1. نشدتُكِ يا بانةَ الأجرعِ

    متى رفعَ الحيُّ من لعلع

    I beseech you, O ban-tree of al-Ajra',

    when did the tribe depart from La'la'?

  2. وهل مرَّ قلبيَ في التابعي

    ن أم خارَ ضعفاً فلم يَتبَعِ

    And did my heart go among those who followed,

    or fail from weakness and not follow?

  3. لقد كان يُطمعني في المُقام

    ونيّتُه نيّةُ المزمعِ

    It had indeed encouraged me to hope it would stay,

    though its intention was that of one resolved to depart.

  4. وسِرْنا جميعاً وراء الحمُول

    ولكن رجعتُ ولم يرجِعِ

    We traveled together behind the laden camels,

    but I returned, and it did not return.

  5. فأنّتُه لكِ بين القلوب

    إذا اشتبهت أنة الموجَعِ

    Its moan will distinguish it for you among hearts,

    when the wounded one's moan is hard to recognize;

  6. وشكوى تدلُّ على سقمه

    فإن أنتِ لم تُبصري فاسمعي

    and its complaint reveals its sickness:

    if you cannot see, then listen.

  7. وأبرحُ من فقده أنّني

    أظنُّ الأراكةَ عنّي تعِي

    More grievous than losing it is that I

    suppose the arak-tree understands me.

  8. يلوم على وطني وافرُ ال

    جوانج ملتئمُ الأضلعِ

    He blames my longing for home, he whose

    breast is whole and whose ribs are sound.

  9. يبارح طيرَ النوى لا يفال

    بأبترَ منها ولا أبقعِ

    He takes ill omens from the birds of separation, finding no good omen

    in either their tailless or their pied birds.

  10. وقال الغرام مدىً لا يُرام

    فخذْ منه شيئاً وشيئاً دعِ

    And he said, 'Love is a goal beyond reach:

    take some of it, and leave some.

  11. تصبَّرْ على البين واجزعْ له

    ولو كنتُ أصبرُ لم أجزعِ

    Bear separation patiently, and grieve for it.'

    Had I been able to endure, I would not have grieved.

  12. وفي الركب سمراءُ من عامرٍ

    بغير القنا السُّمرِ لم تُمنَعِ

    Among the caravan is a dusky maiden of 'Amir,

    guarded by nothing but dusky spears.

  13. أغيلمةُ الحيِّ من دونها

    تجرُّ الذوابل أو تدَّعي

    The tribe's young lads stand before her,

    dragging their supple spears or asserting their claims.

  14. تطول عرانينُهم غَيْرةً

    إذا ما استعير اسمها وادُّعي

    Their noses rise proudly with jealousy

    whenever her name is borrowed and claimed.

  15. رجالٌ تقوم وراءَ النساء

    فيحمِي اللثامُ عن البُرقُعِ

    Men stand behind the women,

    and the face-wrap protects the veil.

  16. أدرْ يا نديميَ كأسَ المدام

    فكأسيَ بعدهُمُ مدمعي

    Pass round the wine-cup, my drinking companion:

    after them, my cup is my tearful eye.

  17. فإن كان حدُّك فيها الثلاثَ

    فإنيَ أشرب بالأربَعِ

    If your limit with it is three,

    I drink by fours.

  18. وزَورٍ ولسنا بمستيقظينَ

    ببطن العقيقِ ولا هُجَّعِ

    And a night-visitor came while we were neither awake

    in the bed of al-'Aqiq, nor asleep.

  19. تُرفِّعنا جاذباتُ السُّرى

    وتخفضنا فترةُ الوُقَّعِ

    The urges of night-travel lifted us,

    and the languor of nodding travelers lowered us.

  20. سَرَى يتبعُ النَّعفَ حتى أطابَ

    حثيثَ الترابِ على ينبُعِ

    It traveled by night along the foothill until it made pleasant

    the swift-stirred dust upon Yanbu'.

  21. فبلَّ الغليلَ ولم يُروِه

    وأعطَى القليلَ ولم يمنعِ

    It moistened my burning thirst without quenching it,

    and gave a little without withholding altogether.

