خلقت على مرادي واقتراحي

فذكرك حضرتي في وقت راحي

You were fashioned to my wish and choosing,

So thoughts of you are my company when I drink wine.

ولى من طرة لك أو جبين

شجون في المساء وفي الصباح

And from a forelock or brow of yours I have

Sorrows in the evening and in the morning.

بروحي أنت ذو جفن كليل

وعيني منه دامية الجراح

My soul be your ransom, you of the languid eyelid,

And my eye bears bleeding wounds from it.

غزاني جفنه وشكا فتوراً

فواحرباه من شاكي السلاح

His eyelid attacked me, yet complained of weakness:

Oh, my woe at one so fully armed!

وتيّاه سمحت له بدمع

يرى أن السماح من الرباح

And a haughty one, to whom I freely gave tears,

Who thinks generosity is a kind of gain.

ومالي لا أسيل أجاج دمعي

على عذب بمبسمه قراح

And why should I not let my briny tears flow

Over the pure, fresh water in his smiling mouth?

يحمِّر أوجه الكاسات هزؤاً

ويضحك في الرياض على الأقاحي

He makes the faces of the cups blush in mockery,

And laughs at the daisies in the gardens.

أقمت به على نيران برح

فما لي كابن قيس من براح

Because of him I dwelt upon fires of anguish,

So, like Ibn Qays, I have no escape.

سقى صوب الحيا زمناً أقامت

عليه صبابتي ومحاه ماح

May the rain's downpour water a time in which dwelt

My ardent love, and which an effacer erased,

وكاسات أشد يدي عليها

مخافة أن تطير من الجماح

And cups around which I tighten my hand,

For fear they might fly away in their unruliness.

صفت فصفا الزمان وبشرتنا

فحلق درع بشراها النواحي

They cleared; time grew clear, and they brought us glad tidings,

So the regions formed the links of their glad tidings' armor.

وقد كال النديم بها نضاراً

علمنا أنها داعي السماح

And the drinking companion had measured out gold in them;

We knew they were the herald of generosity.

بكف مزركش الأصداغ تهوى

لقبلتها وجوه للملاح

In the hand of one with embroidered temple-locks—there bow

Faces of beauties to kiss it.

عشوت لكأسه لا للثريا

ونسر الشهب خفاق الجناح

I sought the light of his cup, not of the Pleiades,

While the eagle among the stars beat its wing.

كأني قد سلبت الديك عيناً

فثار من المنام إلى الصياح

As though I had stolen an eye from the cock,

And it rose from sleep into crowing.

كأني قد حملت على همومي

بها رايات لهوٍ وانشراح

As though I had borne against my cares

Through it, banners of merriment and delight.

كأني إذ صحا بالمحل أفقي

رأيت لقا الليالي غير ماح

As though, when drought had cleared my horizon,

I saw that facing the nights brought no erasure.

إذا أبصرت جدّاً من زمان

فخالطه بشيءٍ من مزاح

If you find seriousness in the times,

Then mix it with a little jest.

وليل ظلت فيه لفرط عزمي

كأن الشهب من شرر اقتداحي

And a night I spent with such fierce resolve,

As though the stars were sparks from my striking fire.

وموحشة المفاوز في رُباها

طغت إبلي وسلن مع البطاح

And desolate wastes, upon whose hilltops

My camels surged and flowed along the flats.

أرشّح ذا الخمائل مشمعلاّ

بها وأحيد عن ذات الوشاح

I ready the blanket-clad camel, hastening

Through them, and turn away from the sash-wearing woman,

لعزٍّ أو لوَفر أجتنيه

على وفق احتياجي واجتياحي

For glory, or wealth that I may harvest,

As my need and my destitution require.

عليَّ بها السرى وعلى أيادي

بني الفاروق إدراك النجاح

Mine is the night journey through them; upon the generous hands

Of the sons of al-Faruq rests the winning of success.

بني فضل الإله إذا أجيلت

غداة المحل أيسار القِداح

Sons of Fadl al-Ilah, whenever set in motion are

The arrow-gamesters on a morning of drought:

نجوم العلم أنواء العطايا

جياد السبق آساد الكفاح

Stars of learning, rain-bringers of bounty,

Race-winning steeds, lions of combat,

لآلي السلك في نسب نظيم

ودعنا من أنابيب الرّماح

Pearls on a string, in a finely ordered lineage—

And spare us talk of the joints of spears.

