1. تَأبَى الصَّبابةُ أن تُصِيخَ لعاذل

    أو أن تَكُفَّ غُروبَ دمعٍ هاملِ

    Passionate longing refuses to heed a reprover,

    Or to check the torrents of streaming tears.

  2. عرَفَ المنازلَ باللَّوىَ فبكَى دماً

    إنَّ الهَوى فيه اختلافُ مَنازلِ

    He recognized the dwellings at al-Liwa and wept blood;

    Indeed, love has differing stations.

  3. ومتَى رأَى آثارَ حَيٍّ نازحٍ

    حَيَّا وقالَ سُقِيتَ أَوبةَ راحلِ

    And whenever he sees the traces of a departed tribe,

    He greets them, saying, 'May you be watered at a wayfarer's return!'

  4. لاَ يستفيقُ كأنَّ نَفثةَ نابلٍ

    بَكَرَت عليه أو سُلافَةَ بابلِ

    He never comes to himself, as though an archer's breath

    Had reached him at dawn, or Babylon's choicest wine.

  5. وسَبِيلُه أن يَستَبِلَّ وقَد رأَى

    شَملَ الشَّبابِ طَريدَ شَيبٍ زَائلِ

    Yet he ought to recover, now that he has seen

    Youth's fellowship driven away by banishing gray hair.

  6. لَقِيَ العَواذلُ عاطلاً من حِلمِه

    فصَددنِ عن حَالِي المفارِقِ عَاطلِ

    The reproving women met a man bereft of his good sense;

    So they shunned one with adorned hair-partings, yet bare of sense.

  7. حُيِّيتَ مِن طللٍ أحابَ دُثورُه

    يومَ العَقيق سؤالَ دَمعٍ سائلِ

    Hail to you, O ruin, whose decay answered

    On the day at al-Aqiq, the questioning of flowing tears.

  8. نَحْفَى وَنَنْزلُ وهو أعظمُ حُرمةً

    من أن يُذَالَ براكبٍ أو ناعلِ

    We go barefoot and dismount, for it is too sacred

    To be profaned by a rider or one wearing shoes.

  9. ما كانَ أعذَب مُجتناه وأهلُه

    بينَ العُذَيبِ وبينَ رِقَّةِ عاقلِ

    How sweet was its fruit, while its people dwelt

    Between al-Udhayb and Riqqat Aqil!

  10. ومُرادُنا ما بينَ أبيضَ صارمٍ

    يَهتزُّ منه وبينَ أسمرَ ذَابلِ

    And our desire lay between a white, cutting blade

    That quivers from it, and a brown, slender spear.

  11. أَسَلاسلَ البَرقِ الذي لحظَ الثَّرى

    وَهَناً فوشَّحَ رَوضَه بسَلاسلِ

    O chains of lightning that glanced at the earth

    Late at night, and festooned its meadow with chains,

  12. أَذكَرتَنا النَّشَواتِ في ظِلِّ الصِّبا

    والعيشَ في سِنَةِ الزمانِ الغافلِ

    You recalled to us the raptures in the shade of youth,

    And life in the drowsiness of heedless time.

  13. أيَّامَ أستُرُ صَبوتي من كاشحٍ

    عَمداً وأسرقُ لذَّتي من عاذلِ

    In days when I hid my passion from a spiteful foe,

    Deliberately, and stole my delight from a reprover.

  14. هل يُبلِغَنَّ اللَّحظُ إن واصلتُه

    مَن ليسَ تَبْلُغُهُ تَحيَّةُ واصلِ

    Will the gaze, if I keep it unbroken, ever reach

    One whom a visitor's greeting cannot reach?

  15. أُكْنِي عن البلدِ البعيدِ بغيرِه

    وأَردُّ عنه عِنانَ قلبٍ مائلِ

    I speak of the distant land under another name,

    And turn from it the reins of a yearning heart.

  16. وَأَودُّ لو فَعَلَ الحيا بِسهولهِ

    وحُزونِه فعلَ الأميرِ بآملِ

    And I wish the rain would do to its plains

    And rugged uplands what the emir does for a hopeful petitioner.

  17. الواهبُ الغِيدَ الكواعبَ تَغتدِي

    مَشفوعةً لُعفاتِه بصواهلِ

    The giver of lithe, budding-breasted maidens, who go forth at dawn

    To his petitioners, accompanied by neighing steeds;

  18. والباذلُ النَّفسَ النفيسةَ للقنا

    كَرَماً تجاوزَ فيه حَدَّ الباذلِ

    And the giver of his precious life to the spears,

    With generosity in which he exceeded a giver's bounds.

  19. إعناقُ عبدِ الله في طُرُقِ العُلى

    والنَّحلُ تُعْنِقُ فَضلَه في الباطلِ

    Abd Allah's swift advance is along the paths of glory,

    While false claims vainly race after his excellence.

  20. حَمَل المغارمَ والحمائلَ بعدَه

    والمجدُ حَمْلُ مغارمٍ وحمايلِ

    He bore the debts and sword-belts after him;

    And glory is bearing debts and sword-belts.