  22. يدٌ نصعتْ لسوادِ الظلام

    ومن لك بالأسودِ الأنصعِ

    A hand shone white against the darkness's blackness:

    who can give you a more radiant black?

  23. تبَرَّعَ من حيث لم أحتسبْ

    بها وسقَى حيث لم أشرَعِ

    It bestowed freely from where I did not expect

    that gift, and watered me where I had not approached water.

  24. رأى قلقي تحتَ أرواقه

    فدلَّ الخيال على مضجعِي

    It saw my restlessness beneath its canopies

    and guided the apparition to my sleeping-place.

  25. نذيريَ من زمنٍ بالعتا

    ب عن خُلْقِه غيرِ مسترجعِ

    My warner against an age that no reproach

    can recall from its character,

  26. ومن حاكم جائرٍ طينُه

    على طابع الحق لم يُطبَعِ

    and against an unjust ruler whose clay

    was never molded upon truth's stamp.

  27. يميلُ على الحُمُر المقرَباتِ

    ويغضب للأسمرِ الأجدعِ

    It assails the favored red steeds

    and champions the dark, crop-nosed one.

  28. يكاثرني واحداً بالخطوب

    ويحملُ منّي على أَضلَعِ

    It overwhelms me, alone, with a multitude of calamities,

    and bears down on my weakest part.

  29. ويأكلني بتصاريفه

    فها أنا أفنَى ولم يشبعِ

    It devours me through its vicissitudes:

    here I am perishing, and it is still not sated.

  30. وكم قام بيني وبين الحظوظِ

    وقد بلغتني فقال ارجعي

    How often it stood between me and good fortune,

    which had reached me, and said, 'Go back!'

  31. ولاحظني في طريق العلا

    أمُرُّ على الجَدَدِ المهيعِ

    It noticed me on the road to eminence,

    traveling upon the level, open way,

  32. فقال لشيطانه قم إلي

    ه فاحبس به الركب أو جعجعِ

    and said to its devil, 'Rise against him:

    stop the caravan with him, or pen it in.'

  33. فلا هو في عَطَني ممسكي

    ولا تاركي سارحاً أرتعي

    It neither keeps me in my watering-place

    nor leaves me free to roam and graze.

  34. أبغداد حُلتِ فما أنتِ لي

    بدارِ مَصيفٍ ولا مَربعِ

    O Baghdad, you have changed: you are no longer for me

    a summer dwelling or a spring abode.

  35. صفِرتِ فما فيك من دَرَّةٍ

    يقوم بها رمقُ المرضَعِ

    You are emptied: no flow of milk remains in you

    to sustain a suckling infant's life.

  36. ودفَّعَت البَصرةُ المجدَ عن

    ك حتّى ضعُفتِ فلم تدفعي

    Basra thrust glory away from

    you, until you weakened and could not repel it.

  37. فمال إليها فشلَّ الصلي

    فَ عنكِ وملتفَتَ الأخدعِ

    So glory inclined toward Basra, withdrawing the side of its neck

    from you, and the curve of its neck-vein.

  38. فخلِّي لنا نحوها طرفَنا

    وطِيرِي لنا حَسداً أو قَعي

    Leave our gaze free to turn toward it,

    and fly in envy of us, or fall.

  39. إلى كم يُزخرَفُ لي جانباك

    خداعاً ولو شئتُ لم أُخدعِ

    How long shall your two sides be embellished for me

    deceitfully? Had I wished, I would not have been deceived.

  40. وكم أسترقّ على شاطئيك

    بمغربِ شمسك والمطلِعِ

    How often I am enslaved upon your shores

    by your sun's setting and rising!

  41. وتهتفُ دِجلةُ بي والفراتُ

    حذارِ من الآجن المنقعِ

    The Tigris and Euphrates call out to me:

    'Beware the stagnant, standing water!'

  42. وتربة أرضِك لا تسمحنَّ

    بحمرائها للثرى الأسفعِ

    And your land's soil says, 'Never surrender

    its red earth for dusky dust.'

