متى لمتني في الغوزال الأغنِ

فلا أنا منكَ ولا أنتَ مني

Whenever you blame me for the mellow-voiced gazelle,

then I am not of you, nor are you of me.

نجوتَ بقلبك يوم العذيب ولـ

ـو كنتَ ذا صبوة لم تلمني

You escaped with your heart on the day at al-ʿUdhayb; and if

you had known passion, you would not have blamed me.

وتعجبُ من جزعي للقد

ود ويميَ يوم نزالٍ وطعن

You marvel at my anguish over those sta—

—tures, and [unclear wording], on a day of combat and thrusting.

يصول ومن لحظهِ سيفهُ

وأبغي الدفاع وقلبي مجني

He charges, his sword drawn from his glance,

while I seek to parry, my heart my shield.

ولو لم يكن لهذماً لم يكن

منيفاً على أسمر اللون لدن

Were he not a keen blade, he would not be

raised upon a dusky, supple shaft.

ولولا بلاء الهوى لم يكن

ليخدعني لينهُ والتثني

But for love's affliction, there would be no way

for his softness and swaying to beguile me.

أتنقم قولي عند الوداع

بدمعكَ إنْ كان سحاًَ أعنّي

Do you reproach my saying at farewell:

‘Help me with your tears, if they flow freely’?

كأنك لم تلج يوم النوى

إلى شقِّ جيبٍ ولا بلّ ردن

As though, on separation's day, you never resorted

to rending a collar or wetting a sleeve.

أقيمت قيامة أهل الهوى

فكم مالكٍ غال قلباً بسجن

Judgment Day has risen for the people of love:

how many a Mālik has ensnared a heart in prison!

وبين الأضالع نار الجحيم

وفوق الغوارب جناَّت عدن

Between the ribs is the fire of Hell,

and above the shoulders are the Gardens of Eden.

وفي خدّه روضةٌ بالجفون

تجني على طرف من جاء يجني

On his cheek is a garden whose eyelids

wound the eye of whoever comes to gather its fruit.

وإني لأهواهُ وهوَ الحمامُ

ومن دلهِ الحب قولي وإني

I indeed love him, though he is death;

and my saying ‘and I indeed’ is love's bewilderment.

عذيري من قدهِ المستمالِ

وويلي من ردفهِ المرجحن

Who will defend me against his swaying stature?

And woe to me for his heavy, swaying hips!

هجرنا السرور وأين السرور

بعد فراق الفريق المبن

We have forsaken joy—and where is joy

after parting from the departed company?

فلا شاربٌ ظمأ غيرَ دمعٍ

ولا قارع طرباً غير سنّ

No thirsty drinker drinks anything but tears,

and none strikes in rapture anything but a tooth.

وحسبُ الأسى أن يعيض المحبـ

ـب من ماءِ جفنته ماء جفن

Grief enough, that it should give the lover in exchange

for his bowl's wine the water of an eyelid.

أباعثها مدمنات الحنينِ نواجي

من كلِّ وهدٍ ورعن

O sender of those swift camels, ceaselessly moaning,

from every hollow and mountain spur,

وآية صبوتها أنها

إذ حديت رقصت للتغّني

the sign of their longing is that,

when urged with song, they dance to the singing.

كانا تخوض بأشباحها

بحاراً من الآل من فوق سفن

As though their bodies were wading

through seas of mirage, upon ships,

سوابح في كل غمرٍ وثمدٍ

ضواربَ في كل سهلٍ وحزن

swimming through every deep water and shallow pool,

striding across every plain and rugged ground.

متى وقفتني بباب الوزير

فقد بدَّلت كلّ منٍ يمنِ

Whenever you bring me to the vizier's door,

you turn every weariness into good fortune.

وثقتُ بعاطفةِ ابن الحسين

فمن شاء من بعدهِ فليكدني

I trust in the kindness of Ibn al-Ḥusayn;

let whoever wishes plot against me after that.

هو الطود أعجز أن يزعجوهُ بأ

ن قعقعوا في ذراهُ بشنِ

He is the mountain they were powerless to shake

by rattling a worn waterskin on its heights.

تبيَّن مقدارهُ في العلى

ومن ذا يقيس جهاماً بمزن

His stature in the heights is plain;

who compares a rainless cloud with rain-laden clouds?

هو النجمُ كذّب فيه العدى

وصدق في سعدهِ كلُّ ظنِّ

He is the star about which his foes have lied,

while every hope of his auspiciousness has proved true.

قريبُ المواهبِ من كل جادِ

بعيد المناقب من كلّ لسن

His gifts are close to every seeker;

his virtues lie beyond every eloquent tongue.

يسح ويبسم طبعَ الغمام

فيجمع ما بين حسنى وحسن

He pours forth and smiles, with the clouds' own nature,

bringing goodness and beauty together.

لبيَّض بالجود ليل المنى

وغبّر في وجه كعبٍ ومعن

His generosity has whitened the night of wishes,

and cast dust into the faces of Kaʿb and Maʿn.

يمدُّ إلى الوفد يمنى ويسرى

ومدهما مدُّ يسرِ ويمن

He extends right hand and left to the delegation;

their extension brings ease and good fortune.

أعيد إلى دسته راضياً

أخو الرأي ما عيب يوماً بأفن

Restored, content, to his seat is

a man of judgment, never faulted for feeble wit.

