هل تملك الدار رجعَ سائلها

وتقبلُ النفس عذل عاذلها

Does the abode allow for a questioner's return,

And does the soul accept the reproach of the reproacher?

دار لوحشيةُ النصيف إذا

فؤادي السربُ من عقائلها

It is a home whose emptiness the winds lament,

When the flocks of my heart migrated from its dwellings.

غبينةٌ بُدّلت بخردها

أو الف الرحل من خواذلها

A simpleton who bartered it for a pittance,

Or thousand miles walked by its suitors.

فأخرست من ضجيج سامرها

وأوحشت من رغاء جاملها

So it silenced the clamor of its revelry,

And was lonesome from the bleating of its camels.

كأنما حرب أحمدٍ وقدت

ما بين مأهولها وآهلها

As if the battle of Ahmed had ignited

Between its inhabitants and households.

من ساور الرقشَ في مكامنها

واستنزل العصم من معاقلها

He who controlled its horsemen in their lurking,

And made its refuge descend from its fortresses.

من يعرُبَ الأكرمين في نسب

يشارك الشمسَ في منازلها

He who boasts of the honorable ancestry,

Rivals the sun in its mansions.

من أبحر المكرمات حيث طمت

وسائرُ الناس من جداولها

He who sailed the bounties till they overflowed,

While the rest of people sipped from its streams.

حذار من أن ترى فوارسها

مقنعات على صواهلها

Beware of seeing its knights

Veiled in their armors.

إذ لا رعودَ سوى هماهمها

ولا بروقَ سوى مناصلها

For there are no thunders but their rages,

No lightnings but their swords.

أهل السيوف اليمانيات إذا

انتمت تميمٌ إلى صياقلها

The people of the Yemeni swords, if

Tameem claimed their artistry.

فمن جياد أحفوا سنابكها

حتى تمشت على مراكلها

With steeds they guided to elegance,

Until they walked upon their saddles.

ومن قنا أكرهوا أسنتها

حتى تشكت إلى عواملها

And spears they disliked to speak,

Until they complained to their makers.

فقل لأهل الغيطاء والإبل ال

جرباء من بركها وشائلها

So say to the people of meadows and barren camels,

Unbroken from its pools or coasts.

فهل لكم فارسٌ كفارسها

وهل لكم نائل كنائلها

Do you have a knight like its knights?

Or an attainer like its attainers?

إني وإن لم أفز بنسبتها

ولم أورث على أوائلها

If I have not succeeded in its ancestry,

Or inherited from its predecessors.

فلا أرى قائلا كقائلها

مجدا ولا فاعلا كفاعلها

I do not see a speaker like its speakers,

In glory, nor a doer like its doers.

ولا أرى أحمدا كأحمدها

لمرتقي بأسها ونائلها

Nor do I see an Ahmed like its Ahmed,

Climbing its might and reaching its goals.

الضارب الأسد في بآدلها

والطاعن الخيل في فوائلها

The lion in its caves,

The slayer of horses in their charges.

والرائد الرادة العصارة إذا

زالت عرى الهام عن معاقلها

The guide of the army if the resolve

Fell from the minds of its fortresses.

أرماحه لا تزال عالمة

أن ليس بأس كبأس حاملها

His spears never cease to be a sign,

That no might rivals the might of its bearer.

والخيل لا تعتزى إلى بطل

سواه في ملتقى قنابلها

And the horses seek no champion but him,

In the meeting place of its arrows.

يقودها والنجيع يفهق ما

بين شواها إلى كلاكلها

He leads them while the battle screams

Between their surge and ebb.

مسومات إلى قوانسها

مخضبات إلى كواهلها

Branded to their feathered ends,

Bloodied to their shoulders.

حتى إذا استعجم الجواب ولم

تردَّ نفسٌ جوابَ سائلها

Until the reply is obscured, and no soul responds

To the question of its questioner.

وأعيت القومَ كل مشكلة

ملتبسٌ حقها بباطلها

And it exhausted the people, every riddle

Whose truth is confused with its falsehood.

تكشفت منه عن سُميدعها

وضرَّحت منه عن حلاحلها

He then uncovered from it his unsheathed sword,

And bared his glittering blade.

هذا وإن ضنت السماء على

الأرض بما ضن من هواطلها

This, even if the sky was miserly

To the earth with its pouring rains.

فهو الذي لا تزال راحته

تهمي على المزن من نوافلها

He whose comfort kept hovering

Over the scales, from its supererogations.

يد قضى الله أنها خلقت

حتف عداها ويسرَ آملها

The hand of Allah predetermined it to be created,

The demise of its enemies and the fulfillment of its hopes.

ينفجر الموت من صوارمها

والعسجد النضر من أناملها

Death gushes from its swords,

And the polished spear from its fingers.

إن سخطت بالردى لشانئها

ردت نفوس إلى شمائلها

If it raged against the wickedness of its defamer,

It returns souls to its ideals.

دونكها لا أقول دونكها

عجباً ولا مفخراً لقائلها

Next to you I say not, next to you

A wonder, nor boasting of its sayer.

فخرا بمدحك لا بسالف قح

طانَ وإن كنت من مقاولها

Pride with praising you, not with the predecessors

Of tyrants, even if I counted among its speakers.

كلتا يمينيك يا ابن ذي يمنٍ

تكرما عم من فواضلها

Both your hands, O son of the Yemen,

Are generous beyond its nobility.

أقرب رحمى إلى البرية من

أنسابها في ذُرى قبائلها

My kinship is closer to probity than

Its lineages in the threads of its tribes.

تغدو نفوس رأتك واثقة

قد فرغ الله من وسائلها

The souls that saw you are reassured

That Allah has fulfilled their hopes.