1. حَسّن الهَجْرَ مع القُرْبِ لعَيْني

    أنّنا لا نلتقي إلا بَبيْنِ

    What made estrangement despite nearness fair to my eye

    was that we meet only at a parting.

  2. وَدَّعونا وفؤادي مَعهمْ

    يا سقَى اللهُ عهودَ الظْاعنَيْن

    They bade us farewell, and my heart went with them.

    Ah, may God water the days of the two departing travelers.

  3. واستَرابَتْ ببُكاها مُقلتي

    كان مِن شَأْنَين أو من وَدَجَيْن

    My eye doubted the source of its weeping:

    was it from two tear channels, or two jugular veins?

  4. كُلُّ حَربٍ سَمِعوا يوماً بها

    أوقَعوها بين أيّامي وبَيْني

    Every war they had ever heard of

    they waged between my days and me.

  5. والعيونُ العامريّاتُ إذا

    فتكَتْ أنستْكَ فَتْكَ العامِرَيْن

    And the ʿĀmirite eyes, when

    they strike, make you forget the slaughter of the two ʿĀmirs,

  6. بسهامٍ ما بَراها صَنَعٌ

    وسُيوفٍ ما جلَتْها يَدُ قَيْن

    with arrows no craftsman shaped,

    and swords no smith's hand polished.

  7. منَ عَذيري مِن تَمادي حُرَقي

    وتَوالي قَطَراتِ الدَّمْعَتَيْن

    Who will come to my aid against my ceaseless burning

    and the unending drops of my twin tears?

  8. لي هوىً يُبْلي ولي دمعٌ يَشي

    أىُّ أسراريَ تَخْفَى بينَ ذَيْن

    I have love that wastes me, and tears that betray me;

    which of my secrets can stay hidden between those two?

  9. ما على العاشقِ من عَتْبٍ إذا

    خُزنَت أسرارُهمْ في المَدمَعيْن

    There is no reproach upon a lover if

    their secrets are stored in the two tear ducts.

  10. هُمْ سَبَوا قلبيَ حتّى لم أجِدْ

    مَوضعاً فيَّ لسرّي غيرَ عَيْني

    They took my heart captive, till I could not find

    a place within me for my secret except my eye.

  11. أيّها الرَّكبُ بشَرقيّ الحِمى

    هل لكمْ عِلْمٌ بأهلِ العَلمَيْن

    O caravan east of the sanctuary,

    do you know of the people of al-ʿAlamayn?

  12. ظَعنوا في أيّ واديّ الكُوَى

    وحدا بالقلبِ أىُّ الحاديَيْن

    Which of al-Kuwā's two valleys did they journey through,

    and which of the two camel-drivers sang the heart onward?

  13. يَملأ لِبيدَ بأشياخهمْ

    كُلُّ عيديٍّ نَجيبٍ وعُصَيْني

    Libīd is filled with their elders

    by every noble-bred ʿĪdī and ʿUṣaynī camel.

  14. ويُغيبُ الشّمسَ في نَقعهمْ

    مَرَحُ الخيلِ وتَجريرُ الرُّدَيْني

    And the sun is hidden in their dust

    by the horses' prancing and the dragging of the Rudaynī spear.

  15. وعلى أكوارِهمْ من وَجْرة

    سُدُمُ الآرامِ تَنْحو رامَتَيْن

    And on their camel-saddles, from Wajra,

    herds of white antelope head toward Rāmatayn.

  16. فيهمُ مَنْ عَلِقَ القلبُ به

    وأطالَ الوجدَ غيْظُ اللاّئمَيْن

    Among them is one to whom the heart clung,

    and the two reproachers' anger prolonged my longing.

  17. والقنا يَسْعَى حَوالَيْ خِدْرِه

    دَورةَ الهُدْبِ على إنسانِ عَيْن

    And spears move around his curtained chamber,

    as lashes circle the pupil of an eye.

  18. أسلَم الصَبَّ إلى حَرٍّ الجوَى

    وإلى القَطْرِ بقايا الدِّمنتَيْن

    He surrendered the lovesick lover to burning passion,

    and the remains of the two campsites to the rain.

  19. لا تَظنُّوا أنّ سَجعاً شاقَني

    أنا أطربتُ حَمامَ الواديَيْن

    Do not think that cooing stirred my longing:

    I stirred the doves of the two valleys to song.

  20. أنا علَّمتُ الشّتا حينَ بكَى

    دَمعَهُ يَرقُمُ رَسْمَ الرَّقمتَيْن

    I taught winter, when it wept,

    its tears that embroider the traces of al-Raqmatayn.

  21. لك أن تُخلِفَ ميعادَ الحَيا

    أيّها البرقُ ولا بالرَّقمتَيْن

    You may fail your promise of rain,

    O lightning—but not at al-Raqmatayn.

  22. فسقاها غيرَ ماحِ رسْمها

    دانيَ الهَيْدَبِ نائي الحَجْرتَين

    So may a cloud water it without erasing its traces,

    its rain-fringes hanging near, its two edges far apart,

  23. واقفاً يبكي على آثارهم

    وِقفةَ العاشقِ بَيْنَ العاذِلَين

    standing to weep over their traces,

    as a lover stands between the two reproachers.

