1. كَم أَنتَ تَجحدُ وَالمدامعُ تشهدُ

    وتقرُّ أحياناً وحيناً تجحدُ

    How often you deny, while your tears bear witness!

    You admit it at times, and at times deny it.

  2. أَتظنُّ يُخفي الحبَّ مَن هو مدنفٌ

    كَلفٌ وذائبُ دمعهِ لا يجمدُ

    Do you think a lovesick man can hide his love,

    Passion-stricken, his flowing tears never congealing?

  3. مِن أينَ يصلحُ فاسدٌ من مهجةٍ

    فيها علاقاتَ الهوى لا تفسدُ

    How can what is ruined in a heart be mended,

    When the bonds of love within it never decay?

  4. يا مُخبري كَيف الفريقُ أَشَملُهم

    مُتجمّعٌ أَم شَملُهم متبدّدُ

    O my informant, how fares the company? Is their band

    United, or is their band dispersed?

  5. فَمَتى تُصيب سهامُ قوسي في الهوى

    وَمَتى سعاد بما أحاولُ تسعدُ

    When will my bow's arrows strike their mark in love?

    And when will Su'ad gladden me with what I seek?

  6. لَهفاً لقلبٍ لَم تزل نيرانهُ

    بينَ الأضالعِ حرّها لا يبردُ

    Alas for a heart whose fires have never ceased,

    Their heat between the ribs never cooling!

  7. كَم مِن غيورٍ دونها قد صارَ لي

    في الناسِ يبرقُ في الوعيدِ ويرعدُ

    How many a jealous guardian of her has become my rival,

    Among men, flashing lightning and thundering threats!

  8. بيضاء مَنظرُها لعيني جنّةٌ

    وَلِمُهجتي هيَ جمرةٌ تتوقّدُ

    Fair-skinned, her appearance is paradise to my eyes,

    And to my heart she is a blazing ember.

  9. يبلى الزمان قديمهُ وجديدهُ

    وَهوايَ فيها طائلٌ متجدّدُ

    Time grows worn, its old and its new alike,

    Yet my love for her is enduring, ever renewed.

  10. فَالوجهُ مثلُ الصبحِ منها أبيضٌ

    وَالفرع مثلُ الليلِ منها أسودُ

    For her face is white as dawn,

    And her tresses are black as night.

  11. وَالثغرُ مثلُ الأقحوانِ وريقهُ

    أَحلى منَ الماءِ الزلال وأبردُ

    And her mouth is like daisies, its saliva

    Sweeter than clear water, and cooler.

  12. وَبعيدةُ الأرجاءِ نازحُ شحطِها

    أَقصى وَأَنزح ما يكون وأبعدُ

    And a land of far-flung bounds, its distance remote—

    As far, as remote, as distant as can be—

  13. جاوَزتها سحراً وتَحتي جسرةٌ

    مِن نسلِ شدقم كالحنيّةِ جلمدُ

    I crossed it before dawn, beneath me a sturdy she-camel,

    Of Shadqam's stock, bow-like and rock-hard.

  14. ما كانَ مطلبُها وقبلةُ قَصدِها

    إلّا أَبو العرب الهمام الأمجدُ

    Her quest and the qibla of her course were nothing

    But Abu al-Arab, the valiant, the most illustrious.

  15. مَلكٌ أمورُ العالمين جميعها

    بيدي رياستهِ تحلُّ وتقعدُ

    A king: all the affairs of the worlds

    Are resolved and settled by the hands of his rule.

  16. ضاءَت أقاليمُ البلادِ بعدلهِ

    وَغَدت جيوش الجور منها تطردُ

    The regions of the land shone through his justice,

    And the armies of oppression were driven from them.

  17. وَلَه يدٌ تَعلو على كلِّ الورى

    شرفاً وَلا تَعلو على يدهِ يدُ

    And he has a hand that rises above all humankind

    In honor; no hand rises above his hand.

  18. لَو طبع أنملهِ يحلُّ بجلمدٍ

    يوماً لأورقً منه ذاك الجلمدُ

    If the nature of his fingertips were to dwell within a rock

    For a day, that rock would sprout leaves from it.

  19. لَو في السَما للإنسِ يحسنُ مقعد

    يوماً لكان له هنالك مقعدُ

    If a seat in the sky could ever befit humankind,

    He would one day have a seat there.

  20. خوّاضُ بحرِ الحربِ في يومِ الوغا

    بينَ الفوارسِ والقنا متقصّدُ

    He plunges through war's sea on the day of battle,

    Making his way deliberately among horsemen and spears.

  21. في الموقفِ الضنكِ الّذي من هولهِ

    فيهِ الفرائضُ تقشعرّ وترعدُ

    In the straitened battle-stand, from whose terror

    The prescribed duties [possibly 'muscles' intended] there shudder and tremble.

  22. لكَ في المَعالي يا ذؤابةَ يعرُبٍ

    مجدٌ تفوزُ به الرواةُ وتنجدُ

    Yours in the heights of honor, O crest of Ya'rub,

    Is glory through which its narrators triumph and rise.

  23. كافَحتَ فرسانَ العدا بكتائبٍ

    مِنها المَنايا والمنى يتولّدُ

    You fought the enemy's horsemen with battalions,

    From which death and hopes are born.

  24. فَقَضى حسامك فرضهُ لكَ طائعاً

    مِن حيثُ يركعُ في الرؤوسِ ويسجدُ

    So your sharp sword fulfilled its duty, obedient to you,

    Where it bows among heads and prostrates itself.

  25. وَأَنرتَ في الإسلامِ شمساً نورها

    تُطفى بهِ نارُ الضلالِ وتخمدُ

    And within Islam you lit a sun whose light

    Extinguishes the fire of error and makes it die away.

  26. فَالآنَ لا متمجّسٌ فيه ولا

    مُتنصّرٌ فيه ولا متهوّدُ

    So now no one within it professes Magianism, nor

    Christianity, nor Judaism.

  27. فَاِفخر فإنّك تُبّعٌ مع تُبّعٍ

    شَرفاً وإنَّك بعد أسعدَ أسعدُ

    So take pride: you are a Tubba' alongside Tubba'

    In honor; and after As'ad, you are more fortunate.