1. عَذِيريَ من هَذَا العَذُولِ المُفَنَّدِ

    يُردِّدُ وَجْدي بالملاَمِ المُرَدَّدِ

    Who will defend me against this faultfinding reprover,

    who renews my passion with his repeated blame?

  2. فَهَبْ أنَّ هَذا اللومَ مِنكَ نصيحةٌ

    فأَقْبَلُهَا لو كانَ قلبيَ في يَدي

    Grant, then, that this blame of yours is counsel;

    I would accept it, if my heart were in my hand.

  3. وأهيفَ ما الغصنُ الرطيبُ ببالغٍ

    مَدَى قَدِّه في نُضْرَةٍ وتأوُّدِ

    And a slender youth—no tender branch can reach

    the measure of his form in freshness and graceful sway.

  4. يعرِّضُ للتقبيلِ خَداً كما جَلَتْ

    يَدا صَيْقَلٍ مَتْنَ الحُسَامِ المُهَنَّدِ

    He offers a cheek for kissing, as gleaming as

    the flat of an Indian sword polished by a burnisher's hands.

  5. ويَبْسِمُ عن أَصْفَى من الدُّرِّ كَارِعٌ

    بأعذبَ من مَاءِ الغَمَامِ وأَبْرَدِ

    He smiles, revealing teeth purer than pearls; whoever drinks

    drinks something sweeter than rainwater, and cooler.

  6. تَملَّى بِبَرْدِ العَيْشِ غَيرَ مُعَوِّلٍ

    على أَنْفُسٍ حَرَّى عليهِ وأكبُدِ

    He has his fill of life's cool ease, paying no heed

    to souls and livers burning with longing for him.

  7. وَدَامَ على مُرِّ الجَفَاءِ ولم يزلْ

    على العَكْسِ من حُبِّي له وتودُّدي

    He persists in bitter estrangement, never ceasing

    to oppose my love for him and my affection.

  8. وقال اسْلُ عَنِّي بَعْدَما قد تعرّضَتْ

    لَوَاحِظُهُ بيني وبين تجلُّدِي

    He said, “Forget me,” after there had already intervened

    his glances between me and my composure.

  9. سَقَى مُنْحنَى الداراتِ من سفحِ عَاقِلٍ

    حَياً مُبْرِقٌ دَانِي الشآبيبِ مُرْعِدِ

    May the bend of al-Darat on Aqil's slope be watered

    by lightning-flashing rain, its showers near, thundering.

  10. وحُلِّينَ بِالنَوَّارِ من عُطْلَةِ البِلَى

    وبُدِّلْنَ من نَحْسِ المُحُولِ بأسْعُدِ

    May they be decked with blossoms, freed from decay's bareness,

    and exchange drought's ill fortune for good fortune.

  11. مَنَازِلُ منشودٌ بها ضَائِعُ المُنَى

    ومُرْتَجَعٌ فيها على المُتَفَقِّدِ

    Dwellings where lost hopes are sought

    and restored to the one who searches there.

  12. لَعَمْرُ أَبي والفضلُ يُعْزَى لأهْلِهِ

    لقد بخَّلَ الطائيَّ جُودُ محمّدِ

    By my father's life—and merit is credited to its rightful possessors—

    Muhammad's generosity has made al-Ta'i seem miserly.

  13. فَتًى إنْ تقُلْ هَاتيكَ خُطَّةُ سُؤددٍ

    على النجمِ أَو أَعلى مِنَ النجمِ يَصْعَدِ

    A youth: if you say, “That is a station of eminence

    upon a star, or higher than the star,” he ascends.

  14. وذِي نَائِلٍ ما الغيثُ في نَاقِعِ الصَّفَا

    بأنقَعَ يوماً منه للأَمَلِ الصَّدِي

    And possessed of bounty—rain pooled on smooth rock

    never quenches thirst better than he does for thirsty hope.

  15. متى تأتِهِ مُسْتَرفِداً تلْقَ مُصدِراً

    ركابَ الغِنَى منهُ على إثْر مُورِدِ

    Whenever you come to him seeking bounty, you find him sending out

    wealth's riding-camels, just after bringing them to water.

