1. ما لها تَطوي فيافي الأرض سَيرا

    وتخدُّ البيدَ قَفْراً ثم قفرا

    What ails her, that she crosses the earth's vast deserts on her journey,

    And furrows the wastes, barren tract after barren tract?

  2. أتراها ذَكَرَتْ أحبابها

    فطوى فيها المغار الشوقُ قَسرا

    Do you suppose she remembered her loved ones,

    So longing forced her to cover the galloping course?

  3. فلهذا لَعِبَ الوجدُ بها

    فترى أعْيُنَها بالدَّمع عبرى

    For this reason, passion played with her,

    So you see her eyes brimming with tears.

  4. كلَّما عَلَّلها الحادي بمَن

    سَكَنوا سلعاً أحبَّت منه ذكرا

    Whenever the camel-driver soothed her with those

    Who dwelt at Salʿ, she loved his mention of them.

  5. وعلامات الهوى بيّنَةٌ

    ليس يخفي الشوقُ من ذي العشق سترا

    And the signs of love are plain;

    Longing leaves the lover no veil of concealment.

  6. ذكَرَتْ من خَيَّموا بالمنحنى

    فجرَت أدْمُعُها شفعاً ووترا

    She remembered those who camped at the bend,

    So her tears flowed, in pairs and singly.

  7. كلُّ غصنٍ ما بدا إلاَّ أرى

    حاملاً من صَنْعَة الخلاّق بدرا

    No bough appears but I see it

    Bearing a full moon of the Creator's handiwork.

  8. وإذا يرنو إلى مشتاقِهِ

    سلَّ سيفَ اللّحظ عنواناً وكرّا

    And whenever he gazes at the one who yearns for him,

    He draws the sword of his glance as a sign, and charges.

  9. شَرِبَتْ من ريقِه قامَتُه

    فانثَنَتْ من ذلك السلسال سكرى

    His stature drank of his lips' moisture,

    Then swayed, drunk on that limpid draught.

  10. وبقلبي ذلك القدّ الَّذي

    بقناه طَعَنَ القلبَ وأفرى

    And in my heart is that slender figure which

    With its lances pierced my heart and rent it open.

  11. وعلى عارضه من خَطِّهِ

    كتَبَ الرَّيحانُ فوق الخد سطرا

    And on his cheek, from his fine down,

    Basil wrote a line across the cheek.

  12. أيها المُمْزِجُ دَمعي بدمي

    إنَّني لم أستطع بالهجر صبرا

    O you who mingle my tears with my blood,

    Indeed, I could not bear separation patiently.

  13. إنْ تكنْ عيناك أنكرنَ دمي

    فبه خدّاك عمداً قد أقرّا

    If your eyes have denied my bloodshed,

    Your cheeks have deliberately confessed to it.

  14. عَسَليُّ اللّون حلويُّ اللمى

    لم جرَّعتَ أخا الأشجان مرّا

    Honey-hued, with sweet, dusky lips,

    Why have you made sorrow's companion drink bitterness?

  15. وأميناً كُنْ إذا ما لامني

    إنَّ في أُذني عن اللّوّام وقرا

    And rest assured, whenever someone reproaches me:

    My ear is deaf to those who blame.

  16. ما يفيد اللّوام في مستغرم

    عَدَّ ما يأمُرُه العذّال كفرا

    What use is the reproacher to one consumed by love,

    Who reckons the reproachers' commands as unbelief?

  17. كيفَ أنسيتَ ليالينا الَّتي

    قد تقضّت فَرَحاً منّا وبشرى

    How have you consigned to oblivion our nights, which

    Passed amid our joy and gladness,

  18. إذ أمِنّا ساحةَ الواشي بنا

    حيثُ لَمْ نَشْرَبْ سوى ريقك خمرا

    When we were safe from the tale-bearer's reach,

    Where we drank no wine but the moisture of your lips?

  19. وزمانٍ قد نَهَبْنا شَطْرَه

    ما حَسِبنا غَيره في الدهر عُمرا

    And that time, half of which we plundered—

    We counted nothing else in all time as life.

  20. لا أُبالي بزمانٍ جائرٍ

    كانَ عسراً كلُّه أمْ كانَ يسرا

    I care nothing for a tyrannous age,

    Whether it was all hardship or ease.

  21. إنَّ محمود السجايا قد غدا

    في صروف الدهر لي عوناً وذخرا

    Indeed, Mahmoud, praised for his character, has become

    My help and reserve through the turns of time.

  22. لو أُفيضَتْ أبْحرٌ من علمِه

    ونَداه صار هذا البر بحرا

    If seas were poured forth from his knowledge

    And his bounty, this land would become a sea.

  23. إنَّه لَو لم يكن بحراً لما

    قَذَفَتْ ألفاظه للناس درا

    Indeed, had he not been a sea, never would

    His words have cast pearls to the people.

