قد كان يُدرك عندكنّ السُّولُ

فالآن لا وَصْلٌ ولا تعليلُ

The longing was known to you, my loves

Now there is no connection, no excuse

ليلي وأنتمْ نُزَّحٌ بمُحَجَّرٍ

ليلٌ كما شاء الغرامُ طويلُ

A long night, as passion desired, O Layla

While you are in an impenetrable abode

لم يبق منّي بعد يوم فراقكمْ

إلّا دموعٌ للفراقِ تسيلُ

After the day we parted nothing of me remains

Except tears pouring for the separation

نَمَّتْ على وَجْدي بكمْ لو أنّها

كتَمَتْهُ جامدةً لنمَّ نُحولُ

If the passion for you that sprouted in me

Had solidified, transformations would have sprouted

ومللتُمُ مَن لا يملُّ هواكُمُ

من غير جرمٍ والمَلولُ مَلولُ

And you got bored of one who does not get bored of your love

Without any crime, and the bored is indeed bored

قالوا السّلوُّ دواءُ دائك منهُمُ

صدقوا ولكن ما إليه سبيلُ

They said: “To forget is the cure for your malady”

They spoke true, but to it there is no way

رحنا وحشْو قلوبنا كَلَفٌ بكمْ

نلوي على ألوائنا فنميلُ

We left, while yearning resided our hearts

We turn to our banners so we may lean

فكأنّما عبثتْ بنا دَيْرِيَّةٌ

أو ساورتْ منَّا العظامَ شَمولُ

So it was as if ghoul pestered us

Or the bones were corroded by termites

كم دون خيماتِ الحسانِ حُشاشةٌ

تَفنى ضياعاً أو دمٌ مطلولُ

How many ardent lovers below the tents of beauty

Perish in wilderness or spilled blood

وحياضُهنَّ من الزّلالِ فواهقٌ

لو كان ينفع عندهنَّ غليلُ

While its maidens’ breasts are lofty peaks

If tears were of use, I would have cried

ودعوتِنِي عبثاً إلى خلعِ الهوى

أنّى وقلبي بالهوى مكبولُ

You bid me in vain to rid my passion

How could I, when my heart is fettered to it?

