1. وقاكِ اللهُ فاغرةَ الرجالِ

    وسلّمَ رضفتيكِ من الكَلالِ

    May God guard you from men's gaping maw,

    and keep your two kneecaps safe from weariness.

  2. ضَعي رِدفَ الفوارسِ عن يمينٍ

    وصادرةَ النعائمِ عن شِمالِ

    Set the Horsemen's Rear Star on your right,

    and the Departing Ostriches on your left.

  3. ولا تغرركِ في الآفاقِ بيضٌ

    تُعرضُ مثل ساطعةِ الذُّبالِ

    Do not let white lights on the horizons deceive you,

    appearing like blazing lamp-wicks.

  4. أمنتِ إذا لزمتِ بنات نَعشٍ

    وضَوءَ الفرقدينِ من الضّلالِ

    You are safe, if you keep to the Daughters of the Bier

    and the light of the Two Farqads, from losing your way.

  5. أطالتْ هذه الدّنيا صَداها

    ليُشْرَبَ ماءُ وجهي في السّؤالِ

    This world has prolonged its thirst,

    so that the water of my face is drunk through begging.

  6. وما أبليتُها في السّعي عَجزاً

    فتُجبرُني على أخذِ النّوالِ

    I have not shown it incapacity in my striving,

    that it should force me to accept largesse.

  7. وكلُّهُمُ يذمّ العيشَ فيها

    وما فيها لحُبِّ العيشِ قالِ

    All of them condemn living in it,

    yet none in it is averse to loving life.

  8. ألا لا تسقِني بِحِمامِ ماءٍ

    تلاطمُ فيهِ أكبادُ السِّجالِ

    Ah, do not give me a death-laden draught of water

    in which the bellies of great buckets collide.

  9. فلو أني أدلُّ على شفيقِ

    من السّعدين يعجبُهُ دَلالي

    If only I could presume upon a kindly one

    among the Two Auspicious Stars, who delighted in my fond familiarity,

  10. لألصَقَ نحرَهُ بلَبانِ نَحْري

    وطوّقَ باليمينِ على الشِّمالِ

    he would press his upper chest against the breast beneath my throat,

    and encircle me, right arm over left.

  11. إذا حُجِبَ الأقاربُ عن وسادي

    رأى من حالةِ العُوّادِ حالي

    If my relatives were barred from my pillow,

    he would discern my condition from the state of my sickbed visitors.

  12. ولكني شكوتُ إلى خَلِيٍّ

    إذا باليتُ أعرضَ لا يُبالي

    But I complained to an unconcerned one:

    when I care, he turns away, uncaring.

  13. بتاجِ الملةِ المنصورِ طالتْ

    يدُ الأيامِ في هامِ اللّيالي

    Through Taj al-Milla al-Mansur, long has grown

    the hand of days over the heads of nights.

  14. رأيتُ وقد سمعتُ بكل جيلٍ

    وكايلتُ الأسافلَ بالأعالي

    I have seen, and heard of every generation,

    and measured the lowly against the lofty;

  15. وذي القَرنين إذْ صَعِدَتْ وشَقّتْ

    كتائِبُه المخارمَ في الجِبالِ

    and Dhu al-Qarnayn, when they ascended and cleft—

    his battalions—the passes in the mountains;

  16. وأيّام الملوكِ وما أعيرتْ

    سوالفُها العواطلُ والحَوالي

    and the days of kings, and what was lent

    to their necks, unadorned and adorned.

  17. فلم أعلم كهمّكَ حين تبلى

    على البلوى عُصاراتُ الرِّجالِ

    Yet I have known no ambition like yours, when tested

    by affliction are the very essences of men.

  18. وقد عَرَفَ السوابقَ من رآها

    يجاهدُ ناصِلٌ منها وقالِ

    Those who saw the frontrunners have recognized them,

    as one breaking away from them and a hater strive in combat.

  19. وراجَمَها غَداةَ الوردِ عَودٌ

    يقطعُ غُلّةَ الهِيمِ النّهالِ

    And a seasoned veteran traded blows with them at morning watering,

    quenching the burning thirst of thirsty, thirst-crazed camels.

  20. يعلّلُ همَّه بوشيكِ عزمٍ

    إذا ما الهمّ عُلِّلَ بالمطالِ

    He sustains his ambition with swift resolve,

    when ambition is otherwise placated with procrastination.

  21. فَما عَبِثَ الرقادُ بمقلتيه

    وذلكَ من علاماتِ المَلالِ

    Sleep has not played with his eyes,

    for that is among the signs of weariness.

  22. ومن طلَبَ النجومَ أطالَ صبراً

    على بعد المسافةِ والمنالِ

    Whoever seeks the stars must long endure

    the great distance and the far-off goal.

  23. وتثمِرُ حاجةُ المحتاجِ نجْحاً

    إذا ما كانَ فيه ذا احتِيالِ

    The needy man's need bears the fruit of success

    if he is resourceful in pursuing it.

