1. اُنظرْ معي فهْي نظرةٌ أَمَمُ

    أعَلَمُ السفحِ ذلكَ العلَمُ

    Look with me: it is a glance within reach.

    Is that landmark the marker at the mountain's foot?

  2. أنت بريءً ممّا تُشَبِّهُهُ ال

    عينُ وطرفي بالدمع متَّهَمُ

    You are blameless for the likeness drawn by the

    eye; my own gaze, tear-filled, stands accused.

  3. يُطربني اليومَ للمنازل ما

    أسأَر عندي أيّامُها القُدُمُ

    Today, what moves me with longing for the dwellings is what

    their days of old have left with me.

  4. ويَطَّبيني على فصاحةِ شك

    واي إليها ربوعُها العُجُمُ

    And I am captivated, despite my eloquent complaint

    to them, by their speechless dwelling-grounds.

  5. عليّ يا دار جهدُ عيني وما

    عليّ عارٌ أن تبخلَ الدِّيَمُ

    O dwelling, I owe you my eye's utmost effort; no

    disgrace is mine if the steady rains withhold themselves.

  6. لكِ الرضا من جِمام أدمعِها

    وذمُّها إن سقَى ثراكِ دمُ

    Yours is contentment with its abundant tears,

    and its reproach, if blood waters your soil.

  7. أما وعهدِ الغادين عنك وأش

    جانٍ بواقٍ لي فيكِ بعدهُمُ

    Now, by the pledge of those who left you at dawn, and the

    sorrows that linger for me in you after them,

  8. وما أطال الصِّبا وأعرضَ من

    عيشٍ كأن اختلاسَه حُلُمُ

    and by the long, broad stretch youth made of

    a life whose stolen enjoyment seems a dream,

  9. وسرِّ حُبٍّ قد سار عندَكِ في

    أمانةِ التُّرب وهو منكتِمُ

    and by a love's secret that passed, here with you, into

    the earth's safekeeping, remaining concealed—

  10. ما كان ما قاله المُسِرُّون عن

    ريم وعنّي إلا كما زعموا

    what the whisperers said about

    a gazelle and me was nothing but what they claimed.

  11. هل هو إلا أن قيل جُنَّ بها

    نَعَمْ على كلّ ما جَنَتْ نَعَمُ

    Was it anything but the saying, 'He has gone mad for her'?

    Yes—despite every wrong she has done—yes.

  12. كفَى بلوم العُذّال أنهُمُ

    عابوا فقالوا بضدّ ما علموا

    It is reproach enough to the censurers that they

    found fault, saying the opposite of what they knew,

  13. وأنّ شقّ العصا لهمْ ولها

    طاعةُ قلبي تقضِي وتحتكمُ

    and that for them is defiance, but for her

    my heart's obedience—she decrees and commands.

  14. ليت الذي لام في الغرام بها

    مكانَ داست من نعلها القَدَمُ

    Would that the man who blamed my passion for her

    were in the place her sandaled foot has trodden.

  15. آهِ لبرقٍ بجنبِ كاظمةٍ

    هبَّ فقالوا هيفاءُ تبتسِمُ

    Ah, for lightning beside Kazimah!

    It flared, and they said, 'A slender beauty smiles.'

  16. وطارق زار يركب الشُّقَّة ال

    طولى وليلِي بحاجر فَحَمُ

    And a night-visitor came, traversing the

    longest distance, while my night at Hajir was coal-black.

  17. يستكتم الليلَ وجهَهُ وسُرى ال

    أقمارِ مما لا تكتُمُ الظُّلَمُ

    It asked the night to conceal its face; yet the nightly passage of

    moons is something darkness cannot hide.

  18. فكان منّي مكانَ يرتقبُ ال

    خليعُ تحت الدجى ويحتشِمُ

    So it took a place beside me where the

    libertine keeps watch beneath the darkness and feels shy.

  19. بتنا وأطواقُنا يدٌ ويدٌ

    ورُسْلُ أشواقِنا فمٌ وفَمُ

    We spent the night, our necklaces a hand and a hand,

    and the messengers of our longings a mouth and a mouth.

