يَرْمي فؤاديَ وَهْوَ في سَوادئهِ

أتُراهُ لا يخْشَى على حَوبْائه

My heart casts itself though in its darkness

Does it not fear for its infatuation?

ومنَ الجهالةِ وهْوَ يَرشُقُ نفسه

أنْ تَطْمعَ العشّاقُ في إبقائه

And in its ignorance it wounds itself

That the lovers aspire to keep it

تاهَ الفؤادُ هوى وتاهَ تعَظُمّاً

فمتى إفاقةُ تائهٍ في تائه

The heart wandered in passion and in pride

So when will the awakening of its wandering in its wandering be?

رَشَا يُريك إذا نَظْرتَ تَثنيِّاً

تُسّبي قلوبُ الخَلْقِ في أثنائه

It walked so that if you looked sideways

The hearts of creation would be captured in its folds

عَلقَ القضيبُ معَ الكثيبِ بقدهِ

مُتجاذبَيْنِ لحُسنه وبَهائه

The rod adhered to the dune by its height

Both attracting the other by its beauty and brilliance

حتّى إذا بلَغا الخِصامَ تَراضيَا

للفَصْلِ بينهما بَعقْدِ قبَائه

Until when they reached contention, they reconciled

To separate between them by the necklace of its hills

ذُو غُرةٍ كالنّجمِ يلمَعُ نورُه

في ظلمةٍ أخْفَتْهُ من رُقبَائه

One with a blush like a star whose light shines

In a darkness that hid it from its companions

بيضاءُ لمّا آيسَتْ من وصْلِها

وبدَتْ بُدُوَّ البَدْرِ وَسْطَ سمَائه

White despaired of reaching it

And the full moon appeared in the midst of its sky

أَترَعْتُ في حِجْري غديراً للبُكا

فعسى يلوحُ خيَالُها في مائه

I contained in my lap a body of tears to cry

Perhaps its specter may appear in its water

ومُسّهدٌ حَلّ الصبًّاحُ بفرْعِهِ

من طُولِ ليلته ومن إعيائه

And a pillow the dawn adorned with its branch

From the length of its night and from its weariness

شُقّتَ جيوبُ جفونهِ عن ناظرٍ

من طيَفْهم خالٍ ومن إغفائه

The pockets of its eyelids split from a watcher

Empty of their specter and of their drowsiness

مُتَطاوِلٌ أسفارُه مُتَوسِّدٌ

وَجَناتُه إحدى يَدَيْ وَجنْائه

With prolonged journeys and pillowed

And its gardens one of its hands and its sides

طَوراً يُرَى زَوْرَ الجِبالِ وتارةً

يَرْمي العراقُ به إلى زَوْرائه

Sometimes the deception of mountains is seen and others

Iraq casts it to its hunting grounds

والدَّهرُ أتعَبُ أهِله مِن أهلِه

منْ حاول التّقويم من عوجائه

And time exhausted its people more than its people

Whoever tried to straighten its crookedness

مالي وما للدّهر ما من مطلَبٍ

أُدنيه إلاَّ لجَّ في إقصائه

What business have I and what business has time? Every demand

I bring near it recoils in excluding it

دَهرٌلعَمرُك هَرَّمتْه كَبْرةٌ

حتْى غدا يَجْني على أبنائه

A time, by your life, old age deprecated it

Until it came to reap its own sons

يُبدِى التَعجّبَ من كثير عَنائه

فيه اللّبيبُ ومن قليلِ غَنائه

It shows wonder at its great effort

The sensible from its little singing

مُتَقلّبٌ أيامَه تَجِدُ الفتى

حيرانَ بين صباحهِ ومَسائه

Its days turn and the youth finds

Perplexed between its morning and its evening

كدَرَتْ فليس يَبينُ آخرُ أمرها

وظُهورُ قَعْرِ الماء عند صَفائه

They were disturbed, so its end is not clear

And the emergence of the depth of water at its purity

مَنْ لي بذي كرَمٍ أقرّطُ سَمْعَهُ

شَكوْى زمانٍ مَرَّ في غُلوَائه

Who do I have of generous lineage to charm his hearing?

