1. نعم ما سلاها القلب سرّاً ولا جهرا

    فيا ليت شعري ما الذي سبب الهجرا

    Yes, the heart has not forgotten her, in secret or openly.

    Oh, if only I knew what caused the estrangement

  2. وغادر كالصخر الأصم فؤادها

    على خادم كان الرضاب له أجرا

    and left her heart like unyielding rock

    toward a servant whose reward was the moisture of her lips,

  3. ألمَّ بها عذراء لفّاء بضةً

    كأن أباها البدر أو أمها الشعرى

    who visited her, a full-thighed, soft-skinned maiden,

    as though her father were the full moon or her mother Sirius;

  4. مخدرةً لا تعرف الزور والريا

    ولكنها لا تجهل التيه والكبرا

    a secluded maiden, unacquainted with falsehood or ostentation,

    yet not ignorant of haughtiness and pride.

  5. لعمر الهوى مالعذر إلّا سجيةٌ

    لقاصرة الطرف التي تسكن القصرا

    By love's life, the only excuse is the disposition

    of the woman of restrained gaze who dwells in the palace.

  6. ثناها سناها عن وفاها فأنكرت

    ودادي ولم تقبل عتاباً ولا عذرا

    Her radiance turned her from fidelity, so she denied

    my affection and accepted neither reproach nor excuse,

  7. كأني لم أدخل حماها ولم أذق

    لَماها ولم أشرب على وجهها الخمرا

    as though I had not entered her sanctuary or tasted

    her dusky lips, or drunk wine while gazing at her face.

  8. نظرت لها والعين تدمع والحشا

    تقطَّع والأشواق تملأها جمرا

    I looked at her, my eye shedding tears and my heart

    torn apart, with longings filling it with embers.

  9. وقلت لها يا قامة الرمح إنني

    عن الصلح لم أبعد ذراعاً ولا شبرا

    And I told her: O spear-straight figure, I

    have not strayed a cubit or a handspan from reconciliation.

  10. تلافي تلافي وانعمي وتكرمي

    عليَّ بيومٍ صالح يفسد الهجرا

    Make amends, make amends; show favor and be generous

    to me with a good day that undoes estrangement.

  11. إلامَ يرد الظُلمُ ظَلمَك عن فمي

    ويزعم أن الجود صار به كفرا

    How long will injustice keep your saliva from my mouth,

    and claim that generosity with it has become unbelief?

  12. وقد وعد اللَه الكرام بجنةٍ

    نزيل حماها لا يجوع ولا يعرى

    And God has promised the generous a garden

    whose sheltered guest neither hungers nor goes naked.

  13. عجبت وقد حلت شعورك كيف لا

    تحل قيودي وهي سلسلة الأسرى

    I marveled, your tresses now loosened: why do they not

    undo my bonds, though they are the captives' chain?

  14. وأعجب منها أن يهان متيّمٌ

    لمثلك يعزى أو يعذَّب أو يزرى

    And stranger still is that a love-stricken man should be humiliated—

    one devoted to someone like you—or tortured or scorned.

  15. فقالت وقد سالت نجوم دموعها

    بوجنتها حتى توهمتها ثغرا

    Then she said, as the stars of her tears streamed

    down her cheek, until I mistook it for a mouth:

  16. قريضك يا هذا بجلق ضائعٌ

    فإن ولاة الشام لا تعرف الشعرا

    Your verse, you there, is wasted in Jilliq,

    for the governors of al-Sham do not know poetry.

  17. أمالك عن شعرٍ أمالك عن غنىً

    وأسكن بيتيك الكآبة والفقرا

    It has turned you from verse, turned you from wealth,

    and lodged sorrow and poverty in your two houses.

  18. تخيَّر خير العاصمات لنغتني

    بها وننال الخير قلت لها مصرا

    Choose the best of capitals, that we may grow rich

    there and gain good fortune. I told her: Egypt.

