1. أشاعرةٌ بما نلقى ظَلومُ

    فما نلقى وإنْ حَقَرَتْ عظيمُ

    Is Zalum aware of what we suffer?

    For what we suffer, though she deems it slight, is immense.

  2. ولو صدق الوشاةُ إليك عنّي

    لقالوا إِنّه دَنِفٌ سقيمُ

    And had the slanderers told you the truth about me,

    they would have said, “He is wasting away and ill.”

  3. أفاقوا من هوىً فلَحَوْا عليه

    ومن لا يعرف البَلْوى يلومُ

    They recovered from love, then reproached me for it;

    and whoever knows no affliction lays blame.

  4. يلوم على الهوى مَن ليس يدري

    بأنّ ضَنَى الهوى داءٌ قديمُ

    He blames one for love, not knowing

    that love's wasting is an age-old disease.

  5. وناموا والهوى سَقَمٌ دَخيلٌ

    طويلٌ لا ينام ولا يُنِيمُ

    They slept, while love is a deep-seated sickness,

    long-lasting: it neither sleeps nor lets one sleep.

  6. وليلةَ زارنا منكمْ خيالٌ

    وجِلْدُ اللّيل من وَضَحٍ بَهيمُ

    And one night a phantom of you visited us,

    and the skin of night was black, without a trace of light.

  7. وأَحسبُهُ الضّجيعَ على وسادي

    وما رام اللّقاءَ ولا يرومُ

    And I imagine him my bedfellow upon my pillow,

    though he sought no meeting, nor does he seek one.

  8. وكيف يزور من بلدٍ بعيدٍ

    ولا عَنَقٌ هناك ولا رسيمُ

    How can he visit from a distant land,

    with neither a brisk gait there nor a swift trot?

  9. ومعشوقٍ له نطقٌ رخيمٌ

    يُدِلُّ به ومُنْتَطَقٌ هضيمُ

    And a beloved has melodious speech,

    in which he takes pride, and a slender waist.

  10. لنا من لفظهِ درٌّ نَثيرٌ

    ومن ثَغرٍ له درٌّ نظيمُ

    From his words we have scattered pearls,

    and from his mouth, pearls strung in a row.

  11. خلوتُ به وباطنه سليمٌ

    بلا دَنَسٍ وظاهره كليمُ

    I was alone with him, his inner self unblemished,

    without stain, while his outward self was wounded.

  12. لمنْ طَلَلٌ وقفتُ به سُحيراً

    أُصَيحابي وقد هَوَتِ النّجومُ

    Whose ruins are these, where I stood just before dawn,

    my dear companions, when the stars had sunk?

  13. وللظّلماء في الخضراءِ بُرْدٌ

    وُشومٌ بالكواكب أَو رُقومُ

    And darkness wore in the green sky a mantle,

    with tattoos of stars, or embroidered patterns.

  14. وعُجنا نحوه والشّوقُ حادٍ

    قلائصَ في مغانيها القَصيمُ

    And we turned toward it, longing driving

    young she-camels whose haunts include al-Qasim.

  15. وكيف سؤالُ رسمٍ عن فريقٍ

    ولم تعرف فتخبرك الرّسومُ

    How can one question ruined traces about a people,

    when the traces know nothing, and so cannot tell you?

  16. لفخر الملك في شرف المعالي

    محلٌّ لا يُرامُ ولا يَرِيمُ

    Fakhr al-Mulk has, at the pinnacle of high honors,

    a station beyond reach, which never passes away.

  17. وفضلٌ حلّ ساحته خصوصٌ

    وأفضالٌ تجلّلنا عُمومُ

    And excellence dwells in his courtyard, his alone,

    while his favors enfold us all.

  18. خلائقُ كالزّلالِ العَذْبِ أضحى

    يزعزعه لدى سَحَرٍ نسيمُ

    Virtues like clear, sweet water, now

    stirred by a breeze just before dawn.

  19. وصدرٌ لا يبيت عليه حِقْدٌ

    ولا تَسرِي بساحته السَّخيمُ

    And a breast on which no rancor spends the night,

    nor does malice pass by night through its precincts.

