1. وافى كتابُكَ مفتوحاً فبشّرنِي

    بِفتحِ سبُلِ الّلقاءِ الزَّجرُ والفَالُ

    Your letter arrived open, and glad tidings came to me

    of opened paths to reunion, through bird-augury and good omen.

  2. فقلتُ أحبِبْ بِهَا بُشرى إليَّ وإِن

    تَعَرّضَتْ دونَ ما نَرْجُوهُ أهوالُ

    So I said: how dear these glad tidings are to me, even if

    terrors stand in the way of what we hope for!

  3. ثمّ اعتَرَتْنِيَ أشواقٌ تُجَهِّلُنِي

    كيفَ اطمأنَّتْ بِقَلْبي بعدَك الحالُ

    Then longings beset me, calling me foolish:

    How could my heart's state grow calm after your departure?

  4. وكيفَ يَبقَى وما يَنفَكُّ ذَا وَجَلٍ

    خوفاً عليكَ وفي الأوجالِ آجالُ

    And how can it endure, forever full of dread,

    in fear for you—and in fears lie deaths?

  5. يا خيرَ مَن عَلِقَت كَفّي مودّتَه

    وصُدَّقَتْ لِيَ في عَلْياهُ آمالُ

    O best of those to whose friendship my hand has clung,

    and in whose eminence my hopes have been fulfilled!

  6. ماذا أقُولُ وقلبي قد تخلَّفَ عني

    جِسْمِي وزُمّتْ لوشْكِ البين أجمالُ

    What can I say, when my heart has stayed behind,

    apart from my body, as camels were haltered for the imminent parting?

  7. وكم فُجِعتُ بروْعاتِ الفِراقِ ولا

    كَهذه لم يُرْعِني قطُّ تَرحالُ

    How often I have been stricken by the terrors of separation; yet

    no departure has ever frightened me like this one.

  8. وقبلَ وشْكِ النّوَى قد كنتُ أحذَرُهَا

    كأنَّ ذاكَ التّوقِّي قبلَها فَالُ

    Even before separation drew near, I had feared it,

    as though that earlier wariness were an omen.

  9. فإن تمادَتْ بِنا أيّامُ فُرقَتِنَا

    وكلُّ ساعاتِ بُعدي عنك آجالُ

    If the days of our separation drag on—

    and every hour away from you is a death—

  10. فاحفَظ فؤاداً مقيماً في ذُرَاك ولا

    تُسْلِمْهُ للشَّوقِ إنَّ الشّوقَ قتَّالُ

    then guard a heart dwelling in your shelter, and do not

    surrender it to longing: longing is a relentless killer.

  11. أيْن سَمعِي عمّا يقولُ العذولُ

    أنا بالهَجرِ والنّوى مَشغولُ

    What heed can I pay to what the reproacher says?

    I am preoccupied with estrangement and separation.

  12. وسبيلُ السُّلوِّ بادٍ لِعَينيْ

    يَ ولكنْ مالِي إليه سَبيلُ

    The path to forgetting is plain to my eyes,

    yet I have no way to it.

  13. مَا قَليلُ الغرامِ يا مستريحَ ال

    قَلبِ ممَّا يلقَى المحبُّ قَليلُ

    Even a little passion, O you of tranquil

    heart, is no little thing among the lover's sufferings.

  14. بِالهَوى هَامَ في الفَلاَ قيسُ ليلَى

    وبه ماتَ عُروةٌ وجَميلُ

    Through love, Layla's Qays wandered madly in the wilderness,

    and through it Urwah and Jamil died.

  15. فَاعفِ من لَومكَ المحبَّ كفاهُ

    مِن جَواهُ تَسهيدُهُ والنُّحولُ

    So spare the lover your reproach: enough for him

    are the sleeplessness and wasting caused by his burning grief.

  16. لا تَظنَّنَ وجدَ مَن فارقَ الأظ

    عانَ يحتَثُّهُنَّ حادٍ عَجولُ

    Do not suppose the anguish of one parted from the camel-litters,

    urged onward by a hurrying camel-driver,

  17. تقطَعُ البيدَ حاملاتٍ شُموساً

    ما لَها في سِوَى الخُدورِ أُفولُ

    crossing the deserts while bearing suns,

    which set nowhere but in curtained chambers,

  18. كلُّ شمسٍ تُنيرُ فَوق قَضيبٍ

    يَتهادَى به كثيبٌ مَهيلُ

    each sun shining above a slender bough,

    a dune of loose sand swaying gracefully with it—

  19. لاَ ولاَ وجْدَ نازِحٍ فارَق الأو

    طانَ يَهتاجُه الضُّحَى والأصيلُ

    no, nor the anguish of an exile who has left his homeland,

    whom forenoon and late afternoon stir to yearning,

  20. كلّما لامَهُ العذولُ مَرَى دمْ

    عاً تُبَاِريه زَفرةٌ وعَويلُ

    whenever the reproacher blames him, tears are drawn forth,

    rivaled by a sigh and wailing—

  21. مثلَ وجْدِي لِفُرقةِ الملِكِ الصا

    لِحِ وهْو المرجُوُّ والمأمولُ

    is like my anguish at parting from King al-Salih,

    the one hoped for and looked to.

  22. يا أميرَ الجيوشِ يا أعدلَ الحُك

    كَامِ في فِعلِه وفيما يَقولُ

    O commander of armies, O most just of rulers

    in his deeds and in what he says!

  23. أنتَ تَقضِي بالحَقّ لستَ وإن زا

    لَتْ جِبَالُ الأرضِينَ عنه تَزولُ

    You judge by truth; you do not—even should they shift,

    the mountains of the earth—depart from it.

  24. فَبِماذَا قضيتَ يا سيّدَ الحك

    كَامِ طُرًّا عليَّ أنّي مَلُولُ

    Then on what grounds have you judged, O master of rulers,

    one and all, that I am quick to tire?

  25. مَن يَملُّ الحياةَ أمْ مَنْ عَليهِ

    مِن تَوالي أنفاسهِ تَثْقيلُ

    Who tires of life, or who finds

    the succession of his breaths a burden?

  26. لا تَرُعْني بالعَتْبِ فهو على قَطْ

    عِ رسُومِ التّشريفِ عَنّي دليلُ

    Do not alarm me with reproach: it is a sign of cutting off

    the customary marks of honor bestowed on me.

  27. لي رسومٌ منها مواصلَةُ الكُتْ

    بِ وأنتَ البَرُّ الكريمُ الوَصولُ

    I have customary privileges, among them a continuing exchange of letters,

    and you are benevolent, generous, and steadfast in maintaining ties.

  28. وسِواهَا أغْنَيْتَنِي عنه بالإنْ

    عامِ حتّى لم يبقَ لي تَأميلُ

    As for anything else, your bounty has freed me from needing it,

    until I had nothing further to wish for.

  29. فَأَعذْنِي من قَطعِها فهي لي فخ

    رٌ به أُدركُ العُلا وأطُولُ

    So spare me their cessation: they are my pride,

    through which I attain the heights and excel.

  30. فبِوُدّي لو اُطَّلعتَ على قلْ

    بي فيبدُو لك الوَلاءُ الدخيلُ

    For I wish you could look into my heart,

    then the loyalty deep within would be plain to you,

  31. وتَرى أنَّ ما زَرعتَ من الإنْ

    عامِ لم يُحصِ رَيعَه التجميلُ

    and you would see that the bounty you have sown

    has a yield beyond all reckoning.