بِجُمْلٍ حَدا الغَيْرَانُ بُزْلَ جمائِلهْ

وأرْقصَ قامات القَنَا في قَنابِلِهْ

With camels whose beauty the parting has marred, ruining their graceful swaying gaits,

And shaking the slender waists of the spears amidst the clashes of their quivers,

فلا عَصَفَتْ ريحُ الفراقِ الَّتي جرتْ

بها في خصمّ الجيش سُفْنُ رَواَحلِه

No sooner did the wind of parting blow, bearing their ships against the enemy host,

Than the courage of the drowsy, made sluggish by prolonged drinking, was roused, their slumbering ferocity awakened from its lair,

ودونَ مهاةِ الخدرِ إقدامُ خادرٍ

مبيد الشذا أظفارُهُ من معاقِلِه

Their red banners seem as though the eyelids of the spears have been painted with collyrium by their dusky points,

Tossing about their eyelashes as though the deadly strokes of their blades had encountered each other at the time of the encounter,

حماليقُهُ حُمْرٌ كأنّ جفُونها

حُشِينَ بكحلٍ من نجيعِ عوِامِلِه

They said, "Stop, that you may hear the voices of their 'Isa in the pressing present, and in the near future,"

So we stopped, confessing our passion for the slain even as we read in their glances the message of their glance,

يقلّبُ أجفاناً وِراداً كأنّما

تَوَارَدَ يومَ الطعن مُشْرَعُ عامِلِه

While our minds scattered amidst the lowing camels, watch a flock that has lost its shepherd in the folds,

The companion of love in its seclusion finds the solitude harrowing, so the noblest of lions are helpless without their cubs,

وقالوا قِفوا كَي تَسمَعوا حَدوَ عيسِهم

بعاجلِ ما يُرْدي النفوس وآجِلِه

The mirage disappointed the red camels, so many a diver plunged in never to reach the shore,

What can avail the slain man in death now that access to him is denied?

وَقَفْنَا نُرَامي بالهوَى مَقْتَلَ الهوَى

ونقْرأُ في الألحاظ وَحْيَ رسائِلِه

At the halt of parting - painful body-wrenching - to bid farewell to one emaciated and pallid

Who had before the separation complained of the tattling of slanderers and the rebuke of reproachers;

ونَرقبُ سِرْباً في الخدورِ عُقولنا

مبدّدةٌ للبين بين عقائِلِه

On the kerchief of the beautiful one is a counter-spell to ward off the evil of magic and the guile of Babylon,

Had Harut and Marut but glimpsed her face, they would have become only two shirts to cover her charms;

أَنيسُ الهوى لِلمَوْتِ حَوْلَيهِ وَحشَةٌ

فَأُسْدُ الشّرَى مَخذولَةٌ عَن خَواذِلِه

Without struggle she gathered the ripe fruits of our hearts, and with her soft fingers plucked those fruits in their ripeness;

I think the leanness that clothed her waist made lean with love what is within her bracelets;

وَيَوْمَ صَلِينا فيه نارَ صبابةٍ

فَلا لَفَحَتْ إلّا وجوهَ أَصائِلِه

Far from love he folded what that star of salvation folded, so who will aid a heart entangled in her tresses?

Lavishly they gave us from their lutes, the laughter of the singing girls at the inertness of aged spinsters,

عَشِيَّةَ أبكى البَين مِن رَحمَةٍ لنا

بكاءَ قتيل الشوقْ في إِثرِ قاتِلِه

When passion stirred within them, we saw in them the bounty of Ibn 'Abbad and the ease of one who hopes for favor;

A pillar whose glory makes the land surge around him when he lifts his banners above the squadrons,

وفي صدفِ الأحداجِ مكنونُ لؤلؤٍ

تُكَفّ بأطرافِ الظُّبا كفُّ باذِلِه

Death overturned therein the eyes of the forsaken in the twinkling of an eye amidst the clashes of its proboscises;

At the mention of him the eyes of mankind squint to see the full moon in its mansions,

طَمَى بِالمَنايا الحُمرِ لَجُّ سرابِهِ

فكم غائصٍ لهفان من دونِ ساحِلِه

For he was a refuge for us when fate dealt roughly, by the truth of an upright father, guardian of the upright state,

Who defends the rightly guided from the wrongdoing of the misguided and their supporters;

فمَن لقتيلٍ بالقَتولِ وقد غدتْ

وسائلُهُ مصرومةً من وَسائلِه

A brother to resolute men, an emigrant from hunger when the eye of the lofty turns from their hopes,

Gentle of mind, dogged of purpose, glorious, as though his traits were mingled in the lineaments traced by the jeweled stylus,

ووقفةِ رودٍ بضّةِ الجسم غَضّةٍ

لتوديع صَبٍّ شاحبِ الجسمِ ناحِلِه

Fierce in the thick of battle, tearing up the enemy ranks when they try the mettle of his warriors,

In the fury of battle a lion as though clad in the softness of an enfolding gown,

شَجٍ كانَ من قبلِ التفرّق يشتكي

نميمةَ واشيه وتأنيبَ عاذِلِه

The notches of his sword glisten amidst the stars, and the head of his lance gores in the breasts,

Abiding in the land of dread, whose heavens rain down upon him spears from the clouds of its catapults,

وفي بُرْقُعِ الحسناءِ مقلةُ جؤذَرٍ

بها رُدّ كيدُ السحرِ في نَحرِ بابِلِه

As though the abode of war were more pleasant to him than the plains of India or the nearer tribes,

The leaves of the gilded books are stained with every blood whose plants have drunk the dropping rain,

