1. يا صاحِ ليس لسرٍّ منك كتمانُ

    في الودِّ والودُّ لا يدُرى له شانُ

    O friend, no secret can be concealed from you

    in love; love's ways cannot be known.

  2. وللغرام وإنْ بِتْنا نكتّمُهُ

    عن أعينِ النّاس آياتٌ وعنوانُ

    And passion, though we spend the night concealing it

    from people's eyes, has signs and a telltale mark.

  3. وقد تبيّن ما بي الرّكْبُ حين بَدَتْ

    لَنا من الشّعب أقمارٌ وأغصانُ

    The caravan discerned my plight when there appeared

    to us from the mountain pass moons and boughs.

  4. حلّوا القلوبَ وما كانتْ لهم وَطَناً

    إنّ القلوب لِما تهواه أوطانُ

    They settled in hearts that had not been their home;

    hearts are homes for whatever they love.

  5. إنّ الّذين على وَدّانَ دارُهُمُ

    فيهمْ ضنينٌ بما نهواه خَوّانُ

    Indeed, among those whose dwelling is at Waddan

    is one who grudges what we desire, a betrayer.

  6. إذا سألناه مَنّانا وماطَلَنا

    وراح وهْوَ بأنْ مَنّاك منّانُ

    When we ask him, he raises our hopes and puts us off,

    then leaves, boasting of his favor in having raised your hopes.

  7. وإنْ شكوتُ إليه الحبّ أَعطِفُهُ

    إِلى المَحبّةِ ولّى وهو غَضْبانُ

    And if I complain to him of love, seeking to incline him

    toward affection, he turns away in anger.

  8. بَدْرٌ حُرِمنا المُنى منه ويُرزَقُها

    وإنّما الحبُّ أرزاقٌ وحِرْمانُ

    A full moon: we are denied our wishes from him, while he is granted them;

    love is only allotted bounty and deprivation.

  9. كأنّهمْ بَعد ما بانوا وحبُّهُمُ

    مخيّمٌ في سواد القلبِ ما بانوا

    It is as though, after they departed, with their love

    encamped in the heart's dark core, they had not departed.

  10. هلْ أنتَ يا قلبُ صاحٍ عن لقائِهمُ

    أمْ فيك يا قلبُ إنْ سُلّيِتَ سُلْوانُ

    Have you, O heart, sobered from yearning to meet them,

    or can you, O heart, find forgetfulness if consoled?

  11. فالحبُّ عندهُمُ بُغضٌ ومَقليَةٌ

    والصّدقُ بينهمُ زورٌ وبُهتانُ

    For to them love is hatred and aversion,

    and among them truth is falsehood and slander.

  12. يُقَادُ نَحْوَكمُ قلبي ويجذُبنِي

    إليكُمُ مَعَ بُعدِ الدّارِ أشطانُ

    My heart is driven toward you, and I am drawn

    to you, despite your distant dwelling, by long ropes.

  13. وَما البليّةُ إلّا أنّني كَلِفٌ

    بفارغٍ وفؤادي منه ملآنُ

    My affliction is only that I am enamored

    of one empty of love, while my heart is full of him.

  14. نَبكي ومن قبلُ ما كنّا يُرَوِّعُنا

    داعي الفراقِ ولا تجري لنا شانُ

    We weep; before, we were not frightened

    by the herald of parting, nor did our tears flow.

  15. كأنّ أعْيُنَنا تجري لبَيْنِهمُ

    دَوْحٌ يُزِعْزِعُهُ في الطَّلِّ شَفّانُ

    It is as though our eyes, streaming at their departure,

    were great trees shaken in the dew by a cold wind.

  16. يا قاتَلَ اللَّهُ مَن بالرّملِ ودّعنا

    فهنّ للقلبِ أشجاءٌ وأشجانُ

    Ah, may God smite those who bade us farewell among the sands!

    For they are the heart's anguish and sorrows.

  17. لمّا بسِمْنَ لنا أبدين عن شَنَبٍ

    مُمَنَّعٍ ليس يُروى منه ظمآنُ

    When they smiled at us, they revealed cool, gleaming teeth,

    guarded beyond reach, from which no thirsty one is quenched.

  18. كالبَدر إذْ شَفّ عن أنوارِه سَدَفٌ

    والدرّ أبرَزَهُ للعين أكنانُ

    Like the full moon when darkness thins to reveal its light,

    and pearls whose shelters disclose them to the eye.

