1. أبِلاغور تشتاقُ تلك النجودا

    رَميتَ بقلبكَ مَرمىً بعيدا

    At Laghur, do you yearn for those highlands?

    You have cast your heart at a distant mark.

  2. وفَيتَ فكيف رأيتَ الوفاءَ

    يُذِلّ العزيزَ ويُضوِي الجليدا

    You kept faith; how did you find fidelity?

    It humbles the mighty and wastes the hardy.

  3. أفي كلّ دارٍ تمرُّ العهودُ

    عليك ولم تنس منها العهودا

    At every dwelling, do bygone days pass

    before you, while you have not forgotten their pledges?

  4. فؤادٌ أسيرٌ ولا يفتدي

    وجفنٌ قتيلُ البكا ليس يُودَى

    A captive heart that cannot ransom itself,

    and an eyelid slain by weeping, with no blood-price paid.

  5. سهرنا ببابلَ للنائمي

    ن عمّا نقاسي بنجدٍ رقودا

    We kept vigil in Babylon for those asleep,

    slumbering in Najd, heedless of what we suffer.

  6. من العربيّات شمسٌ تعودُ

    بأحرارِ فارسَ مثلي عبيدا

    Among Arab women is a sun that brings back

    free men of Persia like me as slaves.

  7. إذا قومُها افتخروا بالوفا

    ءِ والجود ظَلَّتْ ترى البخلَ جودا

    When her people boast of fidelity

    and generosity, she still deems stinginess generous.

  8. ولو أنهم يحفظون الجِوا

    رَ رَدُّو عليَّ فؤاداً طريدا

    And if they honored neighborly protection,

    they would restore my banished heart to me.

  9. نعم جَمَعَ اللّه يا من هَوِيتُ

    وصَدَّ عليك الهوى والصدودا

    Yes, God brought together, O you whom I loved,

    and sealed within you both love and rejection.

  10. رنَتْ عينُه ورأت مَقتَلي

    فوَّقها ورماني سديدا

    His eye gazed and saw my vulnerable spot;

    he nocked it and shot me unerringly.

  11. قلوبُ الغواني حديدٌ يقالُ

    وقلبك نارٌ تذيبُ الحديدا

    The hearts of beautiful women are iron, they say,

    but your heart is fire that melts iron.

  12. سأَجري مع الناس في شوطهم

    فَعالاً بغيضاً وقولاً وديدا

    I shall run with people in their race:

    hateful in deeds, affectionate in words.

  13. أُغَرّ بِبشْرِ أخي في اللقا

    ءِ لو تبعَ الغيثُ تلك الرعودا

    I would be taken in by my brother’s smile when we meet,

    if rain followed those peals of thunder.

  14. ويُعجبني الماء في وجهه

    وفي قلبه الغِلُّ يُذكِي وَقودا

    And the water in his face delights me,

    while rancor in his heart kindles fuel.

  15. مُريبون أوسعُهم حجّةً

    وعذراً معي مَن يكون الحسودا

    Dubious men—the one with the strongest case

    and excuse in my eyes is the envious one.

  16. وَحَأدِ فلستَ ترى المستري

    حَ في الناس من لا تراه الوحيدا

    And stand apart, for you will see no one at ease

    among people unless you see him alone.

  17. وحازت سجايا ابن عبد الرحيم

    ثناءً كسؤدُده لن يبيدا

    And the virtues of Ibn Abd al-Rahim have won

    praise that, like his eminence, will never perish,

  18. ومدحاً إذا مات مجدُ الرجا

    ل أعطى الذي سار فيه الخلودا

    and eulogy that, when the glory of men dies,

    grants immortality to the man it celebrates.

  19. تمهَّدَ من فارسٍ ذِروةً

    تُحَطُّ المجرّة عنها صعودا

    He made his abode on a summit of Persia,

    beneath which the Milky Way is brought low, even in ascent:

  20. مكانةَ لا تسنفزُّ العيو

    بُ فخراً ولا يغمِزُ اللؤمُ عودا

    a station where faults cannot unsettle

    pride, nor baseness find weakness in his stem.

  21. تشابَهَ عِرْقٌ وأغصانُهُ

    كما بدىءَ المجدُ فيهم أُعيدا

    The root and its branches are alike;

    as glory began among them, so it was renewed.

  22. فعُدَّ الكواكبَ منهم بنينَ

    وعُدَّ الأهاضيبَ منهم جدودا

    Count, then, the stars as their sons,

    and count the lofty hills as their grandfathers.

  23. سَعَدتُ بحبّك لو أنني

    لحظِّي منك رُزِقتُ السعودا

    I would have been happy in loving you, had I

    been granted good fortune in my portion from you.

  24. إلامَ توانٍ يُميتُ الوفاءَ

    وعندي ضمانٌ يَحُلُّ العقودا

    How long this delay that kills fidelity,

    when I hold a pledge that loosens bonds?

  25. ونقصُ اهتمامٍ أُرَى مُكْرَهاً

    لجودك من أجله مستزيدا

    And this neglect, that makes me seem, against my will,

    to seek more of your bounty because of it?

  26. أَما آن للعادة المرتضا

    ةِ من رحبِ صدرِك لي أن تعودا

    Is it not time for that welcome custom

    to return to me from the breadth of your heart?

  27. ولو لم يكن ماءُ وجهي يذوبُ

    بها ثمناً لم يَرُعنِي جمودا

    Were the water of my face not melting away

    as its price, its freezing would not alarm me.

  28. أمانٍ صدرنَ بِطاناً وعدنَ

    خمائصَ ممّا رَعَيْن الوعودا

    Hopes went forth full-bellied and returned

    hollow-bellied from grazing on promises.

  29. إلى اللّه محتَسباً عنده

    بعثتُ هوىً مات فيكم شهيدا

    To God, seeking recompense with Him,

    I sent a love that died among you as a martyr.

  30. على ذاك ما قصُرتْ دولة

    فطاولْ زمانَك بيضاً وسُودا

    For all that, may your ascendancy never be cut short;

    so outlast your age, through days white and black.

  31. ولا تبرحنَّ بشعري عليك

    عرائسُ يُجْلَيْنَ هِيفاً وغِيدا

    And may my verse never cease to present to you

    brides unveiled, slim-waisted and supple.

  32. تَخالُ اليمانيَّ حاك البرودَ

    إذا أنا قصَّدت منها القصيدا

    You would think the Yemeni had woven the striped cloaks,

    when I shape them into odes.

  33. ولي كلَّ عيدٍ بها وقفةٌ

    أناشدُ عَطفَك فيها نشيدا

    And each feast day I take my stand with them,

    appealing in song for your kindness.

  34. تهانٍ يَغصُّ التقاضي بها

    فهل أنا لا أتقاضاك عيدا

    Congratulations that choke the demand for payment—

    so may I not ask you for a feast-day gift?