1. بَنقَا الرِّمْثِ مِن شَرافِ غزالٌ

    ضلّ عنّي وليس منه الضّلالُ

    At the saltbush dune in Sharaf, a gazelle

    has strayed from me, but the straying is not his doing.

  2. لم تزل بِي الأيّامُ حتّى لَوَتْه

    عن لقائي الوشاةُ والعُذّالُ

    The days kept besetting me until he was turned

    from meeting me by talebearers and reproachers.

  3. ليس يَبري ما تصنع الهندُ ما تب

    رِي جهاراً وتجرحُ الأقوالُ

    What India makes cannot cut what

    words openly cut and wound.

  4. نحن بالغَوْر من تِهامةَ والحب

    بِ بنجدٍ عالِي الرُّبَا لا يُنالُ

    We are in Tihamah's lowlands, while the beloved

    is in Najd, high in the hills, beyond reach.

  5. والعُذَيْبَ العُذَيْبَ يا ركبُ فالقلْ

    بُ له بالعُذيْبِ داءٌ عُضالُ

    And on to al-Udhayb, al-Udhayb, O riders! For the heart

    has an incurable ailment in al-Udhayb.

  6. كلّما قلتُ قد مضى عاد منه

    وله ما يَغِبّنا وخَبالُ

    Whenever I say it has passed, there return from it

    a lovesick anguish that never leaves us, and madness.

  7. من أناسٍ للوعدِ بينهُمُ خُلْ

    فٌ مقيمٌ وللدّيونِ مِطالُ

    From a people among whom promises meet

    with lasting breach, and debts with delay.

  8. إِنْ تناءَوْا فليس منهمْ تدانٍ

    أو تدانَوْا فليس منهمْ وِصالُ

    If they go far away, no drawing near comes from them;

    or if they draw near, no union comes from them.

  9. لا تلمْ ساكنَ الحجازِ بقلبٍ

    فيه من أهلِ بابلٍ بَلْبالُ

    Do not blame a dweller in the Hijaz for a heart

    filled with turmoil by the people of Babylon.

  10. كِدتُ أقضي يومَ الفراق لُبانا

    تِيَ لولا أنّ المطايا عِجالُ

    On the day of parting, I might almost have fulfilled my

    desires, had the mounts not been swift.

  11. قلْ لمن ليلُهُ قصيرٌ ألا إن

    نَ لياليَّ مُذْ نأيتُمْ طِوالُ

    Tell him whose night is short: know that

    my nights have been long since you went away.

  12. حبّذا النّومُ لا لشىءٍ أرى في

    هِ سوى أنْ يزور منكمْ خيالُ

    How sweet is sleep—not for anything I see in

    it, save that a vision of you comes to visit.

  13. ليس يُجدي يا صاحبيَّ وقوفٌ

    بطُلولٍ ولا يُرَدُّ سؤالُ

    There is no use, my two companions, in standing

    at ruins, nor is any question answered.

  14. إِنّما الرَّبْعُ بالمقيمين فيه

    وهو خِلْوٌ من ساكنيه مِثالُ

    A dwelling is made by those who live in it;

    empty of its inhabitants, it is a mere semblance.

  15. يا اِبنَ حَمْدٍ ماذا صنعتَ بقلبِي

    حين سِيقتْ برَحْلك الأجمالُ

    O Ibn Hamd, what did you do to my heart

    when the camels were driven away bearing your baggage?

  16. فُرقةٌ صعبةٌ كما اِنصدع القَعْ

    بُ بكفِّ الصَّدي وفيه الزُّلالُ

    A painful parting, like the splitting of a bowl

    in a thirsty man's hand, with clear water still in it.

  17. فحرامٌ على الجفونِ وقد غِبْ

    تَ كراهاً والدّمع طَلْقٌ حَلالُ

    Forbidden to the eyelids, now that you have gone,

    is their sleep; tears are unrestrained and lawful.

  18. وبعيدٌ شَعْبُ اِنصداعِ فؤادٍ

    رحتَ عنه مودَّعاً أو مُحالُ

    And remote is the mending of a heart's fracture,

    after you left it with farewells—or impossible.

  19. إنّ للدّهر يومَ فارقتَ بغدا

    دَ عليها جريرةً لا تُقالُ

    Time, on the day you left Baghdad, incurred

    an offense against her that cannot be forgiven.

  20. اِمّحى نورُها فما هي إِلّا

    ليلةٌ غاب عن دُجاها الهلالُ

    Her light was effaced, and she is nothing but

    a night from whose darkness the crescent has vanished.

  21. أنتَ فيها في القُرِّ شمسٌ وفي القَيْ

    ظِ وحرِّ الهجيرِ أنتَ الظِّلالُ

    There you are a sun in the cold, and in summer's heat

    and the scorching heat of noon, you are shade.

  22. يا لَحا اللَّهُ مَن أراك على النّأْ

    يِ طريقاً للسَّوءِ فيه مجالُ

    Ah, may God curse whoever showed you, as you went away,

    a road where evil has free scope.

