1. أشهابٌ في دجى الليل ثَقَبْ

    أم سراجٌ نارُهُ ماءُ العِنَبْ

    Is it a meteor piercing the darkness of night,

    or a lamp whose flame is the water of grapes?

  2. أم عروسٌ فوق كرسيِّ يدي

    يجتليها اللهوُ في عقدِ الحبب

    Or a bride upon the throne of my hand,

    whom revelry beholds in a necklace of bubbles?

  3. يا شقيقَ النفس أنفاس الصَّبا

    بَرَدَت والصبح لا شكّ اقترب

    O brother of my soul, the breaths of the east wind

    have cooled, and dawn has surely drawn near.

  4. قمْ أمتِّعك بعيشٍ لمْ تَقَعْ

    في صفاءٍ منْهُ أقذاءُ النّوب

    Rise: let me delight you with a life untouched,

    in its purity, by the grit of misfortunes.

  5. فلقد حانَ لضوءِ الفجر أنْ

    يضربَ السرحانُ فيه بذنب

    For the time has come for the light of dawn

    to have the wolf lash its tail within it.

  6. فأدِرْها تحْتَ ليلٍ سَقْفُهُ

    ظلمةٌ فيها من النور ثُقَبْ

    So pass it round beneath a night whose roof

    is darkness pierced by holes of light,

  7. أو على برقِ سماءٍ ضاحكٍ

    غيمُهُ بالدّمْع منه منسكِب

    or by the laughing lightning of a sky

    whose clouds stream tears down from it.

  8. سَكِرَ الرّوضُ وغنّى طيرُهُ

    أفلا ترقصُ قاماتُ القُضُب

    The garden is drunk, and its birds are singing;

    shall the tall forms of the boughs not dance?

  9. هات دُرّاً فيه ياقوتٌ وخُذْ

    جسمَ ماءٍ حاملاً روحَ لهب

    Bring pearls enclosing a ruby, and take

    a body of water bearing a spirit of flame:

  10. قهوَةً لو سُقِيَتْها صخرةٌ

    أورقتْ باللّهو منها والطّرب

    wine which, were a rock given it to drink,

    would make it burst into leaf with mirth and rapture.

  11. يجذبُ الرّوح إليه روحُها

    ألطف الشيئين عندي ما انجذب

    Its spirit draws the soul toward it;

    to me, the subtler of the two is the one drawn.

  12. وُلِدَتْ بالشّيبِ في عنقودها

    وهيَ اليومَ عجوزٌ لم تشب

    It was born gray-haired in its cluster,

    yet today it is an old woman who has not turned gray.

  13. كلَّما مَوّجَها المزنُ أَرَتْ

    حَبَبَ الفضّةِ في ماءِ الذهب

    Whenever the rainclouds set it rippling, it displays

    silver bubbles in water of gold.

  14. ما درى خمّارُها عاصِرَها

    فحديثُ الصدق فيها كالكذب

    Its wine-seller knew not who had pressed it;

    so the truth about it sounds like a lie.

  15. خندريسٌ عُتّقَتْ في أجوَفٍ

    من دم العُنقودٍ مملوءٍ نُخَبْ

    An old wine, aged within a hollow vessel,

    filled with choice draughts of the grape-cluster's blood,

  16. واضعٌ كفَّيْه في أخصارهِ

    وقيامٌ في قعودٍ قد وجب

    resting its two palms upon its flanks,

    standing, yet bound to remain seated.

  17. دفنوا اللَّذةَ فيها حيّةً

    وأتى الدّهرُ عليها وذهب

    They buried pleasure alive within it,

    and time passed over it and went away.

  18. ظَنَّهُ كنزاً فلمّا انْتَسَبَتْ

    منهُ للأنفِ درى ذاك النسبْ

    He thought it treasure; but when it declared

    its lineage from within to his nose, he knew that ancestry.

  19. قلتُ إذ أبرَزَها في قعبه

    أهيَ بنت الكرم أم أمّ الحقب

    I said, as he brought it forth in his bowl:

    “Is she the vine's daughter, or the mother of the ages?”

