1. نفَّرها عن وِردها بحاجرِ

    شوقٌ يعوقُ الماءَ في الحناجرِ

    Longing frightened them from their watering at Hajir,

    holding back the water in their throats.

  2. وردّها على الطَّوَى سواغباً

    ذلُّ الغريب وحنينُ الزاجرِ

    A stranger's humiliation drove them back to hunger, famished,

    and the camel-driver's plaintive yearning.

  3. فطفِقتْ تُقنعُها جِرَّاتُها

    من شِبَع دانٍ ورِيٍّ حاضرِ

    So their mouthfuls of cud began to content them

    instead of ready fullness and water close at hand.

  4. يكسَعها الترابُ في أعطافها

    تساند الأعضاد بالكراكرِ

    The dust buffets them along their flanks,

    as they brace their forelegs on their calloused breast-pads.

  5. ذاك على سكونِ من أقلقها

    وأنها وافيةٌ لغادرِ

    All this while those who unsettled them remain at ease,

    and they keep faith with a betrayer.

  6. مغرورةُ الأعينِ من أحبابها

    بخالبِ الإيماضِ غيرِ ماطرِ

    Their eyes are deceived by their beloveds

    through false lightning that brings no rain.

  7. تقابل المذمومَ من عهودهم

    بكلّ قلبٍ ولسانٍ شاكرِ

    They answer what is blameworthy in their pledges

    with every grateful heart and tongue.

  8. وهي بأرماح الملال والقِلَى

    مطرودةٌ منخوسةُ الدوابرِ

    Yet by the spears of weariness and hatred

    they are driven off, their hindquarters goaded.

  9. تشكو إليهم غدرَهم كما اشتكت

    عقيرةٌ إلى شفارِ العاقرِ

    They complain to them of their treachery, as once complained

    a hamstrung beast to its slaughterer's blades.

  10. قد وقَروا عنها وكانت مدّةً

    تُسمِعُ منهم كلَّ سمعٍ واقرِ

    Those men have grown deaf to them, though for a time

    they made every deaf ear among them hear.

  11. وكلّما ليموا على جفائها

    تواكلوا فيها إلى المعاذرِ

    Whenever those men were reproached for neglecting them,

    they shifted responsibility for them onto excuses.

  12. فليت شعرَ جدبها إذ صوّحوا

    أين الخصيبُ الكَثُّ في المشافرِ

    If only their drought could tell, when those men withered,

    where the lush, thick growth at their lips was!

  13. وهبهمُ عن السيول عَجَزوا

    فأين بالقاطرِ بعد القاطرِ

    Grant that they could not supply torrents—

    what of one falling drop after another?

  14. كانت لها واسعةً ركابُهم

    وكيلُهم في الحظّ كيلُ الخاسرِ

    Their mounts once had ample room for them,

    while their measure of fortune was a loser's measure.

  15. ففيم ضاقوا فتناسَوا حقَّها

    والدهرُ يُعطيهم بسهمٍ وافرِ

    Why, then, did they grow straitened and forget their due,

    when time grants them an ample share?

  16. كانت وهم في طيّ أغمادِهمُ

    لم تتبرَّزهم يمينُ شاهرِ

    When those men still lay folded in their scabbards,

    not yet drawn by an unsheather's right hand,

  17. وافرةً أقسامُها فما لها

    لم تُقتضَب من هذه المناشرِ

    their shares were ample; why, then, were they

    not carved out from these saws?

  18. هل ذَخَرتْهم دون من فوق الثرى

    إلا ليومِ النفع بالذخائرِ

    Did they reserve those men above everyone on earth

    except for the day when stored treasures prove useful?

  19. لو شاوروا مجدَ ابن أيوبَ لما

    فاتتهُمُ حزَامةُ المشاورِ

    Had they consulted the glory of Ibn Ayyub,

    they would not have missed a counselor's sound judgment.

  20. إذن لقد تعلَّموا ولُقِّنوا

    رعيَ الحقوقِ منه والأواصرِ

    Then they would surely have learned and been taught

    by him to guard rights and bonds of kinship.

  21. للّه راعٍ منهمُ مستيقظٌ

    لم يتظلَّم طولَ ليلِ الساهرِ

    God be praised for a wakeful guardian among them,

    who never complained of a sleepless man's long night.

  22. يرى الصباحَ كلُّ من توقظه ال

    عليا وما لليله من آخرِ

    Everyone sees dawn who is roused by the

    heights; yet his night has no end.

  23. جرى إلى غايته فنالها

    مخاطراً والسبقُ للمخاطرِ

    He raced toward his goal and attained it,

    taking risks—and precedence belongs to the risk-taker.

