1. سَقَتْني بما مَجّتْ شِفاهُ الأراقِمِ

    وعاتَبَني فيها شِفارُ الصَّوارم

    She gave me to drink what the lips of speckled serpents spat out,

    And the edges of keen swords reproached me over her.

  2. عَدَتنيَ عنها الحرْبُ يُصرَفُ نابُها

    وصَلصَالُ رَعْدٍ في زئيرِ الضَّراغم

    War held me back from her, its fang set gnashing,

    And thunder's clang amid the roaring of lions.

  3. فكيْفَ بها نَجْدِيّةً حال دونَها

    صَعاليكُ نجْدٍ في مُتون الصَّلادم

    How, then, could I reach her, a woman of Najd, when between us stood

    Najd's outlaws on the backs of sturdy steeds?

  4. أتى دونَها نَأيُ المزارِ وبُعْدُهُ

    وآسادُ أغْيالٍ وجِنُّ صَرائم

    Between us lay the remoteness of her abode and its distance,

    And lions of thickets, and jinn of the sand tracts,

  5. وأشْوَسُ غَيرانٌ عليها حُلاحِلٌ

    طويلُ نجاد السيْفِ ماضي العزائم

    And a fierce, jealous chieftain guarding her,

    His sword-baldric long, his resolves unfaltering.

  6. ولو شِئْتُ لم تبْعُدْ عليّ خِيامُها

    ولو طُنِّبَتْ بين النُّجومِ العواتم

    Had I wished, her tents would not have been far from me,

    Even if pitched among the dim stars.

  7. وباتَ لها منّي على ظَهْرِ سابِحٍ

    أشَمُّ أبيُّ الظُّلْمِ من آلِ ظالم

    And she would have had from me, astride a swimming steed all night,

    A proud man, defiant of injustice, of the house of Zalim.

  8. وأسْهَرَهَا جَرُّ الرّماحِ على الثرى

    بأيدي فُتُوِّ الأزدِ صُفْرِ العمائم

    The dragging of spears over the earth would have kept her awake,

    In the hands of Azd's yellow-turbaned young men.

  9. فهَلْ تُبْلِغَنّيها الجيادُ كأنّها

    أعِنّتُها من طولِ لَوكِ الشّكائم

    Will the steeds, then, bring me to her, seeming like

    Their own reins from long chewing on their bits?

  10. منَ الأعْوَجيّاتِ التي ترزُقُ الغِنى

    وتَضْمَنُ أقواتَ النُّسورِ القشاعم

    Among the A‘waj-bred mares that bestow wealth

    And ensure food for the aged vultures;

  11. من اللاّءِ هاجتْ للنّوى أرْيَحِيّتي

    وهزّتْ إلى فُسْطاط مصرَ قَوادمي

    Among those that stirred my eagerness for distant travel,

    And roused my foremost wing-feathers toward Fustat of Egypt.

  12. فشيَّعتُ جيشَ النصرِ تشييعَ مُزْمعٍ

    وَوَدّعْتُهُ توديعَ غيرِ مُصارم

    So I escorted the army of victory as one resolved to go,

    And bade it farewell as one not severing ties.

  13. وقد كدتُ لا ألوي على مَن تركتُهُ

    ولكنْ عَداني ما ثنى من عَزائمي

    I almost went on without looking back at those I had left,

    But what bent my resolves held me back.

  14. ولو أنّني استأثرْتُ بالإذنِ وحدَهُ

    لَسِرْتُ ولم أحْفِلْ بلومةِ لائم

    Had I secured permission alone for myself,

    I would have set out, heedless of a blamer's blame.

  15. طَرِبْتُ إلى يومٍ أُوَفّيه حَقَّهُ

    لِيعْلَمَ أهلُ الشعرِ كيف مُقاومي

    I yearned for a day to which I could give its due,

    So poets might learn how my rival fares.

  16. أصَبُّ إلى مِصْرٍ لِساعَةِ مَشْهَدٍ

    يَعَضُّ لها غُيّابُها بالأباهم

    I yearn for Egypt, for an hour at that spectacle,

    For which those absent bite their thumbs.

