1. أهواكُمُ وخيالُكمْ يَهْواني

    فلقد شَجاهُ فراقُكم وشَجاني

    I love you, and your phantom loves me.

    Your parting has grieved him, and grieved me.

  2. أُضحي أخا سفَرٍ فما ألقاكُمُ

    وأبيتُ ذاَ سهَرٍ فما يَلْقاني

    I spend my days a traveler, unable to meet you;

    and spend my nights sleepless, while he cannot meet me.

  3. ما زلْتُ أحكي في النُّحولِ مِثالَه

    حتّى تَناهَى السُّقْمُ بي فَحكاني

    I kept resembling his form in thinness,

    until sickness reached its limit in me, and he resembled me.

  4. فتركْتُ طَيفَكُمُ وقد أفناهُ هِجْ

    راني كما هِجرانُكمْ أفناني

    So I left your phantom, worn away by my estrange-

    -ment, just as your estrangement wore me away.

  5. ما كان يَدْري ما الحَنينُ مَطيُّنا

    حتّى مرَرنَ بأبرَقِ الحَنّان

    Our mounts did not know what yearning was

    until they passed through Abraq al-Hannan.

  6. لمّا أمَلْتُ زمامَ نِضْويَ نَحوَهُ

    لأُجيلَ طَرفيَ في رُسومِ مَغان

    When I turned my worn mount's rein toward it

    to let my gaze roam among the traces of dwellings,

  7. جَعلَتْ تُناحِلُني الرُّسومُ لَوائحاً

    والدّهرُ أبلاها كما أبلاني

    the visible traces began rivaling me in thinness,

    and time had worn them down as it wore me down.

  8. ما كان آهِلَها عَشِيّةَ زُرتُها

    إلا مَكانُ مَطِيّتي ومكاني

    None inhabited them the evening I visited

    save the station of my mount and my own station.

  9. فلو استَمعْتَ إليّ في عَرَصاتِهّا

    لعجِبْتَ كيف تَخاطَب الطّلَلان

    Had you listened to me in their courtyards,

    you would have marveled at how the two ruins conversed.

  10. وسألْتُها أينَ الَّذينَ عَهِدْتُهمْ

    ليُجيبَ أو ليُبِينَ بعْضَ بَيان

    I asked them: Where are those I once knew?

    So that an answer, or some explanation, might come.

  11. فثَنى الصَّدى قَوْلي إليَّ بحَرِّها

    وبمِثْلِ ما ناجَيْتُه ناجاني

    The echo returned my words to me in their heat,

    and confided to me just what I had confided to it.

  12. صَدقَ الصّدى أنا والدّيارُ جَهالةً

    بالحيِّ مُذْ شَطَّ النَّوى سِيّان

    The echo spoke truly: I and the dwellings, in ignorance

    of the folk since separation carried them far, are alike.

  13. إنّ الذينَ عُهودُهمْ كعُيونِهمْ

    عندَ اللّقاء ضعيفةُ الأركان

    Those whose vows, like their eyes,

    are weak in their foundations at a meeting,

  14. جَعلوا وما عدَلوا غداةَ تَحكَّموا

    دَمْعي الطّليقَ لهمْ وقَلبي العاني

    made—unjustly, when they took command—

    my tears unbound for them, and my heart captive.

  15. قلبٌ أدار عليهِ طَرْفُكَ كأْسَه

    كم جارَ من ساقٍ على نَدْمان

    A heart over which your gaze passed its cup—

    how many a cupbearer has wronged a drinking companion!

  16. وأنا الفِداءُ لشادنٍ لاحَظْتُه

    فسبَى الفؤادَ بناظرٍ فَتّان

    I would ransom a gazelle-fawn at whom I glanced,

    who captured my heart with an enchanting gaze.

  17. قد قلتُ حينَ نظَرتُ فَرْطَ تَعجُّبٍ

    وعليه لمّا أن بدا قُرطان

    I said, on looking, in utter astonishment,

    when two earrings appeared upon him:

  18. لِمْ نَكَّسوا القُرطينِ لمّا عاقَبوا

    في جيدِه والسّاحرُ العَيْنان

    Why did they hang the two earrings head-down in punishment

    at his neck, when the sorcerers are the two eyes?

  19. بجِوارِ جائرتَيْنِ قد عَلِقا معاً

    فهُما بما جنَتاهُ مُرتَهِنان

    Beside two unjust eyes the two were hung together,

    so they are held hostage for the offense those eyes committed.

