1. عوذت شعرك بالظلام وما وسق

    وسناك بالقمر المنير إذا اتَّسق

    I invoked protection for your hair by darkness and what it gathers,

    and for your radiance by the shining moon when it grows full.

  2. آهاً لها من طلعة في طرة

    لاحت فلا لاحَ الصباح ولا الغسق

    Ah for a face framed by a forelock,

    that shone—may neither morning nor dusk ever shine!

  3. وهلالٌ تمّ طالع في سعدِه

    لكنَّ نجم حشايَ فيه قد احترق

    And a crescent grown full, rising in good fortune,

    yet the star within my breast has burned up in him.

  4. رشأٌ وجدت العذل فيه باطلاً

    لما وجدت بمقلتيه السحر حق

    A gazelle-fawn: I found reproach for loving him unfounded,

    when in his eyes I found magic real.

  5. زعم المشنع أنني واصلته

    ليت المشنع عن تواصلنا صدق

    The slanderer claimed that I had found union with him;

    would that the slanderer had spoken truly of our union!

  6. بأبي الذي أجريت أحمر أدمعي

    في حبِّه فإذا ابتغى أمداً سبق

    My father be his ransom—I set the crimson stream of my tears running

    in love of him; whenever it sought a finish, it raced ahead.

  7. يا للجوانح والبكاء تطابقاً

    هذي مقيَّدة وذاك قد انْطلق

    Oh, the accord between my ribs and weeping:

    these are bound, while that has broken free.

  8. قمْ يا غلام وهاتها في حبه

    صفراء مشرقةً كما وضح الشفق

    Rise, boy, and bring it for love of him,

    golden and radiant as the twilight shines.

  9. هذي الحمائم في منابر أيكها

    تملي الغنى والطلّ يكتب في الورق

    These doves, upon the pulpits of their groves,

    dictate song, while dew writes on the leaves.

  10. والقضب تخفض للسلام رؤوسها

    والزهر يرفع زائريه على الحدق

    And the boughs lower their heads in greeting,

    and the flowers lift their visitors upon their pupils.

  11. فعسى تجدّد لي زمان تواصل

    قد كانَ في اللّذَّات معنى مسترق

    So may it renew for me a time of union,

    that had been a secretly stolen essence among pleasures.

  12. لا تسمعنَّ بأنَّ قلبي قد سلا

    ذاكَ الزمان وذاكَ قول مختلق

    Never heed the claim that my heart has forgotten

    that time; that is a fabricated claim.

  13. تتخالف الأخبار لكنّ الندى

    خبرٌ عن الملك المؤيد متفق

    Reports differ, but generosity

    is a report about King al-Mu'ayyad on which all agree.

  14. ملك خزائن ماله وعداته

    تشكو بأيديه التفرق والفرق

    A king whose stores of wealth and whose enemies

    complain, at his hands, of dispersal and terror.

  15. البحر في كفيه أو في صدره

    فانهل وإن ناويته فاخش الغرق

    The sea is in his palms, or in his breast;

    so drink your fill; if you oppose him, fear drowning.

  16. ذاك الذي بالناس يفدى شخصه

    ويعاذ في ظلم الحوادث بالفلق

    He is the one for whom people serve as ransom,

    and who is guarded, in calamities' darkness, by daybreak.

  17. للسيف في يمنى يديه جدول

    فلذا يفيض على جوانبه العَلق

    The sword has a channel in his right hand,

    so clotted blood overflows along its sides.

  18. وبكفه القلم الذي لا يشتكى

    فتق الأمور لفضله لا رتق

    And in his palm is the pen, under which none complain

    of affairs' rending, thanks to its excellence, nor their mending.

  19. تجري البحار فلو رمى بحربه

    لا نشق ذاك البحر غيظاً وانفلق

    The seas flow; were he to assail one with his warfare,

    that sea would split in rage and cleave apart.

  20. فيه مآرب للعلوم وللندى

    إن فاض راق وإن أفاض القول رق

    In him learning and generosity find what they seek;

    if he overflows, he delights; if he pours forth speech, he is gentle.

  21. كالغصن يستحلى سنا أزهاره

    ويجود بالثمر الجنيّ وينتشق

    Like a bough whose blossoms' radiance is savored,

    he gives ripe fruit generously, and his fragrance is inhaled.

  22. فاز امرؤٌ ألقى يمين رجائه

    لمقام إسماعيل يوماً واعتلق

    Fortunate the man who cast the right hand of his hope

    toward Isma'il's station one day and held fast.

  23. المرتجى والأفق محجوب الحيا

    والملتجا والدهر مرهوب الحنق

    The hope when the horizon is denied rain,

    and the refuge when Time's fury is feared.

  24. لله كم خضعت لعليا مجده

    رأس وكانت ذات صول لم يطق

    By God, how many bowed before his lofty glory—

    heads that once had might none could withstand!

  25. سارت سيادته وأمعن شوطها

    فغدت على الأعناق واصلة العنق

    His sovereignty advanced, its course stretching ever farther,

    and so it pressed on over necks at a swift gait.

  26. وأراد أن يجري إلى غاياته

    صوب الحيا فلذاك ألجمه العرق

    And there sought to race toward his goals

    the pouring rain; so sweat bridled it.

  27. النصر والدنيا الخصيبة والهدى

    إن صال أو بذل الصنائع أو نطق

    Victory, a fertile world, and guidance,

    when he attacks, bestows favors, or speaks.

  28. لاقيته فشفى رجايَ وعانقت

    كفاي من جدواه أطيب مُعتنَق

    I met him; he healed my hope, and I embraced

    with both palms his bounty's sweetest gift.

  29. وروائح المعروف لا تخفى على

    حال فشمُوا من أنامليَ العَبق

    And the scents of kindness cannot be hidden under

    any circumstance; smell the perfume from my fingertips.

  30. يا أيها الملك المؤيد دعوةً

    تذر العداة بغيظها تشكو الحرق

    O King al-Mu'ayyad—a call

    that leaves foes, enraged by it, lamenting their burning.

  31. واصلت قصدي باللهى وقطعت ما

    بيني وبين بني الزمان من العُلَق

    You coupled my quest with lavish gifts, and severed whatever

    ties bound me to the sons of Time.

  32. فلأشكرنّ جميل ما أوليتني

    شكر الرياض الزهر للماء الغدق

    So I shall surely thank you for the kindness you bestowed on me,

    as flowering gardens thank abundant water,

  33. بمدائح أهّلتني لنظامها

    فغدت محررة وعنقيَ مسترق

    with praises you made me worthy to string together;

    thus they are freed, while my neck is enslaved.

  34. درر خدمتُ بها علاك وإنما

    عُطفت على درر العلى عطف النسق

    Pearls with which I served your eminence; they were merely

    joined to glory's pearls in a coordinated sequence.