  17. فإنْ لم أُشاهِدْ يومَها مِلْءَ ناظري

    أُشاهِدْهُ ملءَ السمْع ملء الحيازم

    If I do not behold its day to the fullness of my gaze,

    I shall behold it filling my hearing, filling my breast.

  18. وقد صَوّرَتْ نفسي ليَ الفتحَ صورةً

    وشامتْهُ لي من غيرِ نظرةِ شائم

    And my soul has fashioned for me an image of the conquest,

    And glimpsed it for me without a watcher's glance.

  19. كذاك إذا قام الدليلُ لذي النهى

    على كوْنِ شيءٍ كان ضربةَ لازم

    Thus, when proof is established for one with understanding

    That a thing will be, it becomes an inescapable certainty.

  20. على أنّني قَضّيْتُ بعضَ مآربي

    وأقرَرتُ عيني بالجيوش الخَضارم

    Yet I did fulfill some of my aims,

    And gladdened my eye with the ocean-like armies.

  21. وآنَسْتُ من أنصارِ دولةِ هاشمٍ

    جَحاجِحَةً تَسْعَى لدولةِ هاشم

    And I beheld among the champions of Hashim's dynasty

    Mighty chieftains striving for Hashim's dynasty.

  22. ويممت في طرق الجهاد سبيلهم

    لأصلى كما يصلون لفح السمائم

    And I followed their way along the paths of jihad,

    To endure, as they endured, the scorching blast of hot winds.

  23. وفارقتُهم لا مؤثِراً لفراقهم

    ولا مستخفّاً بالحقوقِ اللوازم

    I parted from them, not preferring to leave them,

    Nor making light of binding duties.

  24. فلِلّهِ ما ضَمَّ السُّرادِقُ والتقَتْ

    عليه ظلالُ الخافقاتِ الحوائم

    So, by God, how wondrous what the pavilion enclosed, and what

    The shadows of fluttering, hovering banners gathered over!

  25. فثَمّ مصابيحُ الظّلام وشيعةُ ال

    إمامِ وأُسْدُ المأزِقِ المُتَلاحم

    There are lamps in the darkness, and the followers of the

    Imam, and lions of the closely locked fray.

  26. وفي الجيش مَلآنٌ به الجيشُ باسطٌ

    يَديهِ بقِسطاسٍ من العدل قائم

    In the army is one who fills the army, extending

    His hands, standing upright with a balance of justice.

  27. مُدبِّرُ حَربٍ لا بَخِيلٌ بنفسِهِ

    عليها ولا مُستأثِرٌ بالغنائِم

    A master of war, not sparing his own life

    In it, nor claiming the spoils for himself;

  28. ولا صارِفٌ راياتِهِ عن مُحارِبٍ

    ولا مُمْسِكٌ معروفَهُ عن مُسالم

    Nor turning his banners away from a foe,

    Nor withholding his kindness from one at peace.

  29. وللصّارخِ الملهوفِ أوّلُ ناصرٍ

    وللمُتْرَفِ الجبّارِ أوّلُ قاصم

    The first to aid the anguished man crying for help,

    And the first to break the pampered tyrant.

  30. فلا عبْقَرِيٌّ كان أو هو كائِنٌ

    فرَى فَريَهُ في المُعضِلاتِ العظائم

    No prodigy who ever was, or now is,

    Has achieved what he has in grave, intractable affairs.

  31. كذلك ما قاد الكتائبَ مثلُهُ

    لإنصافِ مظلومٍ ولا قمعِ ظالم

    Likewise, none like him has led battalions

    To give justice to the wronged or quell an oppressor.

  32. ولم يتَجَمّعْ لامرىءٍ كان قبلَهُ

    خِضابُ العَوالي واجتنابُ المآثم

    Nor were ever united in any man before him

    Blood-stained spearheads and the avoidance of sins.

  33. رِضاكَ ابنَ وحيِ اللّهِ عنه فإنّهُ

    رَعَى أولياءَ اللّهِ رعْيَ السوائم

    Favor him, O son of God's revelation, for he

    Tended God's friends as a shepherd tends grazing herds.

  34. إذا اختلفوا في الأمرِ ألّفَ بينهُم

    طبيبٌ بأدواءِ النفوسِ السّقائم

    When they differed over a matter, he reconciled them,

    A physician for the ailments of sick souls.