  16. فَما سَوَّدَ النُّسَّابُ وَجْهَ صحيفةٍ

    بأبيضَ منهُ وجهَ أصْلٍ ومَحْتَدِ

    For genealogists have never blackened the face of a page

    with anyone whiter-faced in ancestry and lineage than he.

  17. كِلا طَرَفَيْهِ حِينَ تَنْسبُهُ إلى

    عَلِيٍّ وخير المرسَلِينَ مُحَمَّدِ

    Both his lines of descent, when you trace them, lead to

    Ali and the best of messengers, Muhammad.

  18. لعمرِي لقد أَولَى الجميلَ تَبرُّعاً

    وما سِيْمَ شَيءٌ من نَدَاه المُجدَّدِ

    By my life, he has freely bestowed kindness,

    and none of his renewed bounty was requested.

  19. ووالاه حتى ضِقْتُ ذَرْعاً بُشكرِهِ

    وأكثَرتُ من قَولي لرائِدِهِ قَدِ

    He kept it coming until I was unequal to thanking him,

    and I often told his emissary, “Enough!”

  20. وشَتَّانَ ما بينَ امرئٍ سِيمَ رِفدُهُ

    فَضَنَّ به أو بينَ آخَرَ مُبْتَدي

    How different a man whose bounty is requested

    and who begrudges it, from another who gives unasked!

  21. وما الناسُ إلاَّ بَاخِلٌ بعد مَوْعِدٍ

    ومبتدئٌ بالعُرْفِ من غَيرِ مَوْعِدِ

    People are only a miser after a promise,

    or one who offers kindness without a promise.

  22. أقولُ وقد والَى ليَ العُرْفَ واشتكتْ

    إليَّ به السَّاعُون فِرْطَ التردُّدِ

    I say, after he has kept lavishing kindness on me,

    and its couriers have complained to me of their constant journeys:

  23. رُوَيداً فما جَدّدتَ بَالِيْ صَنِيعةٍ

    فإنْ رَثَّ مَاضِي ما صنَعْتَ فَجَدِّدِ

    “Gently! You have not renewed a worn-out favor;

    if what you did before grows threadbare, then renew it.

  24. إذا ما أَغَبَّ العُرْفُ كان مَذَاقُهُ

    ألذَّ لِراجيهِ وأعذبَ مَوْرِدِ

    When kindness comes at intervals, its taste becomes

    more delicious to its seeker, and its watering place sweeter.

  25. ألَمْ تَرَ أنَّ الشمسَ زِيْدَتْ مَحبةً

    إلى الناسِ أَنْ ليسَتْ عَليهِمْ بِسَرْمَدِ

    Do you not see that the sun is more beloved

    to people because it does not remain over them forever?

  26. كَذَاكَ ولو لم يُقْلِعِ الغَيْثُ لاشتكَتْ

    إلى اللَّهِ منْهُ الأرضُ أَفْعَالَ مُفْسِدِ

    Likewise, if rain did not cease, the earth would complain

    to God about it, as about a destroyer's deeds.”

  27. فَما عَارِضٌ كَلٌّ على الريحِ مَشْيُهُ

    على سَوْقِها إيَّاهُ سَوْقَ المُقيَّدِ

    For no cloud whose movement burdens the wind,

    though it drives it like a shackled captive—

  28. أَجَشُّ إذَا ما كَفَّ من سيلِهِ طَغَى

    وإنْ رُدَّ من ريعانِ طاغيهِ يُزْبِدِ

    hoarse-voiced, overflowing when any of its torrent is checked,

    and foaming if its raging flood's first rush is held back;

  29. مُلِثٌّ إذا ما مَرَّ بالهَضْبِ لم يكنْ

    ليُقْلِعَ إلاَّ عن رَوَاكِعَ سُجَّدِ

    persistent, when it passes over hills, never

    ceasing until they are bowed and prostrate;

  30. لَجُوجٌ كأنَّ الأرضَ إذْ تستكفُّهُ

    وغَصَّتْ بسُقْياهُ تَقولُ له زِدِ

    obstinate, as if the earth, when asking it to stop,

    choked with its water, were telling it, “More!”—

  31. بِأَغزرَ منهُ يَوْمَ صَوْبِ سَمَاحَةٍ

    إِذَا هُوَ أخبَى نَارَهُ كلُّ مُوْقِدِ

    is more copious than he on a day of pouring generosity,

    when, as he gives, every fire-kindler puts out his fire.

