1. ألمّت بنا أهلا وسهلا بها سل ما

    هداها إلى أبناء مظلمة سلمى

    She visited us—welcome to her! Ask what

    guided Salma to the children of darkness.

  2. ألمّت هدُوّاً والمحَيّا سراجُها

    ولا بدر يهديها إلينا ولا نجما

    She came in the still of night, her face her lamp,

    with no moon to guide her to us, nor any star.

  3. قد استخبرت عنا الدجى وهو منكر

    فيا عظم ما لاقت وما قول يا عظما

    She had asked the darkness about us, though it was forbidding.

    Oh, the enormity of what she encountered! Yet what is saying, 'How enormous!'?

  4. سرَت دونها بيدٌ يبيد بها القطى

    وان خاضها الخريت من هولها سمّى

    She traveled with deserts before her where sandgrouse perish;

    even an expert guide crossing them would invoke God's name in terror.

  5. نحت بإزا ذات التساقُط نحلاً

    فلا جرس منهم حيث ناموا ولا جسما

    She approached emaciated men beside the falling one;

    where they slept, neither a sound from them nor a body could be discerned.

  6. ثملنا كحسو الطير من شهدة الكرى

    ولم يشف دانا غير باردها الألمى

    We grew drunk, sipping like birds from the honeycomb of sleep,

    and nothing cured our ailment but her cool, dark-lipped mouth.

  7. فلما تولّى النومُ حلما وجدت ذا

    فقلت إذاًياليتهُ لم يكن حلما

    When sleep withdrew, I found this was a dream,

    and said, 'Then, oh, would that it had not been a dream!'

  8. وما هيَ إلّا ظبيةٌ خاذلٌ أدما

    هواها قلوب العاشقين لها أدمى

    She is but a tawny gazelle apart from the herd,

    whose love has bloodied the lovers' hearts for her;

  9. سوى أنّها ريا الدماليج والبُرى

    سوى أنّها عجزاءُ أو أنّها جمّا

    save that she fills out her armlets and anklets,

    save that she is full-hipped, or thick-haired;

  10. سوى أن ريق النوم منها سلاك عن

    نوافح لُبنا والسلاف بما الصما

    save that her saliva tasted in sleep makes you forget

    wafts of storax and wine mixed with water from hard rock.

  11. فنال بفيها الثغر ما كان يشتهى

    مذاقا ونال الأنف ما يشتهى شمّا

    From her mouth, the lips gained what they desired

    in taste, and the nose gained what it desired in scent.

  12. فيا عجباَ أنّى تجود ودأبها

    تضِنُّ بنزر القول من خوفها الإثما

    How strange that she should give so freely, when her habit is

    to withhold even a little speech, fearing sin!

  13. إلى بُخلها قد ضمّت الجبنَ والونى

    ثلاثَ خصالٍ نكسبُ المدح والذّمّا

    To her stinginess she has added timidity and languor—

    three traits through which we earn praise and blame.

  14. مهاةٌ رأت شمسَ الضحى من جبينها

    سنى الشمس والظلماء من فرعها الظلما

    An oryx: in her brow the morning sun beheld

    the sun's radiance, and darkness, in her hair, its gloom.

  15. مهاةٌ لها جسمٌ لطيفٌ ومنطقٌ

    رخيمٌ فلو شاءت به حطّت العصما

    An oryx with a delicate body and a voice

    so mellow that, if she wished, it could bring mountain goats down.

  16. تجاهد في قتل النفوس وأسرها

    ولا عقل للقتلى لديها ولا رحمى

    She strives to kill souls and take them captive,

    with no blood-money for her slain, and no mercy.

  17. ألا ليت شعري كيف نومةُ عاشقٍ

    وقد حمّ من بين الحبيبة ما حمّا

    Ah, would that I knew how a lover can sleep,

    when what was decreed of parting from the beloved has come to pass!

  18. وكيف أبيت ليلة لا تعودني

    همومي كما عبد الذي يشتكى الحمى

    How can I pass a night without being visited

    by my cares, as a servant visits one suffering fever?

  19. وهل رعت الحسناء عهدي وإن تخن

    فكم من قديم خانهُ نسوةٌ قدما

    Has the beauty kept my pledge? If she betrays it,

    how many an old companion women betrayed in days gone by!

  20. لئن أنكرتني البيض وهي عوارفٌ

    وما راعها شيبٌ على مفرقي عمّا

    If fair women disown me, though they know me well—

    what frightened them was gray hair spreading over my crown—

  21. إلى كلّ زير ملن عنّي وعن مدى

    مرامي حتى صرن يدعونني عما

    they turned to every ladies' man, away from me and beyond the range

    of my aims, until they began calling me 'uncle.'

  22. لقد كنت قيد النور منها وكلّما

    شكوتُ سقاماً قلنَ واسقم واسقما

    I once fettered the shy ones among them; and whenever

    I complained of sickness, they cried, 'Alas, sickness! Alas, sickness!'

