1. سرى وجناحُ الليلِ أقتمُ أفتَخُ

    ضجيعُ مِهادٍ بالعبيرِ مُضَمَّخُ

    He came by night, while night's wing was dusky and drooping,

    a bedfellow on a couch, steeped in blended perfume.

  2. فحيّيْتُ مُزْوَرَّ الخَيالِ كأنّه

    مُحَجَّبُ أعلى قُبّةِ المَلْكِ أبلخُ

    I greeted the aloof apparition, as though it were

    a haughty, secluded figure atop the royal dome.

  3. وما راعَ ذاتَ الدَّلّ إلاّ مُعَرَّسي

    ومُلْقى نِجادي والجُلالُ المنوَّخُ

    Nothing alarmed the coquettish beauty but my night-camp,

    and where my sword-belt lay, and the great camel made to kneel,

  4. وخِرقٌ له في لِبْدَةِ الليْثِ مَرتعٌ

    وفي لهواتِ الأرقمِ الصَّلِ مَرسَخُ

    and a bold man whose pasture lies in the lion's mane,

    and whose foothold lies in the jaws of the spotted, deadly viper.

  5. إذا زارها انحطّتْ عُقابُ مَنيّةٍ

    وليسَ لها إلاّ الجَماجِمُ أفرُخُ

    When he visits her, an eagle of death swoops down,

    and she has no chicks but skulls.

  6. يَحِلُّ على الأمْواهِ تُتْلَعُ دونَها

    رؤوسُ العوالي والمذاكي فتُشدخُ

    He camps at watering-places, before which are raised

    the heads of tall lances and seasoned steeds, only to be smashed,

  7. بحيث مَجَرُّ الجيش وهوَ عَرَمْرَمٌ

    وأجْبُلُه من قَسطلٍ وهيَ شُمَّخُ

    where the army passes, a mighty throng,

    and its mountains of battle-dust tower high,

  8. بَميْثاءَ تَروي المسكَ بالخمرِ كلما

    تَسلسَلَ فيها جَدولٌ يتنضّحُ

    on soft ground that waters musk with wine whenever

    a splashing stream winds its way through it.

  9. بها أُرْجُوانِيُّ الشقيقِ كأنّه

    خُدورٌ تُدَمّى أو نحورٌ تُلَخْلَخ

    There the crimson of anemones seems like

    curtained bowers stained blood-red, or throats anointed with perfume.

  10. لئن كان هذا الحسنُ يُعجَمُ أسطُراً

    لأنْتِ التي تُمْلينَ والبدرُ يَنسَخ

    If this beauty is inscribed in dotted lines,

    you are surely the one dictating, and the full moon copies.

  11. ثكلْتُكِ شَمْساً من وَرَاء غَمامَةٍ

    وجَنّةَ خُلْدٍ دونَها حالَ بَرزَخ

    I have lost you—a sun behind a cloud,

    and an everlasting garden, cut off by an intervening barrier.

  12. فإنْ تسأليني عن غليلٍ عَهِدتِهِ

    فكالجمرِ في خَدّيْكِ لا يتبوّخ

    If you ask me about a burning thirst you once knew,

    it is like the embers in your cheeks, never dying down.

  13. ألا لا تُنَهْنِهْني الخطوبُ بحادثٍ

    فلي همّةٌ تَبري الخطوبَ وتَنتِخ

    Ah, calamities cannot hold me back with a mishap,

    for mine is a resolve that wears calamities down and uproots them.

  14. فلا تَشْمَخِ الدّنْيا عليّ بقَدْرِها

    فإنّي بأيام المُعزّ لأَشمَخ

    So let the world not vaunt its stature over me,

    for in al-Muʿizz's days I stand prouder still.

  15. يؤيّدهُ المقدارُ بالِغَ أمْرِهِ

    ويُمْدَحُ بالسَّبْع المَثاني ويُمدَخ

    Destiny supports him as he fulfills his purpose,

    and he is praised by the Seven Oft-Repeated, and extolled.

  16. فمَهْلاً عِداه ما على اللّه مَعْتَبٌ

    وليس لما يأتي به الوَحيُ مَنسَخُ

    So hold back, his foes: there is no reproach against God,

    and what revelation brings admits no abrogation.