  19. فنعمة إسماعيل أبهرت الحيا

    وثلَّثتِ النيل المبارك والبحرا

    For Ismail's bounty has outshone the rain

    and joined the blessed Nile and the sea as a third.

  20. سليل ملوك لا يزال سماحهم

    يبثُّ لهم في كل مملكة ذكرا

    Scion of kings whose generosity never ceases

    to spread their renown through every kingdom.

  21. مهابته تفري العظام وإنما

    بشاشته تولي السلامة والجبرا

    His majesty cleaves bones, but only

    his cheerful welcome grants safety and restoration.

  22. فكم شدهت لباً وكم شدخت رياً

    وكم كسرت جبراً وكم جبرت كسرا

    How often it has bewildered a mind, and how often crushed ostentation,

    and how often broken tyranny, and how often mended a fracture!

  23. حباه إله العرش سيف سميِّه

    وأودع في لألاء غرته النصرا

    The God of the Throne bestowed on him his namesake's sword

    and placed victory in the radiance of his brow,

  24. وأبرزه للعالمين مباركاً

    أغرَّ كماء المزن يكتسب الشكرا

    and brought him forth to the worlds, blessed,

    radiant as rain-cloud water, earning gratitude.

  25. تمدَّنت السودان منه بحكمةٍ

    يكاد يرد الليل رونقها فجرا

    Sudan became civilized through him, through a wisdom

    whose brilliance almost turns night into dawn.

  26. فلم يعد العبد المخرنق في الثرى

    يوسّع وكراً بعد ما سكن القصرا

    So the crouching slave no longer, in the dust,

    enlarges a den after having dwelt in the palace.

  27. فعال حكيم بالسياسة عارف

    إذا لحظ النيران غادرها قرّا

    The deeds of a sage well versed in statecraft,

    who, when he beholds fires, leaves them cold.

  28. أفاد بجدواه البلاد وعدله ال

    عباد فسامى حاتماً وسما كسرى

    His bounty benefited the lands, and his justice the

    people; thus he rivaled Hatim and surpassed Kisra.

  29. وأين هما من فاضلٍ متكرمٍ

    يخوّل راجيه المسرة والفخرا

    And what are those two beside a noble, generous man

    who grants joy and honor to whoever looks to him?

  30. أجلُّ واتقى العاكفين على التقى

    وأطهرهم ذيلاً وأطيبهم نشرا

    The most exalted and most devout of those devoted to piety,

    with the purest hem and the sweetest scent,

  31. وأوسعهم صدراً وأرحبهم حمىً

    وأمنعهم جاراً وأرفعهم قدرا

    the broadest breast and the widest sanctuary,

    the surest protection for a neighbor and the highest standing.

  32. قد احتفل المولى بحبوة قاصدٍ

    عساه أنا العبد الذي نظم الشعرا

    The lord has lavished care on a gift for a petitioner;

    may it be I, the servant who composed this verse.

  33. فما هجرت خيلي الشآم وقصدها

    سوى ملكٍ عمت مكارمه مصرا

    So my horses left al-Sham with no aim

    save a king whose generosity has spread throughout Egypt,

  34. حليف أمير المؤمنين وسيفه

    وحجته العظمى ورحمته الكبرى

    ally of the Commander of the Faithful, and his sword,

    and his greatest proof and his greatest mercy.

  35. لبحر نداك العذب خاض مطهَّمي

    مهامه أرض الشام واقتحم البحرا

    To reach the sweet sea of your bounty, my well-built steed waded through

    the wastes of al-Sham's land and plunged into the sea.

  36. ومثلك من يروي العطاش بناله ال

    أعمِّ وينفي الهم والغم والفقرا

    And one like you quenches the thirsty with his bounty—the

    most far-reaching—and banishes worry, grief, and poverty.

  37. بقيت لنا عزّاً نذلُّ به العدى

    ودمت لنا يسراً نزيل به العسرا

    May you remain our might, by which we humble our foes,

    and always be our ease, by which we remove hardship.