خجدُّ السرور به ناعمٌ

وأيدي الملمات ليست بخشن

Through him, joy's cheek is soft,

and calamities' hands are not rough.

إذا فرعت قلماً كفهُ

تخيَّلتَ ورقاء من فوق غصن

When his hand rests atop a pen,

you imagine a gray dove upon a branch.

وأن راسلته جياد العقول فات

مدى شوطها بالتأني

If the steeds of intellect race him, he outstrips

the farthest reach of their course through deliberation.

أبو الكلم السائرات الفصاح إذا خط

ـبت خطبت غيرَ لكن

Father of eloquent, far-ranging words: when you speak,

you speak without a stammer.

لئن ملت أدباً كلّ صدرٍ

لقد شنَّفت طرباً كلَّ أذنٍ

If you have [filled] every breast with learning,

you have indeed adorned every ear with delight.

معانيهِ من تحت ألفاظهِ

تشفُّ فتحسبها شمسَ دجن

His meanings, beneath his words,

shine through: you think them a sun amid dark clouds.

يعيد ويبدئ في كل علمِ

ويسدي ويلحم في كلّ فنِّ

He returns and begins anew in every science,

and weaves warp and weft in every art.

ويدعى غداة اشتباه الأمور

فيصدع بالعلم لا بالتظنّي

He is summoned when affairs grow confused,

and pronounces from knowledge, not conjecture.

ويسمحُ أعصافها لفظهُ

بكفٍّ ترفقها غيرُ شثن

His speech [soothes] their stormy gusts,

with a hand that treats them gently, never rough.

وقى عرضهُ ما أباحت يداهُ

وما صان من ماء وجه التمنّي

What his hands bestowed has guarded his honor,

as has the supplicant's dignity he preserved.

وما بثَّ من عدله والسطا

فقد أمن الطيرُ في كلّ وكن

Through the justice and might he has spread,

birds are safe in every nest.

فللمجد تربُ صباً أيُّ تربٍ

وللملك ركنُ نهى أيُّ ركن

To glory, a childhood companion—what a companion!

To sovereignty, a pillar of wisdom—what a pillar!

وما كان حبسي عنهُ القريض

جحوداً لفرضٍ ولا فرط ضنٍّ

My withholding poetry from him was not

denial of a duty, nor excessive stinginess;

ولكن حمتهُ خطوبٌ سدكن

يا ليت أمّي لها لم تلدني

but clinging calamities kept it away.

Would that my mother had not borne me to face them!

لقد قرَّرت لي بنات الزمان

قلَّةَ حظي من كلّ إبن

The daughters of Time have confirmed for me

how little luck I have with any son.

فقد قطعتني من كلّ حبٍّ

كما أفردتني من كلّ خدن

They have cut me off from every loved one,

and left me bereft of every close friend.

وأحسبها خفنَ مني النفورَ

وأوثقنني بمخاليب حجن

I think they feared I might flee,

and bound me fast with hooked talons.

وما زلن وافدةً منذ غبتَ

فلمَّا قدمت تراجعنَ عني

They kept arriving ever since you left;

when you returned, they drew back from me.

محا باسمك البرء سطرَ السقامِ

وبدَّل خوفيَ منهُ بأمن

In your name, recovery erased sickness's line,

and replaced my fear of it with security.

وفكري صحيحٌ على ما عهدتَ

وأن مني الجسم مني بوهن

My thought is sound, as you knew it,

though my body has been afflicted with weakness.

حمدتُ بقربك أفعاله

ولولاك كان جديراً بلعن

With you near, I praised its deeds;

but for you, it would deserve a curse.

وبالغتُ في دفنها جاهداً

فها أنا بين نشور ودفن

I labored hard to bury them,

and here I am between resurrection and burial.

وكيف وحتَّامَ وهو العدوُّ

فيجعل عدوانه والتجنّي

Yet how, and until when, while it is the enemy,

perpetrating its aggression and injustice?

فكم شتّ شملَ هوى جامعٍ

ونفَّر من ساكنٍ مطمئنّ

How often it scattered love's united company,

and drove away one who dwelt secure!

وإن كنتُ حيَّيت وفد النسيم

وأن قلت للبرق يوماً ألكني

If I greeted the breeze's delegation,

and ever told the lightning, ‘Bear my message,’

فهزَّة شوقٍ خفيٍ إليك

وقد يكمن الشوق في ضمن حزن

it was a stirring of hidden longing for you;

longing may lie concealed within sorrow.

وثقت بما عوّدتني يداك

فما خف حلمي من وقرمتني

I trusted what your hands had accustomed me to,

so the burden on my back did not unsettle my patience.

ونهنهتُ بوحي لهُ بالعتابِ

وان كانَ أقطعَ من سرّ جفني

I checked my urge to reproach it openly,

though sharper than the secret my sheath holds.

وأطمعني في الحيا والحياة

أن ليس يهدم ما بتَّ تبني

And I was given hope of rain and life,

for it does not destroy what you have spent the night building.

ليهنَ بك الفطر بعد الصيام

فإنك تسني فعالاً وتسني

May the breaking of the fast rejoice in you after fasting,

for you exalt deeds and bestow abundantly.

ولا زلت صيقل هذا الجلال

بتجريد معنى وتجويد وزن

May you always polish this splendor,

refining meaning and perfecting meter;

فلا شكّ في أن حدّ الحسامِ

مما يقامُ بصفحِ المسن

for there is no doubt that a sword's edge

is set straight by the whetstone's face.