  17. لكَ الأرضُ دونَ الوارثينَ وإنما

    دعَوتَ الورى فيها عُفاةً فبخبَخوا

    The earth is yours, to the exclusion of the inheritors; you have only

    summoned mankind upon it as seekers of bounty, and they cried, 'Bravo!'

  18. أشَبْتَ قُرونَ المُلكِ قبلَ مشيبهِ

    فأرضاكَ منه أشْيَبُ الحلم أشيَخ

    You grayed the locks of sovereignty before its time to gray,

    and you were pleased with its gray-haired, venerable wisdom.

  19. تَفَرّدتَ بالآراءِ لا يومُها غَدٌ

    ولا سُرُجُ الآياتِ فيهنّ بُوَّخ

    You stand alone in your counsels: their today is not tomorrow,

    nor are the lamps of divine signs within them extinguished.

  20. وليس ظِهارٌ يحجُبُ الغيبَ دونَها

    ولكنّها قدسيّةٌ فيه تَرسُخ

    And no screen conceals the unseen from them;

    rather, they are sacred, firmly rooted in it.

  21. على الشمس دون البدر منها أسرّةٌ

    وفي يَذْبُلٍ منها شَماريخُ بُذَّخ

    Upon the sun, not the full moon, are their tracings,

    and in Yadhbul they have lofty summits.

  22. وقد وفَد الأسطولُ والبحرُ طالبَيْ

    ندى مُزْمعي هيجاءَ هذا لذا أخ

    The fleet and the sea have come, both seeking

    bounty, both resolved on battle, this one brother to that,

  23. كما التَهَبَتْ في ناظرِ البرقِ شُعلةٌ

    تلَقّى سَناها من فمِ الرّيح مَنفَخ

    as a flame blazes in the eye of lightning,

    whose radiance a bellows catches from the wind's mouth.

  24. لديكَ جنودُ اللّهِ غضْبَى على العِدى

    لها منكَ في الجندِ الرُّبوبيّ مُصرِخ

    God's hosts are with you, wrathful against the foes;

    they have in you a rescuer among the divine host.

  25. فلو أنّ بحراً يَلتَهِمنَ عُبابَه

    لمَرّ نُفاثاً بينَها يتسَوّخ

    Were they to devour a sea's surging flood,

    it would pass among them as spittle, sinking away.

  26. ترى الفجرَ منها تحتَ ليلٍ مُسبَّجٍ

    كأنّ حداداً فيه بالنِّقْسِ يُلطَخ

    You see dawn among them beneath a black-robed night,

    as though mourning garb were being daubed there with ink.

  27. لها لَجَبٌ يستجفلُ المزنَ صَعقُه

    ويقْرَعُ سمعَ الرّعدِ زأراً فيصمخ

    Their clamor has a thunderclap that stampedes the clouds,

    and strikes thunder's hearing with a roar, deafening it:

  28. زئيرُ ليوثٍ مُدّ في لهَواتها

    وهَدْرُ قُرومٍ في الشقاشق بخبخوا

    the roaring of lions, drawn out within their throats,

    and the bellowing of stallion camels gurgling in their throat-pouches.

  29. نَضوا كلّ لَفْحٍ من غِرارِ مهنّدٍ

    هو الجَمرُ إلاّ أنّه ليس يُنفَخ

    They unsheathed every scorching blast from an Indian blade's edge:

    it is live coal, except that it is not blown upon.

  30. يَشُقُّ جُيوبَ الغِمْدِ عنه اتقادُه

    وللحيّةِ الرّقشاءِ في القيظ مَسلخ

    Its blaze tears open the sheath to break free,

    and the speckled serpent has a shed skin in the summer heat.

  31. إلى كُلّ عَرّاصِ الكُعوب كأنّه

    نَوَى القَسْبِ إلاّ أنه ليس يُرضَخ

    Toward every quivering-jointed spear, as though it were

    a dry date's stone, except that it is never crushed.

  32. بكلّ ثِقافٍ من عواليكَ مَدعَسٌ

    وفي كلّ سِمحاقٍ من الرأس مَشدَخ

    Each straightener of your tall lances has a place for piercing,

    and every membrane of the head has a place to be crushed.