ولو شامَ هاروتٌ وماروت طَرْفَهُ

لَما أَصبَحا إِلّا قَنيصيْ حبائِلِه

Plumes on him for the vultures, with glints like lightning flashes in their joints,

You would think him a sea with billows swelling, its soul in its first waves, its corpses in its last,

جَنَى غَيْرَ مُستَبِقٍ ثِمارَ قلوبنا

فَعِنَّابهنَّ الرطبُ مِلء أَنامِلِه

Shadowed by a dense flock of birds tearing away the souls of the foe in their talons;

When resolve precipitates in him a drop, its heights in destruction beneath its depths,

وأغلبُ ظنّي أنّ ما في وشاحهِ

كساهُ نحولاً حبُّ ما في خلاخِلِه

To you we moored the ships, in every storm our guideposts lost in the wastes;

Repelling terrors is up to the stronghold to which troubles flow whether he draws up its attributes or sends them forth;

طَوَى ما طوى ذاك النجاءُ من الهوى

فيا مَنْ لقلبٍ مِن نجِيِّ بَلابِلِه

To a king whose sword and deeds are hell to his adversary and paradise to his aspirant,

Marvel of the signs of munificence, companion to the rhythm of gracious deeds, like them in his liberality,

فَجادَ عَلَيهِم كُلُّ باكٍ ربابُهُ

ضَحوكُ المغاني عَن أَقاحي خَمائِلِه

Generous, when the winds of joy blow, the ships of hope sail the sea of his asking;

We have lifted up the chant of ode and verse in his praise, rapturing the ears of the sublime in their assemblies;

إِذا انهَلَّ فيهِ الوَدقُ عايَنتُ مِنهُما

عطاءَ ابن عبّاد وراحةَ سائِلِه

Ask me of him and hear the truth, for I discourse concerning his resolves and virtues,

And ask me not about the obligatory duties of his stature when a portion of his supererogations floods the world;

همامٌ يموجُ البرّ كالبحر حوله

إذا رَفَعَ الرّاياتِْ فوقَ جحافِلِه

The most generous of the waters of heaven is Muhammad - does the known generosity of heaven ever fail?

وقَلّبَ فيها الموْتُ في لحْظِهِ العدى

عيونَ ذبالٍ في لدان ذوابِلِه

تحملقُ أبصارُ الوَرَى عند ذِكرِهِ

لكيما تَرَى بدر العُلى في منازِلِه

إذاْ جارَ دهرٌ كان منه ملاذُنا

بِحِقْوَي أبيٍّ قيّمِ الملكِ عادِلِه

يصونُ الهدى منه إذا خاف ضَيْمَهُ

بحاميه من كيدِ الضّلالِ وكافِلِه

أخو عَزَماتٍ للهجوع مهاجرٌ

إذا هَجَعَتْ عينُ العُلى عن مواصِلِه

رقيقُ الحواشي أقعسُ العزّ ماجدٌ

كأنّ شَمُولاً رقرقتْ في شمائِلِه

شديدُ عراكِ البأس يَعْقِرُ قِرْنَهُ

إذا استطعم السرحانُ ما في جمائِلِه

وفي غيضةِ الخطيّ ليثٌ كأنما

عليه من الماذيّ لينُ غلائِلِه

تَوَرَّدُ في الأجيادِ صَفحَةُ سَيفِهِ

وتنهشُ في الأكباد حيّةُ عامِلِه

مقيمٌ بأرضِ الرّوْعِ حيثُ سماؤها

تمورُ عليه من مُثار قَسَاطِلِه

كأنّ مقامَ الحربِ أشهى ربوعِهِ

إليه وبيضُ الهند أدنى قبائِلِه

ومخضلّ أوراقِ الصفائح ضُرّجتْ

بكلّ دمٍ أنْدى نباتِ غوائِلِه

لُهامٌ عليه للعجاج غلائلٌ

لها طُرُزٌ من بارقات مناصِلِه

وتَحسَبُه بَحراً تلفُّ عَواصِفاً

أَواخرَه أرواحُهُ بِأَوائِلِه

يظلّلُهُ سِرْبٌ منَ الطيرِ مُلْحِمٌ

يروحُ بأرواحِ العدى في حواصِلِه

إذا ما رمى قُطْراً به عَزْمُهُ اغْتَدَتْ

أعاليهِ بالتدميرِ تَحتَ أَسافِلِه

إِلَيك زَجَرنا الفُلْكَ في كلّ زاخرٍ

معالُمنا مفقودةٌ في مجاهِلِه

مدافعةُ الأهوالِ مدفوعةٌ إلى

جنائبه تجري بها أو شمائِلِه

إلى مَلِكٍ في سيفِهِ وَبَنَانِهِ

جَهنّمُ شانيه وجنّةُ آمِلِه

وَمُعجِزِ آياتِ الندى ذي سَماحَةٍ

مُجانِسِ نَظمِ المكرُمات مقابِلِه

كريمٌ إذا هبّت رياحُ ارتياحه

جَرَتْ سُفُنُ الآمال في بحرِ سائِلِه

رفعنا عقيراتِ القوافي بِمَدْحِهِ

فأطْرَبْنَ أسْماعَ العُلى في محافِلِه

سلونيَ عنه واسْمعوا الصدق إنّني

أُحَدّثُ عن هِمّاتهِ وفواضِلِه

ولا تسألوني عن فرائض طَوْله

إذا غَمَرَ الدنيا ببعضِ نوافِلِه

فَأَنْدى بَني ماءِ السماءِ مُحَمَّدٌ

وهل طَلُّ معروفِ السماء كوابِلِه