1. عين الغزالة تحت عين غزالِ

    أكِّد تجد إنسانها في الخالِ

    The sun's eye beneath a gazelle's eye;

    Look closely: you will find its pupil in the mole.

  2. واعلم بأن الليل ليل ذوائبٍ

    والبدر بدر ملاحةٍ وجمال

    And know that the night is the night of tresses,

    And the full moon a moon of loveliness and beauty.

  3. قدَّ الدجى قدَّ الرباب فضرَّجت

    آس الخضاب بحمرة الجريال

    Rabab's figure cleft the darkness; then she reddened

    The myrtle of her dye with the crimson of wine.

  4. فاشرب على ورد الخدود بكوكب

    ناقٍ يجود بجوهرٍ سيّال

    So drink beside the roses of cheeks from a star,

    Clear, bestowing a flowing jewel.

  5. تعلو فواقعه وتسقط مثلما

    يقع الجراد على غدير زلال

    Its bubbles rise and fall, just as

    Locusts alight upon a limpid pool.

  6. أفلا يسرك قرب باردة اللمى

    ويزيل عنك حرارة البلبال

    Does not the nearness of the cool, dark-lipped one delight you

    And dispel the heat of your anguish?

  7. وهي التي جلت السلاف فخلتها

    قمراً يزف غزالةً بهلال

    She unveiled the pure wine, and I fancied her

    A moon escorting a sun in bridal procession with a crescent.

  8. سبحان من خلق الرباب ملية ال

    أرداف ذات مخصَّرٍ ميّال

    Glory to Him who created Rabab, full in the

    Hips, with a slender, swaying waist.

  9. بيضاء تكتسب النجوم ملاحةً

    من جيدها الحالي وفيها الحالي

    A fair one: the stars gain loveliness

    From her adorned neck and her sweet mouth.

  10. ما قابلت فلك الزجاج بثغرها

    إلّا تبدل ليله بلآلي

    Never did she face the orb of glass with her mouth

    Without its night turning into pearls.

  11. لم أدر حين ضممت ناحل خصرها

    أهو الضجيع أم الضجيع خيالي

    I did not know, when I clasped her slender waist,

    Was it my bedfellow, or was my bedfellow my own phantom?

  12. ومن التي نعت الدجى لخليلها

    أحمامة الوادي أم الخلخالِ

    And who announced night's death to her lover:

    The valley's dove, or the anklet?

  13. كيف السبيل لسلسبيل رضابها

    وعلىالأسيل مدارج الأصلال

    How can I reach the Salsabil of her saliva,

    With vipers' winding trails upon her smooth cheek?

  14. ولدى الشفاه الحمر سمرُ عوامل

    ولدى العيون السود بيض نصال

    And beside the red lips are brown lance-shafts,

    And beside the black eyes, white blades.

  15. ما زال يمنعني الرضاب قوامها

    حتى نجا المعسول بالعسَّال

    Her figure kept barring me from her saliva,

    Until the honeyed sweetness escaped by the swaying spear.

  16. تاهت عليَّ ألا تتيه صبيةٌ

    ذمَّ الشبابَ لها مشيب قذالي

    She was haughty toward me; would a young girl not be proud

    When the gray at my nape has discredited youth in her eyes?

  17. وأمالها كالسمهريِّ دلالُها

    وأمالني كالمشرفيِّ زوالي

    And her coquetry made her sway like a Samhari spear,

    And my decline bent me like a Mashrafi sword.

  18. يا رب ما لي ما خلوتُ بسلوةٍ

    وتخال ذات الخال أني خالي

    O Lord, what ails me? I have never been alone with solace,

    Yet the mole-marked one thinks I am heart-free.

  19. فدَّيت حسنكَ والدلالَ بكل ذي

    حسن وذات ملاحة ودلال

    I would ransom your beauty and coquetry with every bearer

    Of beauty, and every woman of loveliness and coquetry.

  20. ضدان متفقان منك على دمي

    عينٌ مغازلة وقلب سال

    Two opposites in you agree to shed my blood:

    A flirtatious eye and an indifferent heart.

  21. لا تنكري هذا البياض بعارضي

    فبياض شيبي من بياض خصالي

    Do not reject this whiteness on my cheek;

    For my gray hair's whiteness comes from the whiteness of my virtues.

  22. لو تخضبين بآس فرعك طلعه

    لتحول الكافور مسك غزال

    If you dyed its new growth with the myrtle of your tresses,

    The camphor would turn into gazelle musk.

