1. تفهَّمه قلبي الشجيّ فهاما

    ولم يره طرف الغبيّ فلاما

    My sorrowing heart understood him and fell madly in love,

    but the fool's eye did not see him, so he reproached me.

  2. وعرفني بالحبِّ في خدِّ عارض

    بدا ألِفاً ثم اسْتدارَ فلاما

    A line of down upon his cheek acquainted me with love;

    it appeared as an alif, then curved into a lam.

  3. بروحيَ رشيق المقلتين إذا رنا

    رمى في فؤاد المستهام سهاما

    My soul be ransom for the graceful-eyed one: when he gazes,

    he shoots arrows into the love-stricken heart.

  4. جعلتُ دموع العينِ جاريةً له

    وصيرت قلبي في هواه غلاما

    I made my eye's tears his flowing handmaid,

    and made my heart a slave-boy in love's service to him.

  5. من الغيدِ حسبي ورد خدَّيه نزهة

    وريقته يا حسرتاه مداما

    Among graceful beauties, his cheeks' roses suffice for my pleasure,

    and his saliva—alas for me!—for wine.

  6. يقولُ حلالٌ خمر ريقي وليتهُ

    سقاني بهِ كأساً وكانَ حراما

    He says, 'The wine of my saliva is lawful'; would that he

    would give me a cup of it, even if it were forbidden.

  7. لئن تمَّ عشقي في ملاحتهِ لقد

    تعشَّقت بدراً في الملاح تماما

    If my love has reached its fullness in his beauty, indeed

    I have fallen in love with a full moon, perfect among the fair.

  8. وعذَّبني ذاك المليح بنارِهِ

    فكانَ عذاب القلب فيهِ غراما

    And that beautiful one tormented me with his fire,

    so the heart's torment through him became passionate love.

  9. ووالله لا أصغيت فيهِ لعاذلٍ

    ولو ذابَ جسمي لوعةً وسقاما

    And by God, I will never heed a reproacher about him,

    even if my body melts away with anguish and sickness.

  10. فأزداد في الحبِّ انْتساباً لعامرٍ

    إلى أن أزيد العاذلين ملاما

    So I grow ever closer in kinship to ʿAmir in love,

    until I draw still more blame from the reproachers.

  11. يقولون أعدتك السقامَ جفونه

    فقلتُ ومن أعدى الجفون سقاما

    They say, 'His eyelids infected you with sickness.'

    I said, 'And who infected the eyelids with sickness?'

  12. ومن مزجَ الغصن الرطيب بعطفه

    فكانَ مزاج المعطفين قواما

    And who mingled the tender bough with his figure,

    so that the blend of both forms became his perfect stature?

  13. تناوحت العشَّاق إذا ماسَ قدّه

    فيا لك غصناً في الهوى وحماما

    The lovers lament together when his stature sways:

    ah, what a bough and doves in love!

  14. إذا خاطبتي في هواهُ عواذلي

    مضيتُ على حالي وقلت سلاما

    When my reproachers address me about my love for him,

    I go on as I am and say, 'Peace.'

  15. كما خاطبَ العذَّال جود محمدٍ

    فأعرض عنهم واسْتهلَّ غماما

    Just as reproachers addressed Muhammad's generosity,

    and it turned away from them and poured forth like rainclouds.

  16. رئيسٌ على التحقيق قالت صفاته

    لنقَّاده ذا ما يخالط ذاما

    A chief in truth: his qualities told

    his critics, 'No fault mingles with this man.'

  17. سمونا لمدحِ المفضَّلين وإنما

    لأمثالهِ في الفضلِ لن يُتسامى

    We rose to praise the benefactors, yet

    none can rise to his like in excellence.

  18. وآلت معانينا إلى مسكِ ذكره

    فكانت لذكرِ الأكرمين ختاما

    And our meanings came at last to the musk of his praise,

    and became the seal upon the praise of the noblest.

  19. أخو العلم والتقى تقدَّم فيهما

    فكانَ امرأً للمتَّقين إماما

    A man of learning and piety, he excelled in both,

    and became an imam for the God-fearing.

  20. يقضون للملكِ النهار فإن دجى

    مسا الليل باتوا سجَّداً وقياما

    They devote the day to the king; when darkness gathers

    at nightfall, they pass the night prostrating and standing in prayer.

  21. وأضحى لسرِّ الملك صدراً قد انْتقى

    له مستقرًّا في الورَى ومقاما

    And he became the breast the king's secret had chosen

    as its resting place and abode among mankind.

  22. سقى الغيث مثوى الصاحب الشرف الذي

    عهدنا به عهد النوال ركاما

    May rain water the dwelling of the vizier Sharaf, where

    we knew a time of bounty, piled in heaps.

