1. سرى مَوْهِناً طَيْفُ الخَيال المؤرِّقِ

    فهاج الهوى من مغرم القلب شَيِّقِ

    Late at night the phantom of a sleep-disturbing vision traveled,

    And stirred the passion of one love-stricken and yearning at heart.

  2. تخطَّى إلينا من بعيد وبينَنا

    مَهامِهُ مَوْماةٍ من الأرض سَمْلَقِ

    It crossed to us from far away, though between us lay

    Trackless desert wastes of flat, barren land.

  3. يجوب خُدارِيّاً كأنَّ نُجومَه

    ذُبالٌ يُذَكَّى في زُجاج مُعَلَّقِ

    It traverses a pitch-dark night, whose stars seem

    Wicks kept burning in suspended glass.

  4. أتى مضجعي والرَّكبُ حولي كأنَّهم

    سُكارى تساقَوْا من سُلاف مُعتَّقِ

    It came to my resting place, the caravan around me seeming

    Drunkards who had shared choice, aged wine.

  5. فخيَّل لي طيفُ البخيلة أَنّها

    أَلَمَّتْ برَحْلِي في الظَّلام المروّق

    So the phantom of the withholding beloved made me imagine that she

    Had visited my camp in darkness spread like a canopy.

  6. فأرَّقَني إِلمْامُها بي ولم يكن

    سِوى حُلُم من هائم القلب موثَقِ

    Her visit to me kept me awake, though it was

    Only a dream of one love-crazed at heart and bound,

  7. أِسيرِ صبَاباتٍ تعرَّقن لحمَه

    وأمسكن من أنفاسه بالمُخَنَّقِ

    A captive of longings that gnawed away his flesh

    And seized his breathing at the throat.

  8. إذا ما شكا العشّاقُ وجداً مبِّرحاً

    فكلُّ الذي يشكونه بعضُ ما لَقِي

    Whenever lovers complain of agonizing passion,

    All they complain of is only part of what he endured.

  9. على أنّه لولا الرَّجاءُ لِأَوْبَة

    تقرِّبُني من وصل سُعْداه ما بَقِي

    Yet, but for hope of a return

    Bringing me near union with his Su'da, he would not have survived.

  10. نظرت ولي إنسانُ عينٍ غزيرةٍ

    متى يَمْرِها بَرْحُ الصبَّابة يَغْرَقِ

    I looked, with a pupil in an eye overflowing with tears—

    Whenever longing's anguish milks it, that pupil drowns—

  11. إلى عَلَم من دار سُعْدَى فشاقني

    ومن يَرَ آثارَ الأحبّة يَشْتَقِ

    Toward a landmark of Su'da's home, and it stirred my longing;

    And whoever sees the traces of loved ones longs.

  12. فظَلْتُ كأنّي واقفاً عندَ رسمها

    طَعينٌ بمذروب الشَّباة مُذَلَّقِ

    So I stood beside the traces of her dwelling, as though I were

    Stabbed by a weapon with a keen, sharpened point.

  13. وقد كنت من قبل التَّفَرُّق باكياً

    لِعلمي بما لاقيت بعدَ التَّفرُّقِ

    And I had already been weeping before our separation,

    Knowing what I was to face after parting.

  14. وهل نافعي والبعدُ بيني وبينَها

    إِجالةُ دمع المُقلة المترقرقِ

    And can it help me, with distance between me and her,

    To set the eye's shimmering tears flowing?

  15. وأشعثَ مثلِ السَّيف قد مَنَّهُ السُّرَى

    وقطعُ الفيافي مُهْرَقاً بعدَ مُهْرَقِ

    And a disheveled man, like a sword, worn down by night travel

    And crossing deserts, sheetlike plain after sheetlike plain,

  16. من القوم مغلوب تَميل برأسه

    شُفافاتُ أَعجاز النُّعاس المرنِّقِ

    One of the company, overcome, his head made to nod by

    The thin dregs of the last, eye-clouding drowsiness—

  17. طَردت الكَرى عنه بمدح أخي العُلَى

    أبي الهَيْج ذي المجد التَّلِيد المُعَرَّقِ

    I drove sleep from him by praising the man of high honor,

    Abu al-Hayj, whose inherited glory is deep-rooted,

  18. حُسام الجُيوش عزّ دولة هاشم

    حليف السَّماح والنَّدَى المتدفِّقِ

    Sword of the armies, glory of Hashim's state,

    Ally of generosity and overflowing bounty.

  19. فتى مجدُه ينمي به خيرُ والد

    إلى شرف فوقَ السَّماء محلِّقِ

    A young man whom the best of fathers raises in glory

    To an honor soaring above the sky.

  20. على وجهه نورُ الهدى وبكفّه

    مفاتيحُ بابِ المبهم المتغلِّقِ

    Upon his face is the light of guidance, and in his palm

    Are keys to the door of what is baffling and sealed.

  21. إذا انفرجت أبوابُه خِلْت أنَّها

    تفرَّج عن وجه من البدر مُشرقِ

    When his doors open, you would think they

    Open upon a radiant face like the full moon.