  24. لو تفكَّرْتَ به قلت له

    في عُلاك الله قد أوْدَعَ سرّا

    If you pondered him, you would say to him:

    God has placed a secret in your eminence.

  25. أيُّ معنى غامضٍ تَسألُه

    وهو لم يكشف عن المضمون سترا

    What obscure meaning could you ask him about

    Without his lifting the veil from its substance?

  26. وعَويصاتِ علومٍ أشْكَلَتْ

    زَحْزَحَتْ عنها له الآراء خدرا

    And thorny questions of knowledge that grew obscure—

    His insights moved their concealing curtain aside.

  27. هبة الله الَّذي أوْهَبَه

    من علومٍ جاوزتْ حداً وحصرا

    A gift of God, who endowed him

    With knowledge beyond every limit and count.

  28. ما سمعنا خبراً عمَّن مضى

    لم يحط فيه على الترتيب خُبرا

    We have heard no account of those gone before

    Whose details he did not know fully and in order.

  29. ركنُ هذا الدِّين فيه قائم

    ولكسر العلم قد أصبح جبرا

    The pillar of this faith stands firm in him,

    And he has become the remedy for learning's fracture.

  30. يَرِدُ العافون من تيّارِه

    شَرَحَ الله له بالدين صدرا

    Those seeking bounty come to drink from his current;

    God has opened his breast through faith.

  31. يوضِحُ المبهم في آرائه

    ويرى الأشياء قبل العين فكرا

    He makes the obscure clear in his judgments,

    And sees things in thought before the eye sees them,

  32. بذكاء كحسامٍ باترٍ

    أو كزند حيثما يقدح أورى

    With intelligence like a cleaving sword,

    Or like a fire-stick that flares wherever struck.

  33. رَزِنٌ لو لم يكن إحْلاله

    فوقَ هذي الأرض فينا ما استقرا

    Weighty: were his dwelling not

    Upon this earth among us, he would never settle.

  34. ولطيف لو معاني خلقه

    عُصرت كانت لنا شهداً وخمرا

    And gentle: if the qualities of his character

    Were pressed, they would be honey and wine for us.

  35. وإذا تُصغي إلى ما عنده

    من بيان خلْتَه للذهن سحرا

    And when you listen to what he possesses

    Of eloquence, you would deem it magic for the mind.

  36. وهَدى الله به النَّاس إلى

    طُرُق الحقّ وأبدى فيه أمرا

    And through him God guided people to

    The paths of truth, and showed something remarkable in him.

  37. وإذا ما ذكر الله لنا

    وَجِلَ القلبُ به لو كانَ صخرا

    And whenever he mentions God to us,

    The heart trembles at it, even were it stone.

  38. بلسانٍ كانَ بقراط النهى

    عِلَلَ النَّفْس بذاك الوعظ أبرا

    With a tongue that was Hippocrates to the intellect,

    He cured the soul's ailments with that exhortation.

  39. وكريمٍ من معالي ذاتِهِ

    لم تجد في نفسه عُجباً وكِبرا

    And noble: among the excellences of his nature

    Is that you find no conceit or pride within him.

  40. وإذا يمَّمْتَه في حاجة

    زاد في ملقاك إكراماً وبشرا

    And when you turn to him with a need,

    He welcomes you with greater honor and cheer.

  41. أيُّها النحريرُ في هذا الورى

    والَّذي فاق بني ذا العصر طرّى

    O consummate scholar among these mortals,

    And you who have surpassed all the sons of this age,

  42. منذُ شاهَدْتُك شاهَدْتُ المنى

    وأياديك مدى الأيام تترى

    Since I beheld you, I beheld all I hoped for,

    And your favors follow one another through the days.

  43. وبإحسانكَ رِقّي مالكٌ

    قبلَ عِرفانك لي قد كنت حرّا

    And through your kindness, you are master of my servitude;

    Before you knew me, I had been free.

  44. هاكَ منِّي بنتَ فكر أٌبْرِزَتْ

    ليس تبغي غير مرضاتك مهرا

    Take from me a daughter of thought, brought forth,

    She seeks no bridal dower but your approval.

  45. هاكَها عَذراء في أوصافكم

    سيّدي واقبل من المسكين عذرا

    Take her, a virgin in describing your qualities,

    My master, and accept an excuse from this poor man.

  46. واعذُرِ العبدَ على تقصيره

    إنها في مَدْحكم حمداً وشكرا

    And pardon the slave for his shortcomings;

    Indeed, she is offered in your praise, in homage and thanks.

  47. وارغم الحاسد في نيل العلى

    وَلْيَمُتْ خَصْمُك إرغاماً وقهرا

    And humble the envier as you attain the heights;

    And let your adversary die in humiliation and subjugation.