أَقَرمَ بَكرٍ تُباهي أَيُّها الحَفَضُ
وَنَجمَها أَيُّهَذا الهالِكُ الحَرَضُ
The impudent braggart, O Hafadh! His star,
O doomed to perdition and confusion!
تُنحي عَلى صَخرَةٍ صَمّاءَ تَحسِبُها
عُضواً خَلَوتَ بِهِ تَبري وَتَنتَحِضُ
You lean against a deaf rock taking it to be
A trysting-place where you may kiss and cuddle.
في شامَتَينَ هُوَ الشَريُ الجَنِيُّ لَهُم
وَالصابُ وَالشَرَقُ المَسمومُ وَالجَرَضُ
The evil genius of these two assemblages
Is he - sab and sharq - the poisoned and jaundiced one.
مُخامِري حَسَدٍ ما ضَرَّ غَيرَهُمُ
كَأَنَّما هُوَ في أَبدانِهِم مَرَضُ
Fermenters of envious hatred unharming others,
As though it were a disease lurking in their bodies.
لا يَهنِىءِ العُصبَةَ المُحَمَرَّ أَعيُنُها
بِثَغرِ أَرّانَ هَذا الحادِثُ العَرَضُ
Their reddened eyes gleam not with joy at the mouth
Of this youth made happy by a transient fortune.
ضَحى الشَجا مُستَطيلاً في حُلوقِهِم
مِن بَعدِ ما جاذَبوهُ وَهوَ مُعتَرِضُ
The Pleiades rose heliacally veiled in their throats
After they had wrestled with him as he resisted.
سَهمُ الخَليفَةِ في الهَيجا إِذا سُعِرَت
بِالبيضِ وَاِلتَفَّتِ الأَحقابُ وَالغُرُضُ
The Caliph's arrow in the stirred up fray
When the squadrons recoil and twist about.
بِذَلِكَ السَهمِ ذي النَصلَينِ قَد حُفِزا
بِريشِ نَسرينَ يُرمى ذَلِكَ الغَرَضُ
With that arrow of two blades urged on
By the plumes of two eagles aimed at the twisted one.
ظِلٌّ مِنَ اللَهِ أَضحى أَمسِ مُنبَسِطاً
بِهِ عَلى الثَغرِ فَهوَ اليَومُ مُنقَبِضُ
A shadow of God which yesterday spread over
The mouth now contracts upon it.
لِخالِدٍ عِوَضٌ في كُلِّ ناحِيَةٍ
مِنهُ وَلَيسَ لَهُ مِن خالِدٍ عِوَضُ
For Khalid a compensation in every direction
From it, while no compensation for Khalid from it.
لَم تَنتَقِض عُروَةٌ مِنهُ وَلا سَبَبٌ
لَكِنَّ أَمرَ بَني الآمالِ يَنتَقِضُ
No bond of it came untied, no cause for it,
But the affairs of the hopeful ones come untied.
