1. شغَلَ المُحبَّ عن الرسو

    مِ وإن غدتْ مثلَ الوُشومِ

    The lover was distracted from the traces—

    though they had become like tattoos—

  2. شكوى الظُّلامة مِن ظلو

    مٍ في حكومتها غَشومِ

    by the complaint of injustice from Zalum,

    ruthless in her judgments.

  3. ظلمتْ لتحقيقِ اسمها

    فغدتْ تُبرُّ على سَدومِ

    She wronged me to fulfill her name,

    and came to surpass Sadum.

  4. هلْ حاكمٌ عدلُ الحكو

    مةِ مُنْصِفٌ لي من ظلوم

    Is there a judge, just in judgment,

    who will give me justice against Zalum?

  5. باتتْ لظاهرها وسا

    وسُ من حُليٍّ كالنجوم

    By night her outward self had murmurs

    of ornaments like stars,

  6. ولباطني منها وسا

    وسُ من هُموم كالخصوم

    and within me, from her, were murmurs

    of cares like adversaries.

  7. شتّانَ بينَ الحالتَيْ

    نِ من المُواصل الصَّرومِ

    How different are the two states

    of the one who unites yet severs!

  8. كمْ بين وَسواسِ الحُليْ

    يِ وبين وَسْواسِ الهموم

    How far apart are the murmurs of jewelry

    and the whispers of cares!

  9. سقْياً لها إذ طالعتْ

    كَ ضُحىً من الخِدرِ الكَتُوم

    May rain bless her, when she appeared

    to you at forenoon from her concealing chamber.

  10. وكأنَّ غُرَّةَ وجْهِها

    شمسٌ تُطالِع من غُيومِ

    As though the brightness of her face

    were a sun appearing through clouds.

  11. وقفتْ لقلبِكَ مَوْقفاً

    يُهدي الصِّبا لذوي الحلوم

    She stood before your heart in a stance

    that gives youthful passion to the wise.

  12. واستعْجَمتْ لكنَّها

    كَتَبتْ إليك بلا رُسوم

    She spoke no words, yet

    she wrote to you without written marks.

  13. أهدتْ لروحك روْحها

    وحياً يدِق عن الجسوم

    She gave your soul her solace,

    a revelation too subtle for bodies.

  14. وعَلِمْتَهُ رجماً وكم

    لك من عُلوم في رُجوم

    You knew it by conjecture—and how much

    knowledge you have in conjectures!

  15. إن لا تَلُمْ مَنْ راحَ في

    كَ مُحَمَّلاً عبءَ الملوم

    If you do not blame one who has gone,

    for your sake, laden with the burden of the blamed,

  16. أشكو إليكَ ظَماءةً

    مِنْ مُقلةٍ ريَّا سَجوم

    I complain to you of thirst

    from a well-watered, streaming eye,

  17. ووِشايةَ العِطْرِ النَّمو

    مِ عليَّ والحَلْيِ النَّموم

    and the betrayal of tattling perfume

    against me, and tattling jewelry.

  18. لولاهما لأطعتُ في

    كَ نزاعَ صاديةٍ حؤوم

    Were it not for those two, I would follow, for

    you, the longing of a thirsty, circling soul.

  19. قلتُ اصدفي ودعيهما

    ليسا بحتم في الحُتوم

    I said: 'Turn away and leave them both;

    they are no binding necessity among necessities.

  20. ما الحَلْيُ والعِطرُ الفصي

    حُ بضربة من ذي لُزوم

    Jewelry and eloquent perfume are not

    of any obligatory kind.

  21. إنْ كانَ قلبُكِ من هوا

    هُ كقلبيَ الدامي الكلوم

    If your heart, from love of him,

    is like my bleeding, wounded heart,

  22. فتبرَّئي من واشيَيْ

    كِ فليس تركُهما بلوم

    then renounce your two informers;

    leaving them is no cause for blame.

  23. أو ما رأيتِ ذوِي الخصا

    ئصِ في الهوى وذوِي العمومِ

    Have you not seen those specially favored

    in love, and those of ordinary standing,

  24. يتبرأون من الجُلو

    د لمنْ هَوُوْا ومن اللحومِ

    renounce their very skins

    for those they love, and their flesh?'

  25. فتبسمت علماً بصد

    قك وانقطعْتَ إلى الوُجوم

    She smiled, knowing

    your truthfulness, and you fell into silent gloom.

