1. كم للنّواظر من دمٍ مطلولِ

    ومُدَفّعٍ عن وَجْدِه ممطولِ

    How much unavenged blood have gazing eyes shed,

    and how many a lover is rebuffed in his longing and kept waiting!

  2. ولقد حملتُ غداة زُمّتْ للنّوى

    أُدْمُ الرّكائبِ فيه كلَّ ثقيلِ

    And I bore, on the morning they were bridled for departure—

    the white riding-camels—every heavy burden that day.

  3. وقنعتُ منهمْ بالقليل ولم أكنْ

    أرضى قُبَيلَ فراقهمْ بقليلِ

    And I settled for little from them, though I had not

    accepted little just before their departure.

  4. لولا دموعي يوم قامتْ ودّعتْ

    ما كان روضُ الحَزْنِ بالمطلولِ

    Had it not been for my tears the day she rose and bade farewell,

    the upland meadow would not have been wet with dew.

  5. وأَرَتْك وجهاً لم تُنِرْ شمسُ الضّحى

    إلاّ به ما كان بالمملولِ

    And she showed you a face: the morning sun gave no light

    except through it—a face one could never tire of.

  6. وتقلّدَتْ بأساودٍ من فرعها

    وتبسّمتْ عن أشْنَبٍ معسولِ

    And she wore her hair's black serpents as a necklace,

    and smiled, revealing cool, gleaming, honey-sweet teeth.

  7. وَرَنتْ إليك بطرف جَوْذَرِ رملةٍ

    وخطتْ بحِقْفٍ في الإزار مَهيلِ

    And she gazed at you with the eye of a sand-dwelling wild-cow calf,

    and stepped with a loose-heaped, curving dune inside her waist-wrap.

  8. إنْ كنتَ تُنكر ما جَنَتْه يدُ النّوى

    فالشّاهدان صبابتي ونحولِي

    If you deny what the hand of separation has wrought,

    the two witnesses are my ardent longing and my wasting.

  9. ما ضرّ من ضنّتْ يداه بمُنْيَتِي

    أَن لا يَضِنّ عليَّ بالتّعليلِ

    What harm would it do one whose hands withhold my wish

    not to begrudge me consoling promises?

  10. فإلى متى أشكو إلى ذي قسوةٍ

    وإلى متى أرجو نوالَ بخيلِ

    So how long must I complain to one so hard-hearted?

    And how long must I hope for a miser's bounty?

  11. قل للحُداةِ خلال عيسٍ ضُمَّرٍ

    بطُلىً إلى حادي الرّكائبِ مِيلِ

    Tell the drivers amid pale, lean camels,

    whose necks incline toward the riding-camels' singing driver:

  12. حُطّوا إلى ملكِ الملوكِ رحالَكْم

    فَفِناؤه للرّكبِ خيرُ مَقيلِ

    Set down your saddles before the king of kings,

    for his courtyard is the caravan's finest midday resting place.

  13. حيث الثّرى لاقى الجباه وأرضُه

    للقومِ موسَعَةٌ من التّقبيلِ

    Where the dust meets foreheads, and his ground

    is lavishly covered with the people's kisses.

  14. وكأنّما قمرُ الدّياجي وجهُه

    ورُواء لونِ الصّارمِ المصقولِ

    And his face seems the moon of the dark nights,

    and the lovely sheen of a keen, polished sword.

  15. للَّهِ دَرُّك في مقامٍ لم تزلْ

    عَجِلاً تلفّ رعيلَه برعيلِ

    God bless you for a stand in which you never ceased

    swiftly entangling its troops, one with another.

  16. والخيلُ جائلةٌ على قِممٍ هَوَتْ

    ومناكبٍ فارقن كلّ قليلِ

    While horses wheeled over fallen heads,

    and shoulders sundered time and again.

  17. وكأنّهنّ يخُضن ماءَ ترائبٍ

    لمجدّلين يخُضن ماءَ وُحولِ

    And as they waded through the blood from the breasts

    of fallen men, they seemed to wade through muddy water.

  18. قد جرّبوك غداةَ جنّتْ فتنةٌ

    رَمَتِ العقول من الورى بخبولِ

    They tested you the morning a turmoil ran mad,

    striking the minds of humankind with madness.

  19. فكأنّ مُضرمَها مضرّمُ عَرْفَجٍ

    في الدَّوِّ حان حصادُه بقبيلِ

    So its kindler was like one setting fire to 'arfaj shrubs

    in the open desert, just lately ripe for harvest.

  20. وكأنّها عشواءُ في غبشِ الدّجى

    تطوي الفَلا خَبْطاً بغير دليلِ

    And it was like a night-blind she-camel in the murk of night,

    crossing the wilderness blindly, without a guide.

