1. لأسماءَ دارٌ حيثُ منْقَطع الرَّملِ

    سقاها برِجافِ العشيَّة منهَلِّ

    Asma has a dwelling where the sands end.

    May a pouring cloud water it with evening thunder.

  2. وجَرَّتْ عليها الذَّيلَ وطفاءُ أبرَقَتْ

    وراحتْ ومن جلجالها زجَلُ الفَحلِ

    And a dense cloud, flashing lightning, trailed its hem over it;

    And moved on; from its rumbling came a camel-bull's bellow.

  3. وإنِّي لأستسقي لها وابلَ الحيا

    وإنْ كانَ دمعي ما ينوب عن الوبلِ

    And I do pray for torrents of rain to water it,

    Although my tears can take the place of the downpour.

  4. عَهِدْتُ الهوى فيها وكانت كأنَّما

    مواقيتها الأولى مواسم للوصل

    There I once knew love, and it was as though

    Its earliest days were seasons of union.

  5. حَلَفْتُ بأحشاءٍ يُحَرِّقها الجوى

    وكلّ قريحِ الجفن بالدَّمع مبتلّ

    I swore by entrails scorched by love's anguish,

    And everyone with a wounded eyelid, drenched with tears,

  6. وما رُمِيَتْ من مهجةٍ صادها الهوى

    بمكحولة العينين من غير ما كحل

    And every stricken heart that love has snared

    Through a woman whose eyes are kohl-dark without any kohl.

  7. لقد فَتَكَتْ بي أعينٌ بابليَّةٌ

    فويحك يا قلبي من الأَعين النجل

    Babylonian eyes have surely slain me;

    So alas for you, my heart, before those wide eyes!

  8. وقد فعلَ الشَّوق المبرّح في الحشا

    كما تفعلُ النِّيران بالحطب الجزل

    Agonizing yearning has worked upon my inward parts

    As fires work upon thick logs.

  9. وإنْ فاضَ دمعي لا أزال أُريقه

    فمن كبدٍ تصلى ومن لوعةٍ تصلي

    And though my tears overflow, I go on shedding them,

    From a liver scorched and an anguish that scorches;

  10. وجور زمان لو أَرى فيه منصفاً

    لحاكَمْتُهُ فيه إلى حكم عدل

    And from the injustice of an age: if I found anyone fair within it,

    I would bring it before a just judge over that wrong.

  11. أَمثلي يطوفُ الأرض شرقاً ومغرباً

    على أرب يرضى من الكثر بالقلّ

    Must someone like me roam the earth, east and west,

    Seeking some need, content with a little out of much?

  12. وتقْذِفُني الأَسفار في كلّ وجهةٍ

    فمن مهمهٍ وعرٍ إلى مهمهٍ سهل

    And journeys fling me in every direction,

    From a rugged wilderness to a level wilderness.

  13. وتَحْرِمُني الأَيَّام ما أَسْتَحِقّه

    فلا كانت الأَيَّام إذ ذاك في حلّ

    And the days deny me what I deserve;

    So may the days never be absolved for that!

  14. وأرجع أختار الإِقامة خاملاً

    حليف الجهول الوغد والحاسد النذل

    And I return, choosing to stay in obscurity,

    A companion of the ignorant lout and the base envier.

  15. وقد عكفت قومٌ على كلّ جاهلٍ

    كما عكفت أقوامُ موسى على العجل

    A people have devoted themselves to every ignorant man,

    As the people of Moses devoted themselves to the calf.

  16. يطاولني من لَسْتُ أرضاه موطئاً

    وأُكْرِمُ نعلي أنْ أقيسَ به نعلي

    One whom I would not accept as a place to tread seeks to rival me;

    I honor my sandal too much to compare it with him.

  17. وفاخَرَني من يحسب الجهل فخره

    وناظرني من لم يكنْ شكله شكلي

    One who counts ignorance his pride has vied with me in glory;

    And one whose kind is not mine has debated me.