  24. ما برِحتْ تبعثُه همّتُه

    في طلب الجسائم الكبائرِ

    His ambition never ceased to spur him

    in pursuit of great, momentous undertakings,

  25. حتى أناف آخذاً بحقّه

    من العلا أخذَ العزيز القادرِ

    until he towered, claiming his rightful share

    of eminence with the grasp of one mighty and able.

  26. رَدّ عميدُ الرؤساء دارسَ ال

    مجد وأحيا كلَّ فضلٍ داثرِ

    ʿAmid al-Ruʾasa restored the faded

    glory and revived every vanished excellence.

  27. حلَّق حتى اشتط في سمائه

    بحاكمٍ في نفسه وآمرِ

    He soared until he rose far into his sky,

    with a ruler and commander within himself.

  28. وبَعدُ في الغيب له بقيَّةٌ

    ناطقةُ الأنباءِ والبشائرِ

    Still a portion awaits him in the unseen,

    eloquent with news and glad tidings.

  29. ولم يقصِّر قومُه عن سودَدٍ

    يُخبَرُ عن أوّلهم بالآخرِ

    His people did not fall short of lordship;

    their first are known through their last.

  30. ولا استنزلُّوا عن مقامِ شرفٍ

    توارثوه كابراً عن كابر

    Nor were they brought down from a station of honor

    inherited from one great forebear after another.

  31. لكنّه زاد بنفسٍ فَضَلَت

    فضلَ يَدِ الذارعِ شبرَ الشابرِ

    But he added to it through a soul that excelled

    as the cubit-measurer's arm exceeds the span-measurer's handspan.

  32. والشمسُ معْ أن النجومَ قومُها

    تنسخُهنّ بالضياء الباهرِ

    The sun, although the stars are its kin,

    effaces them with dazzling radiance.

  33. وخيرُ من كاثرك الفخرُ بهِ

    شهادةُ الأنفُسِ للعناصرِ

    The best with which pride can vie with you

    is souls' testimony to their origins.

  34. هوَّنَ في الجود عليه فقرَه

    أنّ المعالي إخوةُ المَفاقرِ

    His poverty was made light to him amid his giving

    because lofty honors are brothers to want.

  35. فالمال منه بين مُفْنٍ واهبٍ

    والناسُ بين مقتنٍ وذاخرِ

    Thus his wealth lies between one who exhausts it and a giver,

    while men are either acquirers or hoarders.

  36. ولن تُرى الكفُّ القليلُ وفرُها

    في الناس إلا لابن عِرضٍ وافرِ

    No hand whose wealth is scant will ever be seen

    among men except in a man whose honor is ample.

  37. مَن راكبٌ تحمله وحاجةً

    أمُّ الطريق من بناتِ داعرِ

    Who will ride, borne together with a plea

    by the mother of the road, one of Daʿir's daughters—

  38. ضامرة تركَّبتْ نِسبتُها

    شطرين من ضامرةٍ وضامرِ

    a lean she-camel whose pedigree is composed

    of two halves: a lean dam and a lean sire?

  39. يَقطع عني مطرح العينين لا

    أسومهُ مشقَّة المسافر

    He crosses for me the distance the eyes can reach; I do not

    impose a traveler's hardship on him.

  40. من أسهلتْ أو أحزنتْ رحلتُه

    فحظُّه حظُّ المجيرِ العابرِ

    Whoever's journey takes him over smooth ground or rough,

    his share is the share of a passing protector.

  41. بلِّغ على قرب المدَى وعَجَبٌ

    قولِيَ بلِّغ حاضراً عن حاضرِ

    Deliver it, though the distance is short—and strange is

    my saying, 'Carry word to one here from another here!'

  42. نادِ بها الأوحدَ يا أكرمَ مَن

    تُثْنَى عليه عُقَدُ الخناصرِ

    Proclaim it to the peerless one: O noblest of those

    for whom the joints of little fingers are bent,

  43. لم تسُدِ الناسَ بحظٍّ غالطٍ

    متّفقٍ ولا بحكمٍ جائرِ

    you did not become lord of men through errant fortune

    that came by chance, nor through an unjust judgment.

  44. ولا وزرتَ الخلفاءَ عَرَضاً

    بل عن يقينٍ من عليم خابرِ

    Nor did you serve the caliphs as vizier by chance,

    but through the certainty of one knowing and experienced.

  45. ما هزَّك القائمُ حتى اختَبَرتْ

    بالجسِّ حدّيك يمينُ القادرِ

    Al-Qaʾim did not brandish you until

    al-Qadir's right hand had tested both your edges by touch.

