أي الخطوب من الزمان أزلُ

كل الزمان كتائبٌ وجحافلُ

What periods of youth from time have passed,

All time is troops and parties.

دهرٌ بتقديم الأديب مُكاذبٌ

وهوىً بإسعاف الحبيبِ مُباخِلُ

A deceitful age presenting the literate,

And my passion stingy in aiding the beloved.

إِنَّ الكواعبَ والمآربَ والمُنى

نهضت بهن حوادثٌ ورواحل

Indeed desires, hopes, and wishes

Arose with incidents and departures.

فأخو الغَرام من القَطيعة والهٌ

وأخو المرام عن العزيمة ذاهلِ

A brother of love from estrangement and yearning,

And a brother of aspiration from resolve is absent.

فبأيما جَلدٍ يعيشُ مُتيَّمٌ

جارتْ عليه مَنازلٌ ومُنازل

So with what skin can an orphan live

Whose dwellings and homes have gone?

يا حرَّةَ الأخوين إنَّ صَبابتي

عظمت وما أن في وصالك طائل

O noble of the two brothers, my youth

Has grown though in your union there is no use.

سد العفاف علي كل ثنية

فالهجر عندي للوصال مماثل

Modesty has locked me from every bend,

So estrangement to me is similar to union.

عبقت بنشرك في الدجى ريح الصبا

فتضوعتْ بالطيب منكِ أصائلُ

The scent of your blossoms has diffused in the gloom,

So the branches have been perfumed by you.

وسرى النسيم على المَلا فتفاوحتْ

بالحزن منه منابتٌ وخمائلُ

The breeze blew upon slopes so they rustled

With sorrow - saplings and thickets.

علَّمْتِ رشق اللحظ كل مناضلٍ

فغدت له الشاراتُ وهي مَقاتل

You taught every rival the glance of the eyes,

So the gestures for him became fighting.

وزعمتِ أنَّكِ بالمحب رؤوفةٌ

والغدرُ يخبرُ أنَّ زعمكِ باطل

And you claimed you were compassionate to a lover,

While betrayal tells that your claim is false.

منعتْ حِماكِ صوارمٌ وذوابلٌ

ونهى هَواكِ لوائمٌ وعواذلُ

Your zeal held back swords and lion's whelps,

And your passion restrained blamers and censors.

ولقد غَنيتِ عن اللَّوائم بالقِلى

وكفاكِ منعَ حِماكِ أنكِ باخلُ

You have been independent of blamers through aloofness,

And your zeal's preventing you was enough of stinginess.

لا تحسبي صبري لحادثِ سَلْوةٍ

قد تصمتُ الأشياءُ وهي قوائل

Do not think my patience is for an easy misfortune,

Things may be silent though they are telling.

وسلي بوجْدي تُخبرني عن جلُه

قد يدركُ الخبر الخفيَّ السَّائلُ

Ask my fervor which tells me of its intensity,

The hidden inquirer may attain the news.

إنَّ المياه حسدْنَ صفو مدامعي

فصفتْ لورَّادِ المياهِ مناهلُ

The waters envied the purity of my tears

So they described springs for the water-seekers.

وتأوَّهي أعْدى الحمامَ وبانَهُ

فالبانُ مُهتزٌ وهُنَّ هَوادلُ

My sighs did the most harm to the doves,

So they moan and they are impassionedones.

ولقد علمتُ بأنَّ نفسي صارمٌ

والحادثات وإن كرهتُ صياقلُ

And indeed I knew my soul to be a keen blade,

And even if I disliked it, the tribulations are whetstones.

صبري على الازمِ الصعاب مُخبرٌ

أني إلى الشَّرف المُحسَّدِ آيلُ

My patience with difficulties informs

That I am aiming for the envied glory.

قد لاحَ في أفق السعادة بارقٌ

إنْ لم أبادرهُ فأمِّي هابلُ

A lightning has appeared on the horizon of fortune,

If I do not hasten to it, I am a confused one.

تسمو إليه محاربٌ ومَنابرٌ

وتُفلُّ فيه صوارمٌ وذوابلُ

Brave men and platforms rise toward it

And swords and lion's whelps fail before it,

بمدجَّجين كأنَّ لمْعَ حديدهم

برقٌ تلاهُ من السَّحابِ الحافلُ

Armored such that the flash of their iron

Is lightning followed by laden clouds.

خلعَ الغُبارُ عليهمُ من نسجه

فكأنما فوق الدروع غلائلُ

Dust has worn upon them from its weaving,

As if there were locks upon the coats of mail.