  20. يَلُفُّني الغصنُ أو تضاجعني ال

    دميةُ أجنِي طوراً وألتزمُ

    A bough enfolded me, or there lay beside me the

    figurine: now I plucked, now embraced.

  21. حتى إذا الفجر كان خيطيْنِ أو

    كادت عقودُ الجوزاء تنفصمُ

    Until, when dawn had become two threads, or

    the necklaces of al-Jawza were about to break apart,

  22. غارت على أختها الغزالةُ فاس

    تيقظتُ لا بانةٌ ولا صنَمُ

    the sun grew jealous of her sister, so I

    awoke: no bān-tree, no idol.

  23. عادٌ من الدهرِ مرَّةً إن وفا

    خانَ وإنْ مَنَّ عادَ ينتقمُ

    It is time's habit: if once it keeps faith,

    it betrays; if it bestows, it returns to take revenge.

  24. ما أشبه الناسَ بالزمان وما

    أقلَّ فَرقاً بالغدر بينهمُ

    How closely people resemble time, and how

    little difference there is between them in treachery!

  25. كنتُ ألوم الإخوان شيئاً إذا ال

    تاثوا وأشكوهُمُ إذا صَرَموا

    I used to blame my brethren a little when they

    were slow, and complain of them when they cut me off.

  26. وأحسب البخلَ والسماحة لي

    غايةَ ما في العُقوق عندهُمُ

    And I thought their withholding or giving to me

    the furthest measure of their disloyalty.

  27. فاليوم لثمي في ظهر كلّ يدٍ

    ليس دمي من بنانها العَنَمُ

    Today my kisses fall on the back of every hand

    whose red-twig fingers are not red with my blood.

  28. يا دينَ قلبي من مالكين له

    بالودّ حلفُ الشقاء عبدُهُمُ

    O my heart's bondage under those who possess it

    through love! Misery's sworn companion is their slave.

  29. يحفظهم خائنين عهدي ودَا

    نِين وفي وُجدِهم وإن عَدِموا

    It cherishes them, whether they betray my pledge or draw

    near, in their plenty and even when destitute.

  30. وهم جفاءً عليّ أفئدةٌ

    صخرٌ وجورٌ صِرْفٌ إذا قسَموا

    Yet, in their harshness toward me, they are hearts

    of stone, and sheer injustice when they allot shares.

  31. لا نوبُ الدهرِ حينَ تطرُقُهم

    تُنصفني منهم ولا النِّعَمُ

    Neither time's calamities, when they visit them,

    secure me justice from them, nor do its blessings.

  32. عندهم الغدرُ بي على القُلِّ وال

    كُثر وعندي الوفاءُ والكرمُ

    With them is treachery toward me, in scarcity and

    plenty; with me are fidelity and generosity.

  33. لي بعضُهم غيرَ خالصٍ ولمن

    دامَجهم خالصين كلُّهُمُ

    Some of them are mine, not sincerely; but whoever

    courts their favor has all of them, wholehearted.

  34. بين فؤادي فيهم وبين فمي

    شواجرٌ في الحِفاظ تختصمُ

    Between my heart concerning them and my mouth

    disputes over loyalty clash and contend.

  35. فالقلبُ فيهم خالٍ من الذمّ وال

    عَتبُ عليهم فيَّ يزدحِمُ

    My heart is free of blame toward them, yet

    reproach against them crowds within me.

  36. يا ربِّ هب لي يقظانَ منهم إذا

    ناموا وعدلاً في الود إن ظلَموا

    O Lord, grant me one wakeful among them when

    they sleep, and fair in love if they wrong me.

  37. واسمح لنفسي بحفظ نفس ابن أي

    يوبَ فما ذاك في الإخاء هُمُ

    And allow my soul to cherish the soul of Ibn

    Ayyub, for he is not like them in brotherhood.

  38. أبلج خاضت بي الدجى غُرّةٌ

    منه وداست بيَ العلا قدَمُ

    Radiant—a blaze from his brow bore me through the darkness,

    and his foot trod the heights with me.

  39. برٌّ وحظّي المقسومُ لي من بني

    أمّي عُقوقٌ ومن أبي يُتُمُ

    Kind, while the portion allotted me from the sons of

    my mother is disloyalty, and from my father, orphanhood.