  20. ما كان أوّلَ سَطوةٍ من ظالمٍ

    أخذَ البَريءُ بها فلَجَّ الجاني

    It was not the first assault by a tyrant

    for which the innocent was seized while the guilty persisted.

  21. والدّهرُ قد يَجْلو عَجائبَ صَرْفِه

    حتّى أكونَ مُكذّبِاً لعِياني

    Time may reveal such wonders of its vicissitudes

    that I disbelieve what my own eyes see.

  22. ياجَيُّ جئْتُكِ زائراّ وأنا امرؤٌ

    ناء عنِ الأوطارِ والأوطان

    O Jayy, I came to visit you, a man

    far from his desires and homelands.

  23. فقَرَيْتني هَمّاً جُعِلْتُ له قِرًى

    إنّ الغريبَ لأُكْلَةُ الأحزان

    You served me grief as fare, and I was made its fare:

    the stranger is indeed a morsel for sorrows.

  24. ضَيفاً إذا اختارَ النُّزولَ بساحتي

    كانتْ ملاءُ جِفانِه أجفاني

    A guest that, whenever it chooses to lodge in my courtyard,

    has my eyelids as the filling of its bowls.

  25. وإذا سَرَى لم تَهْدِه مَشبوبَةٌ

    باللّيلِ إلاّ ما يُجِنُّ جِناني

    And when it travels by night, no kindled flame guides it

    through the darkness except what my heart conceals.

  26. عافَ السَّديفَ وقد ألمَّ بسُدْفةٍ

    فأرادني وأذابَني وغَذاني

    It disdained fat meat when it arrived at twilight,

    so it sought me, melted me, and nourished me.

  27. وكذا الأكارمُ لو قَرَوْا بلُحومِهمْ

    لم يَحْسِبوا مَنناً على الضّيِفان

    Such are the noble: even if they fed guests their own flesh,

    they would not count it as favors owed by their guests.

  28. هل في معاهدِ أصفهانَ وحُسنها

    مُتعلَّلٌ لنزيعِ خُوزِسْتان

    Is there, in Isfahan's haunts and their beauty,

    some solace for one uprooted from Khuzestan?

  29. فَتَق الرّبيعُ بها الكَمائمَ كلَّها

    فتَبسّمتْ للنّاسِ عن ألوان

    Spring split open all their buds,

    and they smiled upon people with colors,

  30. إلاّ فؤادي فالهمومُ تَضُمُّه

    عن أن يُطالِعَ منه بِيضَ أمان

    except my heart, which sorrows clasp shut,

    preventing bright hopes from looking out of it.

  31. أمّا الرّياضُ فقد بدَتْ كمجَالسٍ

    مَنْضودةٍ والوُرْقُ فُصْحُ قِيان

    The gardens have appeared like gatherings

    arrayed in order, with gray doves as eloquent singing-girls.

  32. والرِّيحُ مثْلُ الرّاحِ بُوكرَ شُرْبُها

    والغُصْنُ فيه تَميُّلُ النَّشْوان

    The breeze is like wine drunk early in the morning,

    and the bough has a drunkard's swaying.

  33. وإذا الحَمامُ غدا وراحَ مُكَرِّراً

    في الأيك ما يَختارُ من ألحان

    And when the doves, morning and evening, repeat

    among the thickets whatever melodies they choose,

  34. فتَرى بنا ما بالغُصونِ إذا شَدَتْ

    من شِدّةِ البُرَحاء والأشْجان

    you see in us, when they sing, what is in the branches:

    the intensity of torment and yearning.

  35. تتَشبَّهُ الأغصانُ بالأعطافِ إنْ

    غَنّيْنَ والأعطافُ بالأغصان

    The branches imitate bodies when

    the doves sing, and bodies imitate the branches.

  36. ما للنّسيمِ ونَى وليس هُبوبُه

    في سُحْرةٍ عن أن يَشوقَ بِوان

    The breeze has no slackness, nor does its blowing

    in the predawn hour flag in awakening longing.

  37. أعطَى القَنا أيدي الرِّياضِ تَهُزُّها

    وكسا الدُّروعَ مَناكبَ الغُدْران

    It gave the gardens' hands spears to brandish,

    and clothed the ponds' shoulders in mail.

  38. وكأنّه يومَ الهِياجِ مُحَرِّشٌ

    يَسعَى لكي يَتصادم الزَّحْفان

    As though on the day of battle it were an instigator,

    striving to make the two armies clash.

  39. وكأنّما بَعثَ البِحارُ إلى الرُبَا

    بِيَدِ السَّحابِ وَدائعَ المَرْجان

    As though the seas had sent to the hills,

    by the clouds' hands, deposits of coral.

