ذُمَّتْ لِعَيْنِكَ أَعْيُنُ الْغِزْلانِ
قَمَرٌ أَقَرَّ لِحُسْنِهِ الْقَمَرانِ
Your two eyes have put the gazelles’ eyes to shame—
a moon whose beauty the sun and moon themselves acknowledge.
وَمَشَتْ ولا واللهِ ما حِقْفُ الْنَّقا
مِما أَرَتْكَ وَلا قَضيبُ البانِ
She walked—and no, by God, the curving ridge of the dune
could match what she showed you, nor the bān tree’s supple branch.
وَثَنُ الْمَلاَحةِ غَيْرِ أَنَّ ديِانَتي
تَأْبى عَليَّ عِبادَةَ الأَوْثان
An idol of beauty—yet my faith
forbids me the worship of idols.
يا ابْنَ الأعِزَّةِ مِنْ أَكابِرِ حِمْيَرٍ
وَسُلاَلةِ الأَمْلاكِ مِنْ قَحْطانِ
O son of the noblest, of Himyar’s great lords,
and scion of the kings descended from Qahtan;
مِنْ كُلِّ أَبْلَجَ آمِرٍ بلِسانِهِ
يَضَعُ السُّيُوفَ مَواضِعَ التِّيجانِ
from every radiant-browed commander who rules by his word
and sets swords where crowns had stood.
وَحَلَلْتَ مِنْ عَلْياءِ صَبْرَةَ مَوْضِعاً
أَكْرِمْ بِهِ مِنْ مَوْضِعٍ وَمَكانِ
In the heights of Ṣabra you have taken up a station—
how noble a station and dwelling-place!
زادَتْ بناه على الْخَوَرْنَقِ بَسْطةً
وَحَوَتْ أَعَزَّ حِمى مِنَ النَّعْمانِ
Its structure surpassed al-Khawarnaq in spaciousness,
and held a sanctuary more inviolable than al-Nu‘man’s.
وَغَدا ابْنُ ذي يَزَنٍ بِسُفْلٍ دُوَنهُ
هِمَماً نَزَلْنَ بِهِ على غَمْدانِ
And Ibn Dhi Yazan now stood far beneath it—
lofty ambitions had borne him only as high as Ghumdan.
Sol 5.6