1. قلبي بذاك الخال ليس بخال

    فعد المحب ولو بطيف خيال

    My heart is not empty of that mole.

    So visit the lover, if only as a dream's apparition.

  2. عذر الصبابة في عذارك واضح

    ومن الصبابة خيبة العذال

    Love's excuse is clear in the down upon your cheek.

    And from love comes the reproachers' disappointment.

  3. حتف المتيم منك يوم قطيعة

    وحياته في الحب يوم وصال

    A day of severance from you is the enthralled lover's death.

    And his life in love is a day of union.

  4. عاقبت طرفي بالسهاد وما جنى

    والقلب بالأشواق والبلبال

    You punished my eye with sleeplessness, though it did no wrong,

    And my heart with longing and distress.

  5. ورحلت لا تحنو على متلهف

    باكٍ يطل الدمع في الأطلال

    You departed, showing no tenderness to a yearning soul,

    Weeping, spilling tears among the campsite ruins.

  6. قس طاعة الوجد المبرح والأسى

    ما حال يوم نواكم من حالي

    Measure submission to tormenting passion and grief

    By how my state changed on the day of your departure.

  7. عين مؤرقة ودمع ساكب

    وصبابة تذكو وجسم بال

    A sleepless eye, and tears pouring down,

    And longing that blazes, and a wasted body.

  8. قد كدت أغرق في بحار مدامعي

    لولا التمسك فيك بالآمال

    I almost drowned in seas of my tears,

    Were it not for clinging to hopes in you.

  9. أبداً أميل إليك ميل تذلل

    وتصد صد تدلل وملال

    Forever I incline toward you in humble submission,

    And you turn away in coquetry and weariness.

  10. ويزيدني ظمأ رضابك واللمى

    إني ظمئت من الجوى بزلال

    And your saliva and dark-hued lips increase my thirst;

    Indeed, love's fever has made me thirsty even with limpid water.

  11. ما أنس لا أنس الوداع وأعـ

    ـين الآجال حائزة على الآجال

    Whatever I forget, I shall not forget the farewell and the eyes—

    —of oryx herds, holding sway over life's appointed ends.

  12. وبليتني من تلكم الأضغان جفـ

    ـن مهند سموه جفن غزال

    And from those rancors you plagued me with a sheath—

    —of an Indian blade, which they called a gazelle's eyelid.

  13. أسفي على تلك القباب وقد حوت

    هيف القدود رواجح غزال

    My sorrow for those domed tents that held

    Slender figures, stately gazelles.

  14. من كل حالية تضم إلى المهى

    أحشاء محراب على تمثال

    Each adorned beauty unites the oryx's likeness

    With a shrine's recess enclosing a statue.

  15. لو كنت حيث جلا الحمى نواره

    لعرفت منه مساحب الأذيال

    Had you been where the protected pasture showed its blossoms,

    You would have recognized there the tracks of trailing hems.

  16. تبدو نجوم قنا الفريق أمامها

    في ليل عثيره ليله هلال هلال

    The stars of the company's spears appear before her,

    In the night of its dust—its night, crescent upon crescent.

  17. طرف يميل مع النسيم قوامه

    ويلي من المتون الميال

    A noble youth whose figure sways with the breeze;

    Alas for me, those swaying backs!

  18. عذبت مراشفه وصدت بقده

    فحمى جنى المعسول بالعسال

    His lips were sweet, and I was snared by his stature,

    So he guarded the honeyed fruit with a swaying spear.

  19. شغفت بطلعته القلوب لوجدها

    شغف السقيم بطلعة الإبلال

    Hearts were enthralled by his appearance in their longing,

    As the sick are enthralled by the sight of recovery.

  20. عهدي وظل الوصل غير مقلص

    عنا وعمر المطل غير مطال

    I remember when union's shade had not receded

    From us, and delay's lifetime had not been prolonged.

  21. وكأنما لبس الزمان سنا صفي الـ

    ـدين ذي الأنعام والأفضال

    And it was as though time wore the radiance of Safi al-

    Din, possessor of favors and beneficence.

  22. هو واهب الخيرات والقود العرا

    مس في اللهى والسابح الذيال

    He bestows blessings and long-necked, mighty camels—

    —among his gifts, and the flowing-tailed, swimming steed.

  23. فعلاؤه متقابل وإباؤه

    مستأصر ونواله متوال

    So his exalted qualities correspond, while his refusal

    Is held captive, and his bounty comes in succession.

  24. خضر الجناب فإن دجت في لزبة

    سود الخطوب فأبيض الأفعال

    His grounds are green; if, in hardship, there darken

    Black calamities, then his deeds are white.

  25. سل عنه في بذل المكارم والقرى

    واسمع من الغدوات والآصال

    Ask of his lavish noble favors and hospitality,

    And hear from the mornings and the evenings.

  26. منح ابتداء رافعاً خبر الندى

    وكفى الوجوه مؤونة التسآل

    He bestowed unasked, raising generosity's renown,

    And spared faces the burden of asking.

  27. كثرت صنائعه فقل نظيره

    إن البدور قليلة الأمثال

    His favors multiplied, so his equals grew few;

    Indeed, full moons have few equals.

  28. وحوت أزمة جلق أعماله

    وكذا الجنان تحاز بالأعمال

    And his deeds held the reins of Jilliq;

    Likewise, gardens of paradise are won through deeds.

  29. ذو همة كالنجم تحت عزيمة

    كالسيف إن حادثته بصقال

    A man of star-high aspiration, beneath a resolve

    Like a sword, if you tend it with polishing.

  30. حاط العلى ورماحه أقلامه

    حيث المداد رؤوس نصال

    He guarded high honor; his pens were his spears,

    Where ink is the points of spearheads.

