أنا الذي اخترت آل الشام لي ندما

فغادروني سخين العين وا ندما

I am the one who chose the people of al-Sham as my boon companions.

So they left me with grief-burning eyes—alas, my regret!

تقاسموا عين مالي فاحترصت على

قلبي فجارت عليه العين فانقسما

They divided the substance of my wealth, so I guarded

my heart; then the eye wronged it, and it split in two.

ما كان أجمل صبري بين أنصلةٍ

أحدُّها الأعينُ الوسنانةُ السَّقَما

How beautiful was my patience amid blades,

the sharpest of them those languid, ailing eyes.

مررت بين المواضي لا أرى قدمي

فما أراق دمي إلا عيون دُمَى

I passed among keen swords, unable to see my feet;

yet only the eyes of doll-like beauties spilled my blood.

صرَّحت يا جورَ جيراني بغدرك لي

وأنت يا لحظَ خلاني غدرتَ وما

O cruelty of my neighbors, you openly declared your betrayal of me;

and you, O glance of my friends, betrayed me—and what...

لقد تشفَّت قلوب الحاسدين بنا

وخاننا الدهر يا لمياء واحتكما

The hearts of the envious have indeed gloated over us;

and time betrayed us, Lamya, and held sway.

فكان أصعبَ ما لاقيت هجرُك لي

وكان أسهلَ ماعانيت جورُهما

So the hardest thing I encountered was your desertion of me;

and the easiest thing I suffered was the cruelty of them both.

أجرى الفوارس ما أجرى المدامع ما

فمال طرفك يُجري ماءها عَنَما

The swiftest of horsemen never made the tear-ducts flow with water;

why, then, does your gaze make their water flow crimson as ʿanam berries?

إن كان هجرك من نوع الدلال فما

أحلى وطيب منه يا دلالُ لَمى

If your desertion is a kind of coquetry, then what

is sweeter and more pleasant than it, O coquetry of dusky lips?

جوري به جورَ مولود يحب ولو

أعيى أباه ووشَّى أمه الهرما

Be cruel through it, as a newborn is cruel yet loved, even if

he exhausts his father and embroiders his mother with old age.

ولا تبالي بميل المال وانتحبى

على مجوهر شملٍ زال وانفصما

And do not heed wealth's turning away, and sob

over the jeweled bond of union that vanished and broke apart.

ردَّ النحيبُ عليك العقد مكتملاً

لكنه كان يا قوتاً وصار دما

Your sobbing restored the necklace to you, complete;

but it had been ruby, and became blood.

هذا الذي تركته الشام منتثراً

وذاك ما أخذ الظُلّامُ منتظما

This is what al-Sham left scattered,

and that is what the oppressors took strung together.

ما دام في جيدك الوضاح ملتمعاً

طوق السلامة لم نحفل بما عدما

As long as on your radiant neck there gleams

the necklace of safety, we care not for what is lost.

قومي انظري كيف تنهال الشآم على

سكانها واطلبي من غيرها حرما

Rise, and see how al-Sham comes crashing down upon

its inhabitants; seek a sanctuary elsewhere.

إن كان في الشام لم يسلم لنا وطنٌ

فمصر فيها لدى المولى السعيد حمى

If no homeland in al-Sham remained safe for us,

then in Egypt, with Lord al-Saʿid, there is refuge.

خير الملوك أباً أسخى الملوك يداً

أنقى الملوك رِداً أذكى الملوك فما

The best of kings in parentage, the most open-handed of kings;

the purest of kings in raiment, the wisest of kings in speech.

ملك متى قام للرحمن منتصراً

أمات بالروع قبل السيف من ظلما

A king who, whenever he rises to champion the All-Merciful,

slays with terror, before the sword, whoever did wrong.

ما ماج موج المنايا في صوارمه

إلا وأغرق من ناواه مضطرما

Never has the wave of death surged through his keen swords

without flaring up and drowning whoever opposed him.

يضاعف النظر الأخبار عنه ومن

لا ينظر الدر لم يعرف له قيما

Seeing him doubles what reports say of him; and whoever

does not behold pearls has not learned their worth.

تدرع العدل طفلاً والعفاف فتى

وثلَّث الفضل والتقوى وزانهما

He wore justice as armor in childhood, and chastity in youth;

and made excellence and piety threefold, and graced them both.

وما ثنى عزمَهُ عن بيت خالقه ال

عام الذي بنحوسٍ عمَّتِ اِتُّهِمَا

Nor was his resolve for his Creator's House turned aside by the

year blamed for misfortunes that spread everywhere.

نال المُنى بمِنى والسعد يخدمه

وزار طه ووشَّى البيت والحرما

He attained his wishes at Mina, with good fortune serving him;

and visited Ta-Ha and adorned the House and the Sanctuary.

وفاز فوزاً عظيماً وانثنى ثملاً

جذلان كالصب عاطاه الحبيب لمى

And he won a mighty victory and returned intoxicated,

exultant, like a lover given a taste of the beloved's dusky lips.

ليت الذي صنع المرحوم والده

بالشام علمها أن تحفظ الذمما

Would that what his late father did

for al-Sham had taught it to honor its pledges.

دكت فواجرها داري ولا عجبٌ

قد دكَّ قومُ يزيدَ الركنَ والحرما

Its evildoers razed my house—and no wonder:

indeed, Yazid's people razed the Corner and the Sanctuary.

ونددوا ببنات المصطفى ورموا

رأس الحسين وضحُّوا آله الرُحَما

They vilified the daughters of al-Mustafa and hurled

al-Husayn's head away, and sacrificed his compassionate family.

وأشبعوا الوحش من أنصاره وأبوا

أن يدفنوا بسوى أرواثها الرمما

They fed the wild beasts their fill on his supporters, and refused

to bury the remains with anything but their dung.

مولاي جلقُ والأخيارُ تعرفها

حنت إليك حنين الطفل منفطما

My lord, Jilliq and the virtuous—you know the city—

have yearned for you like a newly weaned child.

ألا تعيد عليها الأمنَ مبتسماً

وأنتَ في عرشها للناس منتقما

Will you not restore safety to it, smiling,

while on its throne you avenge the people?

أبوك أهلك شطراً من فواجرهم

فصفه بيتاً بشطرٍ آخرٍ كرما

Your father destroyed one half of their evildoers;

so complete it as a verse with another half, generously.

من يتبع الحق لم تعثر له قدمٌ

ومن تخلق بالآباء ما ظلما

Whoever follows the truth, no foot of his stumbles;

and whoever models his character on his fathers does no wrong.

ترى أُلامُ على الشكوى وقد بلغ ال

سيل الزبى وتناهى الخطب بي عظما

Do you think I am to be blamed for complaining, when there has risen the

flood to the high ground, and my affliction has grown immense?

أم يعذر الحرُّ عبداً قل ناصره

فجاء والأرض فرشٌ والغطاءُ سما

Or will a freeborn man excuse a servant whose support is scant,

who therefore came with the earth his bed and the sky his covering?

دامت لطلعتك الأيام باسمةً

ودمت يا علم الدنيا لنا علما

May the days ever smile upon your countenance,

and may you, O standard of the world, remain our standard.