ألبستني جفون عينيه سقما

والشفاء الشفاه رشفاً ولثما

His eyes' lids have clothed me in sickness,

and the cure is his lips, in sipping and kissing.

عيل صبري بالغصن أهيف لدنا

ضاق ذرعي بالظبي أغيد ألمى

My patience is exhausted by that branch, slender and supple;

my endurance fails before that gazelle, graceful and dark-lipped.

مطل المستهام منه ضعيف الأيـ

ـد لو كان غير جفنيه خصما

He keeps the love-stricken waiting, weak in strength—

were anything but his eyelids the adversary.

وتبدى عذاره وغرامي

قي ازدياد حتى إذا تم تما

His cheek-down appeared, and my passion

grew—until, when his down was full, my passion ended.

قربه والنوى حياة وموت

ورضاه والسخط بؤسى ونعمى

His nearness and separation are life and death;

his favor and displeasure are misery and bliss.

مطلع كالصباح أبيض وضا

حاً وكالليل فاحماً مدلهما

A visage like morning, white and radiantly

bright, and like night, coal-black and pitch-dark.

كم أرانا قداً ولحظاً وجفناً

فأرانا رمحاً وسيفاً وسهما

How often he showed us a stature, a glance, an eyelid,

and thus showed us a spear, a sword, an arrow!

بدر تم وافى وشملته الليـ

ـل كميش الإزار يحمل نجما

A full moon arrived, and night enveloped him,

his waist-wrapper gathered tightly, bearing a star.

أي كأس من الجمال يصد الـ

ـكأس عني ويمنع الظلم ظلما

What a cup of beauty, keeping the winecup

from me, and unjustly withholding his teeth's gleam!

يا بروحي أظمى براحته

الراح فمالي أذاد عنها وأظما

Ah, my soul for that dark-lipped youth whose palm holds

wine! Why am I driven from it and left thirsty?

رشا ناطق النطاق حماني

خده واللثام يدميه لثما

A fawn whose girdle speaks has barred me from

his cheek, while the veil bloodies it with kisses.

قائل بالخلاف لو كنت ذا

رشد سألت الصدود لما ألما

Contrary in speech—had you possessed

good sense, you would have asked for rejection when he came.

أتراني أجني جنى الشهد تقبيـ

ـلاً وأثني غصن الأراكة ضما

Do you think I shall gather honey's harvest in kisses,

and bend the arak branch in an embrace?

بح بشأني في حيث شأني من الـ

ـمزة يمحو رسماً ويثبت رسما

Speak openly of my plight, where my state, through the tart

wine, erases one trace and establishes another.

وإذا ما تلوت آيات وجدي

ثم فاجعل منهن للسهم سهما

And when you recite the verses of my passion,

then allot from them a share to the arrow.

حمَّ عنها وبينٌ ضلوعي

لوعة تنشدُ الغزالَ الأحما

Kept away from her, while between my ribs

a burning yearning seeks the dark gazelle.

تحسب النجمَ في دجى الليل زهراً

في رباها وتحسب الزهر نجما

You would take the stars in night's darkness for flowers

upon its hillocks, and take the flowers for stars.

فغصون تصبيك حسن اهتزاز

وطيور تسبيك شدواً ونغما

Branches captivate you with the beauty of their swaying,

and birds enthrall you with song and melody.

كل هيفاء تخجل النور نوراً

فوق شماء تفضح المسك شما

Each slender bough shames the light with its radiance,

above a lofty tree whose scent puts musk to shame.

وسيوف البروق تثن أعناق العزا

لي في عسكر السحب كلما

And lightning's swords bend the necks of the rain-spouts

in the army of clouds, whenever,

باسمات تعيد بالودق وجه الأر

ض طلقاً وكان من قبل جهما

smiling, they restore through rainfall the earth's face,

cheerful, when before it had been grim.

فهو هام ما هم إلا وأحيا

جذلا هالكاً وجدل هما

It pours; it never stirs without reviving

a dying tree-trunk and felling sorrow.