جلبوا الصفاح إلى الكفاح صَوادياً

وثَنوا وهُنَّ من النفوس نواهِلُ

They brought the good news of battle with swords,

And they bent - though they are determined souls.

ثمَّ استمرَّ طِرادهمْ فلو أنه

في قعر دجلة ثار منه قَساطل

Then their charge continued so if it

Had arisen from the depths of the Tigris with urns

وعلتْ رؤوسٌ بالضراب صواعداً

ثم انثنتْ في الجو وهي نوازلُ

And heads rose with the blows skyward

Then bent in the air - and they are descending misfortunes.

فكأنما هي في الظَّلام كواكبٌ

طلعَ الصباحُ فهن منه أوافِلُ

It is as if they are, in the darkness, planets

The dawn rose so they from it are setting ones.

لا تُنكري ذكري حديثَ مطالبي

إنَّ العتيق من السَّوابق صاهل

Do not deny my mention, my requests,

The old of the first ones is conversing.

هي عزًّةٌ تعْتادُ كل مُمجَّدٍ

فتقولُ عنه قصائدٌ ورسائل

It is glory which every glorified one gets used to

So it says poems and messages about him.

طربي بها ما يستفيقُ وفي الحَشا

منها فُضولُ لواعجٍ وبلابلُ

It delighted me - whatever awakens in the thickets -

Extra for the thrushes and nightingales.

طربَ ابن خالدٍ الكريم إذا طَرا

عافٍ أو التفَّتْ عليه وسائل

It delighted Ibn Khalid the generous when it was moving around

Healthy or infatuated by affairs.

شهمٌ أعارَ الصَّقر حدَّة لحظِه

فقضت على مُهج الطيور أجادل

Valiant who lent the hawk the sharpness of its glance

So it finished off the marrow of the birds, the prey.

ماضٍ إذا ضَنَّ الجبانُ بنفسهِ

يقظٌ إذا نام الذهولُ الغافلُ

Firm, when the coward felt secure in himself,

Wakeful, when the heedless one slept.

وله إذا حبسَ الغمامُ نوالَه

عن مُعتفيه وقيلَ عامٌ ماحلُ

For him, if the clouds held back his gifts,

In a barren year, it is said: "reaching".

جودٌ تمازجهُ البشاشةُ للَّذي

يرجو ويشفعه السرورُ الكاملُ

Generosity whose charm is cheerfulness for one

Who hopes and facilitated by complete joy.

فكأنهُ غيثُ الربيع لناظِرٍ

الشمس مشرقةٌ هي وورق هاطل

It is as if it were the spring rain for one seeing

The shining sun, it and falling foliage.

وخلائقٌ رقَّتْ فلولا أنهُ

بشر لقلت هي الفرات السائل

And manners which softened so if it were not

That he is human, I would say it is the flowing Euphrates.

ودمائه لطفت فلولا هجره

للخمر قلت الشاربُ المتمايلُ

And his blood is refined so if it were not for his estrangement

From wine, I would say he is the swaying drinker.

لو يهجرُ القومُ الذنوبَ كهجره

للكِبْر ما وافى جهنَّم داخلُ

If the people avoided sins like his avoidance

Of arrogance, no sinner would enter Hell.

و لو استفادوا بُلغْةً من حلمه

ما قِيدَ يوماً بالقتيل القاتلُ

And if they gained an ounce of his forbearance,

No killer would be bound to the killed.

وإذا تنكَّر للأعادي مُغْضباً

فالسيف يَهْبُرُ والهزبر يُصاولُ

And if he is unrecognizable to enemies angry,

The sword gushes and the spear wildly strikes.

وقف الحياةَ على اللَّذيْن تكفَّلا

بالحمد وهو بما أرادَ الكافلُ

The two who guaranteed livelihood with praise

And He is capable of what He wills.

فلِعِرْضه هو بالشَّراسة مانعٌ

ولمالهِ هو بالبشاشةِ باذلُ

For his honor he prevents with aggression,

And for his wealth he gives generously.

قد صحَّ أنَّ بنانهُ بحرٌ وإنْ

لم يُلْفَ عبرٌ عندهُ وسواحلُ

It is true that his offspring are a sea even if

No Arabic poetry is composed about it and coasts.

فعلى الطُّروس لآليءٌ وجَواهرٌ

وعلى العُفاة ربابُ جودٍ هاطلُ

So for the destitute are fine garments and gems

And for the barefoot are rains of generosity pouring.