اذا قلت قولا كان فعلي قبله

كذا المرء في الافعال ربي رقيبه

If I speak a word, my deed has gone before it.

So should a man act; my Lord watches over him.

اليس يزور الفعل يعقب قوله

بلى قد كذبت القول فعلي عقيبه

Does not the deed ring false when it follows his word?

Yes, I have refuted the claim, “My deed comes after it.”

يرد يد الجاني الى فيه منطقي

ويكثر اذ يدرى الجواب نحيبه

My speech drives the offender’s hand back to his mouth,

and his sobbing grows when he learns the answer.

فأضرب كشحا عنه حينا لعيه

واحلم عنه تارة لا اجيبه

So I turn aside from him awhile because of his speechlessness,

and sometimes bear with him without answering.

ابي قادها شعث النواصي ودارها

لنهج الهدى يشدو به عند ليبه

My father led them, their forelocks disheveled, and wheeled them

toward the path of guidance, chanting it at his [unclear word].

وحلق يوم الطف يسمو ولم يطح

عن السرج سرج الملك لا يستربه

And he soared on the day of al-Taff, rising high, and did not fall

from the saddle—the saddle of kingship, which he does not doubt.

وما الشعر هذا من شعاري وانما

انبأ جيش الآل اني اديبه

This poetry is not my emblem; rather,

I tell the army of the House that I am its poet,

والحق اعيان الفواطم ثائرا

اجرب فكري كيف يجري نجيبه

and join the foremost of the Fatimahs, rising in revolt,

testing my thought to see how its thoroughbred runs.

فأنظم في جيد الزمان قلائدا

بها الدر يزهو يا هذيم غريبه

So I string necklaces around the neck of time,

in which rare pearls gleam, O Hudhaym.

وينثر للغر الاماجد ما انطوى

من اللؤلؤ المكنون في رطيبه

And it scatters before the radiant nobles what lay folded

of pearls concealed within its fresh verse.

تقلده البيض الغواني مخانقا

يزين اسلاك النحور تقيبه

The fair beauties wear it as chokers;

its pierced pearls [uncertain reading] adorn the strands at their throats.

فيخطف الباب العرانين نظمه

ويصبو شباب الحي منه وشيبه

Its verse snatches the minds of the chieftains,

and the clan’s young and gray-haired are smitten by it.

وفي الكلة الحمراء بيضاء دونها

من الانس روض فاح عطرا خضيبه

Within the red canopy is a fair woman; before her lies

a garden of delight, its tinted blossoms breathing perfume.

حماه عن الطراق صونا لحسنها

غيور كنصل السيف فهو صحيبه

It was guarded from night visitors, to preserve her beauty,

by a jealous guardian, like a sword-blade, who keeps it company.

تشابه فيها الدر والثغر فاغتدا

كخمر طهور عبق الحي طيبه

In her, pearls and mouth resembled one another; it became

like pure wine whose fragrance perfumed the camp,

بجام رقيق يذهل الفكر لطفه

كشعري حلا مكنونه ونسيبة

in a delicate goblet whose fineness bewilders thought,

like my verse, sweet in its inner meaning and its love-song.

تسر لنا اجفانها عبقريه

ومذهبها ان لا ينال صعيبه

Her eyelids confide its marvels to us,

and her way is that its elusive part remain beyond reach.

اجل فرضها ان لا ترى من يمسه

وسنتها ان لا ترى من يصيبه

Yes, her law is that you see no one touch it,

and her custom, that you see no one attain it.

وما ازور طرفي منك يا ريم حاجر

لجمر بقلبي منك اج لهيبه

My gaze has not turned from you, O gazelle of Hajir,

for an ember from you blazes in my heart.

ولا ملت اذا قبلت عنك الى السوى

ملالا ولا حبيك قل نصيبه

Nor, when I turned from you toward another, was it

out of weariness; nor has my love for you diminished.

ولكنهم يا املح الناس اولعوا

بتزييد سقم في انت طبيبه

But they, O most charming of people, are bent

on worsening a sickness in me whose healer you are.

ولكنهم يا املح الناس اولعوا

بتزييد سقم في انت طبيبه

But they, O most charming of people, are bent

on worsening a sickness in me whose healer you are.

وقد شغفوا عن داء حقد اطاشهم

يقول اذا ما جئت هذا حبيبه

And they are consumed by a sickness of rancor that unhinged them;

he says, whenever I come, “This is his beloved.”