  26. دع ذا لِبدْرٍ قد أضا

    ءَ فما عليه من قُتوم

    Leave this aside for a full moon now shining,

    with no darkness upon it.

  27. وافى سناهُ ودونهُ

    حجبُ السرورِ مع الجُروم

    His radiance arrived, with before it

    veils of joy and solid bodies.

  28. فتحكَّمَتْ خُففُ المطا

    مِعِ والأمانيِّ الجُثوم

    Then light hopes held sway,

    and wishes crouching heavily.

  29. ثم استقلَّ فكانَ نو

    راً للسُّهولِ وللحُزوم

    Then he rose and became a light

    for the plains and the rugged uplands.

  30. فتجوَّبتْ بهمُ الدُّجَى

    وتكشَّفتْ غُمَمُ الغُموم

    Through them the darkness was pierced,

    and the clouds of sorrows were dispelled.

  31. قدِمَ الأميرُ فمرحباً

    بالقادمينَ وبالقُدوم

    The prince has arrived—welcome

    to those arriving and to their coming!

  32. مَلِكٌ غدا فوقَ البريْ

    يةِ والأخشَّةُ في الخطوم

    A king risen above all creation,

    with nose-pegs in their muzzles;

  33. كالوالد البرِّ الرؤو

    فِ بنا وكالأُمِّ الرؤوم

    like a kind father, compassionate

    toward us, and a tender mother.

  34. والخسْفُ دونَ قبوله

    طرفاً من الخَسْفِ المشوم

    He would suffer ruin before accepting

    the least of ill-omened humiliation.

  35. ليثُ اللُّيوثِ إذا الحرو

    بُ تسعَّرتْ قرْمُ القُروم

    The lion of lions when wars

    blaze up, the champion of champions;

  36. غيثُ الأنام إذا الغُيو

    ثُ بخلن في السَّنة الأزوم

    rain for mankind when the rains

    grow stingy in a famine-stricken year.

  37. ما في قِراه لطارقٍ

    ولمستميح من عُتوم

    No delay attends his hospitality to a night-visitor,

    or to one seeking a gift.

  38. خَفَّتْ خُطاهُ إلى الوَغَى

    والحلمُ أرجحُ مِنْ يسوم

    His steps hasten toward battle,

    yet his forbearance outweighs Yasum.

  39. وجد السلامةَ في الكرا

    هة والفخامَةَ في السهوم

    He found safety in adversity,

    and grandeur in gauntness.

  40. فتراهُ يُبْرزُ وجهَهُ

    تحت السُّيوفِ وللسَّمومِ

    You see him baring his face

    beneath swords and to the scorching wind.

  41. لم تُلْهِه خَمرُ المرا

    شفِ لا ولا خَمْرُ الكروم

    The wine of lips did not distract him,

    no, nor the wine of vineyards.

  42. وأخو الرفاهةِ بين مُس

    معةٍ وإبريقٍ رذوم

    The man of luxury is between a singing girl

    and a freely pouring ewer,

  43. ممَّن يُغادِي المِزْهَر ال

    حنّانَ للقوْس الزَّجوم

    one who greets the plaintive lute at dawn

    rather than the resounding bow.

  44. تكفيهِ أوتارُ القِسي

    يِ من المثالث والبُموم

    Bowstrings suffice him

    instead of third lute-strings and bass strings.

  45. ظفرت يداهُ في اللقا

    ء بسهم فلّاجٍ سَهُوم

    His hands triumphed in the encounter

    with an ever-victorious, sure-hitting arrow.

  46. ما إنْ تزال عِداتُه

    بينَ الهَزائم والهُزوم

    His enemies never cease to be

    between defeats and routs.

  47. يغزو العدا في ليل زَنْ

    ج حالك ونهارِ روم

    He raids his foes in a Zanj-black night,

    pitch-dark, and in a Rum-white day.

  48. فاللَّيلُ عَوْنٌ والنها

    رُ له على الأمر المَروم

    So night is an ally, and day

    helps him toward his intended aim.

  49. وابنا الزمان هما هما

    غلبا المعاقلَ بالهُجوم

    Time's two sons, those very two,

    have taken strongholds by assault.

  50. يرمي العِدا بجوائح

    تأتي الفروعَ من الأُروم

    He strikes his foes with calamities

    that reach the branches from the roots,

  51. كالريح أهلكتِ الهوا

    لكَ في لياليها الحُسوم

    like the wind that destroyed the doomed

    in its nights of devastation.