  43. ويرتاح وجهي لبَرد النسيم

    ونارُ الخصاصةِ في أضلعي

    My face delights in the coolness of the breeze,

    while poverty's fire burns within my ribs.

  44. وما أنتِ إلا وميضُ السراب

    على صفحة البلد البلقعِ

    You are nothing but the flash of a mirage

    upon the surface of a barren land.

  45. وما ليَ أقمحُ مِلحَ المياه

    إذا كنتُ أشربُ من أدمعي

    Why should I gulp the salt of waters

    when I drink from my own tears?

  46. وهل قاتلي بلدٌ أن أقيم

    إذا خُطَّ في غيره مصرعي

    Can a land kill me if I remain,

    when my death is written elsewhere?

  47. حفِظتُكِ حتى لقد ضِعتُ فيكِ

    فخفَّض حبُّكِ من موضعي

    I kept faith with you until I was lost within you,

    and love of you lowered my standing.

  48. ولو كنتُ أنصفتُ نفسي وقد

    قنعتُ بأهلكِ لم أقنعِ

    Had I been fair to myself—and I had

    been content with your people—I would not have been content.

  49. غداً موعدُ البين ما بيننا

    فما أنتِ صانعة فاصنعي

    Tomorrow is the appointed parting between us:

    whatever you intend to do, do it.

  50. عسى اللّه يجعلها فُرقةً

    تعود بأكرم مستجمَعِ

    May God make it a separation

    that leads back to the noblest reunion.

  51. وتأوي لهذي الأماني العِطاشِ

    فتأوي إلى ذلك المشرعِ

    May it have compassion on these thirsty hopes,

    so they seek refuge at that watering-place.

  52. ويسعدها الحظّ من ظل ذي ال

    سعادات بالجانب الممرِعِ

    May fortune favor them beneath Dhu al-

    Sa'adat's shade, on the lush side.

  53. فيرعى الوزيرُ لها ابنُ الوزي

    رِ ما ضاع عندكِ لمّا رُعي

    May the minister, the minister's son, tend for them

    what was lost with you even when it was tended.

  54. سيعصِفُ حادي القوافي لها

    هُبوباً إلى الملِكِ الأروعِ

    The driver of rhymes will storm forth for them,

    rushing toward the awe-inspiring king.

  55. فتُنصَرُ بالمحتمَى المتَّقَى

    وتُجبَرُ بالرازق الموسِعِ

    They will be aided by him who grants refuge and is feared,

    and restored by the lavish provider.

  56. فتىً عشق المجدَ لما سَلاَ

    وعاش به الفضلُ لما نُعِي

    A youth who loved glory when love for it had faded,

    through whom excellence lived when it had been mourned as dead.

  57. وجمَّع من فِرَقِ المكرماتِ

    بدائدَ لولاه لم تُجمَعِ

    He gathered from the scattered ranks of noble deeds

    fragments that, but for him, would never have been gathered.

  58. غلامٌ أنافَ بآرائه

    على كلّ كهلٍ ومستجمِعِ

    A youth whose judgments raised him

    above every elder and fully mature man.

  59. ومدّ بباع ابن ستين وهو

    بباع ابن عشرين لم يذرَعِ

    He stretched with the reach of a sixty-year-old, though

    he had not yet measured out a twenty-year-old's reach.

  60. ودلّ بمعجزِ آياتِهِ

    على قدرة الخالق المبدعِ

    Through the miraculous nature of his signs, he demonstrated

    the power of the inventive Creator.

  61. نوافرُ قرّت له لم تجزْ

    بظنٍّ ولم تمش في مطمعِ

    Elusive thoughts settled for him: they did not stray

    into conjecture, nor venture into mere hope.

  62. رأى اللّهُ تكليفَه شرعَها

    فقال له بهما فاصدَعِ

    God saw his undertaking of their law

    and said to him, 'Proclaim them both openly.'

