1. يا هَلْ شجتْكَ برودُ الرِّيق حَوَّاءُ

    ممشوقَةٌ غادَةٌ غرَّاءُ عذراءُ

    Ah, has a dark-lipped maiden with cool saliva stirred your sorrow?

    Tall and slender, tender, radiant, a virgin.

  2. وهْنانةٌ بَضَّةٌ رَقراقةٌ فُنُقٌ

    بَهنَانةٌ كاعِبٌ بلْهاءُ غيداءُ

    Languid, soft-skinned, delicate, pampered.

    Sweet-scented, budding-breasted, innocent, supple.

  3. خَمصانةٌ وَهَضِيمُ الكَشْح راغدةٌ

    هَرْكُولَةٌ غَضَّةٌ قَنْواءُ هيفَاءُ

    Slim-bellied, narrow-waisted, living at ease.

    Full-hipped, tender, aquiline-nosed, slender-waisted.

  4. غريرةٌ طَفْلةٌ بيضاء عَبْهَرةٌ

    زَهْراء عبقَرَةٌ ظمياء حَسْناءُ

    Innocent, delicate, fair, full-bodied.

    Radiant, exquisitely beautiful, dusky-lipped, lovely.

  5. غريرةٌ ناهِدٌ حَسناءُ بَهْكَنَةٌ

    خريدةٌ فاركٌ لفّاءُ دَرْماءُ

    Innocent, full-breasted, beautiful, soft and plump.

    A secluded maiden, averse to her husband, full-thighed, smooth-limbed.

  6. ممكورةٌ عاجرٌ وَرْكاءُ رَهْرهةٌ

    مسحورةٌ وحَصان الطبع زهراءُ

    Round-limbed, full-bellied, broad-hipped, tender and fair.

    Bewitched, chaste by nature, radiant.

  7. مومومَةٌ ورشوف برَّاقِ مَبْسَمها

    معشوقةٌ وأَنُوفُ الأنْفِ قَنْوَاءُ

    Fever-stricken, sweet-mouthed, her smiling mouth gleaming.

    Beloved, proud-nosed, aquiline.

  8. بِكرٌ عَرُوبٌ عيوب ما بها قَذَرٌ

    ربَحْلَةٌ غَضَّةٌ قَبَّاءُ حوراءُ

    A virgin, affectionate, fault-finding, with no impurity in her.

    Tall and full-bodied, tender, slim-waisted, dark-eyed.

  9. رَجراجةٌ ورداحٌ غير حنكلةٍ

    مُعَلّكٌ فرعُها عذراءُ بَلْهاءُ

    Soft-fleshed and full-hipped, neither squat nor ugly.

    Her tresses gum-dressed; a virgin, innocent.

  10. خَرعوبةٌ وأَناةٌ لا يُدَنِّسُها

    لَوْمٌ شَموعٌ بجمالُ الخلق أدماءُ

    Slender and supple, composed, unstained

    by blame; playful, beautiful in form, dusky.

  11. خودٌ رداحٌ هدىٌّ طفلة فَتَنَتْ

    عقلى فلم يَحْلُ لي عيشٌ ولا ماءُ

    A tender maiden, full-hipped, a bride, delicate; she bewitched

    my mind, so neither life nor water tasted sweet to me.

  12. سكْرَى نوارٌ عزوفٌ عَزَّ مطلبها

    بخيلةٌ باهِرٌ جَمالها لعساءُ

    Intoxicated with languor, chaste, aloof, hard to attain.

    Withholding, her beauty dazzling, her lips dusky.

  13. بِكْرٌ بكيتٌ على تَعْرِيقها سنةٌ

    هي الدَّواءُ ولكن هجرها داءُ

    A virgin, taciturn; a year upon her [unclear word].

    She is the cure, but her abandonment is an illness.

  14. لا غرو إن لم يُر لي بعد رؤيتها

    في القلب صادٌ ولا باءٌ ولا راءُ

    No wonder if, after seeing her, none can be found in me:

    no ṣād, no bāʾ, no rāʾ within the heart—no patience.

  15. خُوطيَّةُ القدِّ إن سلت غلائلها

    عن جسمها فَلَها في الليل لأْلاءُ

    Her figure a supple shoot; if she slips her thin robes

    from her body, she shines in the night.

  16. معسولةُ الريق مصقولٌ عوارضها

    كأنما ريقها شَهدٌ وصهباءُ

    Honey-sweet of saliva, her side teeth polished,

    as though her saliva were honey and tawny wine.

  17. تميلُ تيهاً كغُصْنٍ ناعم خَضِلٍ

    فتانةُ الطرفِ سكرى اللحظ نجلاءُ

    She sways proudly like a tender, lush branch.

    Enchanting of gaze, languid of glance, wide-eyed.

  18. وشقوتي أن برَت جسمي بجفوتها

    وهجرها ما لها في الدهر إرضاءُ

    And my misery is that she has wasted my body with her coldness

    and abandonment; never can she be appeased.