  20. وبشْرٌ قبل أنْ تكفِ العطايا

    يُشاهده فيستغني العديمُ

    And a cheerful face: before gifts rain down,

    the destitute behold it and feel themselves rich.

  21. وإنْ قِسناه فالتّبريزُ نقصٌ

    لمن يَعدوه والتّبذيرُ لُومُ

    And if we take him as our measure, surpassing is a fault

    in anyone who exceeds him, and extravagance is blameworthy.

  22. ألا قلْ للأُلى ملكوا البرايا

    وعشعش في ديارهمُ النّعيمُ

    Now say to those who have ruled mankind,

    and in whose dwellings prosperity has nested,

  23. وحلّوا كلَّ شاهقةِ المباني

    من العلياء يسكنها الكريمُ

    and have occupied every towering edifice

    of lofty honor where the noble dwell,

  24. وطالتْ فيهمُ أيدٍ إذا ما

    تمنَّوْه كما طالتْ جُسومُ

    and among whom hands have grown long whenever

    they wished it, just as bodies have grown tall—

  25. ملوكٌ ما لهمْ طرفٌ دَنِيُّ

    يعابُ به ولا خُلُقٌ ذميمُ

    kings with no lowborn branch of lineage

    to be faulted for, nor any shameful trait:

  26. أَرونا مثلَ فخرِ الملك فيكمْ

    يقوم من الأمور بما يقومُ

    Show us someone among you like Fakhr al-Mulk,

    who undertakes the affairs that he undertakes,

  27. ومَن خضعتْ لغُرّتِهِ النّواصي

    وقِيدَتْ في أزمّتِهِ القُرومُ

    and one before whose radiant brow forelocks have bowed,

    and in whose reins the mighty chieftains are led.

  28. فللّهِ اِنبِعاثُك كلَّ يومٍ

    تسوم من العظيمة ما تسومُ

    By God, how splendid your setting forth each day,

    seeking whatever mighty undertaking you seek,

  29. على جرداءَ إنْ حُبِسَتْ فقصرٌ

    وإنْ ركضتْ لِهَمٍّ فالظّليمُ

    upon a sleek mare: if held still, a palace,

    and if she gallops on an errand, an ostrich.

  30. وحَولك في مُلَملمةٍ رجالٌ

    رُكودٌ في سُروجِهمُ جُثومُ

    And around you, in a dense host, are men

    motionless in their saddles, crouched low.

  31. وفي أيديهمُ أَسَلٌ طِوالٌ

    لهَاذِمَةٌ إلى الأَرواح هِيمُ

    And in their hands are long spears,

    keen-edged, thirsting for souls.

  32. إذا غضبوا رأيتَ الموتَ صِرفاً

    على مُهَجِ الكرامِ بهمْ يحومُ

    When they grow angry, you see death unalloyed

    hovering, through them, over noble men's lifeblood.

  33. وعِيدُ النّحْرِ يُخبر أنّ ظِلّاً

    مَنَنْتَ به على الدّنيا يدومُ

    And the Feast of Sacrifice proclaims that a shade

    you bestowed upon the world endures.

  34. وقد جادتْ سحائبه سعوداً

    ونُعْمى لا تجود بها الغيومُ

    And its clouds have showered good fortune,

    and bounty that no clouds bestow.

  35. فنلْ منه الطِّلابَ فكلُّ يومٍ

    أَنَالَكَ ما طلبتَ أخٌ حميمُ

    So gain from it what you seek, for every day

    that grants you what you sought is a dear brother.

  36. فعيشٌ لا تكون به مماتٌ

    ودهرٌ لست عاذرَه مَلومُ

    For a life without you is death,

    and an age you do not excuse is blameworthy.

  37. وأُمُّ الدّهر ناسلةٌ ولكنْ

    لمثلك أنْ يكون لها عقيمُ

    And the mother of Time bears offspring, but

    she is barren of an equal to you.

  38. وما نخشى صُرُوفَ الدّهرِ جَمْعاً

    وأنّك من بوائقها حريمُ

    We fear none of Time's vicissitudes, even all together,

    for you are a sanctuary from their calamities.