كل مسود طلعة الأفق مبـ

ـيض جبين الفعال ينهل سجما

Each cloud that darkens the horizon's face brightens

the brow of deeds, pouring rain in streams.

يطبيك الوادي رواء وريا

كيف يظما هناك من يم يما

The valley entices you with beauty and fragrance;

how could one thirst there who seeks a sea?

فمروجاً فيحا تفاوح مسكاً

وجماماً رزقا ونبتاً جما

And spacious meadows wafting musk,

and pools for sustenance, and plentiful herbage.

ما وشى الوشي بالحيا حين والى

بيد أن النمام خاف فنما

The brocade did not betray the rain as it came in succession;

but the talebearer grew afraid and told.

فهو تلك الملك المظفر سيباً

فهلما إلى نداه هلما

Such is al-Malik al-Muzaffar in bounty;

so come to his generosity, come!

واهب الهجمة القلاص وثاني البحـ

ـر ثاني الخيل السواهم هجما

Giver of herds of young she-camels, the sea's peer,

who turns back lean horses in their charge.

وفتى المجد عاد كل فتى مجد

وقد هم فاتر الجد هما

A youth of glory; every other glorious youth has become,

his striving slackened with age, a decrepit man.

بحر جود طامي العباب خضماً

طود مجد سامي الذؤابة ضخما

An ocean of generosity, overflowing with vast surges;

a mountain of glory, lofty-crested and immense.

هازئ بالبدور وجهاً وبالآ

ساد بأساً وبالشواهق حلما

Outdoing the full moons in face, and the lions

in valor, and lofty mountains in forbearance.

فهو مثل السحاب يغنيك وبلاً

وهو مثل الحسام يرضيك حسما

He is like the clouds, enriching you with downpours,

and like the sharp sword, pleasing you by decisive cutting.

فالمنى والمنونُ جوداً وسطواً

والردى والحياة حرباً وسلما

He is fulfilled wishes and death, in generosity and might,

and destruction and life, in war and peace.

من سواه يمنُّ بالألف نقداً

من سواه يثني سطا الألف قدما

Who but he bestows a thousand in ready coin?

Who but he boldly repels a thousand's onslaught?

بطل قاطع حسماً ورأياً

يقظ نافذ سناناً وفهما

A champion, decisive in stroke and judgment,

alert, penetrating with spearhead and understanding.

ناشر فوق سابح وسرير

علماً كالصباح هدياً وعلما

Unfurling above swift steed and throne

a banner like morning, in guidance and knowledge.

صاحب الفضل والفواضل كم أوجد

ن وجداً فينا وأعدمن عدما

Master of excellence and benefactions—how often they have stirred

passion within us and banished destitution!

وسواه كأنه صخرة صما

ء أسمى عن داع أصما

Anyone else is like a hard, deaf rock,

aloof from a caller, utterly deaf.

راكب الخيل عاريات إلى الـ

ـحرب أشم العرنين يعلو أشما

Rider of bare-backed horses into

battle, proud of nose, astride a proud steed.

كل طيارة حبتها طيور الـ

ـجو والدارعون حمداً وذما

Each flying mare receives from the birds of the

air and armored warriors praise and blame.

تتوالى عقارباً وشكوكها السمـ

ـر العوالي ينفثن في الهام سما

They follow like scorpions, their stings the brown

tall lances that spit poison into skulls.

تاخذات أهلة الأفق زهواً

والثريا تيهاً نعالاً ولجما

Taking the horizon's crescents in pride,

and the Pleiades in arrogance, for shoes and bridles.

ربما لأمة تسربلها لم تنـ

ـض عنه حتى أمات ملما

Often a coat of mail he donned was not stripped

from him until he had slain an assailant.

وذكور السيوف تولد آجال

كماة الوغى المنايا العقما

And virile swords beget the appointed deaths

of battle's champions from barren Death.