  40. وحكَى أقاحيها سقيطَ دراهمٍ

    وحكَى دنانيراً جنَى الحَوْذان

    Their daisies resemble scattered dirhams,

    and the buttercups' blossoms resemble dinars.

  41. وشقائقُ النُّعمان تَحكي بَيْنَها

    بكمالِ بَهْجتِها خُدودَ حِسان

    Among them, the anemones of al-Nu'man resemble,

    in their perfect beauty, the cheeks of lovely women.

  42. هيَ للخدودِ النّاعماتِ نَسيبةٌ

    شَبَهاً فلِمْ نُسِبَتْ إلى النُّعْمان

    They are kin to tender cheeks

    in likeness; why, then, are they ascribed to al-Nu'man?

  43. وكأنّ كُلَّ شَقيقةٍ مكْحولةٍ

    شَرِقَتْ مَحاجِرُها بأحمرَ قان

    As though every kohl-rimmed anemone,

    its eye-sockets flooded with deep crimson,

  44. عَينٌ لإنسانٍ وقد مُلئتْ دَماً

    منه فما يَبدو سوى الإنْسان

    were a person's eye that had filled with blood

    from him, with nothing showing but the pupil.

  45. يَبكى بها شاني الأميرِ مُحمَّدٍ

    كَسَداً فتَترُكُه قَريحَ الشّان

    Through it the hater of Emir Muhammad weeps

    in dejection, and it leaves him sorely afflicted.

  46. والفَضلُ إن يكُ رَوضةً فشَقيقُها

    تَحديقُ عَيْنِ الحاسدِ اللَّهفان

    If excellence is a garden, its anemone is

    the fixed stare of the anguished envier.

  47. لأبي عليٍّ في العلاء ثَنِيّةٌ

    لا يَستطيعُ طُلوعَها القَمَران

    Abu Ali has a mountain pass in the heights

    that the sun and moon cannot ascend.

  48. طلَع الأميرُ مُحمَّدُ بْنُ مُحّمدٍ

    شَمْساً لأُفْقِ العَدْلِ والإحْسان

    Emir Muhammad ibn Muhammad has risen,

    a sun on the horizon of justice and beneficence.

  49. شَرَفٌ لدينِ اللهِ سَمّاهُ الهُدى

    وحُلَى الأسامي للرِّجالِ مَعان

    An honor to God's religion—guidance so named him;

    and the ornaments of men's names are their meanings.

  50. لمّا نَمتْه منَ الملوكِ عِصابَةٌ

    للدّينِ كانوا أشْرفَ الأعوان

    For a band of kings gave him his lineage,

    men who were religion's noblest helpers:

  51. أبناءُ أوّلِ مَعشرٍ لسيوفهم

    في الدّهرِ ذَلَّ الكُفْرُ للإيمان

    descendants of the first people whose swords

    made unbelief yield to faith in time.

  52. لاثُوا العمائمَ سُؤْدَداً وتَعوَّدوا

    بالبِيضِ ضَرْبَ مَعاقدِ التِّيجان

    They wound their turbans in lordship and grew accustomed

    to striking with bright swords where crowns are fastened.

  53. وبِهمْ نَبيُّ اللهِ باهَى عِزّةً

    مَن كان مِن عَدْنانَ أو قَحْطان

    Through them God's Prophet proudly boasted of might

    before men of Adnan or Qahtan,

  54. في يومِ ذي قارٍ غداةَ سُيوفُهمْ

    نيرانُ أهْلِ عبادةِ النِّيران

    on the day of Dhu Qar, when their swords

    were fires for the people who worshipped fire.

  55. كانتْ كذلك جاهليّةُ مُلكِهمْ

    والدَّهرُ إن نظرَ الفتى يَوْمان

    Such was their kingship in the age of ignorance;

    and time, if a man reflects, is two days.

  56. وحمَوْا حِمَى الإسلامِ لمّا أنْ بدَتْ

    للخُرَّميّةِ ضَربةٌ بجِران

    They guarded Islam's sanctuary when

    the Khurramiyya settled, planting its neck on the ground.

