1. قِفُوا ما عليكم من وقوف الرَّكائبِ

    لِنَبْذِلَ مذخورَ الدُّموعِ السَّواكبِ

    Stop! What harm is there in halting the riding camels,

    so we may pour out our store of streaming tears?

  2. وإلا فَدُلُّوني عَلَى الصَّبرِ إِنني

    رأَيتُ اصطِباري مِن أَعَزِّ المَطالبِ

    Otherwise, show me the way to patience, for I

    have found my endurance among the hardest things to attain.

  3. كأَنَّ جُفوني يومَ مُنْعَرَجِ اللِّوى

    ملاعِبهُمْ ما بَينَ تلكَ المَلاعبِ

    As though my eyelids, that day at the bend of al-Liwa,

    were their playgrounds among those playgrounds.

  4. تُلِحُّ علينا بالدُّموع كأَنَّها

    لجاجةُ معتوبٍ عَلَى عتب عاتبِ

    They importune us with tears, as though this were

    a reproached one's obstinacy at a reproacher's reproach.

  5. منازلُ لم ينزل بها ركبُ أَدْمعٍ

    فيقلعَ إلا عن قلوبٍ ذواهبِ

    Dwellings where no caravan of tears has alighted

    and then departed, save from hearts wasting away.

  6. تعشَّقَ دمعي رسْمَها فَكأَنَّها

    تَظَلُّ عَلَى رسْم من الدمْعِ واجبِ

    My tears fell in love with their trace, so those dwellings seem

    to be forever owed a fixed tribute of tears.

  7. تليدُ هوىً في الرسمِ حَتَّى كأَنَّما

    هو الرسْمُ إِلاَّ أَنَّهُ غيرُ ذاهبِ

    An age-old love within the trace, until it seems

    the trace itself, except that it does not fade.

  8. وإِنّي لمسلوبٌ عليك تجلُّدي

    إِذا كان صبري شاهداً مثل غائبِ

    And truly, over you I am stripped of my fortitude,

    when my patience is present like one absent.

  9. وَلَمَّا وقفنا ساحة الحيِّ لم نُطِقْ

    كلاماً تناجَيْنا بكسر الحواجبِ

    And when we stood at the tribe's encampment, we could not manage

    speech; we whispered to one another by bending our brows.

  10. نُناجي بِإضمارِ الهَوى ظاهرَ الهَوى

    بِأَطيبَ من نجوى الأَماني الكَواذبِ

    Through hidden love we commune with love made manifest,

    more sweetly than the whisperings of false hopes:

  11. عقائلَ من عُليا عُقَيْل درجْنَ لي

    بحلو الرضى في السخط درج العَواقبِ

    noble ladies of Uqayl's highborn, who advanced toward me

    with sweet favor amid displeasure, as outcomes unfold.

  12. إِذا أَسبلتْ زهواً غدائِرَ شعرها

    تَوَشَّحْنَها من طولِها بِالمَناكبِ

    When she proudly lets down the braids of her hair,

    they wear them as sashes over their shoulders, so long are they.

  13. وَخالفْنَها لما استجرنَ لنا بها

    كما خالفتْ في لا أَنامِلُ كاتبِ

    And they cross them when they seek shelter for us in them,

    as a scribe's fingertips cross in writing 'lā' ('no').

  14. يُقِمْنَ لنا برقَ الثغورِ أَدِلَّةً

    إِذا ما ضللنا في ظلامِ الذَوائبِ

    They set the lightning of their smiling mouths as guides for us,

    whenever we lose our way in the darkness of their tresses.

  15. شُموسٌ متى تبدو تُضيءُ لنا الدُّجى

    فمشْرِقُها فيه بغيرِ مَغَاربِ

    Suns that, whenever they appear, light the darkness for us;

    so their rising there knows no setting.

  16. متى قَدِمَتْ من سفرةِ الهجر عيسُهم

    تلقيتُها بِالوَصلِ من كلِّ جانبِ

    Whenever their pale camels arrive from a journey of estrangement,

    I welcome them with reunion from every side.

  17. وَصيَّرتُ أَجْفاني وِطاءً لِوَطْئِها

    حذاراً عليها من صروف النوائبِ

    And I make my eyelids a soft bed for their tread,

    fearing for them the twists of calamity.

  18. وعلقتها بالشوقِ في الملعبِ الذي

    بهِ لعبتْ أَيدي البلى بِملاعبِ

    And I grew attached to her with longing in the playground where

    the hands of decay played with playgrounds.

  19. وليلٍ طويلٍ كانَ لمَّا قَرَنْتُهُ

    بِرؤيةِ من أهوى قصيرَ الجوانبِ

    And many a long night was, when I coupled it

    with seeing the one I love, brief in its span:

  20. كخفقةِ قلبٍ أَو كقُبْلَةِ عاشقٍ

    عَلَى حَذَرٍ أَو رَدِّ طرْفِ المراقبِ

    like a heartbeat, or the kiss of a lover

    on his guard, or the return of a watcher's glance.

  21. كواكِبُه تبكي عليه كأَنَّما

    ثَكِلْنَ الدُّجى أَوْ ذُقْنَ هجرَ الحبائبِ

    Its stars weep over it, as though

    they had been bereaved of darkness, or tasted separation from beloveds.

  22. يبرّحُ بي وَجدي إذا لاحَ كوكبٌ

    كَأَنَّ به وَجداً ببعضِ الكواكبِ

    My yearning torments me whenever a star appears,

    as though it bore longing for one of the stars.

  23. سَأَهْبطُ من بَحرِ الليالي مذاهباً

    متى قصرتْ بي في هواهُ مَذاهِبي

    I shall descend from the sea of nights by paths,

    whenever my paths fail me in my devotion to him.

  24. وأَسْحبُ ذيلَ العزمِ في أرضِ هِمَّةٍ

    إِلى واهبٍ أَموالَه للمَواهبِ

    And I trail the hem of resolve through a land of aspiration,

    toward a giver who bestows his wealth as gifts.

  25. إِلى من يظلُّ الجُودُ يُقسمُ أَنَّه

    هو الجودُ موقوفاً عَلَى كلِّ طالبِ

    To one of whom generosity keeps swearing that he

    is generosity itself, set apart for every seeker.

  26. هو السيفُ إِلاَّ أَنَّه ليس نابياً

    إِذا عاقَه المقدورُ عن كلِّ ضاربِ

    He is the sword, except that he never fails to cut,

    when fate holds him back from every wielder.

  27. إذا شاجروهُ بالرماحِ تشاجرتْ

    نفوسُ المنايا في نفوسِ الكَتائبِ

    When they clash with him with spears, there clash

    the souls of death within the souls of the battalions.

  28. وتصبُغُ أَيدي النقع أَيدي خيولِهِ

    بِمُحْمَرِّ تُرْبٍ من نجيع الترائبِ

    And the hands of dust dye his horses' forelegs

    with earth reddened by gore from breastbones.

  29. وكم خاض نقعاً يُمْطِرُ الهامَ وقْعُهُ

    إِلى المَوتِ في صَفَّيْ قَناً وقواضبِ

    And how often he plunged through battle-dust whose impact rains down heads,

    toward death, amid two ranks of spears and cutting swords.

  30. إِذا شئتَ عوناً لا يذلُّ لِحادثٍ

    فنادِ على اسمِ اللَهِ يا سَيفَ غالبِ

    If you wish for help that yields to no misfortune,

    then call, in God's name: 'O sword of Ghalib!'