  63. سقى كلّ ضدّين ماء الوفاقِ

    بكأسِ سياسته المترَعِ

    He gave every pair of opposites the water of concord

    from the brimming cup of his governance.

  64. فخيسُ الأسودِ كناسُ الظبا

    ء والماءُ والنارُ في موضعِ

    The lions' thicket became the gazelles' covert,

    and water and fire shared one place.

  65. وجمَّاء من سَرح أمّ اليتي

    م تنهَلُ والذئبَ من مكَرعِ

    A hornless ewe from an orphan mother's flock

    drinks with the wolf from one watering-hole.

  66. وسدّ بهيبته في الصدور

    مسَدَّ الظُّبا والقنا الشُّرَّعِ

    With his awe he filled within breasts

    the place of sword-blades and leveled spears.

  67. فلو لطم الليثَ لم يفترِسْ

    ولو وطِىء الصِّلَّ لم يَلسَعِ

    If he slapped the lion, it would not attack;

    if he trod upon the viper, it would not sting.

  68. سل البَصرةَ اليومَ من ذا دعا

    لها وبأيّ دُعاءٍ دُعِي

    Ask Basra today who called

    on its behalf, and with what summons he was called.

  69. وكيف غدا جَنّةً صيفُها

    وكانت جحيماً على المرتعِ

    And how its summer became a paradise,

    when it had been a hell over its grazing-grounds.

  70. ومن ردّها وهي أمّ البلا

    د أُنساً على وحشة الأربُعِ

    And who restored it, mother of cities,

    as comfort amid the desolation of dwellings,

  71. محرَّمة أن يحومَ الزمانُ

    عليها بأحداثه الوُقَّعِ

    forbidden to time, that it should circle

    over it with its crushing calamities.

  72. وكانت روائعُ أخبارها

    متى يَروِها ناقلٌ يُفزِعِ

    Once the horrors of its reports,

    whenever a teller related them, struck fear:

  73. طلولاً تَناعبُ غربانُها

    إذا الديك أَصبحَ لم يَصْقَعِ

    ruins whose ravens croaked,

    where, when morning came, no cock crowed.

  74. يرى المرء من دمه في قميصِ

    أخيه صبائغَ لم تنصَعِ

    A man saw his own blood upon the shirt

    of his brother, in stains that did not turn white.

  75. فكم رِحمٍ ثَمَّ مقطوعةٍ

    ولو ربَّها الحزمُ لم تُقطَعِ

    How many ties of kinship were severed there!

    Had resolve tended them, they would not have been cut.

  76. ومن طامعٍ في الموَلَّى عليه

    ولو سيس بالعدل لم يطمَعِ

    And many a man coveted his appointed ruler's power,

    who, if governed justly, would not have coveted it.

  77. رأى اللّهُ ضيعتها في البلاد

    فأودعَها خيرَ مستودَعِ

    God saw its neglect among the lands

    and entrusted it to the best custodian.

  78. وردّ لها الشمسَ بعد الغروبِ

    بغيرِ عليٍّ ولا يُوشَعِ

    He restored its sun after sunset,

    without 'Ali or Joshua.

  79. فبلِّغ ربيعةَ إن جئتَها

    وسعداً وأسمعْ بني مِسْمَعِ

    Inform Rabi'ah, if you visit it,

    and Sa'd, and make the sons of Misma' hear:

  80. ضعي أهَبَ الحرب واستسلمي

    لمالكِ أمرك واستضرعي

    'Lay down your war gear and submit

    to the master of your affairs, and supplicate.

  81. ويكفيكِ منتقِعاً في الحدي

    د أن تأبُري النخلَ أو تزرعي

    Instead of being steeped in iron, let it suffice you

    to pollinate palms or sow.

  82. فقد منع السَّرحَ ذو لِبدتين

    متى ما يُهَجْهَجْ به يُوقعِ

    The lord of two mane-tufts has protected the flock:

    whenever cries are raised against him, he strikes.

  83. وسَدّت عليك مَجازَ الطري

    ق مسحبةُ الأرقمِ الأدلعِ

    Your passage along the road is blocked

    by the trail of the tongue-lolling speckled serpent.'

