1. سعى نحوي وبُرد الليل بالي

    فبت من الهموم خلي بالِ

    He hastened toward me while night's mantle was threadbare;

    So I spent the night with a mind free of cares.

  2. غزال بت أسقى من يديه

    سلاف مدامة كدم الغزالِ

    A gazelle, from whose hands I was served all night

    The choicest aged wine, like the blood of a gazelle.

  3. شمولي الرضاب إذا تثني

    رأيت قضيب بأن في شمالِ

    His saliva is like wine; when he sways,

    I see a bān-tree branch in a north wind.

  4. على ورد تلثم أَم شقيق

    وعن برد تبسم أم لآلِ

    Do you kiss a rose, or a red anemone?

    And do you smile to reveal hailstones, or pearls?

  5. له خال يبي له فؤادي

    من الوجد المبرح غير خالي

    He has a mole for which my heart spends the night [reading uncertain],

    Never free of agonizing longing.

  6. وخذ لا يزال يلوح غضا

    على صفحاته روض الجمالِ

    And a cheek [apparent reading]: ever gleaming fresh

    Upon its surfaces is the garden of beauty.

  7. تموج فيه ماء الحسن حتى

    غدا كالسيف حودث بالصقالِ

    In it the water of beauty rippled, until

    It became like a sword freshly polished.

  8. فيا لله هل للصب يوما

    مجير من هلال بني هلالِ

    So, O God, will the lovesick man ever have

    A protector from the crescent of Banū Hilāl?

  9. أغن مهفهف الكشحين أحوى

    شهي الدل موموق الدلالِ

    Soft and nasal-voiced, slender-flanked, dark-lipped,

    Delightful in coyness, adored for his coquetry;

  10. قضيب في مؤزره كثيب

    يهيل لها صر هيل الرمالِ

    A slender bough, with a sand dune inside his loincloth,

    He heaps it up for her [one word unclear], as sand is heaped.

  11. وقفت إليه أشكو سوء حالي

    وخصر الأفق بالجوزاء حالي

    I stood facing him, complaining of my sorry state,

    While the horizon's waist was adorned with al-Jawzāʾ.

  12. وقد ظل النسيم الرطب وهنا

    يهز فروع بانات وضالِ

    And the moist breeze continued, deep in the night,

    Stirring the branches of bān trees and ḍāl trees.

  13. أأطلالِ الحمى حيتك عنّا

    مع الأسحار أنداء الظلالِ

    O ruins of the sanctuary, may you be greeted on our behalf

    At dawn by the dews of the shade.

  14. وإن شح الحيا فسقتك سحا

    غيوث الدمع مع مطلقة العزالي

    And if the rain is stingy, may you be watered in torrents

    By rainstorms of tears, with their waterskin-spouts unbound,

  15. بمثل ندى أبي الفرج المرجَّى

    خليل السؤدد الدمث الخلالِ

    With bounty like that of Abū al-Faraj, in whom hope is placed,

    The companion of high honor, gentle in character.

  16. فتى ما زال مشفوع العطايا

    معاد الجود محسود الكمالِ

    A youth whose gifts have never ceased to come doubled,

    Whose generosity is renewed, whose perfection is envied.

  17. كريم العود أبلج ذو وعود

    حلت وخلت لعاف من مطالِ

    Noble of stock, radiant-browed, a man of promises

    Sweet and free of delay for the petitioner.

  18. وصب بالمكارم مستهام

    ببذل الرمد مغرى بالنوالِ

    Love-sick for noble deeds, utterly infatuated

    With giving [object unclear], devoted to bounty.

  19. إذا أبطا ندى الأقوام أعطى

    وجاد تسرعا قبل السؤالِ

    When people's generosity is slow in coming, he gives

    And bestows freely, hastening before the request.

  20. وإن خفت حلومهم وشفت

    رجحن له حلوم كالجبالِ

    And if their judgments grow light and thin,

    His judgments weigh heavy as mountains.

  21. فقد أضحى أعزهم نزيلا

    وأشجعهم إذا دعيت نزالِ

    For he has become their most honored guest,

    And their bravest when 'To battle!' is cried.

  22. يفكِ بجوده العاني وتعنو

    لسود طروسه عمر النصالِ

    With his bounty he frees the captive; bowing in submission

    To the black ink of his pages are spearheads [one word unclear].

  23. سنى الرفد تمطرنا يداه

    سجالا من لهاه على سجالِ

    Splendid in bounty, his two hands rain upon us

    Bucketfuls of his gifts, upon bucketfuls.

  24. ثمال حيث كل ندى ثماد

    وهل يغني الثماد عن الثمالِ

    A sustainer where every bounty is but scant water;

    And can scant water take the place of a sustainer?

  25. لقد عقمت فما ترجو نتاجا

    بمثل سماحه أم المعالي

    She has indeed grown barren, and hopes for no offspring

    To match his generosity—the mother of lofty deeds.

  26. فتى لصقت مودته بقلبي

    لصوق الخمر بالماء الزلالِ

    A youth, love for whom has clung to my heart,

    As wine clings to clear, sweet water.

  27. وقفت بربعه فعمرت برا

    ولم أسأل محيلا عن محالِ

    I stood at his abode and flourished through kindness;

    Nor did I ask a barren man for the impossible.

  28. حسامي إن عراني الخطب درعي

    يميني في معاصيه شمالي

    My sword—and, if calamity assails me, my armor;

    My right hand becomes my left when I disobey him.

  29. يراعي خلتي ويذب عني

    وينقع غلتي ويرب حالي

    He attends to my need and defends me,

    Slakes my thirst and tends to my welfare.

  30. سأكسوه برودا من ثناء

    يخلن لحسنهن برود خالِ

    I shall clothe him in mantles of praise

    That, for their beauty, might be taken for the mantles of Khāl.

  31. ولم لا أنتحيه بسائرات

    من الأمثال معوزة المثالِ

    And why should I not address him with far-traveling

    Sayings that lack an equal?

  32. عبيد الله يا مسدي الأيادي

    رجاؤك موئلي ونداك مالي

    ʿUbayd Allāh, O bestower of favors,

    My hope in you is my refuge, and your bounty my wealth.

  33. لك المنن الجسيمات اللواتي

    وسمت بهن أعناق الرجالِ

    Yours are the immense favors with which

    You have branded the necks of men.

  34. فدمت على ممر الدهر تبقى

    بقاء لا يجيب إلى زوالِ

    So may you endure through time's passage, abiding

    With an endurance that never answers the call of extinction.

  35. وعاد إليك عيدك كل عام

    بأيمن طالع وأجل فالِ

    And may your festival return to you each year

    With the most auspicious ascendant and the noblest omen.