  19. ماذا على زائري ليلاً على سِنَةٍ

    لو زار صُبحاً وطرفُ العين يقظانُ

    What would it cost my visitor, who comes at night while I doze,

    if he came by morning, with my eye awake?

  20. زيارةُ الطّيفِ ضَرْبٌ من قطيعتهِ

    ووصلُ مَن لا تراه العينُ هِجرْانُ

    The dream-phantom's visit is a form of his estrangement;

    and union with one the eye cannot see is separation.

  21. وَليسَ يَنفعني والبعدُ أعلمُهُ

    قربٌ أتاني به ظنٌّ وحسبانُ

    Nor does it benefit me, knowing the distance,

    this nearness brought to me by fancy and conjecture.

  22. يا راكبَ العِرْمِسِ الوجناءِ في غَلَسٍ

    تَنْجابُ عن مَرِّها مَرْوٌ وصَوّانُ

    O rider of the sturdy, thick-cheeked she-camel in the predawn dark,

    quartz and flint split apart before her passage.

  23. قلْ للّذي حلَّ أَرجاناً فشرّفها

    إنّ المُنى والغنى في الأرضِ أرْجانُ

    Tell him who settled in Arrajan and honored it:

    truly, Arrajan is the earth's desire and wealth,

  24. حَيث الثرى خَضِلُ الأكناف تُرفَع في

    يَفاعِهِ لِقرَى الأضياف نيرانُ

    where the soil is moist on every side; raised on

    its heights to welcome guests are fires.

  25. نارٌ يُهانُ ذكيُّ المندليّ بها

    ويُوقَدُ العنبُر الهنديُّ والبانُ

    A fire in which fragrant Mandali aloeswood is held cheap,

    and Indian ambergris and ben-tree aromatics are burned.

  26. للَّهِ دَرُّك من قاضٍ لنا عِدَةً

    ألْوى بها من لئيمِ القومِ لَيّانُ

    God bless you, fulfiller of a promise to us

    that a vile procrastinator among the people had evaded.

  27. معجّلِ الخيلِ والهيجاءُ ضاحيةٌ

    عن أن تُناط بها لُجْمٌ وأرسانُ

    You hasten the horses, with battle in plain view,

    too swiftly for bridles and halters to be fastened to them.

  28. من كلِّ هوجاءَ كالسِّرحان عاديةٍ

    كأنّما مسّها في الرَّوْعِ شيطانُ

    Each is a headlong mare charging like a wolf,

    as though a demon had touched her amid battle's terror.

  29. واليومَ ترجفُ بالأبطالِ ساحتُهُ

    كأنّه ثَمِلُ الأوصال نشْوانُ

    And the day—its field trembles with champions—

    seems drunken in its limbs, intoxicated.

  30. أَنتَ الّذي إنْ رآه الخلقُ من أَمَمٍ

    فللثّرى أُنُفٌ منهمْ وأذْقانُ

    You are the one: if people see you close at hand,

    their noses and chins lie upon the dust.

  31. لغيرك الجهرُ منهمْ دون سِرِّهمُ

    ويستوي فيك إِسرارٌ وإعلانُ

    Others have their open words, not their secret thoughts;

    toward you, their secrets and declarations are alike.

  32. ما أذعنوا لك حتّى كنتَ فذَّهمُ

    وللفضائلِ إنكارٌ وإذْعانُ

    They did not submit to you until you were peerless among them;

    virtues meet with denial and acknowledgment.

  33. قد جرّبوك خلالَ الأمرِ يَحْفِزُهُم

    فما هَفَوْتَ وأرسى منك ثَهْلانُ

    They tested you amid a crisis that pressed them hard;

    you did not falter; Thahlan is no more firmly rooted than you.

  34. وعاينوا منك إِقداماً على خَطَرٍ

    إنّ الملوك على الأهوال شجعانُ

    And they witnessed you daring to face danger;

    kings are courageous in the face of terrors.

  35. كم نلتُ منك الرّضا عفواً بلا تعبٍ

    وكم أتانِيَ من جَدْواك إحسانُ

    How often I gained your favor freely, without toil,

    and how often kindness came to me from your bounty.

  36. كرّمتني فملكتَ الرِّقَّ من عُنُقي

    إنّ الكراماتِ للأحرار أثمانُ

    You honored me and thus held my neck in bondage;

    honors are the price that buys free men.

