1. أُعالجُ قلباً في هواكم معذَّبا

    وأصبو إليكم كلَّما هبّتِ الصَّبا

    I struggle with a heart tormented by love for you,

    and I yearn for you whenever the east wind blows.

  2. وأطوي على حَرِّ الغرام جوانحاً

    تلهَّبُ في نيران وجدي تَلهُّبا

    I fold my ribs around the heat of passion,

    and they blaze fiercely in the fires of my yearning.

  3. يؤنّبني اللاّحون فيك ولم أكن

    لأسْمَعَ في الحبّ العذول المؤَنِّبا

    Reproachers rebuke me for you, yet I would never

    heed the scolding censor in matters of love.

  4. وأرّقني يا سعد برقٌ أشيمه

    يزرّ على الأكناف برقاً مذهبا

    And, Sa'd, lightning I watch has robbed me of sleep,

    fastening gilded flashes across the surrounding lands.

  5. شجاني فأبكاني وأطربَ مَسْمَعي

    حمامٌ بذات البان غنّى فأطربا

    It saddened me, made me weep, and delighted my ear—

    a dove at Dhat al-Ban that sang and enraptured me.

  6. وذكَّرني والدار منها قصيّة

    على النأي سعدى والرباب وزينبا

    And it reminded me, though my dwelling lay far from her,

    despite the distance, of Sa'da, Rabab, and Zaynab,

  7. بحيث الهوى غضٌّ وبرد شبابنا

    قشيب وعهد اللهو في زمن الصبا

    where love was fresh and the mantle of our youth

    was new, and pleasure had its season in youth.

  8. يُدارُ علينا من دم الكرم قهوة

    فنشرب ترياق الهموم المجرّبا

    Wine, the vine's blood, was passed around among us,

    and we drank the proven antidote to cares.

  9. وتُهدى إلينا في الكؤوس نوافجاً

    من المسك أو أذكى أريجاً وأطيبا

    And musk-pods were offered to us in cups,

    of musk—or something richer in fragrance and sweeter.

  10. إذا زفّها الساقي لشربٍ تبسَّمت

    به طرباً حتَّى يروح مقطّبا

    When the cupbearer brought it to the drinkers, it smiled

    joyfully at him, until he went away frowning.

  11. ويا رُبَّ ليلٍ رُحتُ فيه مع المها

    بقصّة أشواق يكون لها نبا

    And how many a night I passed with oryx-eyed beauties,

    with a tale of longing that would be much talked of.

  12. تُلاعبُ أنفاس النسيم إذا سرى

    على جلّنار الخدّ صدغاً معقربا

    The breaths of the breeze, when it drifted, played

    over the cheek's pomegranate blossom with a scorpion-curled temple-lock.

  13. ألَمْ تنظر الأيام كيف تبدَّلَتْ

    بنا ورخاء العيش كيف تَقَلَّبا

    Have you not seen how the days have changed

    for us, and how life's ease has turned?

  14. فلم أستطبْ يا سعد مرعىً أرودُه

    مريعاً ولم أستعذبِ اليوم مشربا

    So, Sa'd, no pasture I seek seems pleasant to me,

    however lush, nor does any drink taste sweet to me today.

  15. بربّكما عوجا على الربع ساعةً

    وإنْ كانَ قد أقوى دروساً وأجدبا

    By your Lord, both of you, turn aside to the dwelling for a while,

    though it has become deserted, effaced, and barren.

  16. لئن لَعِبت فيه السوافي وبرّحت

    فقد كانَ قبل اليوم للسِّرْب مَلْعبا

    Though sand-bearing winds have sported there and ravaged it,

    before today it was the gazelle herd's playground.

  17. فواهاً على ظلّ الأراكة في الحمى

    وواهاً على الحيِّ الَّذي قد تصبَّبا

    Oh, for the shade of the arak tree in the sanctuary!

    And oh, for the tribe that has streamed away!

  18. أطعتُ الهوى ما إنْ دعاني له الهوى

    ولما دَعَوتُ الصَّبر يومئذٍ أبى

    I obeyed passion the moment passion called me to it,

    but when I called on patience that day, it refused.

  19. وما زال يوري زندُه لاعجَ الحشا

    فما باله أورى الفؤاد وما خبا

    Its fire-stick has kept kindling the blaze within my breast;

    why has it kindled my heart and never died down?