لأحمدهم مناهي الحمد عنهم

فيا كرم اختتام وافتتاح

To their Ahmad belongs the utmost praise of them;

So what nobility in ending and beginning!

أخو الإغضاء عن تقصير مثن

وفي طلب العلاءِ أخو الطماح

One given to overlooking a praiser's shortcomings,

And, in pursuit of high rank, to soaring ambition.

وذو الجود الذي يروي عطاءً

لطالب راحتيه عن رباح

And possessed of generosity that transmits bounty

To the seeker of his two palms, on Rabah's authority.

وذو القلم الذي إن قال أغنى

عن استسماع قعقعة السلاح

And possessed of a pen that, if it speaks, dispenses

With listening for the clatter of weapons.

سويد القلب قلب العيش منه

وإلا فهو قادمة الجناح

Dark at heart, from it comes the turning of life;

Otherwise it is a wing's leading feather.

فطوراً فائض العذب المهنى

وطوراً فائض السم الذُّباح

So at times it overflows with wholesome sweet water,

And at times it overflows with deadly poison.

أبا العباس قد حفظت ثغورٌ

برأيك فهي باسمة النواحي

Abu al-Abbas, the frontiers have been secured

By your counsel, so they smile on every side.

تسوَّكُ بالقنا مما حبتها

بزاتك أو تمضمض بالصفاح

They brush their teeth with lances bestowed on them

By your falcons, or rinse their mouths with broad blades.

وسامي الملك منك شهاب عزم

كفى المرّاد قبل الإلتماح

And the exalted king has in you a meteor of resolve

That checked the rebels before even a glance.

وذا همم إذا ضلت سيوف

تنادي الجيش حيّ على الفلاح

And you, whose ambitions, when swords stray,

Call to the army: 'Come to success!'

حللت بواديَيْ مصر وشامٍ

محلّ النيل والسحب الدّلاح

You have alighted in the two valleys of Egypt and Syria,

In the place of the Nile and rain-laden clouds.

يمين مكارم أو صدر سرّ

مليّ بالمصون وبالمباح

A right hand of noble deeds, or a breast for secrets,

Full of what is guarded and what is freely given.

وأغرقت ابن بحر في بيان

أطاف به على لجج فساح

And you drowned Ibn Bahr in eloquence

That bore him around upon wide, deep waters.

بيان جوهريّ الوصف تروى

عوالي الحرب منه عن الصحاح

Eloquence jewel-like in description: transmitted are

War's lofty lances, from it, on the authority of sound texts.

وأنَّ النرجس الحاكيك لفظاً

لينبي عن عيون رُباً وِقاح

And indeed the narcissus that imitates you in speech

Surely reveals the hills' brazen eyes.

وأن لراحتيك على الغوادي

فخاراً ما عليه من جناح

And indeed your two palms have over the morning rain-clouds

A claim to glory free of any blame.

فؤاد البرق منه في التهابٍ

ووجه الدّجنِ منه في افتضاح

The lightning's heart is ablaze because of it,

And the clouded sky's face is shamed by it.

أما لِكَ رتبة العليا بلفظٍ

متينِ قوىً وأخلاقٍ سجاح

Is not the highest rank yours, through speech

Firm in strength, and through gentle manners?

وباعث فكرتي سيما جبين

حمدت به السرى عند الصباح

And what roused my thought was the sign upon a brow

For which I praised the night journey at dawn.

عطفت عليّ في زمنٍ حرُونٍ

وجدْتَ برغم أيامٍ شحاح

You showed me kindness in a stubborn age,

And gave freely despite miserly days.

وقربني جنابك بعدَ بعدٍ

ونهنهَ حاسدي بعد الجماح

And your court brought me near after remoteness,

And curbed my envier after his wild bolting.

ونطَّقني نداك وكنت حجلاً

فصرت اليوم أنطق من وشاح

And your bounty made me speak, though I had been an anklet,

So today I am more eloquent than a sash.

إليك حسانَ شعر لم تعرها

ولا أحوجْتها حظّ القباح

To you, beauties of verse, whom you have not left bare,

Nor made to need the ugly ones' portion.

من اللاتي زكت نسباً ورقت

عليك شمائل الخود الرداح

Among those pure in lineage, and gentle

Toward you in the ways of a full-figured maiden.

نزحت كلا الندى والعلم بحراً

فأخرجنا لآلي الإمتداح

I drained both generosity and learning, each an ocean,

And so we brought forth pearls of praise.