  37. بنِي بُوَيْهٍ أَدام اللَّه مُلْكَكُمُ

    ولا يزلْ فيكمُ عزٌّ وسلطانُ

    Sons of Buwayh, may God make your rule endure,

    and may might and sovereignty never cease among you.

  38. ولا خلا وَطَنٌ منكمْ ولا عَطَنٌ

    فإنّ أعطانكمْ للجودِ أَعطانُ

    May no homeland or waterside camp be empty of you;

    for your waterside camps are generosity's own camps.

  39. لَم يَأْلَفِ الملكُ إلّا في بيوتِكمُ

    حَلَلْتُمُ دارَه والنّاسُ جِيرانُ

    Kingship has felt at home nowhere but in your houses;

    you have settled in its house; other people are neighbors.

  40. فللتّرائبِ منكمْ كلّما نَضَرَتْ

    وللمفارقِ أطواقٌ وتيجانُ

    So for collarbones, from you, whenever they glow,

    and for hair-partings, there are necklaces and crowns.

  41. إنْ جلَّ خَطْبٌ فأنتمْ منه لِي وَزَرٌ

    أوْ آدَ صَعْبٌ فأنتمْ فيه أعوانُ

    If a calamity grows great, you are my refuge from it;

    or if a hardship weighs me down, you are my helpers against it.

  42. وإنْ لقيتُ العِدا يومَ الكفاحِ فلي

    من دونهمْ أذْرُعٌ منكمْ وأيْمانُ

    And if I meet the enemies on the day of battle, I have

    between them and me, arms and right hands of yours.

  43. ومعشرٍ جحدوا نعماكَ عندهمُ

    وَغَرّهْم منك للزّلّات غُفرانُ

    And a people denied your favors to them,

    and your forgiveness of their lapses deluded them.

  44. أَغضيتَ عَنهمْ فما اِرتابوا وما فطِنوا

    إِنّ التغاضِيَ إِمْلاءٌ وإِهوانُ

    You turned a blind eye to them; they neither suspected nor understood.

    Indeed, overlooking is a reprieve and a mark of contempt.

  45. حتّى رأوْك مُغِذّاً في مُلَمْلَمَةٍ

    كاللّيلِ في طيِّها خيلٌ وفرسانُ

    Until they saw you hastening amid a massed host,

    like night, with horses and horsemen in its folds.

  46. فأجفلوا كشرارِ الزَّندِ تخطفهمْ

    خَطْفَ الأجادِلِ أسيافٌ وخُرصانُ

    Then they scattered like sparks from the fire-stick, snatched away

    with the swoop of falcons by swords and spears.

  47. فراكبٌ رأسَ جِذْعٍ ليس يبرحُهُ

    وهاربٌ دونه أُكْمٌ وقيعانُ

    One is mounted atop a tree trunk, never leaving it;

    another flees, with hillocks and plains before him.

  48. أَضحَوا وقد لَزَّهْم منك العنيفُ بهمْ

    كخِرْوَعٍ لَزَّهُ نَبْعٌ وشَرْيانُ

    They became, hemmed in by your harshness toward them,

    like castor stalks wedged by nabʿ and sharyan wood.

  49. وقد درى كلُّ ذي لُبٍّ بأنّهمُ

    عزّوا وعمّا قليلٍ بالرّدى هانوا

    And every man of understanding has learned that they

    were mighty, and soon were humbled by death.

  50. وطاح ما لَفّقُوهُ من أباطِلِهمْ

    إِزاءَ حقّك إنّ الحقّ عُرْيانُ

    And what they patched together of their falsehoods fell

    before your truth; truth is naked.

  51. والمِهْرَجانُ زمانٌ بالسّعودِ وبالن

    نُجحِ القريب إليك الدّهرَ عجلانُ

    And Mihrjan is a season, with good fortune and

    near success, ever hastening toward you.

  52. مضى الهجيرُ به عنّا لطيّتِهِ

    فالطَّلُّ مُستَبْرَدٌ والجوُّ رَيّانُ

    The midday heat has gone from us with it, on its way;

    so the dew is refreshingly cool and the air moist.

  53. فَاِنعَمْ به وخذِ اللّذّاتِ من يده

    فإِنّما هو للّذّاتِ إبّانُ

    So delight in it, and take pleasures from its hand;

    for it is the very season of pleasures.

  54. ودمْ لنا لنعيمٍ ما لغايته

    وقتٌ ولا لمزيدٍ منه نقصانُ

    And live on for us, for a bliss whose end has

    no appointed time, and whose increase knows no decline.