1. هَوَايَ لمحبوبي الأَولِ

    فقصِّر من العَذْلِ أَو طوِّلِ

    My love belongs to my first beloved.

    So shorten your reproach, or prolong it.

  2. وإِن كان بي صممُ العاشقين

    فَبِالعاذلين عَمَى العُذَّل

    And if I have the deafness of lovers,

    the reproachers have the blindness of faultfinders.

  3. خلا القلبُ لا السَّمعُ من عَذْلِهم

    فإِنيِّ الشَّجِيُّ وإِنِّ الخَلِي

    My heart, not my hearing, is free of their reproach;

    for I am lovesick—and carefree.

  4. وبي لا بهم رشأٌ عاطل

    ولكن حُلاَه له كالْحُلِي

    And I, not they, am smitten with an unadorned gazelle,

    but his charms are like jewelry for him.

  5. وفي غُصنه ثمَرُ المُجْتَني

    ومن وَجْهه قَمر المجْتَلِي

    And on his bough is fruit for the gatherer,

    and his face offers a moon to the beholder.

  6. أُسِرُّ الغرامَ ويُبدي الجمالَ

    فمِنيَّ الخفيُّ ومِنْه الجَلِي

    I conceal my passion, while he displays his beauty;

    so mine is the hidden, and his the manifest.

  7. ويَشكُو فُؤادِي إِلى طَرْفه

    كَشكْوى الجريحِ إِلى المَنْصُل

    And my heart complains to his gaze,

    like the wounded man's complaint to the blade.

  8. ولو كنت خالفتُ فِعْلَ الأَنامِ

    رميتُ إِلى سَهْمِه مُقْتَلي

    And had I acted unlike the rest of mankind,

    I would have aimed my vital spot at his arrow.

  9. وما خفتُ من أَسدٍ أَمرَه

    وقد مِتُّ من رشإِ أَكْحَل

    And I have not feared the might of a lion,

    yet a gazelle with kohl-dark eyes has been my death.

  10. وإِنِّي لأَذكرُ منه الرُّضابَ

    فأَشْرَقُ بالبارِد السلسل

    And indeed I recall his saliva,

    then choke on cool, smoothly flowing water.

  11. وإِنِّي لأَخْصَر من بَرْدِه

    فإِنِّي إِلى كَبِدي أَصْطَلي

    And indeed I shiver from its chill,

    so I turn to my liver for warmth.

  12. وما زال يجلو سنا وجهه

    فغمرةُ همِّيَ لا تَنْجَلي

    And he keeps unveiling his face's radiance,

    yet the flood of my grief does not clear.

  13. وقَلبيَ بالهمِّ من بَعدِه

    إِناءٌ ولكنَّه مُمْتلي

    And my heart, with grief since his departure,

    is a vessel—but a full one.

  14. وما يسلي قلبيَ عن همِّه

    سوى نائل الملكِ الأَفْضَلِ

    And nothing distracts my heart from its sorrow

    except the bounty of King al-Afdal.

  15. وليس يزول غرامي الطويلُ

    إِلاَّ بإِنعامِه الأَطْولِ

    And my long-lasting passion will not pass

    except through his still longer-lasting bounty.

  16. له الجودُ كالبأْسِ يومَ اللِّقَا

    فكلٌّ يلقَّب بالأَجْزَلِ

    His generosity is like his might on the day of battle;

    so each is hailed as the most prodigious.

  17. عليٌّ علا فوق أُفق السَّمَا

    وباتَ يرى النجم مِنْ أَسْفَل

    Ali rose above heaven's horizon,

    and spent the night seeing the stars beneath him.

  18. وليس يَعدُّ له منزلاً

    سِوَى مَعْرَكِ الْحَرْبِ مِنْ مَنْزِل

    And he counts no dwelling as his own,

    save, among dwellings, the field of battle.

  19. تملَّك طِفلاً كما فضْلُه

    تكمَّل والسنُّ لم يكْمُل

    He became king in childhood, just as his excellence

    reached perfection before he came of age.

  20. وقد نَشَأَ الدِّينُ لما نَشَا

    ووَلَّى به الكفرُ لمَّا وَلي

    And faith grew as he grew,

    and unbelief fled through him when he assumed rule.

  21. أَتى الفَتْح لمَّا أَتى سعدُه

    وأَقبلَ في عُمرِه المُقبل

    Victory came when his good fortune came,

    and advanced in his flourishing years.

  22. وذلَّت له الأُسْد في غَابِها

    فَظلَّت تصانِع بالأَشْبُل

    And the lions submitted to him in their thickets,

    so they kept appeasing him with their cubs.

  23. وجارَ كما أَنه قد أَجَارَ

    فضرَّ العدوَّ وسرَّ الولي

    And he oppressed, just as he granted refuge,

    harming the enemy and delighting the ally.

  24. تبذَّل في الله يَومَ الجِلادِ

    وكَانَ مِنَ النَّصْرِ في مَعْقِل

    He spent himself for God's sake on the day of combat,

    and was sheltered in a stronghold of victory.

  25. وقامَ من الدِّرع في مَنْهَلٍ

    ويُمناه بالسيفِ في جَدْول

    And he stood in a watering-place of armor,

    and his right hand, with the sword, was in a stream.

  26. وما قمرُ التِّمِّ في سعده

    سواه وقد لاح في القَسْطل

    And the full moon, at its most auspicious, is none

    other than him, gleaming amid battle dust.

  27. إِذا أَمَّ يوماً إِلى جَحْفَلٍ

    فلا تسأَلنَّ عن الجَحْفَل

    When one day he heads toward a mighty host,

    then do not ask about that host.

  28. تكون فوارسُه كالأُسودِ

    فترجعُ كالغَنمَ الهُمَّل

    Its horsemen are like lions,

    then return like untended sheep.

  29. يبدِّلُ أَعضاءَهم خَوْفُه

    فأَيديهمُ مِنهُ كالأَرْجُلِ

    Fear of him transforms their limbs,

    so their hands, because of him, are like feet.

  30. فيأَيُّها الملِك المرْتَقِي

    ويأَيُّها الملِكُ المعْتَلي

    So, O ascending king,

    and O exalted king,

  31. بكت مصر بالدَّمِ شوقاً إِليكَ

    وحنَّت إِلى حُكْمِكَ الأَعْدل

    Egypt has wept blood in longing for you,

    and yearned for your most just rule.

  32. تناديكَ عن كمدٍ مُسرفٍ

    وتدعُوكَ عن سَقَم مُعْضِل

    She calls to you out of overwhelming grief,

    and summons you out of an intractable illness.

  33. وكَمْ لَكَ فَضْلٌ علَى أَهْلِها

    فسمَّتك بالأَفْضَلِ المفْضَل

    And how many favors you have shown her people!

    So she named you al-Afdal, the favored one.

  34. وقد جئتُ منها رسولاً إِليكَ

    فكن بالرُّجوعِ لها مُرْسِلي

    And I have come from her as a messenger to you;

    so, by returning, be the one to send me back to her.

  35. فأَنتَ فتاها ونعِمْ الفَتى

    وأَيُّ فتىً كان إِلاَّ عَلي

    For you are her champion—what a splendid champion!

    And what champion was there but Ali?