  21. فعدلتها بالرّأي حتّى نكّبَتْ

    عنّا بغير قنىً وغيرِ نُصولِ

    So you steered it by judgment until it turned aside

    from us, without lances or blades.

  22. وَركبتَ منها وهي شامسةُ القَرا

    عمّا قليلٍ ظهرَ أيِّ ذَلولِ

    And you mounted it, though its back was restive,

    soon riding the back of a perfectly docile beast.

  23. ولو اِنّها عاصَتْك حكّمتَ القَنا

    فيها وحدَّ الباترِ المسلولِ

    And had it defied you, you would have let the lances judge

    over it, and the edge of the drawn, cleaving sword.

  24. وملأتَ قطرَ الأرضِ وهي عريضةٌ

    بصوارمٍ وذوابلٍ وخيولِ

    And you would have filled the earth's expanse, wide as it is,

    with keen swords, slender lances, and horses,

  25. وبكلّ مُستَلَبِ المَلامِ كأنّما

    شهد الكتيبة طالباً بذُحولِ

    and every man stripped of reproach, as though

    he had joined the battalion seeking blood-vengeance,

  26. عُريانَ إِلّا من لباسِ بسالةٍ

    ظمآنَ إلّا من دمٍ لقتيلِ

    naked except for the garment of valor,

    thirsting, quenched only by a slain man's blood.

  27. وَأَنا الّذي أهوى هواك وأبتغي

    أبداً رضاك وإنّه مأمولي

    And I am he who loves what you love and seeks

    your approval always; that is my hope.

  28. ومتى تبدّل جانباً عن جانبٍ

    قومٌ فإنّك آمنٌ تبديلي

    And whenever one allegiance is exchanged for another

    by a people, you are safe from any change in mine.

  29. وإذا صححتَ فإنّ قلبي مُقسِمٌ

    أنْ لا يبالي في الورى بعليلِ

    And if you are well, my heart has sworn

    to heed no sick person among humankind.

  30. وذرِ اِنتقادي بالشُّناةِ فلم تُنِرْ

    شمسُ الظّهيرة للعيون الحُولِ

    And do not judge me by my haters, for no light is shed

    by the noonday sun for cross-eyed eyes.

  31. وليسلني عَن فوت ما نال الورى

    إنْ لم أقمْ فيه مقامَ ذليلِ

    And let me find solace for missing what others have gained,

    if I have not stood there in abasement.

  32. خدُّها كما اِبتسم النّهار لمُدجنٍ

    أعيا عليه قصدُ كلّ سبيلِ

    Her cheek is like day smiling on one beneath dark clouds,

    for whom following every path had proved too hard.

  33. وكأنّها للمبصريها جَذوَةٌ

    ولناشقيها فَغْمةٌ لشَمولِ

    And to those who see her, she is like a glowing ember,

    and to those who scent her, a fragrant waft of wine.

  34. وكأنّما هي عزّةً لا تُبْتَغى

    عرِّيسةٌ للأُسْدِ ذاتُ شبولٍ

    And in her unassailable might she is like

    a lions' lair with cubs.

  35. وكأنّها روضُ الفلا عبثتْ به

    أيدي شمالٍ سُحْرةً وقَبولِ

    And she is like a meadow in the wilderness, played upon

    before dawn by the hands of the north and east winds.

  36. صِينتْ عن المعنى المعاد وقولُها

    ما كان في زمنٍ مضى بمقولِ

    She has been kept free of repeated themes, and her speech

    was never spoken in any age gone by.

  37. وإذا النّضارةُ في الغصون تغيّرتْ

    كانت نضارتُها بغير ذبولِ

    And when the freshness of the boughs changes,

    her freshness remains untouched by withering.

  38. فاِسعَدْ بهذا العيد واِبقَ لمثله

    في منزلٍ من نعمةٍ مأهولِ

    So rejoice in this festival, and live to see its like,

    in an abode populated with blessings.

  39. ولقد نَضَوْتَ الصّومَ عنك ولم تَعُجْ

    فيه بجانبِ هفوةٍ وزليلِ

    And you have cast off the fast, never having turned

    during it toward any lapse or slip.

  40. وكففتَ عن كلّ الحرامِ وإنّما

    صاموا عن المشروب والمأكولِ

    And you refrained from all that is forbidden, while they only

    fasted from drink and food.

  41. وإذا بقيتَ فما نبالِي مِن جرتْ

    منّا عليه ردىً دموعُ ثَكولِ

    And if you live on, we do not care for whom

    among us a bereaved mother's tears flow at his death.