1. لو لم أطل أمل التلاق

    ما عشت من ألم الفراق

    Had I not sustained my hope of reunion,

    I would not have survived the pain of parting.

  2. فأظل كالمسلوع من أفعى

    النوي ورجاي وافي

    So I remain like one bitten by the viper

    of separation, yet my hope is undiminished.

  3. يا ثالث القمرين إلا في

    الكسوف وفي المحاق

    O third beside the sun and moon, except in

    eclipse and in the moon's dark phase!

  4. حتام دمعي فيك لا

    برقي وروحي التراق

    How long shall my tears for you not

    [cease], while my soul is at the collarbones?

  5. وإلام يستسقي الفؤاد

    ظما وأجفاني سواقي

    And how long shall the heart beg for water,

    thirsting, while my eyelids are watercourses?

  6. وغريق دمع العين لا

    تلقاه إلا في احتراق

    And one drowned in the eye's tears—you never

    find him except burning.

  7. والحب ما اورى الضلوع

    جوى وما أروي المآقي

    And love—how it sets the ribs aflame

    with anguish, and how it drenches the eye-corners!

  8. فعساك ان تجزى محب

    يك المحبة بالوفاق

    So perhaps you will reward those who love

    you, repaying love with union.

  9. ولقد لقيت هواك

    أعظم ما لقيت وما ألاقي

    And indeed, I have found love for you

    the greatest thing I have faced or shall face.

  10. وصبرت فيك على العدا

    صبر الأسير علي الوثاق

    And for you I endured the enemies,

    as a captive endures his bonds.

  11. وعلمت أن الصبر يا عذب

    اللمي مر المذاق

    And I learned that patience, O you, sweet

    of dusky lip, is bitter to taste.

  12. فاعرض من الأعراض

    اعراضي لديك من النفاق

    So turn away from turning away;

    my turning away in your presence is hypocrisy.

  13. وارفق ولو بالألتفات

    على ما بين الرفاق

    And be gentle, if only with a glance,

    in keeping with what is shared by companions.

  14. فلقد يكون تلفت

    الأعناق داع للعناق

    For there may be, in the turning

    of necks, an invitation to embrace.

  15. واستبق مني باللقاء

    بوافياً ليست بواقي

    And preserve, by reunion, what is left of me—

    [remnants] that will not remain:

  16. اعضاء صب ماله الاك

    من عينيك واق

    the limbs of a lovesick man who has none but you

    to shield him from your eyes.

  17. فالبيض سود عيونها

    امضى من البيض الرقاق

    For fair women—the blackness of their eyes

    is sharper than slender, bright blades.

  18. وقد ودهن رشاقة في

    الطعن كالسمر الرشاق

    And their figures, graceful in

    thrusting, are like slender, dusky lances.

  19. وإذا بليت بحبهن

    بليت بالدمع المراق

    And if you are afflicted with love for them,

    you are afflicted with tears poured forth.

  20. وإذا نزلت بمصطفى الآمال

    والرحب الرواق

    And when you alight at the chosen one of hopes,

    whose portico is spacious,

  21. فانزل وأنت رقيقه

    لتعود للعلياء راق

    then alight as his bondsman,

    to return ascending to the heights.

  22. ألا وحد العلبي من

    يسمو على السبع الطباق

    Lo, the peerless al-ʿAlbi, who

    rises above the seven layered heavens:

  23. الأمجد البر العفيف

    الذي زهداً والنطاق

    the most glorious, the righteous, the chaste,

    who is ascetic and [chaste] of girdle;

  24. والعالم العلم الشهير

    بعلمه بالاتفاق

    and the scholar, the beacon, renowned

    for his learning, by unanimous consent;

  25. والسابق ابن السابقين

    إلى العلا حد السباق

    and the foremost, son of the foremost

    toward eminence, to the race's very limit.

  26. لا يدركون بغاية في المجد

    من ماض وباق

    They cannot be overtaken at any summit of glory

    by anyone departed or still living.

  27. ولكم كبا في أثرهم

    راجي اللحاق عن اللحاق

    How often has one stumbled in their wake,

    hoping to catch them, yet falling short of catching them,

  28. ولو انه في عزمه كالسهم

    عند الانطلاق

    even if in his resolve he is like an arrow

    at its release.

  29. ومتى تنال العير شأو

    الأعوجيات العتاق

    And when can an ass attain the pace

    of the noble steeds of Aʿwaj's line?

  30. مثلا كمن يرقي ولا يرقى

    السماء كذي البراق

    For comparison: like one who climbs but does not reach

    heaven like the rider of Buraq.

  31. عظمت شقاوة حاسدي

    علياه بل هم في شقاق

    Great is the misery of those who envy

    his eminence; nay, they are in discord.

  32. وأظنهم قلت جموعهم

    جميعا بافتراق

    And I deem them—may their hosts dwindle!—

    all of them divided.

  33. خلقوا لذاك وما لهم

    يوم القيامة من خلاق

    They were created for that, and have no

    share on the Day of Resurrection.

  34. وإليكها عذراء يغنيها

    الصديق عن الصداق

    And here she is for you, a virgin whom

    a friend frees from the need for a dowry.

  35. ما أمهرتها فكرتي

    لسواك إلا بالطلاق

    My thought has never dowered her

    for anyone but you, save through divorce.

  36. ولقد تناسق در حمدك

    ضمنها أي انتساق

    And indeed, the pearls of your praise have been strung

    within her—what a harmonious stringing!

  37. فحلت وما افتقرت

    لتحليتي جناس واشتقاق

    So she is adorned—without needing

    the twin ornaments of paronomasia and derivation—

  38. بمدائح أشهى إلى ال

    أرواح من راح وساق

    with praises more delectable to the

    souls than wine and a cupbearer.

  39. فاسلم ودم تسقي مدا

    م الحمد بالكاس الدهاق

    So remain safe, and keep serving the wine

    of praise in the brimful cup,

  40. رب الشآم رياسة

    ورئيس أرباب العراق

    lord of al-Sham in leadership,

    and chief of the lords of Iraq,

  41. في نعمة بالأصطباح

    مقيمة والأغتباق

    in blessing that, with the morning draught,

    abides, and with the evening draught.

  42. فلأنت من يحي القريض

    وقد تناهى في السباق

    For you are the one who gives poetry life,

    even when it has reached its limit in the race.