حتام أرتقب الوصال تعللا

وهي المنى ما ان تنيل مؤملا

How long shall I await reunion, consoling myself?

These are wishes that never grant what is hoped for.

تلك الأماني التي منيتها

ومن الشقاوة روم ما لن يحصلا

Those are the hopes I cherished,

and misery lies in seeking what will never be attained.

يدجو على الليل جالب همه

وكلاهما عندي المذمم منزلا

Night darkens over me, bringing its sorrow,

and both are unwelcome lodgers with me.

لم أدر أيهما على ما ساءني

وأذال مني الدمع كان الأطولا

I could not tell which of the two, despite the grief it caused

and the tears it drew from me, had lasted longer.

أنى يروق العيش لي يوما ولم

ير ناظري إلا الرسوم المثلا

How can life ever please me, when

my gaze has seen only the ruins still standing?

عجبا لاطلال موات انها

تحيي الهوى وتسوم اضلعي البلى

How strange that lifeless ruins

revive love and condemn my ribs to decay!

عجبا لها وهي الجماد تذيبني

اسفا فلست اطيق بعد تحلحلا

How strange that they, though lifeless, melt me

with grief; I can no longer bear to stir.

كم ذا تحمنلي النوى ما لم اطق

ولكم ازيد تحلما وتحملا

How often separation burdens me with what I cannot bear,

and how much I grow in forbearance and endurance!

والدهر ليس بحول عن حالاته

متعاميا طورا وطورا احولا

Yet time never changes its ways,

feigning blindness at times, cross-eyed at others.

ما دمت انظر ذي الطلول فلن ارى

عن ذكر من عروا عراها مذهلا

As long as I gaze at these ruins, I shall find

nothing to distract me from remembering those who frequented their grounds.

اني اذا خالت يوما صاحبا

لا ابتغي عن وده متحولا

Whenever I have made a friend,

I seek no departure from his affection.

تروى دموعي عن اصول صبابتي

فيها حديثا مرسلا ومسلسلا

My tears relate, from the sources of my yearning,

a tale there, freely flowing and linked in a chain.

غلب الغرام على حتى انني

فيها اشاهد حسنهم متمثلا

Passion has so overcome me that

I behold their beauty embodied in these ruins.

لولا مخافة ان اسيء اليهم

لم اتخذ من دونها متقيلا

Were it not for fear of offending them,

I would choose no midday resting-place outside these ruins.

ما تنقضي الحسرات بين جوانحي

حتى اوسد في ثراها منزلا

The sorrows within my breast will not cease

until I am pillowed in their soil, laid to rest.

يا ليت شعري هل درى الناؤون ان

قد ناء صبري معهم مترحلا

Would that I knew whether those far away know that

my patience has gone far off too, departing with them.

ان لم يكن لي يعملات للسرى

سبرت قلبي حيث حلوا مرقلا

If I have no fleet she-camels for night travel,

I send my heart trotting to wherever they have settled.

ان النوى ذهبت بلبي مثلما

ذهب الهوى بقواي ان تتحملا

Separation has carried off my reason, just as

love has robbed my strength of the power to endure.

فانا اسير المعجزين ولم اجد

متخلصا لي منهما او موئلا

So I am captive to these two overpowering forces, and have found

no release from them, nor any refuge,

الا مديح الاكرمين اولى العلى

الفارطين الى المعالي اولا

save praise of the most noble, possessors of lofty distinction,

who lead the way toward the heights, first of all.

ادباء مصر الآدبين بفضلهم

كل النفوس إلى هواهم والولا

Egypt's men of letters, who through their excellence invite

all souls to love for them and loyalty;

السامقين السابقين تطولا

الفائقين الآفقين تفضلا

towering high, foremost in bounty,

excelling, surpassing all in generosity;

الباعثين من الكتاب كتائبا

المرسلين مع القوافي جحفلا

mustering battalions out of writing,

dispatching a mighty host along with rhymes;

الفارعين اذا اجالوا مقولا

القارعين اذا ادالوا منصلا

surpassing others when they wield a tongue,

striking down foes when they give a blade ascendancy;

البالغين لدى التجادل حجة

الغالبين لدى التجالد جدلا

attaining proof in debate,

overcoming sturdy opponents in combat;

الصافحين اذا رأوا متفصحا

في القول يغلو واغلا متطفلا

forgiving when they see someone affect eloquence

and go too far in speech, an interloper and a freeloader.

جلت محامدهم ورفعة شأنهم

عن كل مدح مجملا ومفصلا

Their virtues and the loftiness of their standing rise

above all praise, whether general or detailed.

من قال شعرا فليقدم ذكرهم

فكفاه ذاك الذكر ان يتغزلا

Whoever composes verse should first mention them;

that mention alone suffices him for a love-song.

امسى اذا ابيات شعري عريت

عنه وربك بالحياء مزملا

I find myself, whenever my verses are stripped

of it—by your Lord—wrapped in shame.

اني لاملى مدحهم بين الملا

ما دام هاج للحروف اذا تلا

Indeed, I dictate their praise among the assembled,

as long as anyone spells out letters when reading.

لكن هذا الشعر يذهب جزله

عني ولست بغيره متوسلا

But the robust strain of this poetry slips away

from me, and I make my appeal through nothing else.

اني من القوم الذين يرونه

ادبا وليس توهما وتخيلا

I am among those who regard it

as literature, not conjecture and imagination,

وتشدقا وتكلفا وتقولا

وتلهوقا وتعسفا وتمحلا

nor bombast, affectation, or fabrication,

nor false pretension, forced expression, or strained artifice.

من ظن ان مفاعلن متفاعلن

سر القريض فجهزته به إلى

Whoever thinks that mafāʿilun and mutafāʿilun

are poetry's secret—I have sent him off with it to...

للاحمدين ومصطفى ولصفوة

يجب الثناء المستدام وكيف لا

For the two Ahmads, Mustafa, and Safwa,

unceasing praise is due—and how could it not be?