فلخوف القنا وجدن ذبولاً

واضحاً والظبى نحولاً وسقما

Through fear, the spears are found with a withering

plain to see, and the blades with wasting and sickness.

كم أعادت كفاه ذاك حطاماً

وبهذا ثلماً به سد ثلما

How often his two hands reduced that to splinters,

and with this made a notch, thereby closing a breach!

واثق في الحروب بالنصر لا

يقدم جهلاً بهن إما وإما

Confident of victory in wars, he does not

enter them blindly, on an 'either—or.'

ساد كلاً لما حوى غلاية المجـ

ـد فقل للحسود كلا ولما

He surpassed all, having attained the pinnacle of glory;

so tell the envious: 'No, and not yet!'

أتراه يستحسن النقع جهلاً

أم تراه يستعذب الموت طعما

Do you think he finds battle-dust lovely out of ignorance,

or that death tastes sweet to him?

حيث يثني بيض الصوارم حمراً

والمذاكي شهباً وقد كن دهما

Where he turns the white cutting swords red,

and seasoned steeds gray, though they were black.

ويرد الخميس طعناً فإن لجـ

ـج فضرباً فإن تمادى فصدما

He repels the army with thrusts; if it persists,

then with blows; if it presses on, then with a charge.

وإذا أكتن كل ليث بغاب

غشي الليل فاكتنى وتسمى

And when every lion takes shelter in a thicket,

he braves the night, declaring his byname and name.

يا تقي الدين الذي عمر الدين ببذ

ل الدنيا فلم تحش هدما

O Taqi al-Din, who built up the faith by spending

worldly riches, so you feared no ruin!

م أباحت يداك عرباً وعجماً

ما استطاعوا لعود بأسك عجما

How many Arabs and non-Arabs your two hands laid low,

who could not test the wood of your might!

وجياداً قباً وبيضاً خفافاً

وخفافاً بيضاً ولدناً صما

And lean steeds, and light, bright swords,

and white camels, and supple, solid lances.

واعتقدت النزال للدين ديناً

كالعطايا يا حاتم الجود حتما

You deemed combat for the faith a debt,

like gifts, O Hatim of generosity, a binding duty.

يا بني الجود والسنون نواب

وبني الحرب والأسنة تدمى

O sons of generosity, when the years bring calamities,

and sons of war, when spearheads bleed,

والألى كم كفوا وكافوا

أزمة وابن مدحة ومهما

and you who have so often warded off and recompensed—

a crisis, a son of praise, and a pressing concern.

نشركم قبل بشركم فاح فعماً

بنثاً طبق البلاد فعما

Your fragrance spread before your smiles, rich and strong,

a diffusion that covered the lands and reached all.

كم فرعتم من المعالي سناماً

وجدعتم من الملمات خطما

How many summits of high honors you have scaled,

and how many snouts of calamities you have cut off!

ومحوتم لما كتبتم بأقلام الـ

ـعوالي في مهرق الهام إثما

And you erased, when you wrote with the pens of

tall spears upon the parchment of skulls, a sin.

ورجمتم بها وقد مرج الكفـ

ـر شياطينه العفاريت رجما

And with them you stoned, when unbelief ran rampant,

its fiendish devils with a mighty pelting.

وقسمتم بذابل ونوال

في العدى والوفود قصماً وقسما

And you apportioned, with slender spear and bounty,

among enemies and delegations, shattering and shares.

غشم الدهر أهله وعدلتم

فبلونا حياله عدلاً وغشما

Time oppressed its people, while you dealt justly;

thus, in contrast to it, we experienced justice and tyranny.

ربما وقفة وساعة عدل

منك صغرى وفي الحقيقة عظمى

Often a stand, an hour of justice,

from you is small, but in truth immense.

فانتصف لي من الزمان فقد حا

ول ظلمي والرأي أعلى وأسمى

So secure me redress against Time, for it has tried

to wrong me; your judgment is loftier and nobler.