  23. يصخنَ إذا ناديت يدنون إن ألح

    تراهُنّ عميا عن جميع الورى صمّا

    They listened when I called and drew close; if I persisted,

    you would see them blind and deaf to all other people.

  24. تجاوب إن ناديتُ عزة بثنة

    وأسماء عن ليلى وزينب عن أسما

    Buthayna would answer if I called ʿAzza,

    and Asma for Layla, and Zaynab for Asma;

  25. وخولة عن لبنى ولبنى تجيب عن

    سعاد وعن سعدى وحفصةُ عن سلمى

    and Khawla for Lubna, while Lubna answers for

    Suʿad and Saʿda, and Hafsa for Salma.

  26. وهندٌ تمنّت ما تلا يا الندا اسمها

    ودعدٌ تمنّت أن يكون لها يا اسما

    Hind wished her name to be what followed the vocative 'O,'

    and Daʿd wished that 'O' itself could be her name.

  27. وقولي منَ الأقوال فيهنَ مرتضىً

    وفعلي من الأفعال واسمى من الأسما

    Among sayings, my words were pleasing to them,

    as were my deeds among deeds, and my name among names.

  28. ولكنّما جهلي بحلم طردته

    وما ضرّ جهلٌ بعدهُ خلّفَ الحلما

    But I banished my folly with forbearance,

    and folly does no harm when it leaves forbearance behind.

  29. كفاني فقد البيض حتّى حديثها

    محادثتي غُرّ الوجوهِ أو الشما

    My loss of fair women, even their conversation, was made good

    by my converse with bright-faced men, or the lofty.

  30. تسنّمنَ بالآباء ذروةَ شامخ

    من المجد والآباء بالمنزل الأسمى

    Through their fathers they ascended the towering summit

    of glory, their fathers already in the highest station.

  31. وليسَت توازي الشمّ حلم حليمهم

    ولا علمَ إلّا قد أحاطوا به علما

    The lofty mountains cannot match their forbearing man's forbearance,

    and there is no knowledge they have not fully encompassed.

  32. فلا رفع بل لا خفض إلّا لديهم

    ولا نصب في أيدي سواهم ولا جزما

    No raising (nominative), indeed no lowering (genitive), except with them;

    no setting up (accusative) in others' hands, nor cutting short (jussive).

  33. فتابى الفتاوى غيرهم فسواهم

    من الناس لا فتوى لديه ولا حكما

    Fatwas refuse anyone else; other people

    possess neither a fatwa nor a judgment.

  34. وإن حاروا أو سالموا من نواهم

    تكن حربهم حربا وسلمُهُم سلما

    Whether they wage war or make peace with their adversaries,

    their war is true war, and their peace true peace.

  35. أولئكَ قومٌ لا يسومون مسلما

    بظلم ولا يخشون من أحدٍ ظلما

    They are a people who never subject a Muslim

    to injustice, nor fear injustice from anyone.

  36. كأنّهم يعنون بالمدح كلّهِ

    ولا سيماً بيتاً أراهُ لهم وسما

    It is as though all praise means them,

    especially a verse I regard as their distinguishing mark:

  37. ومن يغترب منا ويخضعَ نُأوه

    ولم يخش ظلما ما أقام ولا هضما

    Whoever of us goes abroad and humbles his pride

    need fear neither injustice nor deprivation throughout his stay.

  38. أناسٌ ترى مكروهَهُم لاتّباعهم

    سنا الدين ممنوعاً ومندوبهم حتما

    A people whose disfavored acts, through their following

    religion's light, you find forbidden, and whose recommended acts are obligatory.

  39. فكم أنكر السباق من هو مقعد

    وكم أنكرَت شمسَ الضحى مقلةُ الأعمى

    How often has one unable to walk denied the racers!

    How often has the blind eye denied the morning sun!

  40. حلفتُ بعيديّات شعث حجيجهم

    ولم يبق منها السيرُ شحما ولا لحما

    I swore by the ʿIdiyya mounts of their disheveled pilgrims;

    travel had left on them neither fat nor flesh.

  41. برتها مبارة المطيّ إذا البرى

    تمجّ عليها الشمس من ريقها سما

    Racing other mounts wore them down, when, over the dust,

    the sun spat poison upon them from its saliva.

  42. فتُبلى الدجى ثوبا وفرعا تشيبه

    بخضب السنا والآل تسبحهُ يمّا

    They wear out the darkness as a robe and turn its tresses gray

    with the dye of radiance, and swim the mirage as a sea.

  43. عليها الالي كانوا إذا صمّموا مضوا

    فلا الصارم الصمصام يحكيهم عزما

    Upon them ride those who, once resolved, go forward;

    no keen, unbending sword can match their determination.

  44. إذا ما الهوَينا قد أنامت بني الفلا

    يكونُ الكرى ميماً وأجفانهم علما

    When leisurely ease has lulled the desert folk to sleep,

    sleep becomes a mīm, and their eyelids a banner.