  18. فتبًّا لدهرٍ تُسْتَذَلُّ قرومُه

    وتستكبِرُ الأَنذال فيه وتستعلي

    Perish an age in which its chieftains are humbled,

    While the base grow arrogant and exalt themselves!

  19. أقاموا مقامي من جهلت بزعمهم

    فما قام في عقدٍ هناك ولا حلِّ

    They installed in my place, so they claim, someone unknown to me;

    Yet there he neither tied a knot nor untied one.

  20. ولو طلبوا مثلي لَعَزَّ وجوده

    وما وَجَدوا مثلي وأنَّى لهم مثلي

    Had they sought someone like me, he would be hard to find;

    They would find no equal of mine—how could they find someone like me?

  21. إلامَ أُمَنِّي نفسَ حُرٍّ أَبيَّةٍ

    شديدٍ عليها في الدّنا موقفُ الذّلِّ

    How long shall I feed hopes to a free man's proud soul,

    For which standing humiliated in this world is hard to bear?

  22. أُواعدها والدَّهر يأبى بساعةٍ

    تَبُلُّ غليلي حين تنزعُني غلِّي

    I promise it, though time refuses, an hour

    To quench my burning thirst when it strips off my fetters.

  23. ويعذُلني من ليسَ يدري ولو درى

    لما عجَّ في لومي ولا لجَّ في عذلي

    One who does not know reproaches me; if he knew,

    He would not clamor in blaming me or persist in reproaching me.

  24. على أنَّني ما بين شرّ عصابةٍ

    حريصين لا كانوا على الخلق الرذل

    Yet I am amid the vilest band,

    Bent—may they perish!—on base conduct.

  25. لقد أنكروا أشياءَ أفضُلُهم بها

    وما عَرَفوا في الدَّهر شيئاً سوى البخل

    They have denied qualities in which I surpass them,

    And in all time they have known nothing but miserliness.

  26. وما أشْفَقوا من وخز دهياء طخيةٍ

    كما أشفقوا يوم النَّوال من البذل

    They did not fear the sting of a dire, pitch-dark calamity

    As they feared giving on the day of bounty.

  27. مدحتُ شهاب الدِّين بالعلم والحجى

    ومدح شهاب الدِّين فرضٌ على مثلي

    I praised Shihab al-Din for his learning and wisdom;

    And praising Shihab al-Din is a duty for one like me.

  28. وما يَمَّمَتْ بي ناقةٌ غير بابه

    ولا وَقَّرتْ إلاَّ بإحسانه رحلي

    No she-camel has carried me toward any door but his,

    Nor has my saddle been laden with anything but his bounty.

  29. هو الشَّرف الأَعلى هو العلم والتّقى

    توَرَّثه عن جدِّه سيِّد الرّسل

    He is loftiest honor; he is learning and piety,

    Inherited from his forefather, the master of the messengers.

  30. متى حاولته اليعملات حَثَثْتُها

    إلى السَّيِّد المحمود بالقول والفعل

    Whenever the swift she-camels seek him, I urge them on

    Toward the master praised for word and deed;

  31. إلى دوحة من هاشم نبويَّةٍ

    نعم إنَّ هذا الفرع من ذلك الأَصل

    Toward a prophetic tree of Hashim's line.

    Yes, this branch is indeed from that root.

  32. وإلاّ تُحِطْ علماً بأَعلم من بها

    فَسَلْ من شجاع القوم عن جوهر النَصل

    And if you do not fully know the most learned man there,

    Ask the people's champion about the blade's mettle.

  33. وإنِّيَ إذ أُصغي لمعنى حديثه

    ثَمِلْتُ وتردادي بأمداحه نقلي

    And when I listen to the meaning of his speech,

    I grow drunk; my repeated praises of him are my sweetmeats.

  34. كلامك لا ما راعَ من كلّ باهرٍ

    ولفظك لا ما اشتير من كورة النَّحل

    Your speech—not whatever strikes awe among all marvels;

    And your words—not what is gathered from the bees' hive.

