Sol 6.1

  1. مَولايَ يا رَوضَ فَضلٍ حفَّ بِالزَهرِ

    وَبَحرَ عِلمٍ رَمانا مِنهُ بِالدُرَرِ

    My lord, O garden of bounty ringed with blossoms,

    and sea of knowledge that showered us with its pearls,

  2. بَعَثتَ نَحوي عُقوراً حَيّرت فِكري

    أَبهى مِنَ الزَهرِ بَل أَزهى مِنَ الزُهرِ

    you sent me biting verses that bewildered my mind,

    more splendid than blossoms—indeed, more radiant than stars.

  3. دُرّاً لَوَ اَنَّ القَوافي قَلَّدَته زَهَت

    بِحُسنِهِ لا بِحُسنِ الدّل وَالحَوَرِ

    Pearls—if rhymes wore them as a necklace, they would shine

    with their beauty, not with coquetry or dark-eyed charm.

  4. خِلالَ أَسطُرِهِ عَتبٌ يَفوقُ عَلى

    وَصفِ الديار بِها حَسّانَةُ النَظَرِ

    Within its lines is a reproach that surpasses

    the description of dwellings with a fair-eyed beauty in them.

  5. كَيفَ السلوُّ وَلي في كُلِّ جارِحَةٍ

    إِلَيكَ شَوقٌ مُحِبٌّ عاقِرُ الوَطَرِ

    How could I forget, when in every limb I feel

    a lover’s longing for you, barren of fulfillment?

  6. وَفي جَنابِكَ وُدٌّ لا يُغَيِّرُهُ

    عَلى مُرور اللَيالي حادِثُ الغِيَرِ

    And for you there is affection that is not altered

    through the passing nights by any turn of fortune.

  7. ما كانَ هَجرُ سَماءٍ أَنتَ نَيِّرُها

    عَلى ملالٍ وَلا السُلوانُ مِن وَطري

    I did not forsake a heaven whose light you are

    out of weariness; nor is forgetting you my desire.

  8. لَكِن تَحَمَّلتُ مِن نُعماكَ ما عَجَزَت

    عَن حَملِ أَدناه مِنّي طاقَةُ البَشَرِ

    But I have borne such bounty from you that I cannot

    bear even the least of it with my human strength.

  9. فَكُنتُ فيهِ كَما قَد قالَ شاعِرُنا

    أَبو العَلاءِ سَقاهُ غَيثُ مُنهَمِرِ

    So in this I was as our poet said,

    Abu al-ʿAlaʾ (may pouring rain water him):

  10. لَوِ اِختَصَرتُم مِنَ الإِحسانِ زُرتُكُم

    وَالعَذبُ يُهجَرُ لِلإِفراط في الحَصَرِ

    “Had you shown less kindness, I would have visited you;

    and sweet water is shunned for excessive constriction [perhaps: coldness].”