  24. يَسبِقُ الرَّعدَ ببَرقٍ مثْلَما

    يَبْدُر الزَّجْرُ بلَمْعِ الحاجبَيْن

    Its lightning precedes thunder, just as

    a rebuke begins with the flashing of the two brows.

  25. لستَ يا غَيثُ وإنْ روَّيتَها

    مثْلَ زينِ المُلكِ في جودِ اليَدين

    You are not, O rain—even if you drench it—

    like Zayn al-Mulk in the bounty of both hands.

  26. ومتى تَتْركُ أن تُشبهَهُ

    فامْطِرِ الأرضَ بِتبْرٍ أو لُجَين

    And whenever you give up resembling him,

    rain gold dust or silver upon the earth.

  27. ماجدٌ كلتا يدَيْه في النَّدى

    رِفدُها يخجِلُ رِفْدَ الرّافدَين

    A noble man, whose two hands in generosity—

    their bounty shames the bounty of the Two Rivers.

  28. هو مَعْنَى العَدْلِ جوداً لا هوى

    وهْو زينَ المُلك صدْقاً غيرَ مَيْن

    He embodies justice through generosity, not caprice,

    and is truly Zayn al-Mulk, the realm's adornment, with no lie.

  29. زانَه حين دعاه زَينه

    ولقد يدعَى بزَينٍ غيرَ زَين

    He adorned it when it named him its adornment,

    though one who is no adornment may be called 'adornment'.

  30. يَحمِلُ الوَفْدَ إلى أبوابهِ

    كُلُّ مُرتاحِ مَجالِ النّسعَتين

    The delegation is borne to his gates

    by every mount lively between its two saddle-girths.

  31. كَسبوا بينَ الأيادي بالسُّرى

    والمطايا كَسْبُهمْ رُوحاً بأَيْن

    Through night travel they gained amid his favors,

    and through mounts—their gain was ease in return for toil.

  32. صائبُ الرّأيِ بَعيدُ المُنتهَى

    طاهُرُ العِرْضِ حَميدُ الشيمتَين

    Sound in judgment, far-reaching in aim,

    pure in honor, praiseworthy in his two traits.

  33. حَسَن أحسنُ ما في حُسنه

    خُلُقٌ يَعدِلُ سَمتَ الحَنّين

    Ḥasan—the finest thing in his beauty

    is a character matching the bearing of al-Ḥannayn.

  34. لو رأينا مِثْلَه في عَصْرِه

    لرأينا في المنامِ القَمَرين

    Had we seen his like in his own age,

    we would have seen two moons in a dream.

  35. وإذا هَزَّ لخَطْبٍ قَلماً

    ناب عن كُلِّ رقيقِ الشَّفْرتَين

    And when he brandishes a pen against a crisis,

    it replaces every sword with two fine edges.

  36. وإذا أعملَ حَدَّيْ رأيه

    في عَدُوٍّ كان أمضَى المُرهَفيْن

    And when he applies the two edges of his judgment

    against an enemy, it is the keener of the two honed blades.

  37. جُمع الجَدُّ معَ الجِّدِ له

    لا يزالا عندهُ مُجتَمِعَين

    Good fortune and earnest effort were joined for him;

    may they ever remain united with him.

  38. وتَناهَى العلْمُ والجودُ به

    فتَواردْنا لبَحْرٍ لُجَّتَيْن

    Knowledge and generosity reached their utmost in him,

    so we came to a sea with two depths.

  39. أسرَع الصّومُ إلى ساحتِه

    باسمَ الثّغْرِ صَدوقَ البُشْرَييْن

    The fast hastened into his courtyard,

    with smiling lips, truthful in its two glad tidings.

  40. فَلْيصُمْ أمثالُه في نِعمةٍ

    وعُلاَ تَبقَى بقاءَ الرّافدَين

    May those like him fast in prosperity

    and high honor that lasts as long as the Two Rivers.

  41. يا مُقيمَ المجدِ في أعلَى السُّها

    ومُطارَ الذِّكْرِ بينَ الخافقَين

    O you who set glory at the height of al-Suhā,

    and whose renown flies between the two horizons,

  42. هاكَها مصقولةً لو جُسِّمَتْ

    قُرِّطَ السّامعُ منها دُرَّتَيْن

    take it, polished: were it given bodily form,

    the listener would wear two of its pearls as earrings.

  43. مَأْخَذُ الشِّعْرِ قَريبٌ أَمَمٌ

    فإذا شئْتُ يفوقُ الفرقَديْن

    Poetry's source is near, within easy reach;

    yet, when I wish, it rises above al-Farqadayn.

  44. فابْقَ في عزِّ عُلاً لا يَنقضي

    عَهدُه قبلَ مآب القارِظَين

    So remain in exalted might, whose term shall not end

    before the two qaraẓ-gatherers return,

  45. تَقتفي كُلَّ وليٍّ بغِنَى

    وإلى كُلِّ أخي ضِغْنٍ بحَين

    following every friend with riches,

    and reaching every bearer of rancor with doom.

  46. فإذا غَيَّر حالاتِ الورَى

    كان كالدَّهرِ مُقيمَ الحالتَين

    And when he changes the fortunes of mankind,

    he remains, like Time, constant in his two states.