  84. وضمَّ عراقَكِ من فارس

    شريفُ المغارس والمَفرَعِ

    Your Iraq has been gathered in by one from Persia,

    noble in rootstock and branching lineage.

  85. بطيء عن السوء ما لم يُهَجْ

    فإن ير مَطعمةً يُسرعِ

    Slow to do harm unless provoked,

    but if he sees prey, he hastens.

  86. من القوم تعصِف أقلامُهم

    لواعب بالأسلِ الزعزعِ

    Of a people whose pens storm forth,

    toying with quivering spearheads.

  87. وتقضي على خرزات الملوك

    عمائمُهم وهي لم توضَعِ

    Their turbans pass judgment upon kings' vertebrae

    without even being taken off.

  88. ويقعَص بالبطل المستميت

    لسانُ خطيبهم المِصقعِ

    The death-defying champion is struck dead

    by the tongue of their eloquent orator.

  89. إذا ادّرعوا الرَّقْمَ والعبقرِيَّ

    سطَوا بالترائك والأدرعِ

    When they clothe themselves in figured cloth and fine brocade,

    they overpower helmets and coats of mail.

  90. لهم في الوزارة ما للبرو

    ج في الأفْق مِن مطلِعٍ مطلِعِ

    They possess in the vizierate what the constellations

    have in the sky: rising-place upon rising-place.

  91. مواريثُ مذ لبسوا فخرَها

    على أوّل الدهر لم يُنزَعِ

    Inherited honors: since they put on its glory,

    at time's beginning, it has never been stripped away.

  92. هُمُ ومنابتُ هذي الملوك

    من النبع والناسُ من خِروعِ

    They and the rootstocks of these kings

    are of nab'-wood; other people are of castor-wood.

  93. تصلصلَ من طينها طينُهُم

    كما الماءُ والماءُ من مَنبَعِ

    Their clay rang from the clay of those kings,

    like water and water from one spring.

  94. قُرِنتم بهم في شبابِ الزمانِ

    قرينةَ عادٍ إلى تُبَّعِ

    You were paired with them in time's youth,

    as 'Ad was paired with Tubba'.

  95. فمن قال آلُ بويه الملوكُ

    هُمُ آلُ عباسَ لم يُدفَعِ

    Whoever says, 'The kings of the house of Buwaih

    are the house of 'Abbas,' will not be contradicted.

  96. تنوط وزارتُكم ملكَهم

    مناطَ المعاصمِ بالأذرعِ

    Your vizierate binds their kingship

    as wrists are bound to arms.

  97. فيا ابن الوزيرين جدّاً أباً

    وأثلِثْ إذا شئت أو أربِعِ

    O son of two ministers, grandfather and father,

    make them three, if you wish, or four,

  98. إلى حيث لا يجِدُ الناسبون

    وراءَ المجرّة من مَرفعِ

    up to where genealogists can find

    no higher place beyond the Milky Way.

  99. بحقٍّ مكانُك من صدرها

    وكلّهُمُ غاصبٌ مدّعي

    Rightfully, yours is its foremost seat,

    while every one of them is a usurper and pretender.

  100. وإني لأعجبُ من عاجزٍ

    متى تتصدَّ لها يَطمعِ

    I marvel at an incapable man

    who hopes for it when you present yourself,

  101. ومن مستطيلٍ لها عرقُهُ

    إلى غير بيتك لم ينزِعِ

    and at one who reaches arrogantly for it, whose stock

    has never traced back to any house but yours.

  102. يمدّ لها يدَه أجذَماً

    وأين السّوارُ من الأقطعِ

    He stretches his hand toward it, though maimed:

    what has a bracelet to do with an amputated wrist?

  103. أيا حاميَ الذود ما للعرا

    ق أُهمِلَ بعضٌ وبعضٌ رُعي

    O protector of the herd, what ails Iraq,

    that part is neglected and part is tended?