  20. قتلتني وهي بي مقتولةٌ

    صولةُ الميت على الحيّ عجب

    It has slain me, though it is slain by me;

    the dead one's assault upon the living is a marvel.

  21. كيفَ لا تصرعُني صَوّالةٌ

    وهي منّي في عروقٍ وعصب

    How should a fierce assailant not fell me,

    when it is within my veins and sinews?

  22. ومليح الدلّ إنْ علّ بها

    قلتَ نجمٌ في فمِ البدر غرب

    And a handsome, coquettish one—when he drinks it again,

    you would say: a star has set in the full moon's mouth.

  23. شعشعَ القهوةَ في صوب الحيا

    وسقاني فضلةً مما شرب

    He diluted the wine with rainwater,

    and gave me the remainder of what he drank.

  24. فتلاقى في فمي من كأسِهِ

    ماءُ كرْمٍ وغمامٌ وشَنَبْ

    So in my mouth, from his cup, there met

    vine-water, cloud-water, and the cool sweetness of teeth.

  25. وشدا من مدح يحيى نَغَماً

    هزّ منه الملكُ عِطفيه طَرَب

    And he sang a melody in praise of Yahya,

    at which the king swayed his shoulders in rapture.

  26. مِن مُعِزِّ الدّين في الفخر له

    خيرُ جَدٍّ وتميمٌ خيرُ أب

    In Muʿizz al-Din he has, for his glory,

    the best grandfather, and Tamim is the best father.

  27. مَنْ له وجْهُ سماحٍ سافراً

    أبداً للمجتدي لا ينْتقب

    One whose face of generosity stays unveiled,

    always before the suppliant, never donning a veil.

  28. مَلِكٌ عن ثُغْرَةِ الدّين اتّقى

    ورمى الأعداءَ بالجيش اللجب

    A king who defended the faith's frontier

    and assailed his enemies with a clamorous army.

  29. في سرير الملك منه قمرٌ

    يُجْتَلَى يومَ العطايا بالسحب

    Upon the royal throne, he is a moon

    beheld amid rainclouds on the day of giving.

  30. طاهرُ الأخلاق مألوفُ العلى

    طيّبُ الأعراق مصقول الحسب

    Pure in character, intimate with greatness,

    noble in ancestry, his honor burnished bright;

  31. عادلٌ تعكف بالحمد على

    ذكره أفواهُ عُجمٍ وعرب

    just: praise is ceaselessly lavished upon

    his name by the mouths of non-Arabs and Arabs.

  32. سالبٌ منه الندى ما سَلَبَتْ

    من أعاديه عواليه السُّلُب

    His generosity strips him of whatever

    spoils his tall spears have stripped from his foes.

  33. في نصابٍ لم يزل من حِمْيَر

    مُعْرِقاً في كلّ قومٍ مُنْتَخَب

    Of a lineage that has ever, from Himyar,

    been deep-rooted, chosen among every people.

  34. بُهَمٌ إنْ ذُكِرَ الجيشُ بِهِمْ

    هالَ منه الرعبُ واشتدّ الرّهَب

    Dauntless warriors: when an army is mentioned with them in it,

    its terror appalls, and dread grows fierce.

  35. والحديدُ الصلبُ لولا بأسُهُ

    لم يخَفْ في الطعنِ من لين القصب

    And hard iron, were it not for his might,

    would not fear soft spear-shafts in the thrust.

  36. أثبت الإقدامُ في أنفسهمْ

    أنّ مرّ الضّرْبِ حُلْوٌ كالضَّرَب

    Boldness has fixed within their souls

    that bitter blows are sweet as honey.

  37. يتّقي فيضَ النّدى مَنْ كَفّهُ

    عيل منه لدغ دهر يَنتَهب

    Before the flood of bounty from his palm recoils

    the sting of plundering time, made powerless by him.

  38. وإذا ما ضحكت سنّ الرضى

    منه لم يُخْشَ عبوسْ في الغضب

    And when the tooth of contentment smiles

    from him, no scowl in anger need be feared.