  31. كالمسك في لمم اليراع فإن يكن

    غضب فنار في رؤوس ذبال

    Like musk in the reed pens' tresses; but if there is

    Anger, then fire at the tips of wicks.

  32. في ليل ذاك النقس تطرقنا المنى

    فكأنها في الهدى طيف خيال

    In the night of that ink, wishes visit us,

    As though, in guidance, they were a dream-phantom.

  33. يحكي بياض الطرس تحت سواده

    أسرار صبح في صدور ليال

    The page's whiteness beneath its blackness mirrors

    Dawn's secrets in the breasts of nights.

  34. سكنت به الدهماء حتى أنها

    بسطاه قد أمنت الزلزال

    Through him the masses grew calm, until they

    Felt safe, through his might, from upheaval.

  35. تسبي ثناء الخلق خيل سماحه

    وتطاعن الآمال بالأموال

    The cavalry of his generosity captures people's praise,

    And jousts with hopes by means of wealth.

  36. حتى إذا اشتبكت بساحته الوغى

    نادت مرابعه الوفود نزال

    Until, when battle is entangled in his courtyard,

    His grounds call to the delegations, 'Come to battle!'

  37. بالصاحب الميمون أصحب مطلبي

    ووفت لي الآمال بعد مطال

    Through the auspicious Sahib, my goal grew attainable,

    And my hopes fulfilled their promise after delay.

  38. ووصلت به قطيعة وعززت بعـ

    ـد إضاعة وهديت بعد ضلال

    And through him I mended a breach and grew strong after—

    —neglect, and was guided after straying.

  39. وغدوت أهزأ بالزمان وصرفه

    من كل نائبة خلي البال

    And I came to mock time and its reversals,

    Free of every calamity, untroubled in mind.

  40. هو نير العلياء وهو سماؤه

    داني سنا فينا بعيد منال

    He is exaltation's luminary, and he is its sky,

    Near in radiance among us, far beyond reach.

  41. قلبت وجه الظن في صفحاتها

    حتى ظفرت بقبلة الإقبال

    I turned expectation's face through its pages,

    Until I attained the qibla of good fortune.

  42. بالباخلين عرفت قدر سماحه

    وبيان قدر الغيث بالأمحال

    Through misers I learned the worth of his generosity;

    And rain's worth is made plain by droughts.

  43. من قومه أهل السماح وآله

    والناس في الأزمات لامع آل

    One whose people and kin are the folk of generosity,

    While people in crises are a glittering mirage.

  44. يتدفقون إذا الجذوب تلاحقت

    كالسيل زل عن اليفاع العالي

    They pour forth when droughts come one after another,

    Like a torrent rushing down from lofty ground.

  45. ومتى تخاذلت الأكف عن الندى

    نصروا بني الدنيا على الإقلال

    And whenever hands hold back from giving,

    They help the world's children overcome poverty.

  46. إيضاح مشكلة حماة مخوفة

    أجواد مسبغة سهام نصال

    Clarifiers of difficulty, defenders against danger,

    Generous amid famine, arrows tipped with blades.

  47. حلي الليالي العاطلات وغيرهم

    حاشاهم عطل الزمان الحالي

    Ornaments of unadorned nights; all others—

    —excepting them—are bare in an adorned age.

  48. بيض تألق في الدسوت وجوههم

    وكذا البدور منيرة في الهال

    Fair are they; their faces gleam in seats of honor,

    So too are full moons radiant in their halos.

  49. ضحكت ثغور عفاتهم لما بكت

    عند الهبات دماً عيون المال

    Their supplicants' mouths smiled when

    The eyes of wealth wept blood at gift-giving.

  50. أمعجل الآمال في إحسانه

    ومخجل اللؤماء والبخال

    O you whose beneficence hastens hopes,

    And shames the base and the miserly,

  51. قدر النضار على بنانك هين

    أبداً وسعر الشعر عندك غال

    Gold's worth is slight upon your fingertips,

    Always, while poetry's price is high with you.

  52. إن القوافي كالمطايا أنت را

    كبها وهذا الجود خير عقال

    Indeed, rhymes are like mounts; you are their rider,

    And this generosity is the finest tether.

  53. ما هن آلا الغانيات بظلكم

    فالحسن باد والمهور غوال

    They are but beauties beneath your shade,

    Their beauty plain, their dowries costly.

  54. لطفت شمائلها ورق نسيمها

    كالماء صافحه نسيمُ شمال

    Their qualities grew delicate, their breeze gentle,

    Like water caressed by a northern breeze.

  55. نشرت عن الخطاب غير نداكم

    والبحر يلفتها عن الأوشال

    They turned away from suitors other than your bounty,

    And the sea turns them away from trickling waters.

  56. همتم غداة سلا الأنام بحبها

    أين المحب من الملول السالي

    You were mad with love for them when humankind forgot;

    How far the lover is from the weary one who forgets!

  57. حسنت على الأعراض فهي سوابغ

    وعلى الملابس فهي عقد لآلي

    They grace reputations as ample coats of mail,

    And upon garments, they are a necklace of pearls.

  58. فليهم عيد النحر أنك باذل

    ما شاء من عيني دم ونوال

    So let the Feast of Sacrifice be enraptured that you give

    Whatever it wishes from two springs: blood and bounty.

  59. ألبسته لأيام الزمان فإنما

    يسمو برؤيتك الزمان الحالي

    You clothed it for time's days; for only

    At the sight of you does the adorned age rise.

  60. فحسام عزمك حاسم داء العلى

    ومضاء رأيك قاتل الأقيال

    So the sword of your resolve cuts away high honor's sickness,

    And your judgment's sharpness slays the chieftains.