سهام هواك صائبة المرامي

وتجرحني وراميها مرامي

The arrows of love for you strike their marks.

They wound me, and their archer is my desire.

فعيني عن سواك لها انكفاف

وسمعي فيك صم عن الملام

So my eye turns away from all but you.

And concerning you, my hearing is deaf to reproach.

تكلمني فتشبعني كلوما

وقد تدمى الكلوم من الكلام

You speak to me and fill me with wounds;

And wounds may bleed from words.

وكم ابكي لاجلك عن ولوع

ولم ار منك غير الابتسام

How often I weep for you out of ardent devotion,

Yet I have seen from you nothing but smiles.

لقد اعرضت يا مولاي عني

كاعراض الزمان عن الكرام

You have indeed turned away from me, my master,

As Time turns away from the noble.

اهيم اليك يقلقني ولوهي

ويسكرني هواك بلا مدام

I wander lovesick toward you, troubled by my infatuation,

And love for you intoxicates me without wine.

ويبرز عاذلي بك لي مسيئا

بروز الشيخ في طور الغلام

My reproacher appears before me, wronging me on your account,

Like an old man appearing in the guise of a boy.

اكاتم فيك حسادي ارجي

دواء الداء من قلب السقام

I hide my love for you from my enviers, hoping

For a cure for the malady from the very heart of sickness.

ازمزم للعراق ركاب وجدي

اليك وانت تتهم للشآم

I chant to my longing's mounts, bound for Iraq,

Toward you, while you take the lowland road to al-Sham.

وتلحظني على قرب بعين

تغز بمهجتي نصل الحسام

From nearby you glance at me with an eye

That thrusts a sword's blade into my heart.

وتبعدني وانت لدي دان

اذا انا خائض في الماء ظالمي

You keep me far away though you are near me,

When I wade in water, O my tormentor.

ورب ممحض لي بعض نصح

احر على الفؤاد من الضرام

Many a person gives me some sincere advice,

Hotter upon my heart than blazing fire.

يعالجني بترك هواك علما

بأن هواك انحل لي عظامي

He treats me by urging me to forsake your love, knowing

That love for you has wasted away my bones.

وعن شمم لقد اعرضت عنه

وجلجلت الهيام على الهيام

Yet out of pride I have turned away from him,

And made passion resound upon passion.

متى كان المحب صحيح حب

انام الطرف عن نصح الانام

Whenever a lover's love is true,

He closes his eyes to the counsel of mankind.

ونعم لا عدمت وداد نعم

تساعدني على لهف الغرام

And Nu'm—may I never lose Nu'm's affection—

Helps me bear the anguish of love.

تحذرني اللئام وحسو سم

مقاربة الكرام من اللئام

She warns me against the base; a draught of poison

Is the noble's drawing near the base.

بعينك يا شقيق البدر رفقا

بعان كل عن حمل الحزام

By your eye, O twin of the full moon, be gentle

To a captive too weary to bear a belt.

له في القلب آهات طوال

به التفت كاطواق الحمام

His heart holds long-drawn sighs

That coil around it like doves' neck-rings.

لقد خنت الذمام فعد كريما

كريم الاصل راع اللذمام

You have betrayed the covenant; return nobly.

The noble-born is a guardian of covenants.

وحقك لم اخن في الحب عهدا

ولو صورعت بالموت الزؤام

By your worth, I have never betrayed a pledge in love,

Even if sudden death wrestled me down.

نسيت عهود وصل قد تقضت

وانت نزيل خدري في خيامي

You have forgotten the bygone times of union,

When you were a guest in my private chamber, in my tents.

تعاطيني مدام الثغر نجلى

لدي كجلوة البدر التمام

You offered me the wine of your lips, wide-eyed [uncertain reading],

Before me like the unveiling of the perfect full moon.

واقطف من خديدك زهر ورد

تبسم في رباه بلا احتشام

And I plucked rose blossoms from your tender little cheek,

Smiling upon its heights without reserve.

والوي رمح قدك عن غرام

له في القلب زمزمة ازدحام

And I bent the spear of your stature out of passion,

Whose thronging murmur dwells within my heart.

والثم من جبينك لوح نور

فاجلو الفجر من سجف الظلام

And I kissed the tablet of light upon your brow,

Unveiling dawn from the curtains of darkness.

وشخصك في رحاب القلب عال

وقدرك في لباب السر سامي

Your form stands high in the spacious courts of my heart,

And your worth is lofty in the innermost core of my secret.

فاثرت الزمان علي طيشا

وقد ابقيتني رهن الخمام

Then, recklessly, you preferred Time to me,

And left me captive to refuse.

