1. تَبَلَت فُؤادَكَ في المَنامِ خَريدَةٌ

    تَشفي الضَجيعَ بِبارِدٍ بَسّامِ

    A shy maiden made your heart lovesick in a dream,

    She soothes her bedfellow with a cool, smiling mouth,

  2. كَالمِسكِ تَخلِطُهُ بِماءِ سَحابَةٍ

    أَو عاتِقٍ كَدَمِ الذَبيحِ مُدامِ

    Like musk she mixes with water from a cloud,

    Or aged wine, like a slaughtered beast’s blood.

  3. نُفُجُ الحَقيبَةِ بوصُها مُتَنَضِّدٌ

    بَلهاءُ غَيرُ وَشيكَةِ الأَقسامِ

    Full-rumped, her buttocks piled in folds,

    Guileless, not quick to swear oaths.

  4. بُنِيَت عَلى قَطَنٍ أَجَمَّ كَأَنَّهُ

    فُضُلاً إِذا قَعَدَت مَداكُ رُخامِ

    She is built upon a fleshy rump, as though it were,

    When she sits in a single garment, a marble grinding-stone.

  5. وَتَكادُ تَكسَلُ أَن تَجيءَ فِراشَها

    في لينِ خَرعَبَةٍ وَحُسنِ قَوامِ

    And she is almost too languid to come to her bed,

    With a tall beauty’s suppleness and a lovely figure.

  6. أَمّا النَهارُ فَما أُفَتِّرُ ذِكرَها

    وَاللَيلُ توزِعُني بِها أَحلامي

    As for the day, I never slacken in remembering her,

    And at night my dreams urge me toward her.

  7. أَقسَمتُ أَنساها وَأَترُكُ ذِكرَها

    حَتّى تُغَيَّبَ في الضَريحِ عِظامي

    I swore I would not forget her or abandon her memory,

    Until my bones are hidden in the grave.

  8. يا مَن لِعاذِلَةٍ تَلومُ سَفاهَةً

    وَلَقَد عَصَيتُ إِلى الهَوى لُوّامي

    O, who will help me against a woman who foolishly reproaches me?

    And indeed, I defied my reproachers, turning toward passion.

  9. بَكَرَت عَلَيَّ بِسُحرَةٍ بَعدَ الكَرى

    وَتَقارُبٍ مِن حادِثِ الأَيّامِ

    She came to me early, before dawn, after sleep,

    And nearness to a calamity of time.

  10. زَعَمَت بِأَنَّ المَرءَ يَكرُبُ يَومَهُ

    عَدَمٌ لِمُعتَكِرٍ مِنَ الأَصرامِ

    She claimed that a man’s day is troubled

    By the lack of a close-gathered throng of clans.

  11. إِن كُنتِ كاذِبَةَ الَّذي حَدَّثتِني

    فَنَجَوتِ مَنجى الحَرثِ بنِ هِشامِ

    If you are lying in what you have told me,

    Then may you escape as al-Harith son of Hisham escaped:

  12. تَرَكَ الأَحِبَّةَ أَن يُقاتِلَ دونَهُم

    وَنَجا بِرَأسِ طِمِرَّةٍ وَلِجامِ

    He abandoned his loved ones rather than fight in their defense,

    And escaped with a swift mare’s head and a bridle.

  13. جَرداءَ تَمزَعُ في الغُبارِ كَأَنَّها

    سِرحانُ غابٍ في ظِلالِ غَمامِ

    Sleek, she bounds through the dust as though she were

    A forest wolf in the shadows of clouds.

  14. تَذَرُ العَناجيجَ الجِيادَ بِقَفرَةٍ

    مَرَّ الدُموكِ بِمُحصَدٍ وَرِجامِ

    She leaves the fine, long-necked steeds in a desert waste,

    Like a whirling millstone, with stout cord and stone weight.

  15. مَلَأَت بِهِ الفَرجَينِ فَاِرمَدَّت بِهِ

    وَثَوى أَحِبَّتُهُ بِشَرِّ مُقامِ

    She spanned both gaps in her stride beneath him, then sped away with him,

    And his loved ones lay in the worst of resting places.

  16. وَبَنو أَبيهِ وَرَهطُهُ في مَعرَكٍ

    نَصَرَ الإِلَهُ بِهِ ذَوي الإِسلامِ

    And his father’s sons and his clan on a battlefield

    Where God gave victory to the people of Islam.

  17. طَحَنَتهُمُ وَاللَهُ يُنفِذُ أَمرَهُ

    حَربٌ يُشَبُّ سَعيرُها بِضِرامِ

    They were ground down—while God carries out His command—

    By a war whose blaze is kindled with fuel.

  18. لَولا الإِلَهُ وَجَريُها لَتَرَكنَهُ

    جَزَرَ السِباعِ وَدُسنَهُ بِحَوامي

    Were it not for God and her running, they would have left him

    As meat for beasts of prey, and trampled him with their hooves.

  19. مِن كُلِّ مَأسورٍ يُشَدُّ صِفادُهُ

    صَقرٍ إِذا لاقى الكَتيبَةَ حامي

    Among them, each captive whose fetter is tightened,

    A hawk, fierce when he meets the battalion;

  20. وَمُجَدَّلٍ لا يَستَجيبُ لِدَعوَةٍ

    حَتّى تَزولُ شَوامِخُ الأَعلامِ

    And one struck down, answering no summons

    Until the lofty mountains vanish.

  21. بِالعارِ وَالذُلُّ المُبَيِّنِ إِذ رَأَوا

    بيضَ السُيوفِ تَسوقُ كُلَّ هُمامِ

    In shame and manifest humiliation, when they saw

    The gleaming swords driving every valiant warrior,

  22. بِيَدي أَغَرَّ إِذا اِنتَمى لَم يُخزِهِ

    نَسَبُ القِصارِ سَمَيدَعٍ مِقدامِ

    In the hands of an illustrious man who, naming his lineage, is not shamed

    By descent from short men—a noble, intrepid chief.

  23. بيضٌ إِذا لاقَت حَديداً صَمَّمَت

    كَالبَرقِ تَحتَ ظِلالِ كُلِّ غَمامِ

    Bright blades that, when they meet iron, cut straight through,

    Like lightning beneath the shadows of every cloud.

  24. لَيسوا كَيَعمُرَ حينَ يَشتَجِرُ القَنا

    وَالخَيلُ تَضبِرُ تَحتَ كُلِّ قَتامِ

    They are not like Ya'mur when the lances interlock,

    And the horses bound beneath every cloud of dust.

  25. فَسَلَحتَ إِنَّكَ مِن مَعاشِرِ خانَةٍ

    سُلحٍ إِذا حَضَرَ القِتالُ لِئامِ

    So you shat yourself; you are of bands of traitors,

    Shitters, ignoble when battle comes.

  26. فَدَعِ المَكارِمَ إِنَّ قَومَكَ أُسرَةٌ

    مِن وُلدِ شِجعٍ غَيرُ جِدِّ كِرامِ

    So leave noble deeds aside: your people are a family

    Of the offspring of Shij', not truly noble.

  27. مِن صُلبِ خِندِفَ ماجِدٍ أَعراقُهُ

    نَجَلَت بِهِ بَيضاءُ ذاتُ تَمامِ

    From Khindif’s loins, noble in ancestral roots,

    A fair woman, perfect in form, bore him.

  28. وَمُرَنَّحٍ فيهِ الأَسِنَّةُ شُرَّعاً

    كَالجَفرِ غَيرِ مُقابَلِ الأَعمامِ

    And one left reeling, with spearheads thrust into him,

    Like a young goat of no noble paternal stock.