  104. فمن جانبٍ بلدٌ جُرحُه

    بعدلك أُلحمَ لمّا رُعي

    On one side, a city whose wound

    your justice closed when it was tended;

  105. ومن جانبٍ بلدٌ لا يرى

    لخُرق الصِّبا فيه من مَرتَعِ

    on the other, a city that sees no

    pasture in itself for youth's recklessness.

  106. وما مِثلُ شمسك ممّا تَخُصُّ

    فَعُمَّ البلادَ بها واجمعِ

    Your sun is not a thing to reserve for some alone:

    let it embrace the lands and bring them together.

  107. وبغداد دارُ حقوقٍ عليك

    متى ترعَ أيسرها تقنعِ

    Baghdad is an abode of claims upon you:

    tend the least of them, and it will be content.

  108. فسلطانُ عزّك لم يقهر ال

    عدا في سراها ولم يقمعِ

    For the dominion of your might has not conquered the

    foes in its night-journeys, nor subdued them.

  109. وجعفرُ ما جعفر المكرما

    تِ لم يسلُ عنها ولم ينزِعِ

    And Ja'far—what a Ja'far of noble deeds!—

    neither ceased to love it nor withdrew.

  110. وكم جذع منك أقرحته

    ومُثَّغرٍ بعد لم يجذَعِ

    How many a young colt of yours it made full-grown,

    and a teething youngster not yet a colt.

  111. وأنت وإن كنتَ جنِّبتها

    فلم ترعَ فيها ولم ترتعِ

    Though you were kept away from it,

    and neither tended there nor grazed,

  112. فعندك منها الذي لا يُرَى

    محاسنُ تبصَرُ بالمَسمَعِ

    you know what in it cannot be seen:

    beauties beheld through hearing.

  113. فجرِّدْ لها عزمةً كالحسام

    متى ما يجِدْ مفصِلاً يقطعِ

    Draw forth for it a resolve like a sharp sword,

    which cuts whenever it finds a joint.

  114. فإن الطريق إليها علي

    ك غيرُ مُشيك ولا مُسبِعِ

    The road to it, for you,

    is neither thorn-strewn nor beast-infested.

  115. متى رمتها فهي من راحتي

    ك بين الرواجب والأشجعِ

    Whenever you seek it, it lies in your two palms,

    between the finger-joints and the hand's tendon.

  116. بنا ظمأٌ إن جفانا حياك

    وواصلنا الغيث لم ينقعِ

    We thirst: if your rain shuns us,

    even if downpours visit us, our thirst is not quenched.

  117. فغوثاً فما زلت غوث اللهيف

    متى يدع مستصرخاً تسمعِ

    Help, then! You have always rescued the distressed:

    whenever one calls crying for help, you hear.

  118. ولو لم يكن غير أني أراك

    فيفزع فضلي إلى مَفزَعِ

    Even were there nothing but my seeing you,

    my merit would find a shelter to flee to.

  119. فإن يجمع اللّه هذا الثناءَ

    وتلك المكارمَ في مجمعِ

    Then, if God brings this praise

    and those noble deeds together in one gathering—

  120. وإن لم أسِرْ فانتشلني إليك

    وقُدْني بحبل الثنا أتبعِ

    if I have not set forth, lift me toward you,

    and lead me by praise's cord: I will follow.

  121. ورِشْ بالنوال جَناحي أطرْ

    وبالإذنِ في مَهَلي أُسرِعِ

    Feather my wing with bounty: I will fly;

    with permission, I will hasten from my leisurely pace.

  122. فما تطرح الأرضُ وفداً إلي

    ك أحسنَ عندك من موقعي

    No land sends a delegation to you

    that stands better with you than I would.

  123. ولو ساعد الشوقَ طَولٌ إليك

    طلعتُ به خيرَ مستطلَعِ

    Had the means to reach you aided my longing,

    I would have come to you, the best place of arrival.

  124. فغيبةُ مثليَ عن موضعٍ

    وإن عزَّ عمرٌ على الموضعِ

    The absence of one like me from a place,

    however precious, is a lifetime to that place.

