شقت دجى فرعها عن فرقها السحري

فسبحت ورق واديها على الشجر

She parted her tresses' darkness to reveal her enchanting hair-parting.

Then the gray doves of her valley sang praises upon the trees.

وأقبلت تتجلى في غلائها

كالغصن لو يتحلى الغصن بالدرر

And she approached, radiant in her precious splendor,

like a bough, if a bough were adorned with pearls.

يزفها بلبل الخلخال مبتهجاً

زف المبشر بالإقبال والظفر

The nightingale of her anklet joyfully escorts her,

as does a herald of good fortune and victory.

هركولة رتقت بالوصل ما فتقت

ناب الصدود وشقت شقة الخطر

A full-figured beauty, she mended with union what had been torn

by estrangement's fang, and traversed the expanse of peril.

فظلت ألثم موطاها ويحجبها

عن ناظري بدني الممطور من بصري

So I kept kissing where she trod, while she was screened

from my gaze by my body, drenched by my eyes.

كأنه غار من عيني على فُنُقٍ

تغارُ منها حسان الحور والبشر

As though it were jealous of my eyes over a pampered beauty

of whom the loveliest houris and mortals are jealous.

ما أطلعت مثلها الجوزاء نيرةً

ولا حوى مثلها الإكليل من قمر

Al-Jawza has never brought forth a radiant star like her,

nor has Al-Iklil held a moon like her.

ترنو بعين مهاةٍ كحلها حورٌ

سحارة الجفن لم تترك ولم تذر

She gazes with an oryx's eye, kohled by its vivid black and white,

a sorceress with her eyelid, leaving nothing and sparing nothing.

يقول شائمها للراح ما ابتسمت

هذا هو الحبب الدرّيّ فاستتري

Her beholder tells the wine, whenever she smiles:

'These are the pearly bubbles—so hide yourself!'

وإن شدت صاح شحرور الربى طرباً

لم تحكها يا هزار الروض فاقتصر

And if she sings, the hills' blackbird cries in rapture:

'You have not matched her, O garden nightingale; desist.'

كأنها جنة حفّ الجمال بها

فقام فيها مقام الزهر والثمر

She is like a garden encircled by beauty,

where beauty takes the place of blossoms and fruit.

ذلت لأردافها الكثبان من كبرٍ

وعزَّ في صدرها الرمان من صغر

The dunes are humbled by the vastness of her buttocks,

while the pomegranates on her chest are prized for their smallness.

لو شامها حارس البستان قال لها

سرقت رمانتي نهديك من شجري

If the garden's keeper beheld her, he would tell her:

'You stole the two pomegranates of your breasts from my trees.'

لها يدٌ لو تعرَّت من دمالجها

سالت تبارك واقيها من الخطر

She has an arm which, stripped of its armlets,

would flow—blessed be He who shields her from harm.

وقامة كشطاط الرمح لينةٌ

طوع العناق وطوع اللهو والسمر

And a supple stature, like the straight shaft of a spear,

pliant to embraces, to play, and to evening conversation.

ضممتها ضم مشتاق بلا حذرٍ

ضم المخاطر بين الخوف والحذر

I clasped her as a longing lover clasps, without caution,

as a risk-taker clasps, amid fear and caution.

وقلت هل منحٌ يحظى بها سمِحٌ

من لائميه ومن دين السلوِّ بري

And I said, 'Are there favors for a generous man to win,

free of his reproachers and of the creed of forgetting,

أذابه الشوق حتى لا تكاد ترىال

عُوّاد صورته من شدة الغير

whom longing has melted, until scarcely can the

visitors see his form, so severe are his afflictions?'

فأتلعت لعناقي جيد جاذيةٍ

كأنه طلعةٌ عنها الغلاف ذُري

Then she raised a gazelle's neck toward my embrace,

as though it were a palm blossom with its sheath cast off.

وأودعت بيد الضرغام عاتقها

ولم تخف فتكة الضرغام في العفر

And she entrusted her shoulder to the lion's hand,

unafraid of the lion's deadly assault upon the pale gazelles.

حتى إذا انقرض الديجور وانتفض ال

عصفور وانبسط الشحرور في الشجر

Until, when the deep darkness passed and the

sparrow shook itself and the blackbird spread out among the trees,

ودعت شمساً على غصنٍ على جبل

أبهى من الصبح في ليلٍ من الحبر

I bade farewell to a sun upon a bough upon a mountain,

more radiant than dawn amid a night of ink.

وقلت للعين والحادي يمر بها

بانت سعاد ولاح الفجر فانفجري

And I told my eye, as the camel-driver passed with her:

'Su'ad has departed, and dawn has appeared—burst forth!'

فصير القادر الأجفان في لججٍ

حاكت ندى عبده السمح السخيْ المضري

Then the Almighty turned my eyelids into surging seas

that rivaled the bounty of His gracious, generous Mudarite servant:

الثابت العزم والأبطال في قلقٍ

والراسخ الحزم والألباب في حيَر

steadfast in resolve while the heroes tremble,

firm in judgment while minds are bewildered,

والمنهل الصارم البتار نهلته

من قمّة الرأس أو من قلة البصر

who gives his keen, cleaving sword its first draught

from the crown of a head or the orb of an eye.

مولى يخوض الوغى والليل معتكرٌ

على سنا ذابلٍ أو صارمٍ ذكر

A lord who plunges into battle while night is pitch-dark,

by the gleam of a slender spear or a virile sword,

بسابحٍ لا يكاد الطرف يدركه

يقول للبرق سر مهلاً على أثري

on a coursing steed the eye can scarcely follow,

which tells the lightning, 'Go slowly in my wake.'