  57. وسعَى أبو دُلَفٍ إلى عَلْياءَ لم

    يَدْلِفْ إليها بامْرئٍ قَدَمان

    Abu Dulaf strove toward heights that no

    man's two feet had ever approached,

  58. في عُصبةٍ مُضَرِيَّةٍ لكنّهمْ

    قد أصحَبوا الأيمانَ كلَّ يَمان

    with a band of Mudar, who nevertheless

    had made every Yemeni blade obedient to their right hands,

  59. وكتيبةٍ تَطِسُ الحصَى مَلْمومةٍ

    تُعْشى إياةَ الشّمسِ بالومَضان

    and a compact battalion that crushed the gravel,

    outdazzling the sun's radiance with its flashes,

  60. في حيثُ ليس يَهيجُ أطْرابَ الرَّدى

    إلا حَنينُ عطائفِ الشِّربان

    where nothing stirs death's raptures

    except the twanging of the bow-wood's curved limbs.

  61. والخيلُ كالعِقْبانِ تَقْتحمُ الوغَى

    فالقْومُ تحتَ قَوادمِ العقْبان

    The horses, like eagles, plunge into battle,

    and the warriors are beneath the eagles' leading feathers.

  62. والطّعْنُ يَحْفِر في الكُلَى قُلُباً لها

    سُمُرُ القَناَ بَدَلٌ منَ الأشطان

    Spear-thrusts dig wells in kidneys, for which

    brown spear-shafts serve instead of well-ropes.

  63. وعلى مُتونِ الخيلِ أحْلاسٌ لها

    من كُلُّ مِطْعامِ النَّدى مِطْعان

    Upon the horses' backs are their saddlecloths,

    each a lavish host, a relentless spearman.

  64. كُلُّ ابنِ مُنْجِبةٍ بصَدْرِ جَوادِه

    في الرَّوْعِ يَغْشَى حَدَّ كُلِ سِنان

    Each son of a mother who bears noble sons, with his steed's breast,

    meets the point of every spear in battle.

  65. ما كان يُرضِعُه لَبانَ حِصانه

    لو كان لم يَرضَعْ لِبانَ حَصان

    His stallion would not suckle him upon its breast

    had he not suckled a chaste woman's milk.

  66. بك يا جمالَ المُلْكِ أضْحَى يَزْدهي

    رَأْيُ الوزيرِ ورايةُ السُّلْطان

    Through you, O beauty of kingship, there now exult

    the minister's counsel and the sultan's banner,

  67. بأغرَّ يغدو حِلْيةً لزمانِه

    وجُدودُه كانوا حُلَى الأزمان

    in a radiant man who becomes his age's ornament,

    whose forebears were the ornaments of the ages.

  68. ومُقابَلُ الأطرافِ مُشْتَهِرُ العُلا

    والبَيتُ للزُّوَارِ ذو أركان

    Noble on both sides of his lineage, renowned for eminence,

    his house has firm pillars for visitors.

  69. أمّا العُمومةُ فهْيَ قد فَرعَت به

    عَلياءَ يَقْصُرُ دونَها النَّسران

    His paternal kin have, through him, climbed

    a height the two Eagles fall short of reaching.

  70. وإذا التفَتَّ إلى الخُؤولة لم تَخَلْ

    أحداً يُقارِبُ مَجدَه ويُدانى

    And if you turn to his maternal kin, you would not imagine

    anyone nearing or matching his glory.

  71. عُلْيا بني إسحاقَ فيه إذا انْتَمى

    قد سانَدتْ عُلْيا بني شَيْبان

    The eminence of the sons of Ishaq, in his lineage,

    has upheld the eminence of the sons of Shayban.

  72. وإذا سألتَ عنِ المكارمِ والعُلا

    فلأولٍ من قاسِمَيْهِ وثان

    If you ask about noble deeds and eminence,

    they belong to the first of his two Qasims and the second.

  73. وهما اللّذانِ من سالفَيْ عصرَيهما

    رفَعا منارَ المجدِ والدّيوان

    Those two, in their two earlier ages,

    raised the beacon of glory and the divan.

  74. فالمجدُ أعشارٌ إذا قَسّمْتَه

    والقاسمانِ له هما السَّهْمان

    Glory has ten shares, if you divide it,

    and the two Qasims are its two arrows.

  75. هل كان في الوزراء إلاّ قاسمٌ

    ولقد يُزادُ الحَقُّ فَضْلَ بيان

    Was there among ministers anyone but Qasim?

    The truth may indeed be given fuller explanation:

  76. مَن كان خُصَّ بلَثْمِ خَمْسٍ منهمُ

    مع ضَربِ خَمسٍ عندَ كُلِّ أذان

    which of them was singled out to have five fingers kissed,

    with five beats struck at every call to prayer?

  77. أو كالنظامِ وهل جَوادٌ مثْلُه

    في الدَّهرِ عمَّ الأرضَ فضْلَ بنان

    Or anyone like al-Nizam—is there a generous man like him

    whose fingertips' bounty has covered the earth?

