خذوا لي من الألحاظ أمنا على عقلي

ولا توقعوني في يد الأعين النجل

Take from the glances a glance that will protect my mind

And do not make me fall into the hands of alluring eyes

فما لي على سحر اللواحظ من يد

كفا واعظا لي موت من قتلت قلبي

For I have no power over the magic of glances

That would suffice to advise me, the one who killed my heart

ومن سحرها من عذبته استزادها

ومن قتلت قال اذهبي أنت في حلى

And the one who enchanted me, the more she tortured me, the more I loved her

And the one I killed said "Go, you are free"

رمتني بعينيها فلم تخط مقلتي

ولا لذ لي شيء كما لذ لي قتلى

She shot me with her eyes but did not miss my eyelids

And nothing was as sweet to me as my murder

فلا ذقت ما قد ذقت ساعة فوقت

سهام الهوى تلك اللواحظ من أجلى

So I have never felt what I felt at that moment

When the arrows of love, those killer glances, pierced my heart

وعاذلة قامت بليل تلومني

فقلت لها لو شئت أقصرت من عذلى

And my reproacher stood up at night blaming me

So I said, had you wished, you would have shortened my torment

فربحك في هذا الملام عداوتي

إذا اللوم لا ينسى هواء ولا يسلى

You have gained by this blame my enmity

For blame is not forgotten by love or soothed by union

إذا رمت أسلوها تعرض بارق

وهب الصبا النجدى فاستلبا عقلى

When her weapons missed I was struck by lightning

And the Najdi wind ravaged and took away my mind

فيا من أطالت عمر سقمي بهجرها

خذي وذرى وابقى على من القتل

O you who prolonged the illness of my longing by her estrangement

Take me and leave me and let me be among those killed

صرمت وما اذنبت حبل مودتي

وحملتني بالبين ثقلا على ثقلى

She accused me though I did no wrong against our bond of love

And burdened me with separation on top of my burden

وشردت عن جفني المنام لتقطعي

على طيفك الساري الطريق إلى وصلى

And drove sleep away from my eyes to cut off

Along your floating image the road to my union

ولم تتركي يا هند للصلح موضعا

رويدك ان الحب يَبلى كما يُبلى

And you left, O Hind, no room for reconciliation

Gently, for love decays just as all things decay

غدا تحكم الأيام بيني وبينها

ولا بد بعد الجور من حاكم عدل

Tomorrow time will judge between me and her

And after injustice there must come a just judge

فإن عشت كافيت الصدود وان أمت

فكم حسرة تحت الثرى لامرئى مثلى

If I live, I will endure estrangements, and if I die

How great the regrets in my grave for one like me

إذا كان هذا وصف فعل أحبتي

فلا فرق ما بين المعادين والأهل

If this is the description of my beloved's deeds

Then there is no difference between enemies and family

وما لي إلى اليام ذنب أعده

بلى إن ذنبا ولكنه فضلى

I have no wrong against the days that I prepared

Yes a wrong but that was my superiority

فإن هي لم تغفره عذت بمن له

تقوم صروف الدهر حفوا على رجل

If she does not forgive it, I will blame the one for whom

The turns of fate anxiously watched over a man

بمن زلزل الأرض العريضة بأسه

وطبقها بالخيل تعدوا وبالرجل

The one who shook the vast earth with his might

And covered it with horses galloping and men marching

مليك البرايا الناصر الحق أحمد

سلالة إسمعيل وانظر إلى الأصل

The victorious king, the just Ahmad

A descendant of Ishmael, look to the origin

تجد محتدا في الملك أعرق خيمه

وفرعا إلى السبع السموات يستعلى

You will find, rooted in kingship, he pitched his tent

And a branch reaching to the seventh heaven

قضى الله ان يجرى القضا بمراده

وأن يبدل الأعدا عن الغز والذل

God has decreed that judgment will go as he wishes

And that he will transform enemies through conquest and humiliation

وأن يملك الإقصى وأن يبلغ المنى

وأن لا يجارى في كمال ولا فضل

And that he will rule the Farthest Sanctuary and attain his hopes

And that none can compete with him in perfection and merit

تهم ببعض الأمر فيما تريده

فتظفر من فرط السعادة بالكل

They attempt some of what he wants

And through excessive good fortune gain it all

سلوا من ظل يمحو مداده

ويكتب في اكناف أهليه بالفضل

Ask the one whose eraser blots out

And writes in the folds of his family honor and merit

وحمير لم ولت وحلت حصونها

ومنهم رجال فيهم عدد الرمل

And donkeys that have not stumbled and whose fortresses

Fell, and among them men as numerous as the sands

لقد جاءهم مالا يطاق لقاؤه

وفاجُاهم جد وما الجد كالهزل

There has come to them a fate unbearable to meet

And it took them by surprise, for seriousness is not like jest

رأو أنه أما الفرار أو الردا

ففروا فرارا كان كان شرا من القتل

They saw that the only choice was flight or resistance

So they fled in a flight that was worse than murder

وكان لهم فيما يقال حشيمة

فذلوا وضاحت حرمة المال والأهل

And they had some self-respect in what was said

So they were humiliated and the sanctity of wealth and family was clear

حشدتهم في قفر حاشد للردى

وما صدع الأحشا كصادعة الشمل

He gathered them in the wasteland of al-Hashid for doom

And no wavering disappoints like the sundering of kin

فليت لإسماعيل عينا ترى ابنه

يسر أباه اليوم في الأخذ بالدحل

If only Ishmael had an eye to see his son

Making his father happy today by grasping the beard

ويغلب أقواما عليه تغلبوا

ويقتلهم في الحزن طورا وفي السهل

And defeating people who had defeated him

And killing them in sorrow at times and at times in the plain

لئن غاب هذا لليث عنه فهذه

ضراغمة قد ضوعفت في سطا الشبل

If this lion was absent from him, here are

Cubs that have been weakened in the lair of the old lion

وما مات إسمعيل ما عاش أحمد

فعش الف عام تقتل الجور بالعدل

Ishmael did not die as long as Ahmad lives

So may he live a thousand years, killing injustice with justice