  35. وكتْبك أمثال الشُّموس طوالع

    فلا اللَّيل يغشاها إذ الشّكّ كاللَّيل

    And your books rise like so many suns;

    No night veils them, for doubt is like night.

  36. هَدَيْتَ بها مَن كانَ منها بحَيرةٍ

    وأَوْضَحتَ في تبيانها غامض السّبل

    Through them you guided whoever was perplexed about them,

    And in explaining them made obscure paths clear.

  37. وأمْلَيْتَ ما حارتْ عقولُ الورى به

    وأصْبَحتِ الأَقلام تكتبُ ما تُملي

    You dictated what had baffled the minds of humankind,

    And pens came to write whatever you dictate.

  38. وما تنكرُ الدُّنيا بأنَّك عالمٌ

    وإنْ كانَ هذا الدَّهر أمْيَل للجهل

    The world does not deny that you are learned,

    Though this age leans more toward ignorance.

  39. وإنْ عُدَّت الأَشياخ بالعلم والحجى

    فإنَّك شيخ الكلّ مولاي في الكلِّ

    And if elders are reckoned by learning and wisdom,

    Then you, my lord, are the elder of them all in everything.

  40. وأَنْتَ إمام المسلمين بأسرهم

    عليك اعتماد القول بالنَّقل والعقل

    And you are the imam of all Muslims;

    In pronouncements based on tradition and reason, reliance rests on you.

  41. فلا أخْذَ إلاَّ عنك في الدِّين كلّه

    ألا إنَّ حقّ الأَخذ من قولك الفصل

    So instruction in all religion is taken from none but you;

    Indeed, true learning comes from your decisive word.

  42. وإنْ قالَ قومٌ قد عُزِلْتَ فإنَّما

    عُزِلْتَ ولم تُعزَل عن العلم والفضل

    And if some say you have been dismissed, it is only that

    You were dismissed, not stripped of learning and excellence.

  43. يَحُطُّ سواك العَزْلُ عن شَرَف العُلى

    ومثلُك لا يَنْحَطُّ ما عاشَ بالعَزْل

    Dismissal lowers others from the honor of high rank;

    But one like you is never lowered by dismissal while he lives.

  44. وهل للمعالي لا أباً لأبيهمُ

    سواك وإنْ يأبى المعاند من بعل

    And has high glory—may their father be fatherless!—

    Any husband but you, though the stubborn opponent denies it?

  45. وهَبْها لدى أسرٍ لدى غير كفوها

    فلو خُلِّيَتْ جاءَتك تمشي على رجل

    And suppose her captive with someone unworthy of her;

    If set free, she would come to you, walking on foot.

  46. تَحِنُّ إلى محيَّاك وهي مشوقة

    إليك حنين المستهام إلى الوصل

    She yearns for your face, filled with longing

    For you, as the lovestruck yearns for union.

  47. وكم منصب قد قالَ يوماً لأهلِهِ

    إليكَ إذاً عنِّي فما أَنْتَ من أهلي

    How many an office has one day said to its holder:

    Away from me, then—you are not my rightful holder!

  48. أَغَظْتُ بك الحُسَّاد في كلِّ مدحةٍ

    أشدّ على الأَعداء من موقع النّبل

    I enraged the envious through you with every panegyric,

    Harsher upon enemies than the impact of arrows.

  49. وقُلْتُ ولم أرجع إلى غير مثله

    ويا كُثْرَ ما أخّرتُ أشياء من قولي

    And I spoke, never turning to anything unlike it;

    And oh, how much of my speech I have held back!

  50. يغيظ كلامي فيك كلّ مناضلٍ

    يرى من كلامي فيك نضنضة الصّلّ

    My words about you anger every adversary,

    Who sees an asp's flickering tongue in my words about you.

  51. وفيك أَقولُ الحقّ حتَّى لَوَ انَّني

    أذوقُ الرَّدى فيه مريراً وأستحلي

    And of you I speak the truth, even if I

    Taste bitter death for it—and find it sweet.