1. أُسائِلُ عنها الرَّكْبَ وهْيَ معَ الرَّكْبِ

    وأطلُبُها من ناظرِي وهي فيي القلبِ

    I ask the caravan about her, though she is with the caravan.

    And I seek her through my eye, though she is in my heart.

  2. وما عادةُ الأيّام إن رُحْتُ عاتباً

    عليهنّ أن يُهدِينَ عُتْبَي إلى عَتْبي

    And it is not the days' custom, when I go reproaching

    them, to grant appeasement in answer to my reproach.

  3. تَعلّق بينَ الهَجْرِ والوَصْلِ مُهْجَتي

    فلا أَرَبى في الحُبِّ أقضِي ولا نَحْبي

    My heart hangs between estrangement and union,

    so I neither satisfy my desire in love nor meet my end.

  4. وما غَرَّني داعي الهوى غيرَ أنّني

    نظَرْتُ فأصباني بعَينَيْه مَنْ يُصْبي

    Love's summons beguiled me only because I

    looked, and he who enchants made me lovesick with his eyes.

  5. أَحِنُّ إلى طَيْفِ الأحبّةِ سارياً

    ودونَ سُراهُ نَبْوةُ الجَفْنِ والجَنْب

    I long for the loved ones' phantom, traveling by night,

    but the unrest of eyelid and side bars its nightly journey.

  6. فما للنّوى لا يَعْتري غيرَ مُغْرَمٍ

    كأنّ النّوى صَبٌ منَ النّاسِ بالصَبَ

    Why does separation afflict none but a lover?

    As though separation were in love with the lovesick, of all people.

  7. إذا ما تَصافيْنا سعَى الدّهْرُ بيننا

    وصارَ التَلاقي دون مُمتنعٍ صَعْب

    Whenever we are close in affection, Time sows discord between us,

    and reunion becomes difficult, just short of impossible.

  8. فللهِ رَبْعٌ من أُميمةَ عاطِلٌ

    تُوشّحُه الأنداءُ باللُؤلُؤ الرّطْب

    By God, a dwelling bereft of Umaymah,

    the dews deck it with moist pearls.

  9. جعلتُ به قَيدَ الركائب وَقفةً

    إذا شاء رَبْعُ الحَيّ طالتْ على صحْبي

    There I made a halt serve as the riding camels' tether;

    if the tribe's dwelling wished, it lasted long for my companions.

  10. رَمْيتُ مُحَيّا دارِهم عن صَبابةٍ

    بسافِحةِ الإنسانِ سافحةِ الغَرْب

    In yearning I showered the face of their abode

    with an eye whose pupil streamed, whose tears flowed in torrents.

  11. أُروِى بها خَدّي وفي القلبِ غُلَّتي

    وقد يَتخطَّى الغيثُ أمكنةَ الجَدْب

    With it I water my cheek, though my burning thirst lies in my heart.

    And rain may bypass the places of drought.

  12. ويا صاح أسعِدْني بجرْعاء مالكٍ

    وإن نَزَلتْ سَمْراءُ في الحيّ من كعْب

    And, O friend, join my lament at Malik's sandy tract,

    even if Samra has settled with the clan of Ka'b.

  13. وسِرْ نتعلَلْ بالحديثِ عنِ الهَوى

    ونُسنِدْ إلى أحبابِنا أَثَرَ الحُبّ

    And go on; let us console ourselves with talk of love,

    and ascribe love's traces to our loved ones.

  14. ولا تتَعَجبْ أنني عشْتُ بعدَهم

    فإنّهم روحي وقد سكنوا قلبي

    And do not marvel that I have lived on after them:

    for they are my soul, and they have settled in my heart.

  15. وخَرْقٍ خَرَقْنَ العِيسُ بالوفدِ عُرضَه

    وألفَيْنَ نجداً عن مناكِبها النُّكْب

    And many a wasteland's breadth the pale camels crossed, bearing the delegation,

    and found Najd off to the side of their slanting shoulders.

  16. ونحن بسفْحِ القارتَيْنِ عن الحِمَى

    جُنوحٌ نَلُفُّ البيدَ شُهْباً على شُهْب

    And we, at the foot of the two hills, away from the protected pasture,

    veered onward, folding gray wastes away on gray mounts.

