1. ذريني وأهْوالي نَفِرُّ ونلْتقي

    سيهزمُها عني حُسامي ومنطقي

    Leave me and my terrors to flee and meet;

    my sword and my eloquence will drive them away from me.

  2. بدتْ غُلُباً شُوساً ففلَّ غُروبها

    بصيرٌ برَد المُجْلِبِ المُتألِّقِ

    They loomed mighty and defiant, but their edges were blunted

    by one skilled at repelling the clamorous, glittering foe.

  3. ربيطُ العُلى لا قلبُهُ برَمِيَّةِ

    لحُبِّ ولا في غير مجدٍ بموثَقِ

    Bound to greatness, his heart is no quarry

    for love, nor is it fettered to anything but glory.

  4. إذا عَدَّدَ القومُ المساعي سمت به

    تميمٌ إلى فرْعِ العَلاءِ المُحلقِ

    When the people reckon their noble deeds, he is borne aloft

    by Tamim to eminence's soaring summit.

  5. وقد علِمَ اللّهو البهيجُ بأنني

    أكفكف عنه لحظ غضبانَ مُحنقِ

    Joyous diversion knows that I

    avert from it an angry, wrathful gaze;

  6. وأنَّ نِدامَ اللهو يُمهي حفيظتي

    وإنْ مُزجتْ ألفاظُه بالتَّملُّقِ

    and that convivial fellowship sharpens my indignation,

    even when its words are blended with flattery.

  7. وأنَّ صباباتي بأجْرَدَ سابحٍ

    وأسْمَرَ خطيٍّ وعضْبٍ مُذَلَّقِ

    My passions are for a sleek, swift-running steed,

    a brown Khatti spear, and a sharp, finely honed sword.

  8. هجرتُ الهوى والعمر غضٌّ نباته

    فكيف وقد لاحَ المشيبُ بمفرقي

    I abandoned love while life's growth was still fresh;

    how much more now, when gray hair shines at my parting!

  9. ورُبَّ لُهامِ الجيش جَمٍّ بُنوده

    وشيكِ نفاذٍ الأمر من ألاِ سلجق

    Many a man with a vast army and abundant banners,

    whose commands are swiftly carried out, of the house of Seljuq,

  10. تُحجِّبهُ عند المقام سُتورُهُ

    وفي الحرب أستار العجاجِ المروَّقِ

    is screened by his curtains when at court,

    and in war by veils of canopy-spreading dust.

  11. مهيبُ الرُّؤا معدودةٌ لَفْظاتُه

    يحاذرهُ الموت الزؤامُ ويتَّقي

    Awe-inspiring to behold, sparing in his words,

    deadly death itself fears him and keeps its distance.

  12. ولَجْتُ عليه والمُلوكُ بنجْوةٍ

    يُذادون عن صعب المراتج مُغْلق

    I entered his presence while kings stood apart,

    kept back from forbidding, bolted gates.

  13. فباذلْته والعرضُ صافٍ أديمهُ

    من الجِدِّ لم يُنغل ولم يُتخرَّق

    I reciprocated his giving, my honor's skin unstained

    through earnest striving, neither rotted nor torn.

  14. وعنْسٍ كأعواد القِداح زجرتُها

    على لاحبٍ من نازح الغور سمْلق

    And a hardy she-camel, like shafts of gaming arrows, I drove

    along a clear, bare track through distant lowlands.

  15. وردتُ بها أعقابَ ماءٍ كأنه

    من الأجْن أغبار السَّليط المُعتَّقِ

    I brought her to the last remnants of water, which seemed

    from stagnation like the murky dregs of aged oil.

  16. وقافيةٍ سيَّارةٍ عَطَّ وَخْدُها

    بُرود المَلا ما بين غربٍ ومشرقِ

    And a far-traveling rhyme whose swift stride tore

    the mantles of the open wastes between west and east.

  17. تطيبُ لسمعِ الأعْجميِّ كطيبها

    لسمع الفصيح من بهاءٍ ورونقِ

    It delights the non-Arab's ear as it delights

    the eloquent speaker's ear, with beauty and brilliance.

  18. أكرِّمها عن وصف غِيدٍ أوانسٍ

    وأكْبرُها عن ذكر جِزْعٍ وأبرق

    I deem it too noble to describe graceful, companionable maidens,

    and too exalted to name a valley bend or a mottled stony rise.

  19. بها أفصحت صُيَّابة الحي واغْتدى

    جبانُهُم عين الكميِّ المحقِّقِ

    Through it the tribe's finest grew eloquent, and

    their coward became the very embodiment of a proven, armored champion.