  20. أُعلِّلُ نفسي بالتلاقي وبيننا

    حزونٌ إذا يجري بها خاطري كبا

    I comfort myself with reunion, while between us lie

    rugged lands where my thought stumbles whenever it runs.

  21. ولو أنَّ طيفَ المالكيّة زارني

    لقَلْتُ له أهلاً وسهلاً ومرحبا

    And if the Malikiyya woman's phantom visited me,

    I would say to it, 'Welcome, make yourself at home, welcome!'

  22. وإنْ نَقَل الواشي لظمياء سلوةً

    فما صَدَقَ الواشي بذاك وكذّبا

    And if the talebearer told Zamya' that I had ceased to love,

    the talebearer spoke no truth in that—he lied.

  23. تُؤاخذُني الأيامُ والذنب ذنبها

    على غير ما جُرمٍ وما كنت مذنبا

    The days hold me to account, though the fault is theirs,

    for no crime at all; I was never guilty.

  24. فيا ويحَ نفسي ضاع عمري ولم أفُزْ

    بِحُرٍّ ولا أبْصَرْتُ خِلاًّ مهذبا

    Alas for my soul! My life is wasted, and I have not found

    a noble man, nor have I seen a refined friend.

  25. ويُقْعِدُني حظّي عن النيل إنْ أرُمْ

    مَراماً وإنْ أطلبْ من الدهر مطلبا

    My luck holds me back from attainment whenever I pursue

    an aim, or seek anything from time.

  26. ولم يُجْدِني إرهافي العزمَ في المنى

    وما حيلتي بالصارم العضب إنْ نبا

    Sharpening my resolve has not helped me attain my hopes;

    what can I do with a keen, cutting sword if it glances off?

  27. وما بَرِحَتْ تملى على الدهر قِصَّتي

    فتملأُ أفهام الرجال تعجُّبا

    My story is ceaselessly dictated to time,

    filling men's minds with wonder.

  28. وتزهو بأمداح النّقيب قصائدي

    بأحْسَنَ ما تزهو بأزهارها الرّبا

    And my poems bloom with praises of the Naqib,

    as splendidly as hills at their finest flowering.

  29. بأبلجَ وَضّاح الجبين كإنَّه

    إذا لاح في ضوء النهار تنقّبا

    Of a radiant man, bright of brow, as though,

    when he appeared in daylight, he had put on a veil.

  30. كريمٌ براه الله أكرمَ من بَرا

    وأَنْجَبُ من ألْفَيْتَ في النَّاس منجبا

    A generous man, whom God made the most generous of all He made,

    and the most distinguished of the men of distinction you have found.

  31. لقد طابَ عرقاً في الكرام ومنبتاً

    وما زال عرقُ الهاشميين طيّبا

    His bloodline and roots are indeed pure among the noble;

    the Hashimites' stock has always been pure.

  32. لتسمُ بنو السادات من آل هاشم

    بأنجبهم أُمًّا وأشرفهم أبا

    Let the sons of the noble lords of Hashim's house rise high

    through the one with the noblest mother and most honored father,

  33. وأحلاهمُ في وابل الجود صيّباً

    وأعلاهمُ في قُلَّة المجد منصبا

    and the sweetest shower among them in generosity's downpour,

    and the highest among them in rank upon glory's summit.

  34. أتانا بأبكارِ المناقب سيِّدٌ

    فأبْدَعَ فيما جاءَ فيه وأغربا

    A lord brought us virtues in their maiden freshness;

    he excelled in what he brought, and did the extraordinary.

  35. وأغْضَبَ أقواماً وأرضى بما أتى

    ومن نال ما قد نال أرضى وأغضبا

    What he accomplished angered some and pleased others,

    and whoever attains what he attained both pleases and angers.

  36. وخُيِّر ما بين المذاهب في العُلى

    فما اختار إلاَّ مذهب الفضل مذهبا

    Given his choice among the paths to eminence,

    he chose no path but the path of excellence.

  37. تحبَّبَ بالحسنى إلى النَّاس كلِّهم

    ومن جُملة الإحسان أنْ يتحبَّبا

    Through kindness he endeared himself to all people,

    and winning affection is itself an act of kindness.

  38. وأظهرَ فيه الله أسرارَ لُطفِهِ

    وقد كانَ سِرًّا في الغيوب محجّبا

    And God revealed in him the secrets of His grace,

    which had been a mystery veiled in the unseen.