  78. يُعطي العطايا الباقياتِ وقد مضَى

    وعَطاهُ كُلَّ مِن سِواهُ فان

    He gives lasting gifts, though he has passed away,

    while the bounty of everyone besides him perishes.

  79. فهما كبيراكَ اللّذانِ كأنّما

    كانا بمجدِكَ للورَى يَعِدان

    These are your two great forebears, who seemed

    to promise mankind your glory.

  80. ويكون مثُلك أنت واسطةً إذا

    ما كان مثْلَ أولئكَ الطَّرَفان

    You, being such a man, are the central jewel when

    the two ends are men like those.

  81. أمَناطَ آمال تَعُدُّك عُدّةً

    للحُرِّ عند طَوارقِ الحَدَثان

    O anchor of hopes that reckon you a resource

    for the noble man when the blows of fate arrive!

  82. وكأنّ نُورَ جَبينِه لعُيونِنا

    كَرماً مَخيلةُ عارضٍ هَتّان

    The light of his brow seems to our eyes,

    in generosity, the promise of a pouring rain-cloud.

  83. نُطْقٌ تظَلُّ الغُرُّ من كَلماتِه

    وكأنّها الأقراطُ في الآذان

    Speech whose shining words remain

    like earrings in the ears.

  84. كَلِفٌ بدُرِّ القولِ مِن مُدَّاحه

    يَشْريهِ بالغالي منَ الأثمان

    Enamored of pearls of speech from his panegyrists,

    he buys them at the highest prices,

  85. فَضْلاً وإفْضالاً وما جمَع الفَتى

    للفَخْرِ مثْلَ العُرْفِ والعِرْفان

    in excellence and munificence; no young man has combined

    anything for pride like beneficence and knowledge.

  86. وكأنّ أطرافَ اليراعِ تَهزُّها

    للخَطْبِ أطرافُ القنا المُتَداني

    As though the tips of pens were stirred

    for grave affairs by the tips of approaching spears.

  87. تتأرَّجُ البَيداءُ من أخبارِهِ

    وتضوعُ ساعة مُلْتقَى الرُّكْبان

    The desert grows fragrant with his tidings,

    and breathes perfume when riders meet,

  88. مِن كُلِّ مَشْبوبِ العزيمة نَحْوَه

    مُوفٍ على شَدَنيّةٍ مِذْعان

    from every man whose resolve burns toward him,

    mounted upon an obedient Shadani she-camel,

  89. وَجْناءَ حَرْفٍ ما يزالُ يَمُدُّها

    أو يُبدِلَ التّحْريكَ بالإسكان

    stout-cheeked and lean, which he keeps urging onward

    until he changes its motion into stillness.

  90. مُتواضِعٌ للزّائِرينَ ومَجْدُه

    مِن رِفعةٍ مُوفٍ على كِيوان

    Humble toward visitors, while his glory

    rises so high that it overtops Saturn.

  91. نفَسْي فِداؤك يا مُحمّدٌ من فتىً

    راجيه لا يُرمَى بهِ الرَّجَوان

    My soul be your ransom, Muhammad—a youth

    whose hopeful petitioner is not flung to the two brinks.

  92. وإذا دَعَوْتُ إلى المُهمِّ أجابنَي

    فكَفاهُ لا وانٍ ولا مُتَوان

    When I call him to a weighty matter, he answers me,

    and attends to it, neither faltering nor delaying.

  93. أولَيتُه وُدّاً وأولاني يَداً

    والمجدُ أجمَعُ بَعْضُ ما أَولاني

    I gave him affection, and he granted me a favor;

    all glory is but part of what he granted me.

  94. وأزَرتُه مِدَحي وحاشَ لهِمَّتي

    مِنْ أن أُحِلَّ الفضلَ دارَ هَوان

    I girded him with my praises; far be it from my resolve

    to lodge excellence in a house of abasement.

  95. ولئنْ غدَتْ أيّامُ إلْمامي بهِ

    مِمّا قَلَلْنَ كقَبسَةِ العَجْلان

    Though the days of my visiting him were

    so few, like a hurried man's snatching of a flame,

  96. فأنا الّذي أُثني على عَلْيائهِ

    كثناء حَسّانٍ على غَسّان

    I am the one who praises his high estate

    as Hassan praised Ghassan.

  97. إن لم تكُنْ قَدَمي تؤُمُّ فِناءهُ

    فلقد جرَى قَلَمي ونابَ لِساني

    If my foot has not made for his courtyard,

    my pen has run, and my tongue has served in its stead.