حَسّن الهَجْرَ مع القُرْبِ لعَيْني

أنّنا لا نلتقي إلا بَبيْنِ

Absence has beautified our meeting, my eyes

We only meet through the space between us

وَدَّعونا وفؤادي مَعهمْ

يا سقَى اللهُ عهودَ الظْاعنَيْن

They bid farewell and my heart went with them

May God water the land of the two lovers

واستَرابَتْ ببُكاها مُقلتي

كان مِن شَأْنَين أو من وَدَجَيْن

My eyelids were confused by their crying

Was it because of two loved ones or two dark nights?

كُلُّ حَربٍ سَمِعوا يوماً بها

أوقَعوها بين أيّامي وبَيْني

Whenever they heard of a war one day

They started it between my days and me

والعيونُ العامريّاتُ إذا

فتكَتْ أنستْكَ فَتْكَ العامِرَيْن

When the teary eyes go to war

They make you forget the war of the two lovers

بسهامٍ ما بَراها صَنَعٌ

وسُيوفٍ ما جلَتْها يَدُ قَيْن

With arrows creation never formed

And swords no warrior's hand has ever polished

منَ عَذيري مِن تَمادي حُرَقي

وتَوالي قَطَراتِ الدَّمْعَتَيْن

My excuse for my growing passion

And the flowing of the drops of my two tears

لي هوىً يُبْلي ولي دمعٌ يَشي

أىُّ أسراريَ تَخْفَى بينَ ذَيْن

I have a love that wears me out and I have tears that wash me away

Which of my secrets can hide between the two?

ما على العاشقِ من عَتْبٍ إذا

خُزنَت أسرارُهمْ في المَدمَعيْن

No blame falls on a lover if

His secrets are stored in the two teardrops

هُمْ سَبَوا قلبيَ حتّى لم أجِدْ

مَوضعاً فيَّ لسرّي غيرَ عَيْني

They have captured my heart until I could not find

A place in me for my secret but my eye

أيّها الرَّكبُ بشَرقيّ الحِمى

هل لكمْ عِلْمٌ بأهلِ العَلمَيْن

O caravan of the east, by the sanctuary

Do you know the people of the two flags?

