لو عاد طيفكم فعاد عليلا

لأبلَّ ذو دنفٍ وبلَّ غليلا

If your phantom returned and visited an ailing man,

the lovesick would recover, and burning thirst be quenched.

ولكنتُ يوم تزايلت عن حاجرٍ

تلك الحمولُ لبينهنَّ حمولا

And on the day they departed from Hajir, I would have been

able to bear the parting of those laden camels.

ما طلَّ دمعَ العينِ إلا كونها

بعد الجميع معالماً وطلولا

Nothing drew tears from the eye but their becoming

traces and ruins after togetherness.

أمذكري تلك العهود ترفُّقنا

أأعدت ذكراً أم أدرت شمولا

O you who remind me of those pledges and our tenderness,

have you revived remembrance, or passed around wine?

ما للهوى العذريّ اضحك شامتاً

منّي وابكي لائماً وعذولا

What is it with chaste love? It made a gloating foe laugh

at me, and made critic and reproacher weep.

وثنى جفوني بالسّهاد قصيرةً

قرحى وليلي بالصدود طويلا

And through sleeplessness it left my eyelids contracted

and sore, and through rejection made my night long.

لم يدر ذو القلب الخليّ بأنني

أمسيتُ ذا كلفٍ به مشغولا

The man whose heart is free of love did not know that I

had become passion-stricken, absorbed in it.

ظنَّ السلوَّ ولاَ سلوَّ بذاهلٍ

جمدت مدامعهُ وذاب نحولا

He thought I had forgotten; yet no forgetting comes to one distraught,

whose tears have frozen while he wastes away.

ومن العجائب أنَّ خصب دموعهِ

في الخدِّ أحدث في الضلوع محولا

And it is a wonder that the abundance of his tears

upon his cheek has brought drought within his ribs.

وأبيكَ لو أجدُ السبيلَ وللأسى

قولُ المتَّيمِ لو وجدتُ سبيلا

By your father, if I could find a way—and sorrow lies in

the lovelorn man's saying, “If only I could find a way”—

للثمتُ وجهاً للضحى متبلّجاً

وطرفتُ طرفاً للظلامِ كحيلا

I would kiss a face radiant as the morning,

and wound an eye kohl-dark as night.

يمت سيوفُ البرق وهي قواضبُ

فجرحنَ جفناً بالسهد كليلا

The lightning's swords took aim, keen-edged,

and wounded an eyelid dulled by sleeplessness.

إني لأعجب من هواك أصار لي

حيَّ البروقِ صوارماً ونصولا

I marvel indeed at my love for you: has it made for me

the host of lightning-flashes into keen swords and blade-points?

فاكفف جفونك والقوامُ وردَّ من

لحظاتِ طرفك عن حشاي قليلا

So restrain your eyelids and your figure, and divert

a little of your eye's glances away from my heart.

فلقد بعثتَ السهم احورَ مضمياً

والرمحَ لدناً والحسامَ صقيلا

For you have sent the arrow, dark-eyed and deadly,

the spear supple, and the sword polished.

غادرتَ وجدي مثلَ ردفك مفعماً

وتركتُ صبريَ بالنطاق نحيلا

You left my longing brimming full, like your hips,

and I left my patience slender at the girdle.

وسألتني كيف السوُّ ودونه

كفلٌ يقوم بما يروم كفيلا

And you asked me how I could forget, when barring the way

are hips that stand surety for whatever one desires,

ومقبَّلٌ عذبٌ لماكَ ختامهُ

منْ لي بمحو ختامه تقبيلا

and a sweet mouth, its seal the dark hue of your lips.

Who will let me erase its seal with kisses?

فسل الصَّبا عن عصر أيام الصبّى

إن كنتُ رمتُ لعهده تبديلا

So ask the east wind about the season of youthful days,

whether I ever sought to alter its covenant.

لولا خياناتُ الزمانِ وأهله

ما كنتُ متَّخذَ النسيمِ رسولا

Were it not for the betrayals of time and its people,

I would not have taken the breeze as a messenger.

والدهرُ مثلُ الآل يخدع آله

والدهر أخبثُ ذمَّةً وقبيلا

And time, like a mirage, deceives its people;

time is more treacherous in pledge and as guarantor.

لا ترفعنْ علمَ العلوم بمجهلٍ

فعلوُّ حظك أن تخال جهولا

Do not raise the banner of learning in a land of ignorance;

for your greatest good fortune is to be thought ignorant.

وتعدَّ عن الدنيا الدنيّ وإن سما

نحو الشريف وإن أصاب خمولا

And pass by the world's base man, even if he rises,

toward the noble man, even if he has fallen into obscurity.

فالسيفُ تكسبهُ الضرائبُ رفعةً

إمَّا تركن بشفرتيهِ فلولا

For strokes earn the sword high honor,

even if they leave notches in its two edges.

والدرُّ يرسبُ في القرار وقد طفا

زبدُ البحار ولا يعدُ جليلا

And pearls sink to the bottom, while there floats

the seas' foam, which is not held in esteem.

ما للأنام وأصلهمْ منْ واحدٍ

متفاوتين خلائقاً وشكولا

Why are people, all sprung from one,

so different in character and form?

تجد الجبانَ أبا الشجاع وتارةً

يلد الجوادُ المستماح بخيلا

You find the coward father to the brave, and at times

the generous man, sought out for gifts, begets a miser.

شيمٌ تدلُّ على النفوس وتحتها

قسمٌ تقوم على القضاء دليلا

Traits reveal the souls; beneath them

lie allotted shares that bear witness to destiny.

ما لي وقصد الأغنياءِ وإنْ دعوا

بالأغنياءِ إذن ضللتُ سبيلا

What have I to do with seeking the rich, even if called

“the rich”? I would then have lost my way.

قومٌ إذا نقعُ القوافي ضمَّهم

في محفلٍ حسبو النهاق صهيلا

Folk who, when the dust of rhymes gathers them

in an assembly, mistake braying for neighing.

بيدِ المطامع لستُ ابرحُ لاطماً

وجه اليقين قطيعةَ وذهولا

With desire's hand, I never cease slapping

the face of certainty, in estrangement and heedlessness.

حتَّى متى اصلُ الهواجر هاجراً

ظلًّا يعمُّ العالمين ظليل

How long shall I keep entering the midday heats, forsaking

a sheltering shade that embraces all the worlds?

ما عزَّ خطْب الخطب إلا ردَّهُ الـ

ـملكُ العزيز بساحتيهِ ذليلا

No grave calamity ever proved formidable but was reduced by the

King al-Aziz to abasement in his two courts.