أرَاعَكَ أنْ قيلَ الفراقُ يرُوعُها

فتعصي النَّوى مِنْ أجلها أو تُطِيعُها

You worried that parting was said, so it disturbs her,

So the intent disobeys for her sake or obeys her.

تلاقَيْتَها عند الوَداعِ فأخْضَلَتْ

عيونٌ تلاقَتْ في الخدودِ دُموعُها

You met her at the farewell so she was downcast,

Eyes met in the cheeks, their tears.

وأنَّى استطعتَ البينَ خُطَّةٌ

إذا كُلِّفَتْها النفسُ لا تَسْتَطيعها

And how could you withstand the separation, a plan,

If the soul is tasked with it, it cannot withstand it.

لعلَّ ليالينا القصارَ التي مَضَتْ

يَجَرْعاءِ حُزْوَى عن قليلٍ رُجُوعُها

Perhaps our short nights that passed

Will relieve a little of their sadness.

سقى باكرُ الوسميِّ رَسْمَ منازلٍ

تَنَكَّرَ منْ بعدِ الجميعِ جميعُها

The tattooist of Al-Wasmiyy drew the track of homes

That after everyone became unrecognizable.

قفوا إِنَّ منْ حقِّ الديار إذا عَفَتْ

تُحَيَّا مغانيها وتُبْكى رُبُوعُها

Stop! It is the right of the homes, if they are deserted,

To greet their melodies and cry for their meadows.

وشاسعةِ الأقطارِ لو ينبري لها

سُلَيْكٌ إِذنْ أعيا سُلَيْكاً شيُوعها

If the vast lands, if only a brave one would rise for it,

Then a brave one is tired, another takes his place.

حَلَلْتُ بها عُقل المهارى فأوْغَلَتْ

كما أَوْغَلَتْ سُفْنٌ تُشَالُ قُلُوعها

I confused the minds of the skilled, so she was confused,

As ships that haul their supplies became confused.

إليك قَرَيْنَا الوَخْدَ تامكةَ الذُّرَى

تَضيقُ بها أغراضها وَنُسُوعها

To you, close friend of intimacy, perfect in glory,

Its purposes become narrow and forgotten.

فما وردتْ حتى تَحَسَّر نِيُّها

ورثَّت حَواياهَا وَمَحَّتْ قُطُوعها

She did not arrive until her intention grieved,

Ridding its corners and erasing its lines.

أتتك بنا تُهْدي قوافيَ لم تكنْ

ليُهدَى إلى غيرِ الأمير بديعها

She brought us rhymes that were not

To be gifted except to the excellent Amir.

فلاقَتْ سماءَ الجودِ يَنشو سحابُها

ووافَتْ رياضَ المجدِ يبدو ربيعها

She met the generous sky where its clouds rise

And reached the meadows of glory where its spring appears.

إذا ما دجا خطبٌ فأنت نهاره

وإن أجدبتْ أرضٌ فأنتَ مَريعها

When discourse went dark, you are its daylight,

And if a land withered, you are its pasture.

وما زلتَ ترقى في رفيع مناقبٍ

أَنافَ على النجم الرَّفيعِ رفيعُها

You continued to rise in the high virtues,

Higher than the high star is its rise.

لسانُكَ بالقولِ الجميلِ وَلُوعُهُ

وكفُّكَ بالفعلِ الجميلِ وَلُوعُها

Your tongue is tender in beautiful words, and ardent is it,

Your palm is tender in beautiful deeds, and ardent is it.

منحتَ بني العباسِ منكَ نصيحةً

تبيعُ لها الدنيا وليس تبيعُها

You gave the Abbasids sincere advice from you

That would sell the world for it, not sell it.

ولو لم تُذعْ منك النصيحةَ جاهداً

لكان لسانُ الحقِّ عنك يُذيعها

Had you not loudly declared advice from you

The tongue of truth about you would declare it.

تركتَ عميدَ الكُفرِ حينَ تركتَهُ

ضجيعَ همومٍ ما ينامُ ضجيعُها

You left the pillar of unbelief when you left him

Lying with concerns that don’t let its lying down sleep.

أبيتَ تُضيعُ السُّمرَ والبيضَ فيهم

ومثلُكَ في أمثالِهمْ لا يُضيعُها

You refused to waste on them the white and the black

And the like of you among their likes does not waste it.

وأحْجِ بهم أن يَستطيرَ صفاتَهُمْ

قراعُك ممَّا تستطيرُ صُدُوعها

I fear for them to consult their characteristics

Your strength is what consults its concealed places.

تغادرهم فوق الجذوعِ عصائباً

تُغادرُها للخامعات جذوعها

You leave them atop the trunks, deprived

Leaving them for the shining trunks.

أليس إذا ما الأرضُ ذلَّ شريفها

لقومٍ فأحرى أن يذلَّ وضيعها

Is it not when the honored land is humiliated

For a people that it is more fitting that its disgrace be humiliated?

لأسمَعتَ آذانَ القبائل كلِّها

ببأسك حتى قد وعاهُ سميعها

You would have made the ears of all the tribes hear

With your might until its hearing comprehended it.

إذا ما ارتدى النَّصْلَ اليمانيَّ في الوغى

أبو مضرٍ والخيل يَمْري نجيعُها

When the Yemeni sword wears in battle

Abu Mudar and the horses race its meadows

فأيّ ملوكٍ لا يذلُّ عزيزُها

وأيّ حصونٍ لا يُباحُ منيعها

So which kings will not be humiliated, their honored?

And which fortresses will not be violated, their stronghold?

تخرُّ الظُّبا فيها سجوداً وإِنما

سجودُ الظُّبا في هامِهمْ وركوعها

The gazelles kneel before it in prostration, but

The gazelle’s prostration is to their resolve and kneeling.

وكم مَعْقِلٍ قد زاره بجحافلٍ

معاقِلُها عند الطِّعانِ دروعها

And how many fortresses which hosts visited

Their fortresses when spears thrust are shields?

تميميّةٌ سَعْديّةٌ أغلبيةٌ

صنيعُ الأسودِ المُخْدَراتِ صَنيعها

Tameem, Sa’d, and Ghalib

The making of the heavily-armed lions is their making.

إذا أجمعتْ يوماً لقاءَ كتيبةٍ

تشتَّتُ من قبلِ اللقاءِ جموعها

If they gathered one day for the meeting of a battalion

They would scatter before the meeting of their groups.

شجاعُ ضميرٍ لا يهابُ ضميرُهُ

وقوعَ مُلِمَّاتٍ يُهابُ وقوعُها

The brave of conscience who does not fear his conscience

Or the occurrence of disasters that would be feared if they occurred.

ثُلاثُ خطوبُ الدهر منه بماجدٍ

سواءٌ عليه سَلُها وقطيعُها

Threereatest concerns of fate from it with glories

Equal to it are its asking and its flock.

هو البدرُ وافى ليلَ تِمٍّ طلوعُهُ

أو الشمس وافى يومَ دَجنٍ طلوعها

It is the full moon that fulfilled the night of completion, its rise,

Or the sun that fulfilled the dark day, its rise.

مدبِّرُ مُلْكٍ ما يزالُ موكِّلاً

بأطرافِه عَيناً قليلاً هُجُوعُها

Ruler of a kingdom that continues appointing

Eyes a few, blinkered, to its outskirts.

رسا في المعالي حيث تُرْسى أُصولُها

وأوفى عليها حيثُ توفي فُروعُها

Firm in the heights where its principles are anchored

And loyal to it where its branches are fulfilled.