ظَعنوا في أيّ واديّ الكُوَى

وحدا بالقلبِ أىُّ الحاديَيْن

They roamed in which valley of desolation

Only the heart knows which of the two guides

يَملأ لِبيدَ بأشياخهمْ

كُلُّ عيديٍّ نَجيبٍ وعُصَيْني

Every noble and auspicious feast

Their elders fill with all goodness

ويُغيبُ الشّمسَ في نَقعهمْ

مَرَحُ الخيلِ وتَجريرُ الرُّدَيْني

The sun disappears into their resting place

The trotting of horses and trailing of spears

وعلى أكوارِهمْ من وَجْرة

سُدُمُ الآرامِ تَنْحو رامَتَيْن

On their wells are tent ropes

Of Syrian wool stretching two tent pegs

فيهمُ مَنْ عَلِقَ القلبُ به

وأطالَ الوجدَ غيْظُ اللاّئمَيْن

Among them is one whose heart is attached

And whose passion angers the two blamers

والقنا يَسْعَى حَوالَيْ خِدْرِه

دَورةَ الهُدْبِ على إنسانِ عَيْن

The doe goes around its pasture

Circling like the eyebrow around the eye of a human

أسلَم الصَبَّ إلى حَرٍّ الجوَى

وإلى القَطْرِ بقايا الدِّمنتَيْن

The morning prayer submitted to the intense heat

And the remnants of religion to the two minerals

لا تَظنُّوا أنّ سَجعاً شاقَني

أنا أطربتُ حَمامَ الواديَيْن

Think not that rhyming has troubled me

I have made the valley doves sing together

أنا علَّمتُ الشّتا حينَ بكَى

دَمعَهُ يَرقُمُ رَسْمَ الرَّقمتَيْن

I taught the winter when it cried

Its tear sketches the shape of two drawings

لك أن تُخلِفَ ميعادَ الحَيا

أيّها البرقُ ولا بالرَّقمتَيْن

O lightning, you are free to miss the tryst

Do not come at the appointed time

فسقاها غيرَ ماحِ رسْمها

دانيَ الهَيْدَبِ نائي الحَجْرتَين

So it watered her unlike the shape of its course

The rain near in rain and far in distance

واقفاً يبكي على آثارهم

وِقفةَ العاشقِ بَيْنَ العاذِلَين

Standing crying over their ruins

The stance of a lover between two who have left

يَسبِقُ الرَّعدَ ببَرقٍ مثْلَما

يَبْدُر الزَّجْرُ بلَمْعِ الحاجبَيْن

Lightning precedes thunder like

Anger precedes the flashing of the two eyebrows

لستَ يا غَيثُ وإنْ روَّيتَها

مثْلَ زينِ المُلكِ في جودِ اليَدين

O rain, you are not, even if you have watered it

Like the beauty of a king in the generosity of his two hands

ومتى تَتْركُ أن تُشبهَهُ

فامْطِرِ الأرضَ بِتبْرٍ أو لُجَين

And when will you stop resembling him

So rain upon the land with good soil or mud

ماجدٌ كلتا يدَيْه في النَّدى

رِفدُها يخجِلُ رِفْدَ الرّافدَين

Majeed, both his hands are in the dew

Its flow embarrasses the flow of the two rivers

هو مَعْنَى العَدْلِ جوداً لا هوى

وهْو زينَ المُلك صدْقاً غيرَ مَيْن

He is the essence of justice in generosity, not in passion

He is the beauty of the kingdom in truth, not in pretense

زانَه حين دعاه زَينه

ولقد يدعَى بزَينٍ غيرَ زَين

His beauty named him at his call

And he may be called beauty other than beauty

يَحمِلُ الوَفْدَ إلى أبوابهِ

كُلُّ مُرتاحِ مَجالِ النّسعَتين

Every comfortable, easy ride

Brings delegations to his doors

كَسبوا بينَ الأيادي بالسُّرى

والمطايا كَسْبُهمْ رُوحاً بأَيْن

They earned spirituality with horses

And mounts, unlike the earnings of the two sculptors

صائبُ الرّأيِ بَعيدُ المُنتهَى

طاهُرُ العِرْضِ حَميدُ الشيمتَين

The wise one of far-reaching wisdom

Of pure honor and commendable qualities

حَسَن أحسنُ ما في حُسنه

خُلُقٌ يَعدِلُ سَمتَ الحَنّين

The best of what is in his goodness

Is a character that equals the traits of yearning

لو رأينا مِثْلَه في عَصْرِه

لرأينا في المنامِ القَمَرين

If we saw his like in his time

We would see two moons in a dream

وإذا هَزَّ لخَطْبٍ قَلماً

ناب عن كُلِّ رقيقِ الشَّفْرتَين

And if he waged an opinion in speech

He avoids all gentle idioms

وإذا أعملَ حَدَّيْ رأيه

في عَدُوٍّ كان أمضَى المُرهَفيْن

And if he put his wise opinion to use

Against an enemy, he is firmer than firm mountains

جُمع الجَدُّ معَ الجِّدِ له

لا يزالا عندهُ مُجتَمِعَين

Seriousness and fun are combined in him

They never part from him

وتَناهَى العلْمُ والجودُ به

فتَواردْنا لبَحْرٍ لُجَّتَيْن

Knowledge and generosity have expanded through him

So we came to two overflowing seas

أسرَع الصّومُ إلى ساحتِه

باسمَ الثّغْرِ صَدوقَ البُشْرَييْن

Fasting hurried to his yard

As a friend of the frontier, sincere to both lands

فَلْيصُمْ أمثالُه في نِعمةٍ

وعُلاَ تَبقَى بقاءَ الرّافدَين

So let his likes fast in prosperity

And loftiness that remains like the two rivers

يا مُقيمَ المجدِ في أعلَى السُّها

ومُطارَ الذِّكْرِ بينَ الخافقَين

O inhabitant of the highest glory

And flier of mention between the two orbits

هاكَها مصقولةً لو جُسِّمَتْ

قُرِّطَ السّامعُ منها دُرَّتَيْن

The listener gleans two pearls from it

The source of poetry is near, different sources

مَأْخَذُ الشِّعْرِ قَريبٌ أَمَمٌ

فإذا شئْتُ يفوقُ الفرقَديْن

So if I wanted, it would surpass the two anklets

So remain in limitless honor

فابْقَ في عزِّ عُلاً لا يَنقضي

عَهدُه قبلَ مآب القارِظَين

His era does not end before the grasp of the two fateful events

Every successor follows with richness

تَقتفي كُلَّ وليٍّ بغِنَى

وإلى كُلِّ أخي ضِغْنٍ بحَين

And to each brother, richness in due time

So when the conditions of life changed

فإذا غَيَّر حالاتِ الورَى

كان كالدَّهرِ مُقيمَ الحالتَين

He was like time, settled in two states