يا دارها بالشعب شعب الحائل

غاداك مرفض الغمام الهاطل

O her dwelling in the mountain pass, the pass of al-Ha'il,

may the outpouring of rain-laden clouds visit you at dawn!

تبدلت عن كل حال آنس

من أهلها بكل ناد هاطل

It has exchanged every once-cheerful state

bestowed by its people for every dew-laden, pouring shower.

عجبا بها ركابنا لكي نرى

ما صنعت أيدي الزمان الماحل

How strange! Our mounts there, that we may see [wording unclear]

what the hands of treacherous time have wrought.

كأنما كل هوى قلوبنا

ركب في قوائم الرواحل

As though all the yearning of our hearts

had been lodged in the legs of the riding beasts.

والتأمت جحفلها ترابها

فمسعدي ملتئم الجحافل

And the beast's lip met the dwelling's dust,

so my comforter is the one with lips pressed together.

ان مصح الدهر بها ربوعها

فليس تمصيح الربا بباطل

If time has stripped its dwelling-places bare there,

the stripping of the hills is not in vain.

وان نمت بعدهم ديارهم

فالنازلون انفس المنازل

And if their dwellings have flourished after them,

the inhabitants are the souls of the dwellings.

للّه عيش ذهبت نضرته

كأنه رقدة ظل زائل

Ah, for a life whose freshness has vanished,

like a slumber beneath a fleeting shade!

وليلة قضيتها بعاقل

سبقى الغمام ليلتي بعاقل

And a night I spent at ʿAqil—

may the clouds water my night at ʿAqil [reading uncertain]!

اذ الثريا لهم نجومها

كأنها ترس فتى منازل

When the Pleiades—its stars belonged to them—

looked like a young duelist's shield,

والبدر في كبد السماء حائر

كأنه وعد حبيب ماطل

and the full moon hung bewildered in the heart of the sky,

like the promise of a procrastinating beloved.

احببتها مرتشفاً بلا بلا

مهرب عند شربها بلا بلى

I loved it, sipping—without, without [phrase unclear];

a refuge when drinking it, without decay.

ارشفها حتى إذا ما فرغت

جمعت بين القرط والخلاخل

I sip it until, when I have finished,

I bring the earring and the anklets together.

للهو آونة نمر خلسة

كأنها تقبيل ثغر راحل

Pleasure has moments through which we pass by stealth,

like kissing the lips of one departing.

قد جنح الدهر فلا الوصل به

بخالص من الصدور كامل

Time has swerved; union in it is not

sincere from the heart and complete,

حتى ابي الفضل الشريف راشد

كنز الرجا ومهزة القبائل

until Abu al-Fadl, the noble Rashid,

the treasure of hope, who stirs the tribes.

معتدق الحلم اعتناق فتكه

مجتتب البخل اجتئاب الباطل

He embraces forbearance as he embraces his deadly force [reading uncertain],

shunning miserliness as he shuns falsehood [readings uncertain].

اذا ارتدى الفضفاض قال قبائل

من نظر البحور في الجداول

When he dons the ample coat of mail, tribes say:

Who has seen seas within streams?

لا يلتقي الجيش بغير مهجة

جليلة تدخر للجلائل

He meets no army without a soul

of lofty worth, saved for momentous deeds.

وشزب ان صدرت رايتها

سلمى الصفاح كلم الاباطل

And lean steeds, when their banner returns,

their sides unscathed, their armpits wounded,

تركض في غبارها بعارض

يسمح من دمائها بقابل

gallop through their dust amid a cloud

that gives freely of their blood to a recipient.

يا مظىء الخيل كأن ليس لها

غير دماء الصيد من مناهل

O you who make the steeds thirst [reading uncertain], as though they had

no watering places but the blood of proud lords;

ومورد البيض كأن صوتها

على العدا قعقعة السنادل

and who bring the white blades to drink, as though their sound

against the enemy were the clatter of anvils.

تختطف الهام بها نواشداً

لا قطعت سواعد الصياقل

With them you snatch away heads, crying in entreaty:

May the sword-polishers' forearms never be severed!

كأنما حكمتها على الشوى

حكمة لقمان على المفاصل

As though their wisdom over the limbs

were Luqman's wisdom over the joints.

هل لك في فخرك من مفاخر

هل لك في فضلك من مفاضل

Is there anyone to rival you in your glory?

Is there anyone to rival you in your excellence?

وما عسى فخرهم ومنعهم

كمادر وقسهم كباقل

And what can their pride and withholding amount to?

Like Madir—and their Quss is like Baqil.

قد قصدوا واللّه غير قاصد

وافتعلوا واللّه غير فاعل

They aimed, by God, at one who was not aiming,

and schemed, by God, against one who had not acted,

وخاصموا مهندا ليس له

للدين غير النصر من حمائل

and challenged an Indian blade with no

baldric in religion's cause but victory.

راموا اكتتام نور حق باهر

وحاولوا قصر كمال طائل

They sought to conceal the dazzling light of truth,

and tried to curtail a lofty perfection.

وما سمعنا أو رأينا في الدجا

قد كميت شعشعة المشاعل

We have neither heard nor seen, in the darkness,

the radiance of torches ever concealed.

احب كل مرتع معشية

وأيمن الاكف كف باذل

The dearest of all pastures is the grassy one [reading uncertain],

and the most blessed of hands is the hand of a giver.

اذا اراد اللّه كشف منقب

خاف رماه بعناد جاهل

When God wishes to uncover a merit [reading uncertain],

hidden, He subjects it to an ignoramus's obstinacy.

لولا اشتعال النار واضطرامها

ما عرف الرمث من الصنادل

Were it not for the fire's kindling and fierce blaze,

ramth brushwood could not be distinguished from sandalwood.

فجأتهم لا سيف عزم كاهم

ولا جواد همة بناكل

You surprised them, no sword of resolve blunted,

nor any steed of ambition shrinking back.

قطعتهم معتجلا على القتا

كدق لامين بفرق نائل

You cut them down, hastening upon the spears [reading uncertain],

like pounding two lāms by a giver's separation [wording unclear].

قد يدرك المجد يجهل جاهل

ويصحب الذل بعقل عاقل

Glory may be attained while an ignorant man acts ignorantly,

and humiliation may accompany a wise man's reason.

لا عدم الناس جنى فضيلة

منك فأنت معدن الفضائل

May people never lack the fruit of a virtue

from you, for you are the mine of virtues.