  23. وغرّ المعالي أخجلت كلّ سالفٍ

    من القومِ كانوا للأمور قواما

    And radiant deeds of greatness shamed every predecessor

    among the men who had been the mainstays of affairs.

  24. تنادِي نظام الملك أسلاكَ فضله

    إليكَ فما كلّ النظام نظاما

    The strings of his excellence call to Nizam al-Mulk:

    'Away with you! Not every “order” is true order.'

  25. لنعم الفتى أبقى لروضِ نباته

    شميماً وأوهى الدَّهر منه شماما

    Noble indeed the young man! He left the garden of his growth

    a fragrance, while Time wore down his Shamam.

  26. ونعم سبيل المكرمات محمد

    إذا ما ذكرنا ناسلاً وإذا ما

    And excellent is Muhammad, the path to noble deeds,

    when we speak of a progenitor, and whenever

  27. بدا مثل ما يبدو الصباح فخاره

    فزيّل من ظلم الزمان ظلاما

    his glory appears as the morning appears,

    it dispels darkness from Time's injustice.

  28. وعالَ بإذن الله أبناء آدم

    وحام بآفاقِ الفخار وساما

    And by God's leave he sustained the children of Adam,

    and circled the horizons of glory and soared.

  29. بليغ الندَى والنطق تلقاه فيهما

    فريداً وتلقى المكرمات نواما

    Eloquent in generosity and speech, you find him in both

    peerless, while you find noble deeds asleep.

  30. له قلمٌ إن ماسَ كانَ لمعتفٍ

    حياةً وإلا للعدوِّ حماما

    He has a pen which, when it sways, is for a petitioner

    life—or else, for the enemy, death.

  31. يمجّ شهاداً تارةً لوليِّه

    ووقتاً لشانيه يمجّ سماما

    It spouts honey at times for his friend,

    and at other times spouts poison for his hater.

  32. قرين الفتاوى والفتوَّة لم يذق

    بليل مداد بين ذاكَ مناما

    A companion of legal rulings and chivalry, it has tasted no

    sleep amid all this, in the night of ink.

  33. تسهَّد في حفظ المماليك جفنهُ

    وفي كلِّ جفنٍ قد أنام حساما

    His eyelid stays wakeful guarding the Mamluks,

    and in every sheath he has put a sword to sleep.

  34. بكفّ كريم الرَّاحتين مؤمَّل

    فيا لك برقاً في الندَى وغماما

    In the hand of a generous-palmed man, a source of hope:

    ah, what lightning and rainclouds in generosity!

  35. ويا لكَ في النطق البليغ قدامة

    وفي طيرانِ الذكرِ عنهُ قداما

    And what a Qudama in eloquent speech,

    and what a qadām bird as renown takes flight from him!

  36. شكوتُ لهُ ظلم الزمان وإنَّما

    إلى سيدٍّ برٍّ شكوتُ غلاما

    I complained to him of Time's injustice, yet I had only

    complained of a slave-boy to a benevolent master.

  37. فردَّ الزمان الجهمَ عنِّيَ خاضعاً

    فتى ليسَ غيم الظنّ فيهِ جهاما

    He drove grim-faced Time away from me, humbled—

    a youth in whom hope's cloud is never rainless.

  38. وجدَّد من جدواه ما لا نسيتهُ

    ولم يبقَ من عند الزمان مراما

    And he renewed his bounty with a gift—may I never forget it!—

    and left nothing to be desired from Time.

  39. وألبسني بيضاء ردّ ضياؤها

    لدى حاسدٍ حتَّى اسْتحال ضراما

    And he clothed me in a white robe whose radiance was reflected

    before an envier, until it became a blaze.

  40. أمدُّ يدي في كلِّ يومٍ لذيلِها

    فآخذ من جورِ الشتاء ذماما

    Each day I stretch my hand toward its hem,

    and gain protection from winter's tyranny.

  41. ومذ علقت منها بناني بعروةٍ

    شدَدت لطرفِ القول فيه حزاما

    And since my fingers caught hold of one of its loops,

    I have tightened a girth on the steed of speech in his praise.

  42. فلا زالَ ممدوحاً إذا ما وصفته

    زحمت المعاني المائلات زحاما

    May he ever remain praised: whenever I describe him,

    the swaying meanings jostle together in a throng.

  43. أولد مع فقدِ الصبا جوهر الثنا

    يتيماً وأولاد الشيوخ يتامى

    I beget, though youth is gone, the jewel of praise,

    an orphan—and old men's children are orphans.