  24. فأرسلَها تَخَشْخَشُ في قَطاها

    حقيبةَ كلِّ فَفاضٍ مُزالِ

    So he sent them forth, rattling at their haunches,

    bearing behind them each ample, shifted mail-coat [text unclear].

  25. دُفِعنَ كأنّهنّ قِداحُ نبعٍ

    يُنزقها إلى الغاياتِ غالِ

    They were driven forth like arrow-shafts of nabʿ wood,

    sped toward the targets by a long-range archer,

  26. خَفيُّ الزّجرِ بينَ هَبٍ وهَال

    يقومُ دَرْأهُنّ من الخَبالِ

    whose urging is quiet, between 'Hab!' and 'Hal!',

    correcting their wayward course when they go awry.

  27. هَجمنَ على عميدِ بني عَديٍّ

    وبين جفونِه طيفُ الخَيالِ

    They stormed upon the chief of Banu ʿAdi,

    while a dream-phantom lingered between his eyelids.

  28. فأنكرَهُنّ غُفلٌ لم تَسمه

    بميسمها الصّوارمُ والعَوالي

    An unbranded man failed to recognize them, not yet marked

    by the branding iron of keen swords and lofty spears.

  29. تَسربلَ بُردةً فاختالَ فيها

    ولولا البُردُ لم يكُ ذا اختِيالِ

    He clothed himself in a mantle and strutted in it;

    but for the mantle, he would have had no swagger.

  30. وقد لقيتْ بَنو شيبانَ منها

    على راذانَ مُشْعَلَةَ الرِّعالِ

    Banu Shayban had already encountered from them

    at Radhan a force with squadrons widely scattered.

  31. نسائلُ مصعدَ الرّكبانِ عنها

    فَفاجأتِ الظّنونَ على اغتِيالِ

    We questioned the upcountry-bound riders about them,

    then they ambushed our expectations without warning.

  32. غريبةُ شِكّةٍ رَعَفَتْ عليهِم

    معارضةَ الأسنّةِ بالألآلِ

    An unfamiliar array of arms surged upon them,

    opposing spearheads with glittering spear-points.

  33. تأولَ فلَهُم في الحربِ غَدْراً

    إليكَ وأيُّ عذرٍ في القِتالِ

    He construed their rout in war as treachery

    laid at your door—and what excuse is there in battle?

  34. وأبعدُ تائبٍ ممّا جَناهُ

    فتىً خلطَ المَغارِزَ بالجِدالِ

    The penitent furthest from forsaking his offense

    is a youth who mixes spear-thrusts with disputation.

  35. حَوى غُررَ المَناقبِ أريحي

    كريمُ العفوِ محذور النكالِ

    An openhanded man has gathered the brightest virtues,

    generous in pardon, feared in punishment.

  36. عَزائمهُ الجوامحُ مسرجاتٌ

    وحبلُ الرّأي يُفْتَلُ بالفعالِ

    His unbridled resolutions stand saddled,

    and the rope of judgment is twisted through deeds.

  37. أعدَّ لِطارِقِ الحَدَثانِ جُرداً

    تَقَلقَلُ في الأعنّةِ كالسّعالي

    He has readied sleek horses for calamity's night visitor,

    tossing at their reins like she-ghouls,

  38. محزقةَ النّحورِ وكل نصلٍ

    شَواهُ اقينُ في الحجج الخَوالي

    tight-bound at the breast, and every blade

    the smith fired in the years long past [reading uncertain].

  39. كأنكَ حينَ تُوردُهُ نَجيعاً

    مزجتَ الخمرَ بالماءِ الزُّلالِ

    It is as though, when you bring it to drink fresh blood,

    you have mixed wine with clear, sweet water.

  40. إذا عجَمَ الجَماجمَ كل يومٍ

    فَما تُغني محادثةُ الصِّقالِ

    When it tests skulls day after day,

    what use is constantly renewing its polish?

  41. وحادرةَ الكُعوبِ مثقّفاتٍ

    تُزعْزَعُ مثلَ حبّاتِ الرّمالِ

    And straightened spears with thick joints,

    shaken like grains of sand;

  42. وكل كنانةٍ حَضَنت بَنيها

    ليومِ الرّوعِ أو يوم النّضالِ

    and every quiver that has cradled its sons

    for the day of terror or the day of archery:

  43. تعولُ حنيةً ألجَمتَ فَاها

    كما ألجَمتَ بغلَكَ بالقِيالِ

    each sustains a curved bow whose mouth you have bridled,

    as you bridled your mule with kings.

  44. سلاحُ مباشرٍ لا يَزْدَهيهِ

    سُمُوّ الخُنْزُوانةِ والجَلالِ

    The arms of a fighter who engages in person, not puffed up

    by towering arrogance and grandeur.

  45. لهُ أرجٌ بنفحتِ تُحَيّا

    عرانينُ المكارمِ والمَعالي

    He has a fragrance whose waft gives greeting

    to the noble noses of virtues and lofty deeds,

  46. تَنَفُّسَ روضةٍ خَطَرتْ عليها

    صَبَاً بينَ النُعامى والشَّمالي

    like the breath of a garden over which has drifted

    an east wind between the south wind and the north.