  33. لقد سارتِ الرُّكْبانُ بالنّبَإِ الذي

    يَشيبُ له طفلٌ وينصاتُ أجْلخ

    Riders have indeed traveled with the tidings that

    turn a child gray-haired and make a hulking man submit.

  34. وضَجّتْ له الأصنامُ إن ضَجيجَها

    صَدىً من بني مروان حرّان يَصرخ

    The idols clamored at it; their clamor is

    a parched echo from the sons of Marwan, screaming.

  35. بني هاشمٍ هل غَيرُ عَصْرٍ مُذَلَّلٍ

    لَياليهِ أقْتابٌ عليها وأشْرُخ

    Sons of Hashim, is there aught but an age made docile,

    with camel-saddles and saddle-frames laid upon its nights?

  36. أتيتم وراء الهول فاليمّ مَشرَعٌ

    وقرَّبتمُ الآفاق فالأرض فرسخ

    You came beyond terror, so the sea became a watering-place,

    and brought the horizons near, so the earth became a parasang.

  37. وكنتُمْ إذا ما ماجَ عُثنونُ قسطلٍ

    كما اغبرّ مجهولُ المخارِم سَرْبَخ

    And whenever the beard of battle-dust billowed,

    like a wasteland of unknown passes growing gray with dust,

  38. قَرَيتُمْ سباعَ الأرض في كل معركٍ

    كأنّ القنا فيه طُهاةٌ وطُبَّخ

    you feasted the beasts of the earth on every battlefield,

    as though the spears there were cooks and chefs.

  39. وقُدتُمْ إلَيْها كُلَّ ذي جَبَريّةٍ

    على المُقرَباتِ الجُرْد تَبأى وتبذخ

    And you drove to them every man of tyrannous pride,

    upon prized, sleek steeds, strutting and vaunting,

  40. من الطالباتِ البرْقَ لا الشأو مُرهَقٌ

    ولا العِطف مجنوب ولا الرِّدف أبزخُ

    among those pursuing lightning, their course never overtaxed,

    their flanks neither drawn in nor their rumps jutting out.

  41. إذا شَدَخَتْه مَشْقَةٌ أنّ مُوقَذاً

    حَسيراً كما أنّ الأميمُ المُشدَّخ

    When a thrust crushes him, he groans, stunned,

    exhausted, as a man with a crushed, wounded head groans.

  42. كثيرُ جِهاتِ الحسنِ تَهمي جداولاً

    ولكنّها بين المحاجر ثُوَّخ

    Many are his aspects of beauty, pouring forth in streams,

    yet they lie sunken between the eye-sockets.

  43. يُعَوَّذُ من مكحولةِ الخِشفِ إن بدا

    ويُنضَحُ نفْتَ الراقياتِ ويُنْضَخ

    When he appears, he is charmed against a fawn's kohl-dark eye,

    and sprinkled and drenched with the charm-women's spittle.

  44. فداءٌ لفاديكم من الناس معشرٌ

    لَهم رَوعُ دهرٍ منكمُ ليس يُفْرَخ

    Let a people among mankind be ransom for your redeemer—

    people whose age-long terror of you never subsides.

  45. رجالٌ أضّلوا رائداً وهَدَيتُمُ

    وجَلّيتُمُ عنه العَماءَ وطَخطخوا

    Men who misled a scout, while you guided him;

    and you cleared his blindness, while they spread darkness.

  46. لعَمري لئن كانت قريشاً بزَعمها

    فإنّا وجَدنَا طينةَ المسكِ تَسنَخ

    By my life, even if they are Quraysh, as they claim,

    we have found the clay of musk turning foul.

  47. نصَحتَ ملوكَ العُرْبِ والعُجم بالتي

    يراها عَمٍ منهم ويسمع أصْلخ

    You counseled the kings of Arabs and non-Arabs with what

    even a blind man among them sees and a deaf man hears.

  48. أتدْرونَ أيُّ المَاءِ أكثرُ ساقياً

    وأيُّ جبالِ اللّه في الأرضِ أرسخ

    Do you know which water is the greatest giver of drink,

    and which of God's mountains is most firmly rooted in the earth?

