With them is relief for the anguished, and the con-

firming of visitors’ and petitioners’ hopes:

بِأَحاظي الجُدودِ لا بَل بِوَش

كِ الجِدِّ لا بَل بِسُؤدَدِ الأَجدادِ

through fortunate portions—no, through the near-

ness of earnest resolve—no, through the glory of forefathers.

وَكَأَنَّ الأَعناقَ يَومَ الوَغى أَو

لى بِأَسيافِهِم مِنَ الأَغمادِ

It is as though necks on the day of battle are more

entitled to their swords than the scabbards are.

فَإِذا ضَلَّتِ السُيوفُ غَداةَ الرَو

عِ كانَت هَوادِياً لِلهَوادي

And if the swords lose their way on terror’s morn-

ing, they become guides even to the guides.

قَد بَثَثتُم غَرسَ المَوَدَّةِ وَالشَح

ناءِ في قَلبِ كُلِّ قارٍ وَبادِ

You have scattered the seed of love and ran-

cor in the heart of every settled man and nomad.

أَبغَضوا عِزَّكُم وَوَدّوا نِداكُم

فَقَرَوكُم مِن بِغضَةٍ وَوِدادِ

They hated your might and loved your bounty;

so they hosted you out of hatred and affection.

لا عَدَمتُم غَريبَ مَجدٍ رَبَقتُم

في عُراهُ نَوافِرَ الأَضدادِ

May you never lack a wondrous glory in whose bonds

you have yoked together the opposites that shy apart.