1. هل لركْبِ العراقِ بعدَ نُجودِه

    أوبةٌ تقتضي دنوّ بَعيدِهْ

    Will Iraq's caravan, after its journey into the uplands,

    return, bringing its distant one near?

  2. فيُردُّ الحسودُ وهو حسيرٌ

    عن محبٍّ صبِّ الفؤادِ عميدِهْ

    Then the envier will be driven back, weary,

    from a lover with a yearning, love-stricken heart.

  3. لن ترى في جميع ذا الخلقِ أتْلى

    قولَ صدقٍ لعائقٍ من حَسودِهْ

    You will see no closer follower in all this creation—

    in truth—of an obstructer than his envier.

  4. وغزالٍ أغنّ أحوى رخيمٍ

    أهيفِ القدّ مخطفِ الكشحِ رُودِهْ

    And a gazelle, nasal-voiced, dusky, soft-spoken,

    slender of figure, narrow and supple of waist,

  5. مثل بدرِ السماءِ وجهاً ومثلِ الد

    رِّ ثغراً قد راعني بصدودِه

    like heaven's full moon in face, and like

    pearls in his teeth—his turning away has dismayed me.

  6. يُخلِفُ الوعدَ بالدنوّ ويوفي

    لمحبّيه في الهوى بوعيده

    He breaks his promise of closeness, yet fulfills

    his threats to those who love him passionately.

  7. ساحرُ الطرفِ كالغزالِ مَتاعُ ال

    عينِ في خدّه وفي توريدِه

    Enchanting of glance, like a gazelle; the delight of the

    eye lies in his cheek and its rosy bloom.

  8. رُمتُ أستنجدُ الفؤادَ عليه

    فوجدتُ الفؤادَ بعض جُنودِه

    I sought my heart's help against him,

    but found my heart among his troops.

  9. زارني في الدُجى وقد أقبل البدْ

    رُ سريعاً ولاح ضوءُ عمودِه

    He visited me in the darkness, and the full

    moon came swiftly, the light of its shaft gleaming.

  10. مُعطياً ضد ما لعمرُك يعطى

    وهو مستيقظٌ أذًى من صدودِه

    Granting—by your life—the opposite of what he gives

    when awake: pain from his turning away.

  11. ولقد قلت حين زار وقلبي

    ذو ثباتٍ على الهوى وعهودِه

    And when he visited, I said, while my heart

    was steadfast in love and its covenants:

  12. يا مريضَ الجفونث من غير سُقمٍ

    والذي يُمرِضُ القلوبَ بجيدِه

    O you with languid eyelids, yet no illness,

    and who sicken hearts with your neck,

  13. لا تعذّبْ صبّاً غدا غير مُصغٍ

    لملامِ العذولِ أو تفْنيدِه

    do not torment a yearning lover now heedless

    of the reprover's blame or his faultfinding.

  14. وفلاةٍ قطعتُها بمطيٍّ

    أربُ النفسِ لُفّ في توحيدِه

    And a wilderness I crossed on riding camels,

    the soul's desire wrapped in singling him out.

  15. لم يزلْ في مذموم عيشٍ فلما

    أن رأى الخيرَ ظلّ في محمودِه

    He had always lived a life of blame; but when

    he saw goodness, he lived on in a life of praise.

  16. أحمد الحافظُ الأجلُّ ومن أص

    بح كلُّ الورى عَبيدَ عَبيدِه

    Ahmad al-Hafiz, the most exalted, and he whose

    servants' servants all mankind have become.

  17. سندُ المستجيرِ عرّفهُ الل

    ه تعالى برغم أنف حسودِه

    Support of the refuge-seeker: may he be shown by

    God Most High, to his envier's humiliation,

  18. بركاتِ الشهرِ المباركِ في العزّ

    ولقّاهُ باكراتِ سُعودِه

    the blessed month's blessings amid honor,

    and granted the first fruits of his good fortune.

  19. علمٌ عمّ مَنْ يُعاديه بأسا

    مثل ما عمّ قاصديهِ بجودِه

    A towering figure, whose might reaches all who oppose him,

    just as his generosity reaches all who seek him.

  20. يُصدرُ الجودَ عن سماحِ وجودٍ

    كالسحابَينِ مُزنِه ورُعودِه

    He pours forth bounty from openhandedness and giving,

    like two clouds—his raincloud and his thunder.

  21. رفعَتْهُ جدودُه وكثيرٌ

    من أتاهُ انخفاضُه من جُدودِه

    His fortunes have raised him; yet many

    owe their abasement to their forefathers.

  22. فإذا مدّ كفَّه كان أعلى

    سؤدُدٍ عنده كحبلِ وريده

    And when he extends his palm, the highest

    eminence lies as near to him as his jugular vein.

  23. كم رجالٍ قاموا لكسبِ المعالي

    لم ينالوا ما نالَه في قُعودِه

    How many men rose to attain high honors,

    yet failed to gain what he attained while seated!

  24. فإذا ما العُداةُ يوماً رأوهُ

    رجعوا خيبةً لفرطِ سعودِه

    If his enemies should see him one day,

    they return disappointed, so great is his good fortune,

  25. بوجوهٍ مسودّةٍ وشُعورٍ

    عُدْنَ بيضاً هذا حديثُ حسودِه

    with blackened faces and hair

    turned white: such is the tale of his envier.

  26. صان أعراضَهُ وجادَ بما في

    راحتَيْهِ فلن ترى مثلَ جودِه

    He safeguarded his honor and freely gave what was in

    his two palms; you will never see generosity like his.

  27. سيدٌ أجمعَتْ جميعُ البرايا

    قولَ صدقٍ إذاً على تسويدِه

    A lord whom all creatures have unanimously agreed,

    truly, then, to acknowledge as their master.

  28. هو مُبدي العلوِّ والمجدِ أكرِمْ

    بإمامٍ مُبدي العُلوّ مُعيدِه

    He brings forth loftiness and glory—how noble

    an imam who brings forth loftiness and restores it!

  29. يا إماماً عمّ الورى بعد قحطٍ

    عمهم من طريفِه وتليدِه

    O imam who embraced all mankind after drought,

    embracing them with his newly acquired and inherited wealth:

  30. عشْ فداءٌ لك النفوسُ موقًّى

    من صروفِ الزمانِ مع تنكيدِه

    Live on—souls are your ransom—shielded

    from time's reversals and its vexations.

  31. وابقَ واسلَمْ في العزّ ما أرّقَ الصبّ

    حمامٌ في أيكِه بنشيدِه

    And endure, safe in honor, as long as a yearning lover is kept awake

    by doves in their thicket, with their song.