ما على الركب من تلافي تلافي

وبين تلك الغصون والأقحاف

The caravan need not make amends for my ruin,

and between those boughs and skulls.

يا خليلي بالحمى ضاع قلبي

بين بيض الدمى وسود الأثافي

O my two friends, in the sanctuary my heart was lost

among fair, statue-like beauties and black hearthstones.

بي ماضي الحسام واللحظ في ال

عشاق لدن القناة والأعطاف

I am stricken by one whose sword and glance are keen against

lovers, supple of spearshaft and bodily curves:

رشا جفنه سقيم صحيح

هو باللحظ مسقم وهو شاف

a fawn whose eyelid is languid, yet sound;

with a glance he sickens, and he heals.

ثقف الحسن قده مثل ما ثق

قف قد القناة حسن الثقاف

Beauty straightened his figure, just as

a fine straightening tool straightens a spearshaft.

شغفتني شمائل منه في البا

ن ومعنى من ريقه في السلاف

His graces enthralled me in the moringa

tree, and a hint of his saliva in pure wine.

زار والبدر لابس حلة اللي

ل وسير البدور في الأسداف

He visited while the full moon wore the robe of

night—and full moons journey through darkness.

ناسياً مذهب الوفاق وما

أنساه إلا اشتغاله بالخلاف

Forgetting the way of concord; nothing

made him forget it but his preoccupation with discord.

يا ولاة الهوى قدرتم مع ال

ضعف ودنتم بقلة الإنصاف

O rulers of love, you gained power despite

your weakness, and ruled with scant fairness.

عنكم ما نشاء إلا من ال

إسعاد يوم اللقاء والإسعاف

From you we desire nothing but

joy on the day of meeting, and relief.

من لخد به من الدمع خد

وفؤاد صب إلى الهيف هاف

Who will tend a cheek furrowed by tears,

and a lovesick heart athirst for slender figures?

حيث ذل القلوب للوجد في ال

أطلال ذل الخصور للأرداف

Where hearts yield to longing amid

the ruins, as waists yield to hips.

مستهام بذلك المربع المو

حش بعد القطين والمصطاف

Infatuated with that spring encampment, now

desolate since its residents and summer dwellers departed;

وليال شفت غليلاً وولت

فلها في القلوب وخز الأشافي

and nights that quenched a burning thirst and passed away—

they leave in hearts the piercing stab of awls.

مشرقات كطلعة الملك ال

أفضل نحو العفاة والأضياف

Radiant as the countenance of King

al-Afdal toward supplicants and guests.

يقسم الرزق حين يجري المنايا

في القني المثقفات النحاف

He apportions sustenance even as he sends death coursing

through slender, straightened spears.

عادل حكمه على الخطب عادٍ

كافل همه البرية كاف

Just—his judgment assails calamity;

a guardian, whose care for humankind suffices.

هو في السلم والوغى واهب

الآلاف جوداً وهازم الآلاف

In peace and battle he is a giver

of thousands through bounty, and a vanquisher of thousands.

مانح معتفيه مال الأعادي

أي محيٍ وأيما متلاف

Bestowing his enemies' wealth on those who seek his bounty—

what a giver of life, and what a destroyer!

كفه والحسام غيث على

الأبطال يسطو ببارق خطاف

His palm and sword are a rainstorm over

champions, striking with lightning that snatches them away.

هو هدامها ومطامعها المحمود

يومي صفاحها والصحاف

He is their destroyer and all they hope for, praised

on both their day of blades and their day of platters.

من إذا أينعت رؤوس الأعاد

حيث سمر القنا نجوم قذاف

He who, when the heads of foes ripen,

where brown spearshafts are shooting stars,

حاز معنى سميه فجناح النج

ح ضافي قوادم وخوافي

fulfills his namesake's meaning; thus success's wing

is ample in its primary and secondary flight feathers.

والقضيب الهندي يجني من ال

هام ثماراً قد آذنت بالقطاف

And the Indian blade gathers from

heads fruit that has declared itself ready for harvest.

والجيوش الثقال يجلو ظلام النقع

فيها صبح السيوف الخفاف

And amid the ponderous armies, the darkness of battle-dust is dispelled

by the dawn of light swords within them.

مرهف حده إذا هزه المج

د وفري السيوف بالإرهاف

His edge is keen when glory brandishes him,

and swords cleave by virtue of sharpening.

قاضب العزم والسيوف نواب

عاقر الكوم في السنين العجاف

Incisive in resolve, with swords for deputies,

slaughtering high-humped she-camels in the lean years.

طاهر الخيم والخلائق والأف

عال زاكي الفروع والأوصاف

Pure of disposition, character, and

deeds, unblemished in branches and qualities.