  39. لك الله مَنْ طار الفخار بصيته

    فَشَرَّقَ في أقصى البلاد وغرَّبا

    God bless you, whose renown glory has borne aloft,

    carrying it east and west to the farthest lands.

  40. ومن راح يستهديك للجود والندى

    رآك إلى الخيرات أهدى وأصوبا

    Whoever seeks your guidance in generosity and bounty

    finds you the surest, truest guide to good deeds.

  41. تقَلَّبَ في نعمائك الدهر كلّه

    وما زلتُ في نعمائك المتقلبا

    He has lived amid your favors all his days,

    and I have never ceased to dwell amid your favors.

  42. وجدّك لم أُبصِرْ سواك مُؤَمِّلاً

    ولا من إذا ما استوهب المال أوهبا

    By your fortune, in hope I have looked toward none but you,

    nor anyone who grants wealth whenever asked for it.

  43. إذا لم أجد لي للثراء مسبّباً

    وجَدْتُك في نيل الثراء المسبّبا

    When I find no one to bring me wealth,

    I find you the one who brings about my gaining wealth.

  44. وقد شمت برقاً من سحابك ممطراً

    وما شمت برقاً من سحابك خلّبا

    I have watched rain-bringing lightning from your clouds,

    and never lightning from your clouds that promised rain in vain.

  45. وإنِّي لأستسقي نوالك ظامئاً

    فلم أرَ أمْرى منه شيئاً وأعذبا

    And, thirsty, I seek the rain of your bounty;

    I have found nothing more wholesome or sweeter than it.

  46. ولي قلمٌ يملي عليك إذا جرى

    وترجمَ عمّا في الضَّمير وأعربا

    And I have a pen that dictates to you when it runs,

    interpreting what lies in my heart and making it plain.

  47. فيا قمراً في طالع السعد نيّراً

    ويا فلكاً بالمكرمات مكوكبا

    O radiant moon in the ascendant of good fortune,

    and O heavenly sphere starred with noble deeds!

  48. لقد جاءني شهرُ الصيام بموكب

    من العسر لا شاهدت للعسر مركبا

    The month of fasting has come to me in a procession

    of hardship—may you never behold hardship's mount!

  49. وشوَّشني لما بدا بقدومِه

    ولم أرَ لي أمراً لذاك مرتّبا

    It troubled me when its arrival became clear,

    and I found none of my affairs put in order for it.

  50. فلو أنَّ شهرَ الصَّوم طاف بمنزلي

    تبسَّم مما راعه وتعجّبا

    If the month of fasting toured my home,

    it would smile at what startled it and marvel.

  51. وأبْصرَ داراً لو ثوى الخير ساعة

    بها لنأى عن أهلها وتغرّبا

    It would see a house where, if good fortune lingered an hour,

    it would retreat from its people and go into exile.

  52. ويا طالما وافى على حين غفلة

    فأصْبَحْتُ منه خائفاً مترقبا

    And oh, how often it has arrived while I was unawares,

    so I became fearful of it and watchful.

  53. وجرّبته في كل عام بغصّة

    ومثلي من ساس الأمورَ وجرّبا

    Each year I have endured it with a lump in my throat,

    and one like me has managed affairs and tested them.

  54. ولمَّا رأيتُ الهمَّ جاز لي المدى

    إلى أن رأيتُ السيل قد بلغ الزبى

    And when I saw that care had passed all bounds for me,

    to the point that I saw the flood had reached the hilltops,

  55. وقد أتْعَبَتْني ما هنالك فاقةٌ

    ومن كانَ مثلي أتْعَبَتْه وأتعبا

    and poverty amid all this had exhausted me,

    as anyone like me is wearied by it and wearies others,

  56. وقد حَمَلتْني حاجة لو كفيتها

    غدوت له عن ثروة متأهبا

    and a need had driven me—if it were met for me,

    I would be ready for it, with wealth behind me—

  57. ركِبْتُ بها الآمال وهي خطيرةٌ

    ولو لم يكن غيرُ الأسنّة مركبا

    for its sake I mounted hopes, perilous though they are,

    even if spearheads were the only mount.

  58. وما خاب ظنِّي في جميلك قبلَها

    وما كنتَ للظنِّ الجميل مخيّبا

    My hope in your kindness has never failed before this,

    and you have never let a good expectation go unfulfilled.