خذوا لي من سمر القدود أمانا

فمالي يد تحكي النهوض طعانا

Take for me from the night’s darkness some safety,

For I have no hand that tells of getting up as assailant,

وإني على بيض السيوف لباسل

وإن كنت عن سود العيون جبانا

And I am brave with the white of swords,

Even if I am cowardly from the blackness of eyes.

لهن سلاح ليس يوشى جريحه

فيرجى ولا يلزمن فيه ضمانا

For they have a weapon whose wound does not heal,

So it can be hoped for but they are not obliged to pay blood money.

بنفسي من عُدت علي صنائعي

ذنوبا وحبي بغضه وسنانا

With myself, if I have sinned against my principles

Sins, and loved their hatred and sharp teeth.

ومنحملت فعلي على غير ما اقتضى

عناداً وظلما لا يزاد بيانا

And if I carried out against me other than what was required,

Stubbornly and unjustly without adding explanation.

ومن كلما أظهرت في الحب حجتي

وبانت بدا منها العناد وبانا

And whoever showed my argument in love clearly

And their stubbornness appeared and was clear.

نحلت هوى قالت تقشف عامداً

لينحل من يبغي في الفراش أمانا

I tried love, she said you pretend asceticism

So that he who wants safety in bed dissolves.

وأجريت دمع العين قالت وما جرى

نثرت على خديك منه جمانا

And I let the tears of my eyes flow, she said: and what flowed?

You sprinkled our cheeks from it with pearls.

بكيت دما قالت صبغت شماتة

دموعك حمرا فرحة بنوانا

I cried blood, she said you dyed with schadenfreude

Your tears red, happiness for us.

ولو أنني أعمى بكاء لفقدها

لقالت عمى كي لا يرى فيرانا

And if crying made me blind her

She’d say, he’s blind so he doesn’t see and flees us.

متى أبك تضحك وأزدري درّ ثغرها

بلؤلؤ دمعي عندها وأهانا

Whenever I cry, she laughs, and I disdain the pearls of my tears,

In her eyes degraded and humiliated.

أقاسي عليها كل مبك ومضحك

ومثل الذي عانيت ليس يعانا

I endure against her every tear and laugh

And like what I suffered, none suffers,

فعاشقها في حال أعداء أحمد

يعانون منه ذلة وهوانا

For her lovers are in a state of Ahmed’s enemies

Suffering from him humiliation and disgrace.

فهم في الفيافي خاشعين كأنه

على كل نحر قد أقام سنانا

So they are in battlefields submissive as if

Upon each neck he set up a sharp blade.

وما للميلك الناصر الحق مشبه

فنحكي فلانا قبله وفلانا

And the king, the victorious, the defender of truth is not to be compared

So we tell the story of so-and-so before him and so-and-so

مليك بصيد الصيد في الحرب مولع

فما شاءه شاء الإِله وكانا

A king obsessed with hunting prey in war

What he desired, God desired, and it was.

رماهم بها شعث النواصي شربا

عليها أسود لا تمل طعانا

He threw at them disorderly forelocks a drink

Upon which dark lions do not tire of stabbing.

نخوض الفلا منه بأغلب ضيغم

يقينا من حسن الثناء صوانا

We plunge into his great flood certain

Of the beauty of praise protecting us.

ترى السرح أوطا من خشاياه إن غزا

ويبصر نيران السموم جنانا

You see the plains crowded from fear of him if he raids

And the fires of spears appear gardens.

له كل يوم في أعاديه فتكة

مدى الدهر بكر لا يصير عوانا

Every day he has against his enemies a massacre

Extending forever, ever renewed.

وفتح مكان كلما قلت ما بقى

وراء مكان استجد مكانا

And he opened up places, whenever I said nothing remains

Behind this place I found a new place.

فما أوسع الدنيا وأسرع أخذه

وأثبت ممن مال عنه جنانا

So vast is the world and swift is his conquest

And firmer than one who leaned away from him in fear.

لقد أنذرت غلب الرقاب سيوفه

وبلغن آذان الملوك أذانا

Indeed his swords have warned of the defeat of necks

And his calls reached the ears of kings.

فمن ظفرت منهم يداه بصلحه

يذق جفنه طعم الرقاد أمانا

Whoever of them his hands were victorious with his reconciliation

Tastes safety on their eyelids in slumber.

ومن مال منهم واثقا من حصونه

بحصن تبراَّ الحصن منه وخانا

And whoever of them inclined from him, trusting his castles,

With a castle that the castle crumbled from it and betrayed.