ربع أسماء لا عداك عنان

فلكم قادني إليك عنان

Asma's dwelling, may no raincloud pass you by;

For often a rein has led me to you.

طال ما كنت فيك انشد

اغزالاً بها كم تغازل الغزلان

Long did I recite within you

Love verses with which the gazelles so often flirted.

وارتدينا بك الشباب قشيبا

لم يشنه بشائب حدثان

And in you we donned youth, fresh and new,

Unmarred by any blemish of time's vicissitudes.

والتمثنا مباسم الثغر دراً

والتقطنا الحديث وهو جمان

And we savored the mouth's smiles as pearls,

And gathered conversation that was itself pearl beads.

لم نصب قارع المصاب وكانت

بشكاويه تقرع الآذان

We suffered no blow of calamity, though

Its complaints kept assailing the ears,

في ليالٍ هي اللآلي جمالاً

غي أهل الهوى بها ايمان

In nights that were pearls in beauty,

In which the lovers' waywardness was faith.

فسرت عن دراك اسماءكما

بعدها طابق السماع عيان

So Asma journeyed by night beyond reach, just as

After her departure, sight matched hearsay.

والذي منك بين البين رسم

لم ترفه ورق ولا اهتز بان

And what was left of you amid parting was a trace;

No gray doves fluttered over it, nor did a ban tree sway.

عز من منزل فلو تسأل

الشمأل عن اجابها المران

Dear was that dwelling; were a question asked

By the north wind about it, the spear-shafts would answer her.

كيف حال الذي اخيف وقد

خافته اسد العرين وهو امان

How fares the one made afraid, though

The lions of the lair feared him, and he was safety itself?

صح فيه النسيم حتى إذا هب

عليلاً زادت بنا الأشجان

There the breeze was hale, until, when it blew

Feebly, our sorrows grew.

صدني الحب عن صدودي عنه

وهو النفس ذلة وهوان

Love held me back from turning away from it,

Though to the soul it is abasement and humiliation.

كنت لم ادر قبل بيني شيئاً

فأراني البعاد كيف اشان

Before my parting, I had known nothing;

Then distance showed me how I am brought low.

قسم الدهر للأنام حظوظاً

فيه حظى من بينهم حرمان

Time apportioned shares to humankind;

My lot in it, among them, is deprivation.

أعتاب على زمان مسيئ

صاح اني تعاتب الأزمان

Reproach against an ill-dealing age?

Friend, how can you reproach the ages?

يا اهيل العقيق بنتم فدمعي

دره بعد بعدكم مرجان

O dear folk of al-Aqiq, you have departed, and my tears—

Their pearls, since your departure, are coral.

وسريتم كالشهب فوق مطايا

سابحات لها الثريا عنان

And you journeyed by night like shooting stars on mounts

Swimming along, with the Pleiades for reins.

خففوا السير واقصر حث عيسٍ

وهي تحدى وشافها الأوطان

Ease the pace, and curb the urging of the pale camels,

While songs urge them on and their homelands stir their longing [reading uncertain].

وبشعر الحسين غنوا المطايا

فبمعناه تنشط الأظعان

And with al-Husayn's poetry sing to the mounts,

For its meaning enlivens the caravans.

انه الشاعر البليغ المعانى

ابن من حسن شعره حسان

He is the poet of eloquent meanings,

Son of one whose poetry Hassan adorned.

يتسلى به الكئيب ويوفيء

كل وعد ويعطف الغضبان

The sorrowful find solace in him, and he fulfills

Every promise and softens the angry.

يستعير البيان والسحر منه

ما توارى ودق منه البيان

Eloquence and magic borrow from him

What lies hidden, and whose expression is subtle.

جر ذيلا على العلى وسحابا

ما جرير لديه ما سحبان

He trailed a hem over the heights and the clouds;

What is Jarir beside him? What is Sahban?