لكِ يا اِبنةَ البكريّ بين قلوبنا

حكمٌ يُطاع ومنزلٌ مأهولُ

O Bakri’s daughter, you have an authority over our hearts

That is obeyed and a frequented abode

وملكتِ منَّا بالجمال جماجماً

إنْ كنتِ منصفةً فهنَّ غُلولُ

And you have conquered skulls amongst us with your beauty

If you were fair, they would indeed be slaves

لَمْ تحملي ثِقْلَ الهوى فَحَقَرْتِهِ

وخفيفُ أعباءِ الغرامِ ثقيلُ

You did not carry the weight of passion and so belittled it

While the light loads of love are indeed heavy

وإذا رأينا منك طلعتك الّتي

هي رونقٌ أو جوهرٌ مصقولُ

Whenever we see your effulgence that is the gloss

Or the polished essence, the literati are stunned

خرس اللُّحاةُ على هواك وعرّجوا

عنّا فأخيبُ مَن نراه عَذولُ

The rules of grammar went haywire madly

And we are disappointed by him we see as apathetic

وطرقْنَني وَهْناً بأَجوازِ الرُّبا

وطروقهنّ على النّوى تخييلُ

You knocked unto me weakly with meters of love poetry

While its knocking unto the spears is stimulation

في ليلةٍ وافى بها متمنّعٌ

ودنتْ بعيداتٌ وجاد بخيلُ

On a night, a refusal visited

As the distant drew near and the stingy gave

يا ليت زائرَنا بفاحمة الدّجى

لَم يأْتِ إِلّا والصَّباحُ رسولُ

If only our visitor at Dajja’s darkness

Did not come but the dawn was its courier

فقليلُهُ وضَحَ الضُّحى مُستكثَرٌ

وكثيرُهُ غَبَشَ الظّلامِ قليلُ

So, its little clearly dawned while its plenty

Muddled the darkness that was little

ما عابه وبه السرور زوالُهُ

فجميع ما سرّ القلوبَ يزولُ

Blame and happiness with it do not diminish it

For all that delighted the hearts will fade

أمَّا الشّعوبُ كثيرةٌ ولَشِعبُنا

من هاشمٍ شِعْبٌ هناك جليلُ

Many are the peoples but ours

From Hashim is an exalted clan

الأُفق فيه مع الشّموسِ كواكبٌ

والغابُ فيه مع الأسود شبولُ

The horizon in it has with the suns planets

And the absence in it has with the lions cubs

والجانبُ الخَضِل النَّدى لم يُلْفَ عن

جَدْواه ممنوعٌ ولا ممطولُ

Its fresh humid side was not covered from

Its bounty neither prevented nor stretched

وإذا الرّجالُ تفاخروا وتفاضلوا

أرسى بهمْ دون الورى التّفضيلُ

And if men prided and preferred

Below the earth the preference anchored them

من كلِّ وضّاحِ الجبين كأنّه

عَضبٌ جلاه الصَّيقلون صقيلُ

With every bright forehead that is as if it were

An anger stripped bare by the polishers

ومُلَوَّمٍ في المكرُماتِ وطالما

عُذِر الضَّنينُ بها ولِيم بَذولُ

And one blamed regarding favors for long

The resentful was excused by it and the generous was stingy

وكأنّه فرداً إذا شهد الوغى

ضرباً وطعناً معشرٌ وقبيلُ

And it was as if whenever mayhem was witnessed

He was battalion, stabbing and fighting

ومعاشرٍ لولاهُمُ ما بيننا

ما كان تعظيمٌ ولا تبجيلُ

And cohorts if not for them between us

There would not have been reverence or veneration

عنهمْ تُلُقِّيَتِ العظاتُ وَمنهمُ

فُهِمَ الهُدى وَتعُلِّم التأْويلُ

From them morals were rebuked and by them

Guidance was perceived and interpretation learned

وبيوتُهمْ مَأْوَى الرَّشادِ وبينهمْ

سُطِرَ الكتابُ ونُزِّلَ التّنزيلُ

And their houses are the abode of integrity between them

The book was transcribed and revelation descended

وتراهُمُ صبحاً وكلَّ عشيّةٍ

يأْتيهمُ مِيكالُ أو جبريلُ

And you see them morning and every night

Either Mikael or Gabriel descends upon them

لو أنّهمْ لم ينهجوا سُبُلَ التُّقى

ما بان تحريمٌ ولا تحليلُ

If they did not take to the paths of righteousness

Neither taboos nor permissions would have been distinct

فهُمُ عن الأمرِ الدّنيِّ جوامدٌ

وهُمُ إلى الأمر العليِّ سُيولُ

So they are solid from base matters and they

To matters lofty are statutes

بيتٌ أقام دِعامَه وقبابَه

إمّا إمامٌ أو أخوه رسولُ

A house its pillars and domes established

Either by an imam or his brother the messenger

بيتٌ يُناجِي اللَّهَ حَلّالٌ به

وعليهمُ الأملاكُ فيه نُزولُ

A house whose pure are spoken to by God

Upon them the angels constantly descend

ومساكنٌ ما غاب عن أفواههمْ

فيهنّ تقديسٌ ولا تهليلُ

And dwellings from which never dissipated from their mouths

Glorifications nor testimonies of faith

لهمُ مِنىً والموقفانِ وزَمْزَمٌ

والبيتُ والتّطْوافُ والتجويلُ

Theirs are Mina, the Station of Abraham, and Zamzam

And the House, and the circumambulating and ferrying

والحِجْرُ والحَجَرُ الّذي لصفاتِهِ

أبَدَ الزّمانِ الضَّمُّ والتّقبيلُ

And the Black Stone, and the stone which, due to its traits

Always, the touching and the kissing were delightful

للَّهِ ما جَشِموه عن أديانِهمْ

والدّارعون عن الطِّعان نُكولُ

To God belongs what they defended from their religions

And the charging warriors from criticisms to recoil

طرحوا الأناةَ وطوّحوا بحِذارهمْ

وتيقّنوا أنّ الجَبانَ ذليلُ

They cast off temperance and down with their caution

And became certain the coward is but miserable

وتراكبوا مثلَ الدَّبَى في غمرةٍ

ما إنْ بها إِلّا قَناً ونُصولُ

And rode like flood water in abundance

None therein save spearheads and assaults

والخيلُ ساطعة العجاج كأنّما

لعجاجها ضوءُ الصّباحِ دليلُ

And the steeds radiant, as if their gear

For its glow the morning’s light is guide

ليلٌ نجومُ سمائِهِ زُرْقُ القنا

والشّمسُ فيه صارمٌ مسلولُ

A night whose sky’s is the green of the spear

And the sword in it an unsheathed gleam

ومغامرٍ يَلِجُ القَتام وما لَه

إلّا حسامٌ في يديه دليلُ

And with a bold heart plunging the darkness while he has

None but a sword in his hand as guide

ربح الحياةَ بطعنِه وضرابهِ

والهائبُ النَّخِبُ الجبانُ قتيلُ

Profiting life with his stabbing and striking

While the fleeing outcasts are the dead

خذها فما لطلوعها مُبيضّةً

كطلوع أوضاحِ الصّباحِ أُفولُ

Take them! For at their sunrise never whitening

As the dawn’s emerging glow to descend

وكأنّما أُمنيّةٌ بُلِغَتْ بها

وكأنّها روضُ الثّرى المطلولُ

As if a wish attained with it and as if it were

The desired meadow of soil

سيّارة في عرضِ كلّ تَنوفةٍ

ولغُرّ أبكارِ الكلام ذَميلُ

Travelers despite any hardship

And for the strange of speech a pathfinder

وإذا قرنتَ بها سواها برّزتْ

غُرَرٌ لها لمّاعةٌ وحُجولُ

And if compared to it any other it brings out

Flaws while it shines flawless

والشِّعْرُ منه ناصعٌ مُتَخَيّرٌ

حُسناً ومنه الكاسفُ المرذولُ

Poetry from it is dazzling selective excellence

And from it the lackluster worthless

ومن القريض سعادةٌ وشقاوةٌ

ومن القريض نباهةٌ وخُمولُ

And of prosody there is fortuity and misery

And of prosody, splendor and gloom

وقليلُهُ حيث الصّوابُ وكُثرُهُ

من قائليه وساوسٌ وخُبولُ

Its little is soundness itself but much of it

From its authors are urges and foolishness

والقارضون الشّعر إمّا مولَجٌ

أبوابهُ أو مُبعَدٌ معدولُ

The composers of poetry either sincere

Entering its doors or misguided barred

ولَكَمْ لطلّاعِ الثَّنايا نحوه

مُتَزحزِحٌ عن طُرْقِهِ وزَليلُ

And how to the descenders of the slopes towards it

Are the diverged from its path and few

طلبوا وما وصلوا وكم من طالبٍ

أمراً وليس له إليه وُصولُ

They sought but never attained and how many a seeker

Of something but to it there is no attainment

وإذا هُمُ لم يُحسنوا في قولهم

أشعارَهْم أحسنت كيف أقولُ

But if they do not master in their poetry

How could I master saying their poetry