1. أمنيك يا قلبي وعز وصول

    وأدنيك يا خلي وقل خليل

    I feed you hopes, my heart, though attainment is hard,

    And draw you near, my friend, though true friends are few.

  2. واصفيك يا دهري ودادي على القلى

    واسألك الجدوى وأنت بخيل

    And offer you my pure affection, O time, despite aversion,

    And ask you for bounty, though you are miserly.

  3. وارضى على حكم الليالي فينثني

    حسامي طام والوشيج ضئيل

    And submit to the nights' decree, so that there bends

    My towering sword, while the spear-shaft is frail.

  4. واصبر نفسي وهو يهفو بها الهوى

    فتطفى وادنيها النقى فتميل

    And school my soul to patience while passion sweeps it away;

    It drifts away; I draw it toward purity, but it turns aside.

  5. وما أنا عن أمر يرام بعاجز

    ولا أنا في ضمن الكلام سؤل

    And I am not powerless before an aim that is sought,

    Nor am I a supplicant within the words I speak.

  6. ولا ارتضي أن اقتني لي معاشرا

    جبانا وان يحظى لدي جهول

    Nor will I consent to take as my companion

    A coward, or to favor an ignorant man.

  7. وان مر بي ما يزدريني وجدتني

    على صائل الأعداء كيف أصول

    And if some affront comes my way, you will see

    How I charge at the onrushing foe.

  8. وبعض بني دهري كثيرون مجمعا

    لأمن وفي يوم الزحام قليل

    And some sons of my age gather in great numbers

    For safety, but are few on the day of battle.

  9. طلابي لما يرضى المعالي أحلني

    بأضيق ما فيه السقيم يحول

    My pursuit of what satisfies high ambition has lodged me

    In the narrowest confines where an ailing man can turn.

  10. وخوفي على المجد الأثيل أضاعني

    بأرض بها أم الوفاء هبيل

    And my fear for deep-rooted glory has left me lost

    In a land where fidelity's mother is bereaved.

  11. تذكرت عيشي بالعواصم فانبرت

    بتذكارها لي غصة وغليل

    I recalled my life in al-Awasim, and there arose

    At its remembrance a choking grief and a burning ache.

  12. وحاولت من أرجائها أرج الصبا

    فمر كما عاد العليل عليل

    And sought in its reaches the fragrance of the east wind;

    It passed by ailing, like an ailing man visiting another.

  13. رعى اللَه أحبابي الألى ما ذكرتهم

    يساء عذور أو يسر عذول

    May God guard my loved ones—whenever I recall them,

    One who excuses me is grieved, or a reproacher rejoices.

  14. محلهم بين الضلوع إلى الحشا

    وهم بأثيلات الغوير حلول

    Their dwelling is between my ribs, down to my inmost heart,

    Yet they dwell among al-Ghuwayr's little tamarisks.

  15. نؤمل لو صافحت ترب ربوعهم

    بجفني وآمال الرجال تجول

    We hope that I might clasp the dust of their abodes

    With my eyelid; the hopes of men wander.

  16. وأخضع المرائين منها مفاوزا

    كأني وأحبابي بهن نزول

    And I subdue the dissemblers—desert wastes from it [wording unclear]—

    As though my loved ones and I were dwelling in them.

  17. واستعطف البرق اليماني هل الى

    تحمل اشواقي لهن سبيل

    And I entreat the lightning of Yemen: is there

    A way to carry my longings to them?

  18. فقد خاب صب ما درى بغرامه

    حبيب ولم يبلغ جواه رسول

    For disappointed is the lover whose passion

    No beloved knew, and whose heartache no messenger conveyed.

  19. وعاتبة غضبي تقول رضيت ان

    تعيش خمولاً والجبان خمول

    An angry woman chiding me says: Have you consented

    To live in obscurity? The coward lives obscurely.

  20. علام تركت الحزم إنك عاجز

    لقد عز عندي أن يقال ذليل

    Why have you abandoned resolve? You are helpless.

    It pains me greatly that you should be called abject.

  21. هلم لم يدنى المنايا أو المنى

    ودع سبب التفكير فهو طويل

    Come! Death or wishes have not been brought near [wording unclear];

    Leave the thread of pondering, for it is long.

  22. ولا بد من حتف فسيان للفتى

    أمات بداء أم فراه صقيل

    Death is inescapable; for a young man it is all one

    Whether he dies of disease or a polished blade cuts him down.

  23. ولا عار إن أمسيت بالأمس قائلا

    إذا أنت في يوم عليك قتيل

    Nor is there shame if yesterday evening you were speaking,

    If you lie slain on a day that turns against you.

  24. فقلت لها لا فضَّ فوكِ وإنما

    هو الدهر للحر الكريم خذول

    I said to her: May your mouth never be broken! It is only

    Time that abandons the free and noble man.

  25. ولا بدلي ان شاء مولاي غارة

    تصيخ لها اعداؤنا وتقول

    And I must, if my lord wills, launch a raid

    To which our enemies will listen and speak.

  26. تسير بليل من فتام تمده

    فيشرق فيها كالنجوم نصول

    It advances through a night of dust [uncertain reading] that it spreads,

    Where blades shine like stars.