  52. يا دهرُ جارى من عِدا

    تك ساحلا بحرٍ طَمومِ

    O Time, among your enemies, you were rivaled by

    the two shores of an overflowing sea.

  53. بحرٌ يجِمّ على العطا

    ء ويستغيضُ على الجُموم

    A sea that replenishes itself by giving

    and is depleted by accumulation.

  54. من هاشم في أنفِها

    فارجعْ بأنفٍ ذي هُشوم

    Of Hashim, at its very forefront—

    so retreat with a shattered nose.

  55. خيرُ الفُروع الباسقا

    تِ سما به خيرُ الجذوم

    The best of towering branches,

    raised high by the best of roots.

  56. تُضْحي يداهُ لمالهِ

    ما شئتَ من جارٍ هضوم

    His hands become, toward his wealth,

    as oppressive a neighbor as you could wish.

  57. لم يَحْسبِ المجد الشرا

    ء ولم يَبعْ كرماً بلوم

    He did not reckon glory a purchase,

    nor trade generosity for blame.

  58. نفحاتُهُ فوقَ المُنى

    وظنونُهُ فوقَ العُلومِ

    His gifts exceed all hopes,

    and his conjectures exceed certain knowledge.

  59. سمُّ البريّةِ سُخْطُهُ

    ورضاهُ دِرياقُ السُّموم

    His wrath is poison to mankind,

    and his pleasure the antidote to poisons.

  60. رجعتْ حقائبُ وَفْدِهِ

    كُوماً على أمطاءِ كوم

    His delegation's saddlebags returned

    in heaps on the backs of high-humped camels.

  61. يشكونَ أثقالَ الغِنَى

    طَوْراً وأثقالَ السجوم

    They complain of the weight of riches

    at times, and of the weight of pouring rain.

  62. ما مثلهُ عن بَخْس مث

    لِكَ حَقَّ مِثْلِي بالنَّؤومِ

    One like him does not sleep through the denial

    by one like you of the due of one like me,

  63. عافِيه من بَذْلِ اللُّهَى

    والمُرْتجِيه على التُّخوم

    a seeker of his lavish gifts,

    and one who hopes in him from the farthest bounds.

  64. لا تستحيلُ عهودُه

    والمِسكُ معدومُ الحُموم

    His pledges do not change,

    and musk contains no charcoal.

  65. يأسُو ويَكْلِمُ غيرَ مَذْ

    مومِ الإساءةِ والكُلوم

    He heals and wounds, without being

    blamed for the harm and wounds.

  66. ساسَ الورى بيد وهُو

    بٍ للُّهَى ويدٍ ضموم

    He governed mankind with a hand lavish

    in gifts, and a hand that grips tight.

  67. فيدٌ كصفحةِ سَيْفِه

    ويدٌ كشفرتِهِ الحذوم

    One hand is like the broad face of his sword,

    and one like its severing edge.

  68. فذَوُو السعادةِ ذاهبو

    نَ عن القَصومِ إلى العَصوم

    So the fortunate depart

    from the crushing hand to the protecting one,

  69. وذوو الشقاوة ذاهبو

    ن عن العصوم إلى القصوم

    and the wretched depart

    from the protecting hand to the crushing one.

  70. يا صاحبَ الفضلِ الخصو

    صِ وصاحبَ البذلِ العُموم

    O master of exceptional merit

    and master of universal giving!

  71. يا ناصرَ الدينِ الذي

    ذاد السباعَ عن اللُّحوم

    O champion of the faith, who

    drove the beasts away from the flesh,

  72. وأجدَّ أعلامَ الهُدَى

    بعد الخُلوقةِ والطُّسوم

    and renewed the standards of guidance

    after wear and effacement!

  73. كم مِنْ مَقامٍ قُمْتَهُ

    ما كان قبلكَ بالمَقُومِ

    How many a stand you have taken

    that had never been taken before you!

  74. خذها كأوْشية الرِّيا

    ضِ وفوق أوْشيةِ الرُّقوم

    Take it, like the embroideries of gardens,

    and finer than the embroidery of patterned cloth,

  75. مطبوعةً مصنوعةً

    تختال في الحقل الضَّموم

    spontaneous, yet finely crafted,

    strutting proudly in the enfolding field.