حشا في حشائي الهمَّ والشوقَ ما حشا

غزالٌ من الأتراكِ ليس به حشى

He has crammed into my innermost parts such grief and yearning as none ever crammed—

a Turkish gazelle with no heart within him.

وَيُبدي لنا الهجوانَ من غيرِ زلةٍ

وأفجع مني القلبَ والعقلَ أدهشا

He shows us scorn though we have made no slip,

wounding the heart within me and bewildering the mind.

أقاتلي والله نفسي عدوتي

فلا تَنْثني عَنْكُم ولا تقبلُ الرُشَا

I fight—by God—my own soul, my enemy,

yet it will not turn away from you or accept a bribe.

ولو أن ما في الأرضِ طُرّاً عواذلي

لأصبحت من تفنيدِهم عنكِ أطرشا

Even if all who dwell on earth were my reproachers,

their censuring you would leave me utterly deaf.

وهل يتبع العُذَّالَ قلبُ مُتَيَّمٍ

بهِ أفرخَ الشوقُ العظيمُ وعَشَشا

Can a passionate lover’s heart obey the fault-finders,

when mighty longing has hatched and nested there?

بنفسي من كان العَفاف سجيةً

له ما بقي في الدهر مُذْ حَلّ وانتشى

My life for him whose inborn nature is chastity,

remaining his through all time, since he came among us and flourished.

وحبي له حبُّ العقيم لابنهِ

ولو يستمعْ في مَقَالِ الذي وشى

My love for him is a barren parent’s love for a son,

even should he heed the words of one who slandered me.

كتمتُ بما بي من هوىً ودفنتُه

ولكنَّ ماءَ العينِ للسرِّ قد فَشَا

I concealed the passion within me and buried it,

but the water of my eyes has disclosed the secret.

طعامي الأسى والشرب فَيْضُ مدامعي

وما كان ظنّي أن أجوعَ وأعطشَا

Sorrow is my food, and the flood of my tears my drink;

I never thought that I would hunger and thirst.

فلا أنا حي أرتجي نيل وصله

ولا ميت حتى أكون منعّشا

I am neither alive, to hope to attain union with him,

nor dead, that I might be brought back to life.

شِفائي إذا يممتُ للسيرِ حسرةٌ

إلى مَلِكٍ قد فاقَ من بالثرى مَشَى

My cure, whenever I set my face toward the road, is yearning

for a king who has surpassed all who tread the dust:

سعيد فتى سلطان يَفْضَحُ عنترا

وعمراً إذا اصطك القناءُ ومَرْعَشا

Saʿid, a young sovereign who puts ʿAntarah to shame,

and ʿAmr, when lances clash and set men trembling.

فتى كلُّ شخصٍ جاء وقتَ زمانهِ

تلحَّفَ من إكرامهِ وتفرَّشَا

A youth—every person who comes in his day

wraps himself in his generosity and makes of it a bed.

فتى مَنْ أتاهُ مستغيثاً أغَاثَهُ

وأولاه إحْساناً عظيماً وأنْعَشَا

A youth—whoever comes to him crying for help, he aids,

bestowing vast kindness upon him and reviving him.

تساعدُهُ الأقدارُ فيما يرومُه

ويفعلُ ما يهوى على الأرضِ أويشا

The decrees of fate assist him in whatever he pursues,

and upon the earth he does whatever he desires or wills.

ويختطفُ الأبصارَ ضوءُ جبينهِ

وترتجفُ الأبحارُ إن هو جيّشا

The radiance of his brow snatches every gaze,

and the seas tremble whenever he musters armies.

ملاذي إذا ما أعْضَلَ الخطب نابه

ليفرى لحمَ الجسمِ مني وينهشا

He is my refuge when a dire calamity bares its fang

to tear the flesh from my body and gnaw it.

أرى ترب نعليه دواءً مجرَّبا

لِمَنْ حَلَّ في عينيه طلس من العشَا

I deem the dust of his sandals a proven medicine

for anyone whose eyes are veiled by the darkness of night-blindness.

ودم يا أبا الهيجاءِ والفخرِ والندي

على مربع العلياء لا صار موحشا

Abide, O father of battle, glory, and bounty,

upon the domain of high renown—may it never become desolate.