اراك عددتني بحساب زيد

وقست الخف وهما بالسنام

I see you have reckoned me as you reckon Zayd,

And mistakenly compared the hoof with the hump.

ومن عوض الحسيب اختار خبا

يقاتل في العريكة بالكهام

Whoever chooses a scoundrel instead of a man of noble lineage

Fights in spirit with blunt weapons.

وحب اولي المعالي للاعالي

وحب اولي الدنايا للحطام

Those of lofty merit love lofty things,

And those of base pursuits love worldly dross.

متى صحب العلي دني اصل

غدى هدف الملام لكل رام

Whenever an exalted man befriends one of low birth,

He becomes the target of reproach for every archer.

قطعت حبال من اهداك قلبا

تقلب في هواك على اضطرام

You severed the bonds of one who gave you a heart

That tossed amid the blaze of love for you.

وصرت عشير انذال طغام

ستبصر ما يكون من الطغام

And became the companion of vile, ignorant rabble;

You will see what comes of the rabble.

وجدي لا اذل الى دني

ولو يزداد عمري الف عام

By my grandfather, I will not abase myself before the lowly,

Even if my life were lengthened by a thousand years.

وشكواي الغرام كما تراني

دخول اولي العزائم في القتام

My lament of love, as you see me,

Is the resolute plunging into battle dust.

اموت ووجدي الضرام وجدي

بمن اهوى وناري واصطلامي

I die, and my longing is a blaze—my longing

For the one I love, my fire and my consuming ruin.

وكيف يخاف صرع الموت قرم

نجيب من اولي الهمم السوامي

How can a noble champion fear being felled by death,

A highborn man among those of lofty resolve?

لحا الله الزمان فقد تعدى

وافرط بالتنبه والمنام

May God curse Time, for it has overstepped its bounds

And gone too far in waking and in sleep.

هو الحرباء لم تعرف بلون

تخبط في القعود وفي القيام

It is the chameleon, never known by one color,

Floundering whether sitting or standing.

لان جهل الزمان بشأن مثلي

فبعض خصاله السود التعامي

If Time is ignorant of the standing of one like me,

Feigned blindness is among its dark traits.

واني من اولي الشرف المصفى

طوال الفرع في آل التهامي

I am among those of pure nobility,

Tall of branch in the house of al-Tihami.

من البيض الوجوه شموس مجد

كرام البيت في البيت الحرام

Among the bright-faced, suns of glory,

Noble of household within the Sacred House.

اتواعن جدهم اقمار دين

لتمييز الحلال عن الحرام

They came from their forefather, moons of faith,

To distinguish the lawful from the forbidden.

شأبيب جبال هدى تراهم

اماما ناب عن فرد امام

You see them as rain showers, mountains of guidance,

An imam succeeding a peerless imam.

يقوم بنظمهم اسد همام

تورث غابة الاسد الهمام

A valiant lion presides over their ordered line,

Inheriting the valiant lion's forest.

رووا علم النبوة عن علي

وصي المصطفى ليث الزحام

They transmitted the knowledge of prophethood from Ali,

The Chosen One's legatee, the lion of the fray,

ابي السبطين بارقة التجلي

وخصام الكتائب في الخصام

Father of the two grandsons, the lightning of unveiling,

And the battalions' fierce adversary in combat.

تدلى منه للغوث الرفاعي

سحاب الفضل والنعم الجسام

From him descended to al-Ghawth al-Rifa'i

A cloud of bounty and immense blessings.

تلقاها حقوق اب وجد

مسلسلة مكرمة النظام

He received them as the rightful legacy of father and grandfather,

Linked in a chain, honored in its order.

فقام بها وساد القوم طرا

وفيهم صار مرفوع المقام

He upheld them and became chief of all the people,

And among them his station was exalted.

وطاطأ بعد مد يمين طه

له رغم المكابر كل هام

And after Taha's right hand was extended, there bowed

To him, despite the obstinate denier, every head.

وصياد القلوب ابو علي

تلاه يميس بالهمم الضخام

And the hunter of hearts, Abu Ali,

Followed him, walking proudly with mighty aspirations.

اتتنا عنه آيات المعالي

ترتل في صحاف بني خزام

From him came to us signs of lofty excellence,

Recited in the pages of Banu Khuzam.

ابو البركات هذبها بطرز

لراح المجد مسكي الختام

Abu al-Barakat refined them in a style

That seals glory's wine with musk.

اولئك في النظام ابي وجدي

وجد ابي كرام من كرام

Those in the chain are my father and grandfather,

And my father's grandfather: noble men sprung from noble men.

فعد للود يا حباه وارفق

فما لسوى المهيمن من دوام

So return to affection, O beloved, and be gentle,

For none but the Guardian endures.