  46. خليفتان اصطفياك بعد ما

    تنخَّلا سريرةَ الضمائرِ

    Two caliphs chose you after

    sifting the innermost secrets of hearts.

  47. وجرَّبا قبلَك كلَّ ناكلٍ

    فعرفا فضلَ الجُرازِ الباترِ

    They tried before you every faltering blade,

    and so knew the superiority of the keen, severing sword.

  48. لم تكُ كالفاتل في حباله

    والدِّينُ منه مُسحَلُ المرائرِ

    You were not like one twisting his own ropes,

    while religion's tightly twisted cords were unraveled by him.

  49. يأكل مالَ اللّه غيرَ حَرِج ال

    صدر بما جرَّ من الجرائرِ

    He devours God's wealth, with no distress in his

    breast over the offenses he has incurred.

  50. فانعم بما أُعطيتَ من رأيهما

    وكاثر المجدَ به وفاخرِ

    So rejoice in what their judgment has granted you,

    and with it vie with glory and boast.

  51. واكتسِ ما أُلحفتَ في ظلَّيْهما

    من رُدُنٍ زاكٍ وذيلٍ طاهرِ

    Clothe yourself in what was wrapped about you beneath their two shadows:

    a pure sleeve and an unstained hem.

  52. فحسبُ أعدائك كَبْتاً وكفَى

    كَبّاً على الجباهِ والمناخرِ

    It is humiliation enough for your enemies, enough

    to cast them down upon their brows and nostrils,

  53. إن الذي ماتَ ففاتَ منهما

    بقَّاك ذُخراً بعده للغابرِ

    that the one of the two who died and passed away

    left you after him as a treasure for the survivor.

  54. فابق على ما رغموا مُمَلَّكاً

    أزِمَّةَ الدّسوتِ والمنابرِ

    So remain, despite their chagrin, invested with

    the reins of thrones and pulpits,

  55. ما دامت المَروَة أختاً للصفا

    والبيتُ بين ماسحٍ ودائرِ

    as long as al-Marwah remains sister to al-Safa,

    and the House stands amid those who touch it and circle it.

  56. واجلس لأيّام التهاني مالئاً

    صدورَها بالمجدِ والمآثرِ

    Take your seat for days of congratulations, filling

    their breasts with glory and noble deeds.

  57. تَطلُع منها كلَّ يومٍ شارقٍ

    بمهرجان وبعيدٍ زائرِ

    You rise from them each dawning day

    with Mihragan and a visiting feast.

  58. لك الزكيّ البَرُّ من أيّامها

    وللأعادي كلُّ يومٍ فاجرِ

    Yours are its pure and righteous days,

    and your enemies', every wicked day.

  59. واسمع أناديك بكلِّ غادةٍ

    غريبةٍ لم تجْرِ في الخواطرِ

    Hear me call to you with every maiden,

    novel, never before occurring to any mind.

  60. مؤيسةِ المرامِ في باطنِها

    مُطمِعةٍ في نفسها بالظاهرِ

    Her inner depths make attainment hopeless,

    while outwardly she entices hope of winning her.

  61. وهي على كثرةِ من يحبُّها

    وحسنها قليلةُ الضرائرِ

    Yet despite the multitude who love her

    and her beauty, she has few rival wives.

  62. تستولد الودادَ والأموالَ من

    كلّ عقيم في الوِلادِ عاقرِ

    She begets affection and riches from

    everyone barren and sterile in begetting.

  63. فلستَ تدري فكرةٌ من شاعر

    جاءت بها أو نفثةٌ من ساحرِ

    You cannot tell whether a poet's thought

    brought her forth, or a sorcerer's breath.

  64. ملَّكَكَ الودُّ عزيزَ رقِّها

    وهي من الكرائم الحرائرِ

    Love has made you master of her precious bondage,

    though she is among the noble, freeborn women.

  65. تُفضِل في وصفك ما تُفضلهُ

    في الروض أسآرُ الغمامِ الباكرِ

    In describing you, she leaves as much untouched

    as the morning cloud's leftover drops leave in the garden.

  66. لا تشتكيك والملالُ حظُّها

    منك وأن ريعتْ بهجرِ الهاجرِ

    She does not complain of you, though weariness is her share

    from you, and though startled by a deserter's desertion.

  67. في سالف الوصل وفي مستأنَف ال

    جفاء بين شاكرٍ وعاذرِ

    In bygone union and newly begun

    estrangement, she remains thankful or forgiving.

  68. واعرف لها اعترافَها إذ أُنصِفَتْ

    واعرف لها في الجَورِ فضلَ الصابرِ

    Acknowledge her gratitude when she is treated fairly,

    and amid injustice, acknowledge her merit as one who endures.