  49. هُدىً واعتصاماً قبل تُطمس أوجهٌ

    تُشاه بلَعْنِ اللاعنينَ وتُمْسخ

    Seek guidance and refuge before faces are effaced,

    disfigured by the curse of those who curse, and transformed.

  50. مُعِزُّ الهُدى للّهِ حَوضُ شفاعةٍ

    يُسلسَلُ تحتَ العرش رِيّاً ويَنقخ

    Al-Muʿizz, strengthener of guidance for God, is a pool of intercession,

    made to flow beneath the Throne, quenching thirst and gushing forth.

  51. سقيتَ فلا لبُّ اللبيبِ مُعَطَّشٌ

    لديكَ ولا كافورَةُ العهدِ تَسنخ

    You have given drink, so no wise man's mind is left thirsty

    with you, nor does the covenant's camphor turn foul.

  52. مُبينٌ بعَقدِ التاج ما أنتَ بالغٌ

    وميقاتُ مَلْكِ الخافقَينِ المؤرَّخ

    The fastening of your crown makes plain what you will attain,

    and the dated hour of rule over the two horizons.

  53. وأينَ بثَغْرٍ عنكَ يُبْغى سِدادُه

    وخيلُكَ في كرخيّة الكرخ تُكرخ

    And where can a frontier's sealing be sought without you,

    while your horses gallop in Karkhiyyat al-Karkh?

  54. وقد عجمَتْ هندَ الملوك وسِندَهَا

    ليالٍ تركنَ الفيلَ كالبَكرِ يَقْلخ

    The kings' India and its Sind have been tried

    by nights that left the elephant bellowing like a young camel.

  55. لأصْليتَها ناراً هي النّارُ لا التي

    تُنَتِّخُ فيها ألفَ عامٍ وتُمْرَخ

    You would surely burn it in a fire that is fire indeed, not the one

    that you tease out for a thousand years and kindle by rubbing.

  56. فإن يَختطِفْها الدينُ خَطفَةَ بارقٍ

    فمنْ أسَدٍ ناتي البراثنِ تُمْلَخ

    If faith snatches it away like a flash of lightning,

    it is torn from a lion with protruding claws.

  57. أآياتُ نَصْرٍ أمْ ملائكُ حُوَّمٌ

    وأطرافُ أرضٍ أم سَماءٌ تُدَوَّخ

    Are these signs of victory, or circling angels?

    And are these earth's extremities, or a heaven being subdued?

  58. وما بلغتْكَ البُردُ أنضاءَ نيّةٍ

    ولكنّها أرماقُ ريحٍ تَفسَّخ

    The post-mounts did not reach you worn out by the journey,

    but as the last breaths of a wind breaking apart.

  59. سَرَينَ فخلّفْنَ النّجومَ كأنّها

    هَجائنُ عِيسٍ في المبارِكِ نُوَّح

    They traveled by night and left the stars behind, as though they were

    purebred pale camels moaning in their kneeling-grounds.

  60. فقُلْ للخميس الطُّهْرِ إنّ لواءكمْ

    نخا نخوةَ النصرِ المُعِزِّيّ فانتَخوا

    Tell the pure army that your banner

    has cried the pride of al-Muʿizz's victory, so rise in pride.

  61. ألِكْني إليهم والتّنائفُ دونهم

    سقَتهم أهاضيبٌ من المُزن نُضَّخ

    Carry my message to them, though wastelands lie between us:

    may heavy showers from pouring rainclouds water them.

  62. كهولٌ بنادي السلم قد عقدوا الحُبى

    شبابٌ إذا ما ضَجّ في الحيّ صُرَّخ

    Mature men in peace's assembly, their knee-bands fastened,

    but youths whenever cries for help clamor through the tribe.

  63. لَنِعْمَ وُكورُ الدينِ تَدرُجُ بينها

    فإنّا رأينا دارجَ الطّيرِ يُفْرِخ

    Excellent indeed are the nests of faith among which you move,

    for we have seen fledgling birds hatch young.

  64. وأخْلِقْ به فالعنزُ تُنتَجُ سَخْلَةً

    ويبزلُ نابٌ بعد ذاك ويَشرخ

    And how fitting for him: a she-goat gives birth to a kid,

    and afterward a fang breaks through and splits its way out.