  21. فالدهرُ يمسَحُ منه غُرَّةَ سابقٍ

    لاقاه أَوَّلَ سَابقِينَ أوائلِ

    So Time strokes in him the white blaze of a winning steed,

    Which it met, first among the foremost racers.

  22. لمّا أَبلَّ تباشَرت آمالُنا

    بُشرَى العِطاشِ رأَينَ صَفو مَناهلِ

    When he recovered, our hopes rejoiced,

    With the joy of the thirsty seeing clear water at watering places;

  23. أو كالتِّلاعِ الحُوِّ آنسَ نَورُها

    إِيماضُ طَلٍّ للسَّحابِ وَوابلِ

    Or like dark-green slopes whose blossoms were gladdened

    By the gleam of the clouds' drizzle and downpour.

  24. من بعدِ ما فاضَت عيونُ قبائلٍ

    حُزناً عليه وغاضَ صَبرُ قَبائلِ

    After the eyes of tribes had overflowed

    In grief for him, and the patience of tribes had ebbed.

  25. بَرءٌ تدارَكَنا ونحنُ من الجوى

    غَرقَى فأَوطأَنا رِقابَ السَّاحِلِ

    His recovery rescued us when, in anguish,

    We were drowning; it set our feet on the ridges of the shore.

  26. وافَى فكانَ السَّعدُ أَوَّلَ طالعٍ

    بطُلوعِه والنَّحسُ آخِرُ آفِلِ

    It arrived, and good fortune was the first to rise,

    With its rising, and ill fortune the last to set.

  27. أَهُمامَ وائلَ أنتَ أولُ سيِّدٍ

    تُثْنَى بُسؤدُدِه خَناصرُ وائلِ

    O champion of Wa'il, you are the first lord

    For whose eminence Wa'il's little fingers are folded in counting.

  28. والسيفُ سيفُ الله لم تُعَرفْ له

    في مُلتَقى الأبطالِ ضربةُ باطلِ

    And the sword is God's sword; never has it been known

    To strike in vain at the meeting of champions.

  29. والرمحُ أسرفَ جائراً في جائرٍ

    طَعناً ونكَّبَ عادلاً عن عادِلِ

    And the spear was excessive, unjust toward the unjust,

    In thrusting, and veered justly away from the just.

  30. والسهمُ لا يَلقاه عندَ مُروقِه

    في الرَّوعِ إلا مُتَّقٍ بمَقاتل

    And the arrow, as it flies forth, is met

    In battle's terror only by one shielding himself with his vital parts.

  31. لاَ يَفرَغُ الأعداءُ منك فإنَّهم

    بإِزاءِ شُغلٍ في قِراعِك شاغِلِ

    Your enemies find no respite from you, for they

    Face an all-consuming task in fighting you.

  32. نظَرتْ مَعاقلُهم إليك فلم يكُن

    لمّا دلَفتَ إليهمُ بمَعاقِلِ

    Their strongholds looked toward you, yet were no longer

    Strongholds once you advanced upon them.

  33. أَلحقتَ شاهقَها المُنِيفَ بأرضِها

    فكأنَّما صَبَّحْتَها بزَلازِلِ

    You brought their lofty, towering height level with their ground,

    As though you had struck them at dawn with earthquakes.

  34. كم سطوةٍ لك أخملَت من نابهٍ

    وصنيعةٍ لك نَبَّهت من خامِلِ

    How many a mighty stroke of yours has eclipsed a renowned man,

    And a favor of yours has brought an obscure man to fame!

  35. أُبْرِئتُ إذ جاورتُ رَبَعك نازلاً

    فكأنَّني جارُ الرَّبيعِ النازِلِ

    I was healed when I took up lodging beside your dwelling,

    As though I were a neighbor of falling spring rain.

  36. وسُقيتُ من جَدواك خمسَ سحائبٍ

    جادَت عليَّ بهنَّ خمسُ أنامِلِ

    And from your bounty I was watered by five clouds;

    Five fingertips showered me generously with them.

  37. فتواصلَت مِدَحي إليك كأنَّها

    أفوافُ وَشْيِ اليُمْنَةِ المتواصِلِ

    So my praises followed one another to you, as though they were

    The continuous patterned bands of a Yemeni cloth.

  38. أنا فارسٌ فيما أقولُ مُحَقَّقٌ

    فاسَمع مَقالَةَ فارسٍ من راجِلِ

    I am a proven horseman in what I say;

    So hear a horseman's words from a man on foot.

  39. وَلرُبَّ تعريضٍ لَدَيك نجاحُه

    جاءته تصريحُ الغَمامِ الهاطِلِ

    And many a hint whose fulfillment lies with you

    Has received the pouring raincloud's explicit answer.

  40. ومتَى أنلْتَ على القَريضِ فإننَّي

    ربُّ القريضِ وأنتَ ربُّ النائِلِ

    And whenever you bestow gifts for poetry, I am

    The master of poetry, and you the master of bounty.