كأنه تخت ملك فوق ملكٌ

لا يأخذ النفس إلّا أخذ مقتدر

As though it were a royal throne with a king atop it,

who seizes a soul only with a mighty one's grasp.

كأن نسر الدراري فوق غرته

مقيدٌ أو قصيص الريش لم يطر

As though the eagle among the bright stars, above its blaze,

were fettered, or feather-clipped, and had not flown.

يرمي العداة بما تذري سنابكه

من الثرى فترى نبلاً من الحجر

It pelts its foes with what its hooves scatter

from the earth, so you see arrows of stone.

وصارمٍ كقضاء اللَه منحدرٍ

على العواتق والهامات والطرر

And with a sharp sword descending like God's decree

upon shoulders, heads, and forelocks,

مخلولق بدم اللبات تحسبه

بين الكماة لساناً مد من سقر

smeared with the blood of throats—you would think it

a tongue extended from Saqar among the warriors.

فضَّ السوابغَ من عاداته ذكرٌ

في فرج كل دلاص غير مندحر

A virile blade whose custom is to break full coats of mail,

in the cleft of every smooth coat of mail, never driven back.

يسطو به وبحيات القنا أسدٌ

جمُّ الرماد شديد الساعدين جري

A lion strikes with it and with the serpents of the spears,

abundant in hearth-ash, strong in both forearms, and bold.

يفتض أبكار أقمار الحصون على

نور البواتر بالعسالة السمر

He deflowers the virgin moons of fortresses in

the light of cleaving swords, with quivering brown spears.

لا يتقي لهب البارود منحدراً

كالسيل يفتق جيب الليل بالشرر

He does not flinch from gunpowder's flame, rushing down

like a torrent, rending the bosom of night with sparks.

تخاله وهو فردٌ من مهابته

في فيلقٍ من ليوث الغاب منتشر

Such is his awe-inspiring presence that, though alone, you imagine him

amid a deployed legion of forest lions.

ألية بالهجان الشدقمية يق

طعن السباسب نحو الركن والحجر

I swear by the white, wide-mouthed she-camels that

traverse the wastes toward the Corner and the Stone,

والصافنات عليها القوم معتسفيْ

عرض الفلا لا أولى خوف ولا حذر

and by the poised steeds, with men upon them traversing

the breadth of the wilderness, knowing neither fear nor caution:

ما أولد المجد من بكر العلى أسداً

إلّاه أفتك من صمصامه الذكر

Glory has fathered, by the virgin of eminence, no lion

save him more deadly than his own virile, keen-edged sword.

سلَّ الحسام لدين اللَه من صغرٍ

ومتع الناس بعد اليأس بالظفر

He drew his sword for God's faith from his youth,

and delighted the people with victory after despair.

ولم يجب دعوة الداعي لمظلمةٍ

ولم يبع نصرة المظلوم بالبُدَر

He never answered a caller's summons to injustice,

nor sold his aid to the oppressed for purses of money.

فأصبح الغرب شرقاً زاهياً ببها

ذاك الجهاد الذي أربى على الفكر

Thus the West became an East, radiant with the splendor

of that jihad, which surpassed imagination.

جلا النفوس به من كل موبقةٍ

كما جلا البيض جاليها من الكدر

Through it he cleansed souls of every deadly sin,

as a polisher clears bright swords of tarnish.

ولم يزل غازياً حتى طغت فرقٌ

للمسلمين وخانت خالق البشر

He continued campaigning until factions grew rebellious

among the Muslims and betrayed humankind's Creator.

فأغمد السيف واختار الشآم كما اخ

تار المدينة لما هاجر المضري

Then he sheathed his sword and chose al-Sham, just as

the Mudarite chose Medina when he emigrated.

ولاذ بالصبر واستحلى مرارته

مسلماً لقضاء اللَه والقدر

He sought refuge in patience and found its bitterness sweet,

submitting to God's decree and destiny.

ومن تدرع بالصبر الجميل قضى

له الإله بفوز غير منبتر

Whoever dons the armor of gracious patience is awarded

by God a triumph that is never cut short.

لعل يوم حُنين الصعب يعقبه

نهار بدرٍ ويقضي اللَه بالظفر

Perhaps the hard day of Hunayn will be followed

by a day of Badr, and God will decree victory.

يا كعبة الجود من لباك فاز بما

يرضي الإله وأضحى خير معتمر

O Kaaba of generosity, whoever answers your call wins what

pleases God, and becomes the finest pilgrim.

فاقبل حجيج ثنائي من مخدرةٍ

تاهت على غانيات البدور والحضر

So accept the pilgrims of my praise, from a secluded maiden

who proudly outshone the beauties of the full moons and the towns.

لا شيء يعجبها إلّا رضاك فإن

فازت به مهرت باللؤلؤ النضر

Nothing pleases her but your approval; for if

she wins it, she is dowered with lustrous pearls.

دامت تودك أبكار القريض ولا

زالت تدر لك الأفكار بالدرر

May poetry's maidens always love you, and may

thoughts never cease to pour forth pearls for you.

ودمتَ أسمحَ موموقٍ وأملح مر

موقٍ وأنجح مخلوقٍ من البشر

And may you remain the most generous beloved, the fairest to be

admired, and the most successful creature among humankind.