ومقيم لكن نداه إلى الوفد

شديد الذميل والأيجاف

He stays in place, yet his bounty toward delegations

moves with a vigorous trot and gallop.

أصبحت جلق به جنة الخل

د وباتت فسيحة الأكناف

Through him Jilliq has become the Garden of

Eternity, and its reaches have grown spacious.

لا ترى غير عين ماء بها نجلا

ء في وجه روضة مئناف

There you see only a wide-eyed spring of water

in the face of an untouched meadow.

أي بعل جلا عليه عروس المد

ن بعد النشوز يوم الزفاف

What a bridegroom, before whom was unveiled the bride of

cities, after her defiance, on the wedding day!

لم تزل قبل ذاك والخطب خط

بٌ والليالي شديدة الألحاف

Before that she had remained—calamity was calamity,

and nights were relentless—

في رقيبي صدودها والتجني

وردائي جمالها والعفاف

her aversion and unjust reproach in my watcher,

and her beauty and chastity in my cloak.

أي بشرى للخيل جلت عن الش

شكر ونعمى لتلكم الأخفاف

What glad tidings for the horses, beyond

all thanks, and what a blessing for those camel hoof-pads!

جملت خير ما تحلت به يو

م مصاع عواطل الأسياف

They were adorned with the finest ornament ever worn,

on a day of combat, by unadorned swords:

قمراً في نجوم خطيه الأس

مر جادت به سماء الفيافي

a moon among the stars of his Khatti spear,

brown-shafted, bestowed by the sky of the deserts.

فأتى رحمة كما أقبلت غر

الغوادي حوافل الأخلاف

So he came as mercy, as approach the bright

morning rainclouds, their udders brimming.

طود حلم عن المسيء فإن

شيم نداه فمزنة الألطاف

A mountain of forbearance toward the wrongdoer; but if

his bounty is watched for, a raincloud of kindness.

أصبح الدين مقلة وهو نور

فالهدى كالصباح ليس بخاف

Faith has become an eye, and he is its light;

so guidance is like morning, never hidden.

يا ابن من يمنح الأقاليم عيداً

في برود الممالك الأفواف

O son of him who grants the provinces a festival

in the striped mantles of kingdoms,

والذي ترجف الملوك على بع

د المدى من لوائه الرجاف

and of him before whom kings tremble, despite

the distance, at his fluttering standard.

ملك الأرض واجتنى قصب السم

ر فحاط الأطراف بالأطراف

He ruled the earth and harvested the reeds of brown

spears, guarding its borders with their points.

لم تجد في الورى سواك لها بع

لاً قريع الأجداد والأسلاف

She found no one among humankind but you to be her

husband, noble in grandsires and forebears.

هي منه ما بين روض من الأم

ن وورد من السماحة صاف

Through him she lies between a garden of

security and a pure draught of generosity.

ولقد أصبح الولي فأهون

بولي السحائب الوكاف

He has indeed become the patron—how insignificant, then,

is the following rain of copiously dripping clouds!

عمر الأرض عدله وأياديه

سجالاً ما بين عافٍ وعاف

His justice has made the earth flourish, and his favors

flow in bucketfuls from one supplicant to another.

وحباها حتى بمثلك طلق الوج

ه فعم الحباء والإتحاف

And he endowed her even with one like you, cheerful of

countenance; thus largesse and gifts embraced all.

خصر الورد ثاقب الزند وافي ال

عهد مر النزال عذب النطاف

Cool of watering-place, quick-sparking of fire-stick, faithful to

his pledge, bitter in combat, sweet in his waters.

فافترعها عذراء كالشمس واسمع

فيك عذراء مدحة وقواف

So take her maidenhood—virgin as the sun—and hear

in your praise a virgin panegyric and rhymes.

يصبح الدر حين ينظم في القرطا

س بادي الحياء في الأصداف

Pearls, when strung upon the paper, become

visibly bashful within their shells.

بعدت همة فلو مثلت شخ

صاً لعدت من جلة الأشراف

Aspiration reaches far; were it embodied as a

person, it would rank among the foremost nobles.

إنما أنتم لنا يا بني أيو

ب ركن نؤمه بالطواف

You alone are for us, O sons of Ayyub,

a pillar we seek out in circumambulation.

طلتم العالمين أصلاً وفرعاً

بقديم من مجدكم أو مضاف

You have surpassed all peoples in root and branch,

through your ancient glory or glory newly added.

ووجوه مخلوق من حياء

ونفوس من جوهر شفاف

And faces fashioned from modesty,

and souls of a transparent essence.

فبقيتم فإن أنفسنا تسمو

بآمالكم عن الإسفاف

May you endure, for our souls soar

with your aspirations above all baseness.