  23. زعم السواك رضاب ثغرك سكَّراً

    حتى السواك به من الجهال

    The tooth-stick claimed the saliva of your mouth was sugar;

    Even the tooth-stick is among those ignorant of it.

  24. قل يا سواك بميم ثغرك مسكرٌ

    فسواك أعلم منك بالجريال

    Say, tooth-stick, with a mim: 'Your mouth is intoxicating';

    For another knows red wine better than you,

  25. علم ابن باز اللَه نوري المرتضي

    بمحاسن الأقوال والأعمال

    As Ibn Baz Allah, Nuri al-Murtada, knows

    The virtues of words and deeds.

  26. المعتني بعبيده وعديده

    مثل اعتناء الليث بالأشبال

    Who cares for his servants and his retinue,

    As a lion cares for its cubs.

  27. من لا تغيره الخطوب عن الولا

    والجود عند تغيُّر الأحوال

    Whom calamities never turn from loyalty

    And generosity when circumstances change.

  28. المقتني سمرَ القنا للقالي

    والمجتني ثمَر الغنى لمُوال

    Who acquires brown lances for the hater,

    And gathers the fruit of wealth for the loyal friend.

  29. غوث العفاة العارض الهامي الذي

    أمنت حماة به من الأمحال

    The petitioners' refuge, the pouring rain-cloud through whom

    Hama is safe from droughts.

  30. حسب السياسة أن تظل ولاتها

    كمحمدٍ محمودة الأفعال

    For governance, it is enough that its rulers remain

    Like Muhammad, praiseworthy in their deeds.

  31. لِتُجار من حسراتها وتُقال من

    عثراتها وتنال خير منال

    That it may be sheltered from its regrets and lifted from

    Its stumbles, and attain the finest goal.

  32. فهو المصيب وكلُّ رأيٍ مخطئٌ

    وهو المجيب وكل سمحٍ كالي

    For he is right while every opinion errs,

    And he responds while every generous man is weary.

  33. وهو المدافع في العلى بيراعةٍ

    أمضى من الفصَّال والعسّال

    And he contends for eminence with a reed-pen

    Keener than the cleaving sword and the swaying spear.

  34. ما حاجتي بالغيث أمسك أو همَى

    ويداه كافلتي من الإقلال

    What need have I of rain, whether it holds back or pours,

    When his two hands guard me against poverty?

  35. وجنان جلق يانعٌ بسماحه

    وسواه يمطر وهو في إمحال

    And Jilliq's gardens ripen through his generosity,

    While another pours down rain, yet remains in drought.

  36. ساوى الأجانب بالأقارب عدله

    فتشاكلا بإزالة الإشكال

    His justice made strangers equal to kinsmen,

    So both became alike, with ambiguity removed.

  37. ومحا الجهالة بالعلوم كما محا

    ظلم الظلوم ببأسه الرئبالي

    And he erased ignorance with learning, as he erased

    The oppressor's oppression with his lionlike might.

  38. شيم امرئٍ أرضى الحميد وعبده

    إذ غاظ كلَّ منافقٍ جوَّال

    The traits of a man who pleased the Praiseworthy and His servant,

    While enraging every roaming hypocrite.

  39. ته أيها المترفق المتدفق ال

    متألق المتصدق المتلالي

    Be proud, O gentle, overflowing one, the

    Radiant, charitable, gleaming one.

  40. وافخر فأنت العالم العلَم الذي

    يوماه يوم ندىً ويوم نضال

    And boast: you are the scholar, the beacon whose

    Two days are a day of bounty and a day of combat.

  41. والأبلج البر الذي أعياده

    أبديةٌ ليست بذات زوال

    And the bright-faced, righteous one whose festivals

    Are eternal, never passing away.

  42. وإذا الفتى نسب الأمور لربه

    بلغ المراد ودام خلو البال

    And when a young man ascribes affairs to his Lord,

    He attains his desire, and peace of mind endures.

  43. قد أقبل العيد المجيد مقدماً

    لك حلة الإقبال والإجلال

    The glorious festival has arrived, presenting

    You with a robe of good fortune and honor.

  44. فارفل بها ما دام عيدٌ مقبلاً

    أو مدبراً واسلم لكل هلال

    So walk proudly in it as long as a festival comes

    Or goes, and remain safe at every crescent moon.

  45. واقبل مخدرةً تريك بخدها

    عين الغزالة تحت عين غزال

    And accept a secluded maiden who shows you on her cheek

    The sun's eye beneath a gazelle's eye.