  17. على كُلِّ مَسبوقٍ به الطَّرفُ ضامرٍ

    كأنّ مَجالَ النِّسْعِ منه على جَأب

    On every lean camel that outstrips the gaze,

    as though its girth's course lay upon a sturdy wild ass;

  18. وحَرْفٍ تَجوبُ القاعَ والوهدَ والرُّبا

    كحَرْفٍ مُديم الرَّفْعِ والجَّرِ والنَّصْب

    and a hardy she-camel crossing plains, hollows, and hills,

    like a grammatical particle, ever raising, drawing along, and setting upright.

  19. نجائبُ يَقدحنَ الحصَى كُلَّ ليلةٍ

    كأنّ بأيديها مَصابيحَ للرّكْب

    Noble she-camels strike sparks from pebbles every night,

    as though their forelegs held lamps for the caravan.

  20. كأنّ نُجومَ اللّيلِ مَدّ طريقنا

    تُرامِي بها أيدِي الغُرَيرِيّةِ الصُّهْب

    As though the stars of night, all along our road,

    were flung forth by the tawny Ghurayri camels' forelegs.

  21. كأنّ شهابَ الدّينِ لما سَرتْ بنا

    إليه المطايا تُبدِلُ البُعْدَ بالقُرب

    It was as though Shihab al-Din, when they bore us

    to him—the mounts exchanging distance for nearness—

  22. تَهاوَتْ صِغارُ الشُّبِ تَهْدِي

    شَطْرَ الكبيرِ من الشُّهب

    had little meteors tumbling down to guide us

    toward the great one among the meteors.

  23. إذا ما شهابَ الدّينِ زارتْ رِكابُنا

    فَقُلْ في سُرَى الصّادي إلى المنهلِ العذب

    When our riding camels visit Shihab al-Din,

    tell, then, of the thirsty one's night journey to a sweet watering-place.

  24. إلى مَلِكٍ نَدْبٍ جزيلٍ نَوالهُ

    وهل يَقْصِدُ الرّاجي سوى ملكٍ ندب

    To a noble king whose gifts are abundant—

    and does the hopeful seeker seek anyone but a noble king?

  25. نَمومٍ على جَزْلِ العَطيةِ بِشرُهُ

    ويُعرِبُ أُثْرُ السّيفِ عن جودةِ الضّرب

    Whose cheerful face betrays the lavishness of his gifts,

    And the sword's mark reveals the excellence of the stroke.

  26. أمَرّ على صَرْفِ الزمانِ مَريرَهُ

    ويُعرِبُ أُثْرُ السّيفِ عن جودةِ الضّرب

    He twisted his stout cord tight against the vicissitudes of Time,

    And the sword's mark reveals the excellence of the stroke.

  27. عَواقبُ ما يأتي مَواقِعُ طَرفْهِ

    فآثارُهُ أبقَى بقاءً من القُضْب

    The outcomes of all he undertakes are where his gaze alights,

    so the marks he leaves endure longer than the blades.

  28. هو ابنُ رئيسِ الدّين والمُقتدَى به

    بوَضْعِ هناءِ المُلْكِ في مَوضِعِ النُّقب

    He is the son of Ra'is al-Din, and a model to follow

    in applying the kingdom's healing tar where its mange appears.

  29. يَسوسُ الرّعايا بالمنايا وبالمُنَى

    ويَغْزو الأعادي بالكتائبِ والكُتب

    He rules his subjects through death and through hope,

    and attacks his enemies with battalions and letters.

  30. فما مِن أبٍ وابْنٍ شَبيهُهما عُلاً

    رأى النّاسُ في سِلْمٍ من الدّهرِ أو حَرب

    No father and son equal to them in eminence

    have people ever seen in peace or war.

  31. هما عُذْرُ هذا الدّهرِ عن كلِ فارِطٍ

    ولولاهُما ما كانَ مُغتفَرَ الذّنب

    They are this age's excuse for every lapse;

    without them both, its sin would not be forgiven.

  32. فَدُوما معاً في المُلْكِ ما هَبَّ ساجِعاً

    على مَنبرِ الأيكِ الخَطيبُ من الخُطب

    So may you both endure together in kingship, as long as there rises, cooing,

    on the grove's pulpit, the preacher among the dusky birds.

  33. فهذا زمانٌ أنتُما خَيْرُ أهلِه

    وأشرارهُ إنْ عُدَّ تُربي على التُّرب

    For this is an age whose finest people are you two,

    and its wicked, if counted, outnumber the grains of dust.