  125. وإني لقعدةُ مستفرِهٍ

    بصيرٍ ومتعةُ مستمتِعِ

    I am the mount of a chooser of fine steeds,

    discerning, and the delight of one who seeks delight.

  126. شهابٌ على أنديات الملوك

    متى يُقتبَسْ بالندى يلمعِ

    A flame above the assemblies of kings:

    whenever kindled by generosity, it shines.

  127. وإن لم يبِنْ شبحٌ ذابلٌ

    على طودِ ملككم الأتلعِ

    Though a frail figure may not stand out

    against the lofty mountain of your kingdom,

  128. فإن القُلامةَ في ضعفها

    تعان بها بطشةُ الإصبعِ

    even a nail-paring, for all its weakness,

    helps the finger's grip.

  129. لكم في يدي وفمي صارمانِ

    بصيرانِ في القول بالمقطعِ

    For you, in my hand and mouth, are two sharp swords,

    both discerning where speech should cut.

  130. ومن دون ذلك رأيٌ يسد

    دُ ناحيةَ الحادثِ المُفظِعِ

    Beyond that is a judgment that sets right

    the course of a terrifying event.

  131. ومفضَى الأمانة مني إلى

    صفاةٍ من الحفظِ لم تُقرَعِ

    Trust, with me, comes to rest upon

    a rock of safekeeping that has never been struck.

  132. فإما علمت وإلا الخبيرُ

    فسلْهُ فمثليَ لا يدّعي

    If you know, so be it; if not, there is the informed man:

    ask him, for one like me does not make false claims.

  133. بقيت لمعوز هذا الكلام

    متى أدعُ عاصيَهُ يَبخَعِ

    I remain for the intractable reaches of this speech:

    whenever I summon its unruly part, it submits.

  134. وحيداً أُحيَّا بها إن حضرتُ

    مُدحتُ وإن غبتُ لم أُقذعِ

    Singled out, I am greeted with it when I appear;

    I am praised, and when absent am not reviled.

  135. وهل نافعي ذاك بل ليت لا

    يضرّ إذا هو لم ينفعِ

    Yet does that profit me? Rather, I wish it would not

    harm me, if it cannot benefit me.

  136. سمعتُ الكثير وما إن سمعتُ

    بأكسدَ منّي ولا أضيعِ

    I have heard much, yet never heard

    of anyone less sought than I, or more neglected.

  137. لعلك تأوي لها قصةً

    إلى غير بابك لم تُرفَعِ

    Perhaps you will have compassion on this tale,

    which has not been presented at any door but yours.

  138. ومَن كنتَ حاكمَ أيّامه

    متى يطلب النَّصفَ لا يُمنعِ

    Whoever has you as the arbiter of his days

    will not be denied when he seeks fairness.

  139. متى تصطنعني تجد ما اقترحت

    مكان اغتراسك والمصنَعِ

    If you make me your protégé, you will find what you sought

    where you plant and fashion your work.

  140. وعذراء سقتُ لكم بُضعَها

    ولولا رجاؤك لم تُبضعِ

    And a virgin whose maidenhood I brought to you,

    who, but for hope in you, would never have been given away.

  141. من المالكات قلوبَ الملو

    ك لم تتذلّل ولم تخشعِ

    One of those who possess kings' hearts,

    she neither humbled herself nor submitted meekly.

  142. تصلّي القوافي إلى وجهها

    فمن ساجداتٍ ومن رُكَّعِ

    The rhymes pray toward her face,

    some prostrate, and some bowing.

  143. أقمتُ وقدّمتُها رائداً

    فشفِّع وسيلتها شفِّعِ

    I stayed behind and sent her ahead as a scout:

    accept her intercession—accept it!

  144. عصتني الحظوظُ فيا بدر كن

    دليلاً على حظّيَ الطيِّعِ

    Fortunes disobeyed me; O Badr, be

    a guide to the fortune that will obey me.

  145. فلا غرو أن أقهرَ الحادثاتِ

    ورأيُك لي ولساني معي

    No wonder, then, if I conquer calamities,

    with your counsel for me and my tongue beside me.