  20. إذا رامَ فَدْمُ الناقلينَ معَابها

    رمت عِرضه الرث السحيق بمرشقِ

    When a dull-witted reciter seeks its faults,

    it pelts his threadbare, crumbling honor with a volley.

  21. وتأبى جوابَ الخاملينَ وإنما

    أشاع جريراً سوءُ رأي الفرزدقِ

    It disdains to answer the obscure; it was only

    al-Farazdaq's poor judgment that made Jarir famous.

  22. تخيَّرتُ منها مذ كنت لبُابها

    لأبلج في عُليا قريشٍ مُعَرِّقِ

    All my life I have chosen its finest essence

    for a bright-browed man rooted in Quraysh's highest stock.

  23. لجمِّ القِرى لا يخمد القُرُّ نارهُ

    إذا النارُ للسَّارينَ لم تتأَلَّقِ

    Lavish in hospitality, whose fire the bitter cold cannot quench,

    when no fire shines for travelers by night.

  24. سريع افتراع المجد لا يستكفه

    تعسف مرمى أو تعور مزلق

    Swift to scale glory, he is not held back

    by a difficult goal or a treacherous, slippery slope.

  25. يلوذُ العُفاةُ المُسْنِتونَ بجودهِ

    مَلاذهُمُ بالوابلِ المُتَبَعِّقِ

    Drought-stricken petitioners take shelter in his generosity,

    as they would in a gushing downpour.

  26. يشيمونَ بَرْقاً من أسرَّةِ وجهه

    كفيلاً بسحِّ النائلِ المُتدفِّقِ

    They watch for lightning in the lines of his face,

    a pledge of bounty pouring forth in torrents.

  27. يطيفون منه في الشِّداد بمنزلٍ

    رحيبٍ وعُذْرٍ في المكارم ضَيِّقِ

    In hardship they gather about him at a dwelling

    spacious, with scant room for excuses in generosity.

  28. به في مساعيه حِرانٌ عن الدَّنا

    وعند اكتساب الحمد شدَّةُ مُعنقِ

    In his endeavors he balks at baseness,

    but to win praise he has the dash of a swift runner.

  29. كثيرُ سهادِ الليل يجْلو رويُّهُ

    عن العين أقْذاء النُّعاس المرَنِّقِ

    Often wakeful at night, his reflection clears

    from his eyes the motes of clouding drowsiness.

  30. إذا رقد النكس الدّثور عن العُلى

    تجافى ضلوعاً عن حشيٍّ ونُمْرُقِ

    When the base laggard sleeps, heedless of greatness,

    he lifts his ribs away from mattress and cushion.

  31. يُهابُ نداهُ مثلما هِيَبَ بأسُهُ

    إذِ المُغْرق الجيَّاش مثل المُحرقِ

    His generosity inspires awe, as his might has done;

    for the surging, engulfing flood is like the consuming fire.

  32. صبيحُ الرُّؤا عذب المكاسر باسمٌ

    له نفس نهَّاسٍ وعِطْفُ معشَّقِ

    Fair to behold, sweet-natured, smiling,

    he has a predator's soul and a beloved's tenderness.

  33. جرى ابن طِرادٍ والرجال بنو العلي

    كما ابتُدِرتْ غايات سبقٍ لسُبَّقِ

    Ibn Tirad raced, and the men were sons of greatness,

    as racing champions rush toward a contest's finish.

  34. ففاتهم فوتَ الزعازعِ أعصفَتْ

    هُبوباً وقالت للطَّلوبِ ألا الحقِ

    He outstripped them as gales outstrip, blowing fiercely

    in their onset, telling the pursuer, 'Come, catch up!'

  35. قشيبُ رداءِ العرض لكنَّ مالهُ

    يُمزقُه العافونَ كل مُمزَّقِ

    Fresh is the robe of his honor, but his wealth

    petitioners tear utterly to shreds.

  36. فشمل العلى منْ سعيه في تجمُّعٍ

    وشمل اللُّهى من بذلهِ في تفرُّقِ

    Greatness gathers together through his endeavors,

    while riches are scattered abroad through his giving.

  37. ونِعْمَ الفتى يثْني إليه بنو السُّرى

    رقاب المَطايا من جمالٍ وأيْنُقِ

    How excellent a youth! Night travelers turn toward him

    the necks of their mounts, male camels and she-camels.