  35. فلا رأيُه في حالةٍ يَتْبَعُ الهوَى

    ولا سَمْعُهُ مُستَوْقِفٌ للنّمائم

    His judgment never follows desire in any circumstance,

    Nor does his ear linger over malicious gossip.

  36. جَزَتْهُ جَوازي الخيرِ عنهُمْ فإنّهُ

    سَقاهم بشُؤبوبٍ من العدِل ساجم

    May the rewards of goodness repay him on their behalf, for he

    Watered them with a streaming downpour of justice.

  37. فقد سارَ فيهِمْ سيرةً لم يسِرْ بها

    من النّاس إلاّ مثلُ كعبٍ وحاتم

    He followed among them a way that none had followed

    Among men, save the likes of Ka‘b and Hatim.

  38. أفاءَ عليهم ظِلَّ أيامكَ التي

    زُهِينَ بأيّامِ العُلى والمكارم

    He spread over them the shade of your days, which

    Were adorned with days of high glory and noble deeds.

  39. وما غال جيشَ الشرْق قبلَكَ غائلٌ

    ولاسِيّما بعدَ العَطايا الجسائم

    And no calamity assailed the army of the East before you,

    Especially after those immense gifts,

  40. وبعدَ صِلاتٍ ما رأى النّاسُ مثلَها

    ولا حُدِّثوا في السالفِ المُتقادم

    And after grants the like of which people had never seen

    Nor been told of in the distant past.

  41. أولئك قوْمٌ يَعْلَمُ اللّهُ أنهم

    قدِ اقتَسَموا الدّنيا اقتسامَ المغانم

    Those are people whom God knows

    To have divided the world as spoils are divided.

  42. فكم ألْفِ ألْفٍ قد غدَوا يطَأونها

    بأقْدامِهِمْ وطءَ الحصَى بالمناسِم

    So how many millions they have come to tread

    With their feet, as camel-pads tread gravel!

  43. ولو كنْتُ ممّن يَسْتريبُ عِيانَهُ

    ويُدرِكُهُ فيما رَأى وَهْمُ واهم

    Were I one who distrusted his own sight,

    And was overtaken in what he saw by a dreamer's delusion,

  44. لحدّثْتُ نفْسي أنّني كنتُ حالماً

    وإن لمْ أكُنْ فيما رأيتُ بحالم

    I would have told myself that I had been dreaming,

    Though I was no dreamer in what I saw.

  45. فلا يسْألَنّي مَن تخلَّفَ عَنهُمُ

    فيَقْرَعَ في آرائِه سِنَّ نادم

    Let no one who stayed behind them question me,

    Lest he gnash his teeth in regret over his decisions.

  46. لعَمْري همُ أنصارُ حقٍّ وكلُّهُمْ

    من المجْدِ في بيتٍ رفيعِ الدعائم

    By my life, they are champions of truth, and all of them

    Dwell in a house of glory with lofty pillars.

  47. لقد أظهروا من شكرِ نعمةِ ربِّهم

    وقائِدِهم ما لسْتُ عنه بنائم

    They have shown gratitude for the favor of their Lord

    And their commander—gratitude I did not sleep through.

  48. وإنّيَ قد حُمِّلْتُ منهم نَصائحاً

    كرائمَ تُهْدى عن نفوسٍ كرائم

    And I have been entrusted by them with sincere counsels,

    Noble ones offered from noble souls.

  49. إليكَ أميرَ المؤمنينَ حَمَلْتُها

    ودائعَ كالأموالِ تحتَ الخواتم

    To you, Commander of the Faithful, I have carried them,

    As trusts, like riches kept beneath seals.

  50. شَهِدْتُ بما أبْصَرتُه وعلِمْتُهُ

    شهادَةَ بَرٍّ لا شَهَادَةَ آثِم

    I testified to what I saw and knew,

    The testimony of a righteous man, not of a sinner.

  51. فقُمتُ بها عن ألسنِ القوم خُطبَةً

    إذا ذُكِرَتْ لم تُخزِهم في المواسم

    I delivered it, on behalf of the people's tongues, as an oration

    That, when recalled, will not shame them at great gatherings.