  40. فاستنصرتْه ليَ العلا فوفتْ

    كفٌّ يمينٌ وصارمٌ خَذِمُ

    High honor sought his aid for me, and the pledge was kept by

    a right hand and a keen, cutting sword.

  41. وقام دوني لا عامل الرمح مر

    دود ولا السابريّ منحطِمُ

    He stood in my defense: no spear-point was driven

    back, nor was the Sabiri mail shattered.

  42. تأبَى له نفسه وطينتُهُ

    أن يُتقاضَى أو تخفرَ الذِّمَمُ

    His spirit and his native nature forbid

    that he be pressed to fulfill his duty, or pledges be betrayed.

  43. وشيمةٌ حرة مضى معَها

    والمرءُ حيث ارتمت به الشيمُ

    And a noble disposition by which he has gone on—

    a man goes wherever his dispositions cast him.

  44. لا طائش الحِلم إن هفا الطيشُ بال

    ناس ولا ضيِّقٌ إذا برِمُوا

    Not flighty in judgment when recklessness sweeps away the

    people, nor narrow-hearted when they grow impatient.

  45. من معشر يشكرون إن رزقوا

    أو يحسنون الظنون إن حرموا

    From a people who give thanks when provided for,

    or think the best when deprived.

  46. قروم دُنيا يغشون شدّتها

    مَسَاكِناً لا تُلينها القُحَمُ

    Lords of the world, they confront its hardships

    as dwellings that ordeals cannot soften.

  47. كل عتيق البُزُول ملتحم ال

    جُلْبَةِ تعيَا برأسِهِ الخُطُمُ

    Each an old, fully mature camel, with knitted

    scar-crust: halters are powerless against his head.

  48. لا يملك الرحلُ أكلَ غاربِه

    ولا يعفِّي أوبارَهُ الجلَمُ

    The saddle cannot wear away his withers,

    nor can the shears strip away his hair.

  49. شادوا على مجدهم بيوتَهُمُ

    وما بنى المجدُ ليس ينهدمُ

    They raised their houses upon their glory,

    and what glory has built does not fall.

  50. لا عُطِّلتْ منك سُبْلُ سؤددِهم

    تنهجُ آثارَها وتلتقِمُ

    May their paths of lordship never lack you,

    as you follow their tracks and swallow up the road.

  51. ولا عدِمتَ الفضلَ الذي شهِدتْ

    لك العلا فيه أنك ابنُهُمُ

    And may you never lack the excellence through which

    high honor has testified that you are their son.

  52. واستقبلتك الأيّام تجبُرُ من

    جِراحِها سالفاً وتلتحِمُ

    May the days greet you, healing

    their old wounds and knitting them closed,

  53. تسفِر عن أوجه السعود التي

    كانت حياءً بالأمس تلتثمُ

    unveiling the faces of good fortune that

    yesterday veiled themselves in modesty.

  54. يشفَعُ في ذَنبها إلى عفوك ال

    نيروز فاصفح وإن طغى الجُرُمُ

    Interceding for their sin before your pardon is

    Nowruz: forgive, even if the offense is great.

  55. فاقبل ضماني فإنها لك بع

    د اليوم فيما ترومُهُ خَدَمُ

    Accept my pledge: for you they shall, after

    today, be servants in whatever you seek.

  56. واسمع على الاختصار طارقةً

    لها طوالاً سوالفٌ قُدُمُ

    And hear, in brief, a night-arriving poem

    with long forerunners from days of old.

  57. أخَّرها الدهرَ عن بلوغ مدا

    هُنَّ وهمٌّ ماتت له الهِمَمُ

    Time held it back from attaining their full

    reach, as did sorrow before which ambitions died,

  58. ونُوَبٌ تُلجِم الفؤادَ إذا ال

    ألسن كفَّتْ غُروبَها اللجُمُ

    and calamities that bridle the heart, when the

    tongues' sharp edges are restrained by bridles.

  59. والقولُ يُجنَى من القلوب فإن

    غاضَ دمُ القلبِ صَوَّحَ الكِلمُ

    Speech is harvested from hearts; if

    the heart's blood ebbs, words wither.