ان دجى حرب مشكلات جلاه

برق فهم منه سناه سنان

If a battle of tangled problems grows dark, it is dispelled

By a flash of his understanding, whose radiance is a spearhead.

ويهزا لمديح عطفيه جوداً

مثلما اهتز شارب نشوان

And at praise he sways his flanks in generosity,

Just as a tipsy drinker sways.

احسنت مجده الليالي وجادت

وعجيب من صرفها الأحسان

The nights have enhanced his glory and been generous,

And kindness from their vicissitudes is a marvel.

ساحب بردتي كمال ولطف

وعفيف ما ضمت القمصان

Trailing the two mantles of perfection and grace,

And chaste in all that shirts enclose.

ان تشم بارق الفضائل منه

أعقب البرق عارض هتان

If you watch the lightning of his virtues,

A cloud pouring rain follows the lightning.

حاش لله ان يقاس به قس

وقامت بشعره الأوزان

God forbid that Quss be compared with him;

And the meters stand firm through his verse.

أيها الصاحب الصديق المفدي

أنت في عين صحبك الإنسان

O companion, cherished friend,

You are the pupil in your companions' eye.

طاب فصل الزمان واعتدل

الطبع وقامت بذاتها الأركان

The season has grown pleasant, and balanced is

The temperament; the elements stand on their own.

فافضض الهم عن عرى القلب وانظر

كيف فضت عن الختام الدنان

So loosen sorrow from the heart's bonds, and see

How the wine jars have been unsealed.

إنني باعث إليك بلغز

تنجلي عنك دونه الأحزان

I am sending you a riddle

Before which your sorrows clear away,

في لطيف له رفيق معان

راق منه زماننا والمكان

About a subtle thing with a companion in meanings,

Through which our time and place have grown delightful.

ومسماه كان ساحل بحر

وصفوه بأنه عُمان

And one thing it names was a seacoast,

Which they described as Oman.

يقطع الركب والفيافي سحيرا

وبه هودج الحسان يزان

It outstrips the caravan and crosses the wastes before dawn,

And with it the fair women's howdah is adorned.

لم تنله أيدي الرجال ولكن

تحت رجل النساء دهراً مهان

Men's hands did not reach it, yet

It lay long humbled beneath women's feet.

قد سرى في الربى وفي فيه سم

منه يؤذي الإنسان والحيوان

It has traveled through the hills, and its mouth holds poison

From which harm reaches humans and animals.

حاضر غائب قريب بعيد

عاجز قادر غني معان

Present, absent, near, far;

Helpless, capable, wealthy, aided.

وهو طوق يشق عن كل بدر

فوق غصن من تحته الكثبان

And it is a collar opened to reveal every full moon

Above a bough beneath which lie the dunes.

ويسمي به الرحى وهي مما

صح منه الوقوف والدوران

And the millstone is named by it, and it is something

For which both stillness and rotation hold true.

وبطفل في حالة الوضع يدعي

وعن الأم يذهب الخفقان

And a child at the moment of birth is called by it,

And the mother's palpitations cease.

وضع الله فيه سراً سريا

عنده الشرع كان والأذعان

God placed within it a sublime secret;

With it were sacred law and submission.

وهو قبر ماشٍ يشكل رمزا

رسمه التبر زانه اللمعان

And it is a walking tomb, forming a symbol,

Its form is raw gold; glitter adorns it.

وهو مرمي على الطريق ولكن

عندنا عزة له لا مكان

And it is cast upon the road, yet

Among us it has honor, though no place.

كلما قلته ترادف لفظا

فيه لكن له المعاني بيان

Whenever you say it, the wording repeats;

Yet within it, the meanings are plainly distinct.

فأجب عنه لا برحت خبيبا

انما حله علينا امتنان

So answer it; may you ever remain [unclear epithet].

Its solution would only be a favor to us.

دمت تدعى عزيز قوم ومن

كطان صلاح يدعوه كيف يهان

May you ever be called a people's honored one; and one

Whom [unclear word] Salah summons—how could he be humbled?