  23. حِدْتَ عنه قبلَ التورّطِ فيه

    قلَّما يَنفع الوروطَ اِحتِيالُ

    You turned aside from it before becoming embroiled;

    seldom does stratagem remedy entanglement.

  24. خبرٌ ضرّم القلوبَ وإنْ كا

    نتْ رسولاً به إلينا الشّمالُ

    News set hearts aflame, even though

    the north wind was its messenger to us.

  25. جاء من لامع الخِلالِ كما يل

    معُ في جانبِ البسيطةِ آلُ

    It came from one whose qualities gleamed, just as

    a mirage gleams at the edge of the earth.

  26. قد غُررنا به وكم غرّتِ النّا

    سَ قديماً محاسنٌ وجمالُ

    We were deceived by him; how often have

    charms and beauty deceived people of old!

  27. قَد بَلَوْناك يا اِبن حَمْدٍ على الخَطْ

    ب تناهى واِزورّ عنه الرّجالُ

    We have tested you, O Ibn Hamd, amid calamity

    at its height, when men recoiled from it.

  28. وخبرناك حاملاً فأَصَبْنا

    كاهلاً لا تَؤودُهُ الأثقالُ

    And we tried you as a bearer, and found

    a shoulder that burdens cannot weigh down.

  29. وعرفناك لا تسائلُ يوماً

    عن كلامِ الفحشاء كيف يُقالُ

    And we knew you never to inquire

    how words of obscenity are spoken.

  30. واِعتَرفنا طَوْعاً بأنّك فينا

    إنْ بطشنا يمينُنَا والشّمالُ

    And we freely acknowledged that among us you are,

    when we strike, our right hand and our left.

  31. ليس يَثنِي الزّمانُ يا قومُ عمّا

    ساءَني في الّذي أُحِبُّ مَقالُ

    No words, O people, can turn Time aside from what

    has pained me concerning the one I love.

  32. كلَّ يومٍ يروعني من نواحي

    ه على الأمن فرقةٌ أو زوالُ

    Each day, from its quarters, I am startled,

    even in safety, by separation or loss.

  33. هالنِي فيك بالفراقِ وقد كُنْ

    تُ بما في صُروفهِ لا أُهالُ

    It frightened me with parting from you, though I

    had not feared what its vicissitudes held.

  34. وأراني وليته ما أراني

    كيف حالتْ من قبلِيَ الأحوالُ

    And it showed me—would that it had not shown me—

    how fortunes had turned before my time.

  35. وتبيّنتُ أنّه ليس للدُّن

    يا صفاءٌ ولا لأمرٍ كمالُ

    And I realized that the world has

    no unclouded peace, and no affair is perfect.

  36. وبقينا فيمن يُمَلُّ ولكنْ

    ليس يُغني عن الأسير الملالُ

    And we remained among those who weary us; but

    weariness does the captive no good.

  37. لا مقالٌ منهم يُرَجّى ومَن لي

    س مقالٌ منه فليسِ فعالُ

    No word from them can be hoped for; and whoever

    offers no word offers no deed.

  38. وإذا أعوَزَ التَّجَمُّلُ فالإعْ

    وازُ منه الإحسانُ والإجمالُ

    And if gracious bearing is lacking, that lack

    entails a lack of kindness and fair treatment.

  39. عدِّ يا اِبن الحسين عن كلِّ مَن لي

    س له في الكِرامِ عمٌّ وَخالُ

    Turn away, O Ibn al-Husayn, from everyone who

    has no paternal or maternal uncle among the noble.

  40. ليس مِن داءِ حِقْدِهِ ما دَجَى اللّي

    لُ وما أشرق الدُّجَى إبْلالُ

    There is no cure for the sickness of his rancor, as long as night

    falls and darkness turns to light.

  41. ويُريكَ أنّه يُرامِي مرامي

    كَ ولَيست إلّا إليك النِّبالُ

    And he makes you think he aims at your

    targets, though the arrows are aimed only at you.

  42. معشرٌ خُوّلوا الكثيرَ وفيما

    يُنفقون الإنزارُ والإقلالُ

    A people endowed with much, yet in what

    they spend, scantiness and parsimony prevail.

  43. لا يَخِفّون في الجميل ولا تُس

    حبُ في الخير منهمُ أذيالُ

    They do not hasten toward good deeds, nor are

    their robe-hems trailed in doing good.

  44. وتراهم يُرضيهمُ أنْ يقلّوا

    في الأعادي وتكثُرُ الأموالُ

    You see them pleased to count for little

    among their enemies, while their wealth grows.

  45. وكأنّ الآمالَ فيهمْ رسومٌ

    دارساتٌ تَسْفِي عليها الرّمالُ

    And hopes in them are like traces

    effaced, over which the sands blow.

  46. أنتَ ما بينهمْ غريبٌ وأَهلٌ

    لك في حبّهمْ كثيرٌ ومالُ

    You are a stranger among them, though you have kin

    in plenty, and wealth, bound up in love of them.

  47. فاِنجُ عنهمْ فما يُقيمُ على الخَس

    فِ وإنْ قيّدوه عَوْدٌ حَلالُ

    So flee them: no mature, free-ranging camel will endure

    abasement, even if they tether him.