  19. ملولةٌ ما لها عهدٌ يدوم لها

    يوماً وليس لها عهدٌ وإيفاءُ

    Easily bored, she keeps no pledge that lasts

    a single day; she has neither constancy nor fulfillment.

  20. تكادُ من لينها تجرى إذا قعدت

    كأنما جسمها من لِينهِ الماءُ

    From her softness she almost flows when she sits,

    as though her body, in its softness, were water.

  21. بيضاء ريانةٌ من حسن صورتها

    قد اعترَى بعدها قلبي سويداءُ

    Fair and full of bloom; because of the beauty of her form,

    dark melancholy has seized my heart in her absence.

  22. تكاملَ الحسنُ في أوصافها فَزَهَتْ

    كأنها روضةٌ في الحُسن غَنَّاءُ

    Beauty was perfected in her qualities, and she shone,

    as though she were a luxuriant garden of beauty.

  23. أضراسُها لؤلؤٌ والدُّرُّ منطقها

    ووجهها قمرٌ والقدُّ سمراءُ

    Her molars are pearls, and pearls are her speech;

    her face is a moon, her figure a dusky spear.

  24. تاهَتْ على التيه من حسن يتيهُ بها

    ما لاق إلا بها مدحٌ وإطراءُ

    She outdoes pride in pride, with beauty that takes pride in her.

    Praise and eulogy befit her alone.

  25. صدَّت ولي كبدٌ حَرَّى تذوب حَوىً

    ودمْعَةٌ كرذاذ المُزْن حمراءُ

    She turned away; my burning liver melts with anguish,

    and a crimson tear is like the drizzle of rainclouds.

  26. عَلَّ الهُمامَ أبا الهيجاءِ ينجدُني

    إذا اعتراني من الأيام لأوراءُ

    May the valiant Abu al-Hayja come to my aid

    when the days afflict me with hardship.

  27. أيقنتُ أن ابن سلطانَ الإمام لنا

    بحرٌ طمَا ولأهل الأرض أَنواءُ

    I am certain that the son of Sultan, the Imam, is to us

    a sea in flood, and to earth's people, rain-bringing stars.

  28. يا من إذا ما التقى الجمعان ليثُ شَرىً

    ومن تمثَّلَ للأخلاق ما شاءوا

    O you who, when the two hosts meet, are a lion of Shara,

    and who embody whatever virtues they desire;

  29. ومَنْ تهلَّلَ للعافينَ منظرُهُ

    ومَنْ نداهُ حيّاً والكفُّ دَأْماءُ

    and whose countenance brightens for petitioners,

    and whose bounty is rain, whose palm a vast sea;

  30. ومَن يحُورُ على الأموال وهْو أخو

    عَذلٍ كأنُ صميم المالِ أعداءُ

    and who turn against riches, a target

    of reproach, as though wealth itself were enemies;

  31. ومَن إذا اشتدتِ الآراءُ خُلّصُها

    رأْىٌ له كَشَبَا الهندىِّ إمضاءُ

    and you who, when opinions clash, have their choicest:

    a judgment of yours, incisive as an Indian sword's edge;

  32. ومَن إذا عَصَفَتْ أيدي الزَّمان بنا

    بجوره فله جودٌ وإعطاءُ

    and who, when the hands of Time rage against us

    with its injustice, offer generosity and gifts;

  33. ومَنْ إذا اشتدَّتْ الهيجاءُ في رَهَج

    تجرى به في بحار الموتِ جرداءُ

    and whom, when battle grows fierce amid dust,

    a sleek mare carries through seas of death.

  34. موتٌ ترى الموتَ ينْبُو من مخافته

    مَلْكٌ له هِمَّةٌ في الملكِ قَعساءُ

    He is death: you see death recoil in fear of him.

    A king with unyielding resolve in kingship.

  35. تَراهُ جَذْلانَ في الشُّجعان قَسْوَرَةٌ

    ووجْهُهُ في لأَلاءٌ وأضواءُ

    You see him exultant among the brave—a lion,

    and his face amid brilliance and light.

  36. يُصَرِّفُ الأمر ما شاءَتْ إرادته

    ومُقْلَةُ الدَّهر عن حاليْه عمياءُ

    He directs affairs however his will desires,

    while Time's eye is blind to his two states.

  37. شهمُ الجَنانِ شجاعٌ لا يُؤْثَّرُ في

    سيما مُحيَّاهُ سَرَّاءٌ وضَرَّاءُ

    Noble-hearted, brave; no impression is made upon

    the features of his face by prosperity or adversity.

  38. أصلٌ ترعرعَ من جُرثومةٍ شمختْ

    فخرا على هامَةِ الجَوْزاءِ علْياءُ

    A root that flourished from a stock that towered,

    lofty with pride, above the crown of al-Jawza.

  39. يا مَنْ غدا كاسمِهِ يُدْعَى فإن له

    بِلا امْتِرَاءِ جميعَ الخلق أبناءُ

    O you who have come to be called as your name declares, for you have

    all creation as sons, without a doubt.