1. هذا هزار حديقة الورد

    أم خال خد رشيقة القد

    Is this a nightingale in a garden of roses,

    or a mole on the cheek of a slender-formed beauty?

  2. ذات اللمى العذب التي قتلت

    عشاقها بمرارة الصد

    She of sweetly dusky lips, who has slain

    her lovers with the bitterness of rejection;

  3. من لا يروق لها متيمها

    حتى يموت بعلة الوجد

    she whose love-stricken admirer does not please her

    until he dies of the sickness of longing.

  4. فدّيتها وإن ابتغت عندي

    بجوانحي وبكل ما عندي

    I would ransom her, even if she sought to oppose me,

    with my ribs and all I possess—

  5. شاميةً بعيونها حورٌ

    يُزري عيون الريم والفهد

    a Damascene beauty, whose eyes' black-and-white contrast

    puts the eyes of gazelle and cheetah to shame.

  6. ما أبهر الدجال عاذلها

    إلّا بياض جبينها المهدي

    Nothing dazzled her reproacher, the Dajjal,

    but the whiteness of her Mahdi-like brow.

  7. قالوا لنا والشام بلدتها

    إن الذي بجفونها هندي

    They told us—Damascus being her hometown—

    that what lies in her eyelids is an Indian blade.

  8. فعلمت أن اللَه أرسلها

    لتذل أو لتضل أو تهدي

    Then I knew that God had sent her

    to humble, or lead astray, or guide.

  9. وجلا علينا خالها لنرى

    إنسان عين الشمس في الخد

    And He revealed her mole to us, so we might see

    the pupil of the sun's eye in her cheek.

  10. وحياتها وحياتها قسمٌ

    عندي يكيد من ابتغى عندي

    By her life, by her life—an oath

    I hold, which thwarts whoever seeks to oppose me:

  11. لأقربن فمي إلى فمها

    وخديدها النادي إلى خدي

    I shall surely bring my mouth close to hers,

    and her dewy little cheek close to mine,

  12. ولو استشاط خميسها غضباً

    وأقر بين خيامها لحدي

    even if her army blazed with rage

    and set my grave among her tents.

  13. يا ربة الخلخال والعقد

    وأميرتي في الحل والعقد

    O mistress of the anklet and necklace,

    and my princess in unbinding and binding,

  14. في النار أم في النور خالك أم

    في مارجٍ من حمرة الخد

    is your mole in fire, or in light, or

    in a smokeless flame of the cheek's redness?

  15. ته وافتخر يا أيها الندي

    واللَه ما لك قط من ند

    Strut and boast, O dewy one!

    By God, you have no equal at all.

  16. بك تفضل الوجنات أخوتها

    والكل من حمّالة الورد

    Through you, these cheeks surpass their sisters,

    and all are bearers of roses;

  17. كالشام تفضل كل عاصمةٍ

    بالشهم عبد القادر الفرد

    just as Damascus surpasses every capital

    through the gallant, peerless Abd al-Qadir.

  18. مولى أبٍ تأبى صوارمه

    إلّا رؤوس أيمة المجد

    An unyielding lord, whose keen swords accept

    only the heads of glory's chieftains.

  19. وتكاد لا تُسقَى إذا عطشت

    أفراسه إلّا دم الأسد

    And, when thirst comes, almost nothing is drunk

    by his horses but lions' blood,

  20. حيث السيوف البيض تخطر في

    روض الحتوف بميسمٍ وردي

    where the bright swords strut through

    the garden of deaths with a rose-red mark.

  21. وسليل طه من شمائله

    متنشئٌ ريحانة الخلد

    And Taha's descendant, from whose virtues

    sprouts the sweet basil of eternity,

  22. لا يبتغي بقتاله نشباً

    إلّا رضاء المبدع المبدي

    seeks no wealth through his fighting,

    only the approval of the Creator, the Originator.

  23. إن الأمير محط ناظره

    رب القنا لا ربة العقد

    Indeed, the emir's gaze is fixed upon

    the lord of spears, not the mistress of the necklace.

  24. وهو الذي يولي السليب ولا

    يعتاض غير الشكر والحمد

    He is the one who gives to the dispossessed, and

    takes nothing in return but thanks and praise.

  25. وهو الحفيظ على مودته

    في الحالتين القرب والبعد

    And he faithfully preserves his affection

    in both conditions: nearness and distance.

  26. ودعاه يستسقَى الغمام به

    ويحنّن المولى على العبد

    And through his prayer the clouds are asked for rain,

    and it moves the Lord to compassion for the servant.

  27. والسطو محدودٌ برحمته

    ونداه مبذولٌ بلا حد

    And his onslaught is restrained by his mercy,

    and his bounty is freely offered without limit.

  28. وكأن روح اللَه في فمه

    يحيي به من شاء أو يردي

    It is as though God's spirit were in his mouth:

    with it he gives life to whom he wills, or brings death.

  29. يا خير من صلى وصام وقا

    م الليل من حرٍّ ومن عبد

    O best of those who pray, fast, and keep vigil

    at night, among both the free and the enslaved,

  30. قد أعظمت منك العلى قمراً

    متنفساً من عنصر المهدي

    Glory has indeed revered in you a moon,

    breathing forth from the essence of the Mahdi.

  31. فاسلم لها ولنا وعيد يا

    عيد الوجود وكوكب السعد

    So remain safe for her and for us, and celebrate, O

    festival of existence and star of good fortune!

  32. فجميع أعياد الورى دررٌ

    منظومةٌ لعلاك كالعقد

    For all the festivals of humankind are pearls

    strung for your glory like a necklace.

  33. واحمد فاجر الصوم جادكه

    من فيه أنزل سورة الحمد

    And give praise, for fasting's reward was generously bestowed on you

    by Him who revealed during it Surah al-Hamd.