1. يا هَلْ شجتْكَ برودُ الرِّيق حَوَّاءُ

    ممشوقَةٌ غادَةٌ غرَّاءُ عذراءُ

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

    Slender, tender, bright-faced, a virgin.

  2. وهْنانةٌ بَضَّةٌ رَقراقةٌ فُنُقٌ

    بَهنَانةٌ كاعِبٌ بلْهاءُ غيداءُ

    Languid, soft and plump, delicately shimmering, pampered.

    Sweet-scented, budding-breasted, guileless, gracefully supple.

  3. خَمصانةٌ وَهَضِيمُ الكَشْح راغدةٌ

    هَرْكُولَةٌ غَضَّةٌ قَنْواءُ هيفَاءُ

    Flat-bellied and slender-waisted, living in ease.

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

  4. غريرةٌ طَفْلةٌ بيضاء عَبْهَرةٌ

    زَهْراء عبقَرَةٌ ظمياء حَسْناءُ

    Guileless, delicate, fair, full-formed.

    Radiant, a marvel of beauty, thin and dusky-lipped, lovely.

  5. غريرةٌ ناهِدٌ حَسناءُ بَهْكَنَةٌ

    خريدةٌ فاركٌ لفّاءُ دَرْماءُ

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

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

  6. ممكورةٌ عاجرٌ وَرْكاءُ رَهْرهةٌ

    مسحورةٌ وحَصان الطبع زهراءُ

    Round-legged, ample-bodied, broad-hipped, soft-skinned.

    Bewitched, chaste in nature, radiant.

  7. مومومَةٌ ورشوف برَّاقِ مَبْسَمها

    معشوقةٌ وأَنُوفُ الأنْفِ قَنْوَاءُ

    [Unclear epithet], sweet-mouthed, with a sparkling smile.

    Beloved, with a prominent, aquiline nose.

  8. بِكرٌ عَرُوبٌ عيوب ما بها قَذَرٌ

    ربَحْلَةٌ غَضَّةٌ قَبَّاءُ حوراءُ

    A virgin, affectionate, faultfinding, with no impurity in her.

    Large-framed, tender, slim-waisted, dark-eyed.

  9. رَجراجةٌ ورداحٌ غير حنكلةٍ

    مُعَلّكٌ فرعُها عذراءُ بَلْهاءُ

    Softly swaying and ample-bodied, not short and ugly.

    Her hair is dressed with gum; a virgin, guileless.

  10. خَرعوبةٌ وأَناةٌ لا يُدَنِّسُها

    لَوْمٌ شَموعٌ بجمالُ الخلق أدماءُ

    Tall and supple, unhurried; she is not sullied by

    blame—playful, beautiful in form, dusky.

  11. خودٌ رداحٌ هدىٌّ طفلة فَتَنَتْ

    عقلى فلم يَحْلُ لي عيشٌ ولا ماءُ

    A lovely maiden, full-hipped, a tender bride, who bewitched

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

  12. سكْرَى نوارٌ عزوفٌ عَزَّ مطلبها

    بخيلةٌ باهِرٌ جَمالها لعساءُ

    Drunken, chaste, aloof, hard to attain.

    Withholding, dazzling in beauty, dark-lipped.

  13. بِكْرٌ بكيتٌ على تَعْرِيقها سنةٌ

    هي الدَّواءُ ولكن هجرها داءُ

    A virgin—I wept a year over her departure for Iraq [reading uncertain].

    She is the cure, yet her abandonment is a disease.

  14. لا غرو إن لم يُر لي بعد رؤيتها

    في القلب صادٌ ولا باءٌ ولا راءُ

    No wonder if, after seeing her, I cannot find

    ṣād, bāʾ, or rāʾ in my heart—the letters of patience.

  15. خُوطيَّةُ القدِّ إن سلت غلائلها

    عن جسمها فَلَها في الليل لأْلاءُ

    Twig-slender in figure, if she draws off her fine garments

    from her body, she glows 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 honeycomb and tawny wine.

  17. تميلُ تيهاً كغُصْنٍ ناعم خَضِلٍ

    فتانةُ الطرفِ سكرى اللحظ نجلاءُ

    She sways in pride like a tender, dew-wet bough.

    Enchanting of eye, drunken of glance, large-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 her abandonment; through all time, she cannot be appeased.