  27. بها اقتضى يا بثن ما ترتضيه لي

    والا قضيت النحب وهوجميل

    Through it I win, O Buthn, what you approve for me,

    Or else I meet my death—and that is fair.

  28. وليلٍ كيوم البين بل كزمانه

    اتصالاً علينا لا يكاد يزول

    And a night like parting's day—no, like its whole duration—

    Unbroken over us, scarcely passing away.

  29. لقينا به الظلماء وهي جحافل

    وخضنا به البيداء وهي سيول

    In it we faced the darkness, a mass of armies,

    And waded through the desert, a flood of torrents.

  30. وسرنا نزجي الأرحبيات ليلنا

    على عجل والمستضام عجول

    We journeyed, urging on the Arhabi she-camels through our night,

    In haste, for the oppressed man is hasty.

  31. فلاح لنا من غرة عربية

    ضياء إلى الصبح المنير دليل

    Then from an Arab brow there gleamed for us

    A light, a guide to the shining dawn.

  32. إلى الماجد الندب ابن سيفا الذي لنا

    بناديه إن عز المقيل مقيل

    Toward the noble, gallant Ibn Sayfa, who offers us

    Noonday rest in his assembly when rest is hard to find.

  33. إلى ابن عليّ ذي الأيادي محمد

    ونعم جليل قد تلاه جليل

    Toward Muhammad, son of Ali, the man of beneficent hands;

    How fine a noble man, followed by another noble man!

  34. كريم وأيدي السحب غير سواكب

    حليم عن الجاني المسيء حمول

    Generous while the hands of clouds shed nothing,

    Forbearing toward the guilty wrongdoer, enduring much.

  35. محط رحال الوفد اما رحابه

    فساح واما ظله فظليل

    Where delegations set down their saddles; his courtyards

    Are spacious, and his shade is sheltering.

  36. مهاب اطاع الله حتى اطاعه

    من الخلق مرهوب الجناب مهول

    Held in awe, he obeyed God until he was obeyed

    By one among mankind whose presence is feared and dreaded.

  37. تجلبب جلبابا من النصر ضافيا

    تمد له فوق السماك ذيول

    He donned a flowing robe of victory,

    Its hems stretched for him above al-Simak.

  38. وقام بأعباء الأمور فسهلت

    لديه حزون العيش فهي سهول

    He shouldered the burdens of affairs, and so grew smooth

    Life's rugged tracts before him, becoming level plains.

  39. وجدد رسم الجود بعد اندراسه

    إذ الجود ربعاً كان فهو طلول

    And renewed generosity's traces after their effacement,

    For generosity, once a dwelling, had become ruins.

  40. لقد شرفت شهباؤنا بقدومه

    كما شرف البيت العتيق رسول

    Our Shahba was indeed ennobled by his arrival,

    Just as a messenger ennobled the Ancient House.

  41. فلا برحت مشمولة بقبوله

    متى ما نهادي شمأل وقبول

    May it never cease to be enveloped in his favor,

    Whenever we exchange gifts with north and east winds.

  42. من القوم في البأساء شبان معشر

    وعند النهى والاختبار كهول

    He is of a company youthful in adversity,

    But mature in judgment and experience.

  43. اضاعوا الدنا حفظاً لطارف مجدهم

    وتالده استولت عليه عقول

    They forsook worldly gain to guard their newly won glory

    And its ancestral heritage, over which minds hold sway.

  44. هم القوم ما اعراضهم بمدالة

    ولا مالهم يلفي عليه وكيل

    They are the people whose honor is not bandied about,

    Nor is any steward found set over their wealth.

  45. سليل المعالي والكرام وابن من

    لمصرعه في الخافقين عويل

    Scion of high honors and noble men, son of one

    For whose fall east and west rang with wailing:

  46. ابنك آمالي لديك كثيرة

    وأنت على نجح المراد كفيل

    Your son [unclear in context]—my hopes in you are many,

    And you guarantee the fulfillment of my desire.

  47. وانهيك ان الدهر قد يستخفني

    فأن مال نحوي مال وهو ثقيل

    And I tell you that time may treat me lightly;

    Yet if it leans toward me, it leans with heavy weight.

  48. وأرضيك في الحالين أني مذنب

    وأنك عثرات المسيء تقبل

    To please you, in either case I acknowledge that I am guilty,

    And that you accept the wrongdoer's lapses.

  49. وأرضاك لي مولى مد الدهر مالكا

    وما أنا عن هذا المقام ملول

    And I choose you as my lord and master for all time,

    And I do not weary of this station.

  50. فدم في رغيد العيش دهراً ظلامه

    عليك صباح والهجير أصيل

    Remain in life's comfort through an age whose darkness

    Is morning for you, and whose midday heat is late afternoon.

  51. ولا زلت ترقى رتبة بعد رتبة

    لها غرر تهدي الورى وحجول

    May you never cease to ascend rank after rank,

    With blazes that guide mankind, and white-marked fetlocks.

  52. محلى من الرحمن أفخر حلة

    تنير محيا والأكف تنيل

    Adorned by the All-Merciful in the most splendid robe,

    Which brightens your face while your hands bestow.

  53. مدى الدهر كالعضب اليماني رونقا

    سليم الشبا لا يعتر به فلول

    For all time, like a Yemeni blade in luster,

    Its edges sound, untouched by notches.