  32. يَميناً بأيدِيهنَّ تُدَّرِعُ الفَلا

    كما صِيْحَ في أَعْقَابِ رِجْلٍ مُشَرَّدِ

    I swear by their forelegs as they plunge through the wilderness,

    like a scattered flock pursued by cries from behind:

  33. نَجَائِبُ مقطوعٌ بِها كلُّ شِقّةٍ

    تروحُ بها الأَرْوَاحُ حَسْرَى وتَفْتَدي

    noble she-camels, on which every far distance is crossed,

    where souls go forth exhausted and seek to ransom themselves.

  34. نَوَاحِلُ كالقيسانِ مما تعسّفُوا

    بِها كلَّ تَيهاءَ المَعَالمِ فَدْفَدِ

    Lean as bows, from how they have been driven off-track

    through every broad waste with bewildering landmarks;

  35. نَوَافِرُ من أفيائِهنَّ كأنَّما

    يُرَعْنَ بِمَلْويٍّ من القِدِّ مُحْصِدِ

    shying from their own shadows, as though

    frightened by a tightly twisted rawhide thong.

  36. لهنَّ إذا ما استرفضَ الآلُ سَمْتَهُ

    على الأَينِ أجفانُ النَّعَامِ المُطرَّدِ

    When the mirage pours along its course, they have,

    despite weariness, the eyelids of ostriches driven onward.

  37. عَوَامِدُ للبيتِ الحَرَامِ بِفِتْيَةٍ

    ثقالِ الأدَاوي من تُقىً وتَعبُّدِ

    Heading for the Sacred House, carrying young men

    whose waterskins are heavy with piety and devotion.

  38. لأَعوزُ أَنْ يأتي أبٌ بشبيهِهِ

    سَمَاحةَ نفسٍ في طَهَارَة مَوْلِدِ

    Surely it is hard for a father to beget his equal

    in generosity of soul joined to purity of birth.

  39. فَتًى بَذَّ أَربَابَ الكُهُولةِ يَافِعاً

    وطَالَ ذَوِي الأسنانِ في سِنِّ أَمْرَدِ

    A youth who surpassed men of mature years while still adolescent,

    and outstripped the aged while still beardless.

  40. إذا عَلويٌّ لم يكنْ كمحمَّدٍ

    فما هُوَ إن فَتَّشْتَ عنه بِسَيِّدِ

    If a descendant of Ali is not like Muhammad,

    he is no true lord, if you examine him.

  41. أَبَى غيرُ مَنْ أَدْعُوهُ إنْ لَمْ أُكافِهِ

    بِمَا طَابَ من نَشْرِ الثَّنَاءِ المخلِّدِ

    May my father be other than the one I claim, if I do not repay him

    with the sweet fragrance of praise that grants immortality:

  42. مَدَائِحُ لم يَسْمَحْ بها فِكْرُ شَاعِرٍ

    ولا افترَّ عن أمثالها فَمُ مُنْشدِ

    praises never yielded by a poet's thought,

    nor has a reciter's mouth parted to reveal their like.

  43. أَنَا الكوكبُ الوَقَّادُ والعَلَمُ الذي

    بهِ كلُّ مَنْ غَمَّتْ مَسَاعِيهِ يَهْتدي

    I am the blazing star and the landmark

    by which all whose endeavors are obscured find their way.

  44. متى أَدْعُ عَاصِيْ القولِ يأتي مُطَاوِعاً

    وإنْ يَدْعُ غَيري طَائعَ القولِ يقعُدُ

    Whenever I summon unruly verse, it comes obediently;

    but if another summons obedient verse, it stays seated.