  19. ملولةٌ ما لها عهدٌ يدوم لها

    يوماً وليس لها عهدٌ وإيفاءُ

    Fickle, she has no pledge that lasts her

    a day; she has neither a pledge nor fidelity.

  20. تكادُ من لينها تجرى إذا قعدت

    كأنما جسمها من لِينهِ الماءُ

    So soft, 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-fleshed; because of the beauty of her form,

    after her departure, dark melancholy has seized my heart.

  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 in beauty.

  23. أضراسُها لؤلؤٌ والدُّرُّ منطقها

    ووجهها قمرٌ والقدُّ سمراءُ

    Her molars are pearls, and pearls are her speech;

    her face a moon, and her figure a tawny spear.

  24. تاهَتْ على التيه من حسن يتيهُ بها

    ما لاق إلا بها مدحٌ وإطراءُ

    She outdid pride itself, through beauty that glories in her;

    praise and lavish acclaim befit her alone.

  25. صدَّت ولي كبدٌ حَرَّى تذوب حَوىً

    ودمْعَةٌ كرذاذ المُزْن حمراءُ

    She turned away; I have a burning liver, melting with yearning,

    and a red tear like drizzle from rain clouds.

  26. عَلَّ الهُمامَ أبا الهيجاءِ ينجدُني

    إذا اعتراني من الأيام لأوراءُ

    Perhaps the valiant Abu al-Hayja will come to my aid

    when hardship from the days befalls me.

  27. أيقنتُ أن ابن سلطانَ الإمام لنا

    بحرٌ طمَا ولأهل الأرض أَنواءُ

    I know for certain that Sultan's son, the Imam, is for us

    a sea in flood, and rain showers for the people of earth.

  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 in character whatever they wished for,

  29. ومَنْ تهلَّلَ للعافينَ منظرُهُ

    ومَنْ نداهُ حيّاً والكفُّ دَأْماءُ

    and whose face beams upon those seeking bounty,

    and whose bounty is rain, whose palm a sea,

  30. ومَن يحُورُ على الأموال وهْو أخو

    عَذلٍ كأنُ صميم المالِ أعداءُ

    and who turn against wealth, despite incurring

    reproach, as though wealth itself were enemies;

  31. ومَن إذا اشتدتِ الآراءُ خُلّصُها

    رأْىٌ له كَشَبَا الهندىِّ إمضاءُ

    and who, when opinions clash, have the soundest of them—

    a judgment as decisive as an Indian blade's edges;

  32. ومَن إذا عَصَفَتْ أيدي الزَّمان بنا

    بجوره فله جودٌ وإعطاءُ

    and who, when the hands of Time storm against us

    with its injustice, have generosity and gifts to give;

  33. ومَنْ إذا اشتدَّتْ الهيجاءُ في رَهَج

    تجرى به في بحار الموتِ جرداءُ

    and who, when battle grows fierce amid the dust,

    are borne racing by a sleek mare through seas of death.

  34. موتٌ ترى الموتَ ينْبُو من مخافته

    مَلْكٌ له هِمَّةٌ في الملكِ قَعساءُ

    A death before whose terror you see Death recoil;

    a king with unbending resolve in kingship.

  35. تَراهُ جَذْلانَ في الشُّجعان قَسْوَرَةٌ

    ووجْهُهُ في لأَلاءٌ وأضواءُ

    You see him joyful among the brave, a lion,

    his face bathed in radiance and light.

  36. يُصَرِّفُ الأمر ما شاءَتْ إرادته

    ومُقْلَةُ الدَّهر عن حاليْه عمياءُ

    He directs affairs as his will dictates,

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

  37. شهمُ الجَنانِ شجاعٌ لا يُؤْثَّرُ في

    سيما مُحيَّاهُ سَرَّاءٌ وضَرَّاءُ

    Stout-hearted, brave; no mark is left upon

    the aspect of his face by ease or hardship.

  38. أصلٌ ترعرعَ من جُرثومةٍ شمختْ

    فخرا على هامَةِ الجَوْزاءِ علْياءُ

    A noble stock grown from a root that towered

    lofty in pride above al-Jawza's crown.

  39. يا مَنْ غدا كاسمِهِ يُدْعَى فإن له

    بِلا امْتِرَاءِ جميعَ الخلق أبناءُ

    O you now called as your name implies; yours are,

    without doubt, all creation as sons.