  39. كلّ قطر منه يلقى مشرباً

    من جداه ولقد كان سرب

    Every land finds with him a drinking-place

    in his bounty, though once it was drained dry.

  40. يحسب الطودَ حصاةً حلمُهُ

    وتظنّ البحرَ نعماهُ ثُغَب

    His forbearance reckons a mountain a pebble,

    and his favors deem the sea mere rock-pools.

  41. نالَ أهلُ الفضلِ منه فضلَهُمْ

    ومن الشمس سنا نور الشّهب

    Men of merit have gained their due from him,

    as the stars' radiant light comes from the sun.

  42. تتّقي الأعداءُ منه سطوةً

    وهو في ظلّ علاه مُحتجب

    His enemies guard against his onslaught,

    though he is veiled in the shade of his grandeur.

  43. والهصورُ الوردُ يُخْشى وثبهُ

    وهو في الغيلِ مقيمٌ لم يثب

    The tawny, rending lion's leap is feared

    even while it dwells in the thicket and has not leapt.

  44. كم فمٍ طاب لنا من ذكره

    فهو كالمسكِ وكم ثغر عَذُب

    How many a mouth has his mention made fragrant to us,

    so it is like musk; how many lips have grown sweet!

  45. وكأنّ الرّوضَ في أوصافِهِ

    تُغْمَسُ الأشْعار فيه والخطب

    It is as though, in describing him, a garden

    were where poems and orations are dipped.

  46. ثابتٌ كالطود في معتركٍ

    جائلِ الأبطال خفّاقِ العَذَبْ

    Steadfast as a mountain in a battlefield

    where champions wheel and banner-tassels flutter,

  47. ورؤوسٌ بالمواضي تُخْتَلى

    ونفوسٌ بالعوالي تُنتهب

    while heads are mown down by keen blades

    and souls are plundered by tall spears.

  48. كم شجاعٍ خاض في مهجته

    بسنانٍ في الحيازيم رسب

    How many a brave man's lifeblood he has plunged into

    with a spearhead sunk between the ribs!

  49. قلمٌ يمشقُ في الطّعنِ فَقُلْ

    أمَحَا العيشَ أمِ الموتَ كتب

    A pen that writes sweeping strokes in thrusting—say,

    did it erase life, or write down death?

  50. أيها الواصلُ من إحسانِهِ

    سبباً من كلّ منبَتِّ السبب

    O you who, out of your kindness, forge

    a bond with all whose bonds are severed:

  51. ربّ رأيٍ لك جَهّزْتَ به

    جحفلاً ذاقَ العدى منه الشجب

    with many a plan of yours you have equipped

    an army from which the foes tasted ruin.

  52. كنتَ يوم الحرب عنه غائباً

    وظُبَى نصرِكَ فيه لم تَغِبْ

    On the day of battle you were absent from it,

    but the blades of your victory were not absent there,

  53. كالّذي يلعبُ في شطرنجه

    رأيُهُ عنه تَخَطّى في اللّعب

    like a man playing at his chess,

    whose thought makes the moves for him in the game.

  54. أنا مَنْ صاح به يومَ النوى

    عن مغانيه غرابٌ فاغترب

    I am he at whom, on the day of parting,

    a raven cried, so he left his haunts for exile.

  55. طفتُ في الآفاق حتى اكتهلَتْ

    غُرْبَتِي واحتنكت سنّ الأدب

    I roamed the horizons until it grew middle-aged—

    my exile—and the years of letters gained seasoned wisdom.

  56. ثمّ أقبلتُ إلى الملكِ الذي

    مدَّ بالطَّوْلِ على الدنيا طُنُب

    Then I came toward the king who

    stretched his bounty's tent-ropes across the world.

  57. منَحَ العلياء كَفّيْ ناقدٍ

    فانتقى الدرّ وأبقى المخشلب

    He gave high glory an assayer's two hands,

    then chose the pearls and left the glass beads.

  58. فَلَعَلّي ببقايا عُمُري

    منه أقضي البعضَ من حقٍّ وَجبْ

    So perhaps, with what remains of my life,

    I may repay him part of the debt I owe.