  45. لهم قطّ لم يبرح أبو مالك أبا

    وأم عبيد لم تزل لهم أمّا

    For them, Abū Mālik has always remained a father,

    and Umm ʿUbayd has ever remained their mother.

  46. فأسلاهم الأشياء ذكر محمّد

    وذكر أبي بكر وذكرهُم عثمان

    Remembrance of Muhammad made them forget all else,

    and remembrance of Abū Bakr, and their remembrance of ʿUthmān.

  47. تمَنّوا منى من طيب طيبة عندهُم

    فزمّوا لها الكوماء والبازل الضخما

    They cherished wishes born of Ṭayba's sweetness to them,

    and for her they haltered the high-humped she-camel and the huge mature camel.

  48. لنعم أباة الضيم قومي وحبّذا

    وبا حبّذا فيهمُ تَقِلّ ويا نعما

    How fine are my people, rejecters of oppression; how admirable!

    Yet 'how admirable' falls short for them, as does 'how excellent!'

  49. وقد أصحب المرد الجحاجح من بني

    عليّ ولا علياء إلا لهم تنمى

    I keep company with the beardless young chiefs among the sons

    of ʿAlī: no greatness is traced to anyone but them.

  50. فمنهم جوادُ الكفّ والفهمُ ثاقبٌ

    ومنهم شجاع النفس إن عنّت الدهما

    Among them is the generous-handed man, with penetrating insight,

    and among them the brave-hearted man when calamity appears.

  51. ومنهم فتىً نزرُ الكلام ومنشدٌ

    شمائل من لم تشك أعراضهم كلما

    Among them is a young man sparing of speech, and a reciter

    of the virtues of those whose honor has never complained of a wound;

  52. وموردُ أقلام لحبر دواته

    فآونةً تروى وءاونةً تظما

    and one who leads his pens to the ink of his inkwell:

    now they drink their fill, now they thirst.

  53. يحلّى بها بيض الطروس جواهراً

    فلا مهرُقٌ إلّا بها يشتهي الرقما

    With them he adorns white pages with jewels,

    so no parchment desires inscription except through them.

  54. فما أنكرت حتى المعاني عنهم

    ولا أو ولا أمّا ولا أم ولا ثما

    Not even the particles of meaning are unfamiliar to them:

    neither 'or,' nor 'as for,' nor 'or,' nor 'then';

  55. ولا أي ولا لكن ولا أخواتها

    ولا أن ولا كلّا ولا لم ولا لما

    nor 'which,' nor 'but,' nor their sister-particles;

    nor 'that,' nor 'no indeed,' nor 'not,' nor 'not yet.'

  56. يميلون نحو النحو يفشون مرّه

    فلا حفظ عنهم يطّبيك ولا فهما

    They incline toward grammar and lay bare its bitterness;

    neither memorization nor understanding can draw you away from them.

  57. يخوضون في مهما أمهما بسيطةٌ

    يخوضون في لولا وفي أم وفي أما

    They debate 'whatever': is 'whatever' a simple form?

    They delve into 'were it not,' into 'or,' and into 'as for.'

  58. يخوضون في شعر الصعاليك تارةً

    فذا منشدٌ طال وذا هل ما

    At times they delve into the poetry of the outlaws;

    one recites 'Long ...'; another, 'Is ... what ...';

  59. وذا منشدٌ بان الخليط ومنشدٌ أم

    ن أمّ أوفى أو صحا القلب عن سلمى

    another recites 'The companions departed ...'; and another, 'Is it

    from Umm Awfa ...', or 'The heart has sobered from Salma ...'.

  60. وذاك التي منها يهيّجني وذا

    طحا والتي منها غداة طفت ع الما

    And that one, the poem containing 'It stirs me ...'; and this one,

    'Carried away ...'; and the poem containing 'At dawn I circled a world ...'.

  61. يخوضون في الأعشى وغيلان مية

    يخوضون في حسّان وابن أبي سلمى

    They delve into al-Aʿshā and Ghaylān of Mayya;

    they delve into Ḥassān and Ibn Abī Sulmā.

  62. وطورا إلى من صاغ زارت على أو

    لواشي التي منها سرى يخبط الظلما

    At times, into the poet who fashioned 'She visited upon ...', or

    the weaver of the poem containing 'He traveled by night, groping through darkness ...'.

  63. وآونةً في الشيخ سيديّ وابنه

    وفي سيد عبد اللّه طورا وفي حرما

    At times, into Shaykh Sidiyy and his son,

    and into Sayyid ʿAbd Allāh at times, and into Ḥurmā;

  64. وآونةً في ابن الحسين وفي أبي

    عليّ وفي الشامي أو في أبي تمّاما

    and at times into Ibn al-Ḥusayn, and into Abū

    ʿAlī, and al-Shāmī, or into Abū Tammām.