  38. تماطلُ بالرِّيِّ الأوامَ لقصْدهِ

    وقد خرَّقت في بُرد ماءٍ مُشبرقِ

    They defer the quenching of thirst, intent on reaching him,

    though they have torn through water's tattered mantle,

  39. لتبلُغ جيَّاش المراجلِ بالدجى ال

    بهيمِ ضَروباً بالصَّباح المُشْرقِ

    to reach the man whose cauldrons seethe in the night,

    pitch-black, and who strikes fiercely in the radiant morning.

  40. فتىً هو فردٌ في المعالي مُوَحَدٌ

    ولكنُه من باسهِ ألْفُ فيلقِ

    A youth unique, without equal in lofty deeds,

    yet in his valor a thousand battle hosts.

  41. ودُهْمٍ كأمثالِ الدَّآدي حَوالكٍ

    جوالبَ من هَمِّ الرجال المُؤرقِ

    And dark calamities, black as the moonless nights,

    bringing the care that robs men of sleep:

  42. تزلُّ بذي الطَّيْش المُغرر نعْلهُ

    لديها ويحظى الرأيُ بالمُترفِّقِ

    the reckless adventurer's sandal slips

    amid them, while judgment favors the cautious man.

  43. لها ولفكر اللَّوذعيِّ مع الدُّجى

    طِراد جيوش الفرس وابن محرِّقِ

    They and the keen man's thought, amid the darkness,

    wage the running battle of Persia's armies and Ibn Muharriq.

  44. يُظاهرها جيشٌ كأنَّ غبارهُ

    على اللُّوح أهداب الغمام المُعلَّقِ

    An army supports them, its dust resembling

    against the sky the hanging fringes of clouds.

  45. شديدُ ارْتصافِ الدارعين كأنه

    بنا قِرمدٍ أو رعْنُ سامٍ مُحَلقِ

    So closely packed are its armored men, it seems

    brickwork or a lofty, sky-reaching mountain spur.

  46. تُسابق عِقْبانُ المَوامي جِيادَهُ

    إلى معركٍ للحوَّم الفُتحِ مَرْزقِ

    The eagles of the deserts race its steeds

    to a battlefield that feeds the circling, broad-winged birds.

  47. يضاحك شمس الصبح منه ببيضهِ

    وزهر الليالي من شَبا كل أزرقِ

    It smiles at the morning sun with its gleaming swords,

    and at night's bright stars with each blue spear's keen point.

  48. أتت قُبْله من تحت خزرٍ عوابسٍ

    فلم تَرَ إلا أوْلقاً فوق أوْلَقِ

    They advanced toward him beneath sidelong, scowling looks,

    and saw nothing but frenzy piled on frenzy.

  49. وعجَّ فضلَّت ترجف الأرض تحته

    كما مادَ خلْوٌ من سفينٍ بمغْرقِ

    It roared, and the earth reeled, trembling beneath it,

    like an empty vessel swaying in an engulfing flood.

  50. أضاء له وجه الوزير فأسْفرتٍ

    وقد برمَتْ نفسُ الجزوع بحولقِ

    The vizier's face shone upon it, and the gloom cleared,

    after the fearful soul had tired of repeating, 'No power or strength except through God.'

  51. من الضَّاربين الهام والباذلي القِرى

    بغدْرة جبَّارٍ وفاقةِ دردقِ

    One of those who strike heads and lavish hospitality

    at a tyrant's treachery and little children's want.

  52. يُجيشونَ نيرانَ اليَفاع لطارقٍ

    بمُحمرِّ عيدانِ الوشيج المُدقِّقِ

    They make fires blaze on the heights for a night visitor,

    with reddened shafts of splintered spear-wood.

  53. إذا ذكروا خِلت الحديث صبا دُجىً

    تحمَّل نشْراً من رياضٍ لمنَشْقِ

    When they are mentioned, you fancy the tale an east wind in darkness,

    carrying garden fragrance to the one who inhales it.

  54. ليهْنك عيدٌ أنت عيدٌ لأهلهِ

    سرورٌ لمهمومٍ ووُجْدٌ لمُمْلقِ

    May the festival delight you—you are a festival to its people,

    joy to the troubled and abundance to the destitute.

  55. ولا زلت تبقى للمكارم والعُلى

    فأنت الذي يبقى الفخارُ إذا بَقِي

    May you ever endure for noble deeds and greatness,

    for you are the one with whom glory endures when you endure.

  56. تعطَّل جيدي من حُلى كل مِنَّةٍ

    وراحَ بما أوليْت أيُّ مُطَوَّقِ

    My neck was bare of the adornments of every favor,

    and through what you bestowed became splendidly collared.