هل العارض الوسمي ابرق مرزما

فنمنم بالبطحاء ورداً منمنما

Has the autumn rain-cloud flashed, rumbling with thunder,

Then embroidered the sandy plain with finely patterned roses?

أم الابل الغرّ العشار من الحيا

حوامل قد القت من الحمل توأَما

Or have the white camels of rain, ten months pregnant,

Heavy with young, already delivered twins from their burden?

خليليَّ ان لم تقسما لي عبرة

منحتكما دمعاً وقلباً مقسما

My two friends, if you will not share a tear with me,

I have given you both tears and a heart torn apart.

كأني وقد بلّت ردائيَ عبرتي

تخوَّضت بحرا طافح اللج مفعما

It is as though—my tears having soaked my cloak—

I had waded into a sea, its depths overflowing, full to the brim.

اعالج همّاً في الفؤاد كأنما

اعالج صلا ينفث السمّ ارقما

I grapple with anguish in my heart, as though

I were grappling with a speckled viper spitting venom.

خليليَّ كم اطوي الضلوع على جوىً

واكتم سرّاً في الضمير مكتَّما

My two friends, how often I fold my ribs around burning grief,

And conceal a closely guarded secret in my inmost heart.

وكم ذا اشيم العين خلّب بارق

واسجر نعَّاباً من الطير اشأما

And how often I turn my eye toward a deceptive flash of lightning,

And drive off a most ill-omened, cawing bird.

فما بعد من حلّ الحمى ليَ حاجة

بربكما عوجا على ابرق الحمى

For after him who dwelt in the sanctuary, I have no desire left.

By the Lord of you both, turn aside to the sanctuary's rocky rise.

رموا من ذرى القصر المنيف معظما

فرُّضوا ضلوعاً من عظيم واعظما

They hurled a revered man from the heights of the lofty palace,

And shattered a great man's ribs and bones.

فما هلكه من قومه هلك واحدٍ

ولكنه بنيان قوم تهدّما

For his death among his people was not the death of one man;

Rather, it was a people's edifice falling to ruin.

هوى قمر الافلاك من آل غالب

الى الارض فارتجَّت له الارض والسما

The moon of the celestial spheres, from the house of Ghalib, fell

To earth, and earth and heaven trembled for him.

وابيض ما بين الاسنة خلته

اذا لاح بدراً والاسنة انجما

And a fair-skinned man amid the spearheads—I thought him,

When he shone forth, a full moon, and the spearheads stars.

فتى لا يبالي الموت والموت عابس

اذا قطّب الموت الزؤام تبسما

A young man heedless of death, even while death scowls;

When swift, deadly death knits its brows, he smiles.

اذا ما سطا والليث في صدر معرك

بملمومة لم تعرف الليث منهما

When he charges, with a lion at the forefront of battle,

Amid a massed host, you cannot tell which of the two is the lion.

يشاكله في كرّه وعراكه

وان كان احيا منه وجهاً وأكرما

He matches it in his charges and his combat,

Though he is more modest in countenance than it, and nobler.

ينحِّيه عن شم الدنية معطسٌ

يعدُّ أباء الضيم فرضا محتما

His nose keeps him from sniffing baseness,

Deeming refusal of humiliation a binding duty.

ولو لم ينادوه الأمان وسلّموا

لما كفَّ عن حرب الطغام وسلما

And had they not called out safe conduct to him and offered peace,

He would not have ceased fighting the rabble and surrendered.

لسامهم بالرمح طعناً مبرحاً

وحكَّم فيهم سيفه فتحكما

He would have dealt them grievous thrusts with his spear,

And made his sword their judge, so it would have ruled at will.

سأبكيك ما قد ذرَّ في الافق شارق

بعين اذا نهنهتها رعفت دما

I shall weep for you as long as the sun rises on the horizon,

With an eye that, whenever I restrain it, gushes blood.