  22. وإن ضاق أمر بالرِّجال توجَّهَتْ

    عزائكه فاستوسعت كلَّ ضيِّقِ

    And if a matter presses men into straits, toward it turn

    His resolves, making every strait spacious.

  23. ترى مالَه نَهْبَ العُفاة وعِرضَهُ

    يطاعن عنه بالقَنا كلُّ فَيْلَقِ

    You see his wealth the plunder of petitioners, while his honor

    Every host defends with lances.

  24. جَمُوع لأشتات المحامد كاسب

    لها أبداً من شمل مال مفرَّقِ

    He gathers scattered merits, earning

    Them always by dispersing the whole of his wealth.

  25. سعَى وهْوَ في حدّ الحَداثة حدّه

    له في مساعي كلّ سعي مشقَّقِ

    His keen vigor strove while he was still at youth's threshold,

    For him, through the branching paths of every endeavor.

  26. تلوح على أَعطافه سِمَةُ العلى

    كبرق الحَيا في عارض متألِقِ

    The mark of eminence gleams upon his shoulders,

    Like the lightning of rain in a flashing cloud.

  27. من النَّفَر الغُرّ الأُلى عمَّتِ الورى

    صنائعُهم في كلّ غرب ومشرقِ

    Of the illustrious company, those who have embraced humankind

    With their benefactions, in every west and east.

  28. إذا فخَروا لم يفخَروا بأُشابةٍ

    ولا نسبٍ في صالحي القوم مُلْصَقِ

    When they boast, they do not boast of mixed ancestry,

    Nor of a lineage attached to the tribe's worthy men.

  29. هم الْهامةُ العُلْيا ومن يُجْرِ غيرَهُمْ

    إلى غاية في حَلْبَة المجد يُسْبَقِ

    They are the loftiest head; whoever sets others racing

    Toward the finish in glory's racecourse will be outstripped.

  30. إذا ما هضابُ المجد سدّ طلوعها

    ولم يَرْقَها من سائر النّاس مُرْتَقِ

    When the hills of glory have their ascent barred,

    And no climber from the rest of mankind ascends them,

  31. توقَّلَ عبد الله فيها ولم يكن

    يزاحمه فيها امْرُؤٌ غيرُ أحمقِ

    Abd Allah scales them, and no one

    Competes with him there unless he is a fool.

  32. صفا لك يا ابنَ الحارثِ القَيْلِ في العلى

    مَشاربُ وِردٍ صفوُها لم يُرَنَّقِ

    Clear for you, son of al-Harith the king, in the realm of honor,

    Are watering places to drink from, their purity never muddied.

  33. متى رُمتُ في استغراق وصفك حَدَّه

    أبى العجز إلا أن يقول ليَ ارفُقِِ

    Whenever I seek the utmost in a full account of you,

    My inability insists on telling me, 'Go gently.'

  34. فلست وإِنْ أسهبتُ في القول بالغاً

    مَداه بنَعْتٍ أو بتحريرِ منطقِ

    For, even if I speak at length, I cannot reach

    Its full extent through description or polished speech.

  35. إلا إنّ أثوابَ المكارم فيكُمُ

    بَواقٍ على أحسابكم لم تُخَرَّقِ

    But truly the garments of noble deeds among you

    Remain upon your ancestral honors, never torn.

  36. يجدّدُها إيمانكم ويَزِيدُها

    بَقاكم على تجديدها فضلَ رَوْنَقِ

    Your faith renews them, and they gain

    Through your continued life, beyond renewal, an added luster.

  37. لك الخُلُقُ المحمودُ من غير كلفة

    وما خُلُقُ الإنسانِ مثلَ التَّخَلُّقِ

    You possess a praiseworthy nature without effort;

    And a person's nature is not the same as affected character.

  38. إذا ما نَداك الغَمْرُ نابَ عن الحَيا

    غَنِينا به عن ساكب الغيث مُغْدِقِ

    When your copious bounty takes the place of rain,

    Thanks to it, we need no cloud pouring abundant rain.

  39. فما مدحُكم ممّا أُعاب بقوله

    إذا أفسد الأقوالَ بعضُ التَّمَلُّقِ

    So praising you is not something I can be blamed for saying,

    When a little flattery corrupts utterances.

  40. ولكنْ بقول الحقّ أغربت فيكُمُ

    ومن يَتَوَخَّ الحَقَّ بالحَقِّ ينطِقِ

    But in speaking truth of you, I have spoken wonders;

    And whoever seeks the truth speaks truthfully.

  41. فإِن نِلْتُ ما أمَّلْتُه من وَلائكمْ

    ومدحِكُمُ يا ابنَ الكرام فأَخْلِقِ

    So if I gain what I hoped for from your friendship

    And praising you, son of noble men, how fitting!

  42. وما دونَ ما أبغي حجابٌ يصُدُّني

    برّدٍ ولا بابٍ عن الخير مُغْلَقِ

    And there is no curtain before what I seek to turn me away

    With refusal, nor any door shut against goodness.

  43. إذا أنا أحرزت المودَّةَ منكُمُ

    فحسبي بها إذْ كنتُ عينَ الموفَّقِ

    If I secure affection from you,

    That suffices me, for I would be truly blessed with success.