1. نظَرَتْ بألْحاظِ الظِّباءِ العِينِ

    ظَمْياءُ بالعَقِداتِ منْ يَبْرينِ

    She gazed with the glances of wide-eyed gazelles—

    a dark-lipped beauty among Yabrin's clustered dunes.

  2. تَرْنو وقد وَلِعَ الفُتورُ بعَيْنِها

    وَلَعَ الهَوى بفؤادِيَ المَفْتونِ

    She gazes, languor enamored of her eye,

    as passion is enamored of my spellbound heart.

  3. ولَها اسْتِراقَةُ نَظْرَةٍ نالَتْ بِها

    ما لا يُنالُ بصارِمٍ مَسْنونِ

    Hers is a stolen glance with which she won

    what no keen, whetted sword can win.

  4. ونَشَدْتُ قَلبي حينَ عزَّ مَرامُهُ

    إذ ضلَّ بينَ مَحاجِرٍ وعُيونِ

    I sought my heart when recovering it grew hard,

    when it strayed among eye-sockets and eyes.

  5. تلكَ النّواظِرُ ما تُفيقُ منَ الكَرى

    وبِها سُهادُ الهائِمِ المَحْزونِ

    Those eyes never awaken from slumber,

    yet they bring sleeplessness to the sorrowing, lovesick lover.

  6. يا سَعدُ إنّ الجِزْعَ أكثَبَ فاسْتَعِرْ

    نَظَراتِ طاوي ليلَتَينِ شَفونِ

    O Sa'd, the valley's bend draws near: borrow

    the gaze of one keen-eyed and hungry for two nights.

  7. واجْذِبْ زِمامَ الأرْحَبيّ ولا تُبَلْ

    ذِكْراً وَصَلْنَ حَنينَهُ بحَنيني

    Draw in the Arhabi camel's rein, and heed not

    memories that joined its yearning cry with mine.

  8. واشتاقَ كاظِمَةً فجُنَّ جُنونُهُ

    وذَكَرْتُ ساكِنَها فجُنَّ جُنوني

    It longed for Kazima, and its madness ran wild;

    I recalled her who dwells there, and my madness ran wild.

  9. لمنِ الظّعائِنُ دون أكثِبَةِ الحِمى

    يَطوي الفَلاةَ بهِنَّ كُلُّ أَمونِ

    Whose are the women in howdahs, this side of the preserve's dunes?

    Each trusty she-camel bears them across the waste.

  10. فالآلُ بَحْرٌ حينَ ماجَ برَكْبِها

    وجَرى الرّكائِبُ فيهِ جَريَ سَفينِ

    The mirage was a sea, surging with their caravan,

    and the riding camels moved through it like ships.

  11. عارَضْتُها فنظَرْنَ عن حَدَقِ المَها

    يَلمَحْنَ بارقَةَ الغَمامِ الجُونِ

    I drew alongside them; they gazed with oryx eyes,

    glimpsing the lightning flash of dark rainclouds.

  12. وتكاثَرَتْ دُفَعُ الدّموعِ كأنّها

    نَفَحاتُ سَيْبِكَ يا قِوامَ الدّينِ

    The surges of tears multiplied, as though they were

    wafts of your bounty, O Qiwam al-Din.

  13. للهِ دَرُّكَ مِنْ مُدَبِّرِ دولَةٍ

    وَجَدَتْهُ خَيْرَ مُؤازِرٍ ومُعينِ

    God bless you, steward of a state

    that found in you its finest supporter and helper.

  14. يُلْقي بعَقْوَتِها ذِراعَيْ ضَيْغَمٍ

    أدْمى شَبا الأنْيابِ دونَ عَرينِ

    He lays a lion's forelegs in its courtyard—

    a lion that bloodied its fang-tips defending its lair.

  15. ويَحوطُها بيَراعِهِ وحُسامِهِ

    متدَفِّقَيْنِ بنائِلٍ ومَنونِ

    He guards it with his reed pen and his sword,

    both pouring forth bounty and death.

  16. وضَحَتْ مَناقِبُهُ فليسَ بمُدَّعٍ

    شَرَفاً ولا في مَجْدِهِ بظَنينِ

    His virtues shine: he is no pretender

    to honor, nor is his glory open to suspicion.

  17. واسْتَأْنَفَ الفُضَلاءُ في أيامِهِ

    عِزّاً فلمْ يتَضاءَلوا لِلهُونِ

    Men of merit renewed in his days

    their honor, never bowing to humiliation.

  18. وتطوَّحَتْ بي هِمّةٌ درَأَتْ إِلى

    وَجْناءَ جائِلَةِ النّسوعِ وَضِيني

    Ambition swept me far, thrusting

    my saddle-girth onto a sturdy she-camel with shifting straps.

  19. وطَرَقْتُ ساحتَهُ فألْقَمْتُ الثّرى

    صَنِفاتِ ذَيْلِ دِلاصِيَ المَوْضونِ

    I came by night to his courtyard and fed the dust

    the skirt-edges of my gleaming, close-woven mail.

  20. مَنْ مُبْلِغٌ بَطْحاءَ مكّةَ أنّني

    لمْ أرْعَ بالجَرْعاءِ رَوْضَ هُدونِ

    Who will tell Mecca's Batha that I

    have not grazed a meadow of repose on the sandy plain?

  21. ورأيْتُ مَنْ يَمْتارُ ضَوْءَ جَبينِهِ

    بَصَري فقبَّلْتُ الثّرى بجَبيني

    And I saw one whose brow's light nourishes

    my sight; so I kissed the dust with my forehead.

  22. لولا العُلا وأنا القَمينُ بنَيْلِها

    لنَفَضْتُ منْ مِنَحِ المُلوكِ يَميني

    Were it not for glory—and I am worthy to attain it—

    I would have shaken my right hand free of kings' gifts.

  23. فالعِزُّ بالبَطْحاءِ بينَ مُغَرِّرٍ

    شَرِسٍ وأبْلَجَ شامِخِ العِرْنينِ

    For honor in the Batha lies between a daring man—

    fierce—and a bright-browed man with proudly lifted nose.

  24. ولأَشْكُرَنّ نَداكَ شُكْرَ خَميلَةٍ

    لندىً يُرَقْرِقُهُ الغَمامُ هَتونِ

    And I shall surely thank your bounty as a lush grove gives thanks

    for streaming dew that the raincloud makes shimmer.

  25. ولأنْظِمَنَّ قَصائِداً لَفَّ الحِجى

    فيها سُهولَ بَلاغَةٍ بحُزونِ

    And I shall surely compose poems: reason has entwined

    within them eloquence's smooth plains with rugged terrain.

  26. وتَهُزُّ أعْطافَ المُلوكِ كأنّها

    ريحُ الشّمالِ تعثّرَتْ بغُصونِ

    They shall sway the shoulders of kings, as though they were

    the north wind stumbling over branches.

  27. وكأن راويها يطوفُ علَيْهِمُ

    بابْنِ الغَمامةِ وابْنَةِ الزَّرْجونِ

    And it is as though their reciter goes round among them

    with the raincloud's son and the vine's daughter.