The complaint of a time that passed in its darkness

إنّ الزمان إذا دهَى بصُروفه

شُكِيَتْ عَظائمُه إلى عُظَمائه

Verily when time wanes in its rotations

Its supreme ones are complained to its supreme ones

الدينُ والدُّنيا كُفيتَ مُهمّها

مهما جَلْوتَ ظلاّمَها بضيائه

The debt of religion and life I was content with both

No matter how you masked its darkness with its light

ولأحمدَ بنِ علّي اجتمعَتْ عُلاً

لم تَجتمعْ من قَبله لسِوائه

And for Ahmad bin Ali gathered a highness

Not gathered before him for his peers

فَرْدٌ بألفِ فضيلةٍ فيه فما

في العَصْرِ رّبُّ كفايةٍ بكِفائه

Singular in a thousand virtues so what is

In the time a satisfaction to match his qualification?

لا تنجِلي ظُلَمُ الخطوبِ عن الفتَى

إلاّ برؤيةِ وَجهْهِ وبرائه

The darkness of adversities does not clear from the youth

Except by seeing his face and his innocence

مَلَك المُروءةَ دون أهلِ زمانه

مُلْكَ المَواتِ لمُبتْدِي إحيائه

He possessed manhood beyond the people of his time

The possession of death for the initiator of his revival

ماضي العزيمةِ لا يُطاقُ سُؤالُه

أبدَ الزّمان لَسبقِه بَعَطائه

Resolute of determination, his questioning cannot be borne

Eternally for his preceding in granting

يُفْنِي ذخائَرَهُ ويبُقى ذكْرَه

إفناؤها نَهْجٌ إلى إبقائه

He expends his treasures and his mention remains

Expending them a path to keeping it

وإذا أمات المالَ أصبحَ وارثاً

من آمِلٍ أحياهُ حُسْنَ ثَنائه

And if he makes wealth die he becomes its inheritor

From a hopeful one he brought to life by his praise of him

ذُخْرانِ مَوْروثانِ قد بَقيا له

حَمْدٌ ومَجدٌ طال فَرْعُ بنائهِ

Two inherited treasures remained for him

Praise and glory elongated the branch of its building

من ذاهبَيْنِ تَصرَّما فالحَمْدُ من

أموالهِ والمَجْدُ من آبائه

Of two things, expendable, they gave charity so praise is

From his money and glory from his forefathers

وأجَلُّ من آلائه عندَ الورّى

منه احتقارُ الغُرِّ من آلائه

And the most glorious of his endowments to creation

Is from him the disdain of debasement from his endowments

فيظَلُّ يَحْبوُ مُستميحَ نَوالهِ

وكأنّما هو طالِبٌ من لحبائه

He thus remains yearning, requesting his bestowal

As if he were a seeker from his beloved ones

وترى له كرماً يغالط نفسه

ويصحف المسطور من أبنائه

And you see in him a generosity that deceives himself

And misreads what is transcribed from his sons

يَحْبو ويَقْرأ أنه يَجنْى فَعن

دَ حِبائه يتَغْشاهُ فَضْلُ حيَائه

He yearns and reads that he reaps thus about

His beloved ones his excess of modesty seizes him

فَتَراهُ مُعْتَذِراً بغيرِ جنايةٍ

عُذْرَ الجُناةِ إلى أخي استِجْدائه

You thus see him apologizing without crime

The apology of the guilty ones in beseeching his brother

إنّي لأُفكِرُ كيف أنظمُ شُكْرهُ

فلقد تَملّكني كريمُ إِخائه

Verily I think how I may compose his thanks

For the generous one of his brotherhood has possessed me

لكنْ أُؤمِّلُ أن يَظَلَّ على الورى

في أُفْقه المحسودِ من عَلْيائه

But I hope that he remains over creation

In its envied horizon from his loftiness

هو و الأعزّةُ من بَنيه دائماً

كالبَدْرِ وَسْطَ الشُهْبِ في ظَلمْائه

He and the most honorable of his sons always

Like the full moon amidst the stars in its darkness