Poems
- أتانا نبقك الحاكيYour lote-tree berries came to us, resembling
- أحبب الي بنهر معقل الذيHow dear to me is the River Ma‘qil, where
- إذا بان محبوب وعاش محبهIf a beloved departs and his lover lives on,
- إذا لاح في أغصانه فكأنهWhen it gleams among its branches, it is as though it were
- إذا نامت العينان من متيقظWhen a wakeful man's two eyes fall asleep,
- أسامره والليل أسود أورقI converse with him by night, while night is black and dusky gray,
- اسقني واسقِ صاحبيWith clouds' tears blended
- أسير وقلبي في ذراك أسيرI travel, while my heart is captive in your shelter.
- الرفق يمن وخير القول أصدقهGentleness is a blessing, and the best speech is the most truthful.
- إلق العدو بوجه لا قطوب بهMeet the enemy with a face that bears no frown,
- أما ترى البرد قد وافت عساكرهDo you not see that the cold’s armies have arrived,
- أما في جنايات النواظر ناظرIs there no judge of the crimes of eyes,
- انظر اليها والنسر منحدرLook at her while the Eagle descends,
- أو ليس من احدى العجائب أننيAnd is it not one of the wonders that I
- بأبي وجهك لو أشMay my father be ransom for your face—if only
- بات يسقيني ويشربAll night he served me drink and drank
- باتت تئن وما بها وجديShe spent the night moaning, yet my anguish is not hers.
- ببرق كأشجاني وقطر كأدمعيWith lightning like my sorrows and rain like my tears,
- تخير إذا ما كنت في الأمر مرسلاChoose carefully when you send someone on business,
- ثوى الفقه في قعر الثرى مذ ثوى بهJurisprudence has lain buried in the depths of the earth since he was buried there.
- حور بعينيه أطال تحيريThe bright white and deep black of his eyes prolonged my bewilderment;
- خذ الفلس من كف اللئيم فانهTake the copper coin from the miserly wretch's palm, for it
- خذها اليك من الغزال الاحورTake it from the dark-eyed gazelle;
- خرجنا لنستسقي بيمنِ دعائهWe went out to seek rain through the blessing of his prayer.
- رأيت في الحمام بدر الدجىI saw in the bathhouse the full moon of the dark night.
- رب ليل قطعته بصدودMany a night I spent in estrangement
- رضاك شباب لا يليه مشيبYour approval is youth never followed by gray hair.
- رياض اذريون لاح مبتسماGardens of marigolds gleamed, smiling,
- رياض من النارنج كالأمن والمنىGardens of bitter oranges, like safety and wishes
- زينها بنفسج كأنهViolets adorned it, as though they were
- سحاب أتى كالأمن بعد تخوفA cloud came like safety after fear,
- طرب الشقائق للحمام وقد شداThe anemones thrilled to the dove when he sang
- عبثت به الحمى فورد وجههFever toyed with him, and his face was made rosy
- عهدي بها وضياء الصبح يطفئهاI remember them as dawn's radiance extinguished them,
- فحم كيوم الفراق تشعلهCharcoal, like the day of parting, is kindled
- فديت عينيك وإن كانتاI would give my life for your eyes, though they
- فكأنه في الماء صاحب مذهبSo, in the water, he is like a follower of a school of thought,
- فما شككت وقد جاء البشير بهWhen the herald brought the news to me
- في موقف وقف الحمام ولم يزغOn a battlefield, Death stood and did not swerve
- قالوا عشقت عظيم الجسم قلت لهمThey said, “You fell in love with one of large build.” I told them:
- قلت لأصحابي وقد مر بيI said to my companions, as he passed me by,
- قلت يوماً لمن تمنطق بالزنارI said one day to one who had girded himself with a zunnar belt
- قلقل ركابك للفلاUrge your mounts toward the wilderness;
- كأن ارتجاس الريح في جنباتهاRoar of the wind in its sides
- كأن اسوداد الافق بالليل ثاكلAs though the horizon’s blackness at night were a bereaved parent,
- كأن الدجى لما استنارت نجومهAs though the darkness, when its stars shone bright, were
- كأن النجوم الزهر في غلس الدجىThe bright stars in the murk of night are like
- كأن بني نعش نساء حواسرAs though Banū Naʿsh were bareheaded women,
- كأن نجوم الليل في ظلماتهAs though the stars of night, in its darkness,
- كأنما المريخ والمشتريIt is as though Mars, with Jupiter
- كأنما نجومهاAs though its stars,
- كأنه فوق يدي حاملهAs though, atop its bearer's hands, it were
- كتبت أدام الله عزك سالماI wrote—may God preserve your glory—safe and sound,
- كتبت وليلي بالسهاد نهارI wrote, my night made day by sleeplessness,
- كغصن ثنته الريح عند اعتدالهLike a branch the wind bent when it stood upright,
- لبست نحافة الغصن النحيفI donned the slenderness of a slender branch,
- لله أيام مضين قطعتهاGod bless those bygone days I spent,
- لم أنس دجلة والدجى متصوبI have not forgotten the Tigris, with darkness descending,
- لم أنس شمس الضحى تطالعنيI have not forgotten the midmorning sun gazing at me,
- لم لا تجن بها القلوبWhy should hearts not go mad over it,
- لولا انتهائي لم أطع نهي النهىHad I not reached my limit, I would not have obeyed reason's prohibition.
- ما منهم إلا امرؤ غمر الندىEach of them is a man of overflowing bounty,
- مرابع لو كن المرابع أنجماDwelling places—if dwelling places were stars,
- مغاني تصاب جمعت فرق الصباHaunts of youthful dalliance—bands of the east wind were gathered
- من ابن رسول الله وابن وصيهFrom the son of God’s Messenger, and the son of his appointed successor,
- وآذريون مثل خد متيمAnd marigolds, like the cheek of a lovesick lover
- وأشجار نارنج كأن ثمارهاAnd orange trees, as if their fruit
- واصفر الجو قد لاحت كواكبهAnd the sky turned yellow, its stars now gleaming forth—
- وافى كتابك مثلماYour letter arrived, just as
- وأقحوان كأن وردتهRoses as though its buds
- والارض من صبغ النبات كأنماAnd the earth, dyed by vegetation, seems as though
- وجاء لا جاء الدجى كأنهAnd night came—may it never come!—as though it were
- وجمر كتصحيف اسمه في كؤوسهAnd embers, like wine—their name with its dot shifted—in its cups,
- وراح من الشمس مخلوقةAnd wine, created from the sun,
- ورعدة كقارئ متعتعAnd a peal of thunder, like a stammering reciter,
- ورياض حاكت لهن الثرياAnd gardens for which the Pleiades wove
- وفتية من حميرٍ حمرِ الظبىRoses of hope in gardens of glory
- وقصيدة الفاظهاAnd a poem whose words
- وقفنا نجيل الرأي في ساكني الغضاAnd we stood, pondering those dwelling among the ghada trees,
- وكأنما شرك المجرة بينهاAnd as though the Milky Way’s path among them
- ولحد حوى شمسا وأرض تضمنتAnd a grave that held a sun, and earth that contained
- وليلة ترك البرد البلاد بهاAnd a night when the cold left the land
- وليلة كأنها طول الأملAnd a night that seemed as long as hope,
- وليلة مثل أمرِ الساعة اشتبهتAnd a night resembled the coming of the Hour,
- وليلة مشتاق كأن نجومهاAnd a longing lover’s night, whose stars seem
- ومن خرم غض خلال شقائقAnd some tender khurram amid anemones,
- ويوم كأن الشمس من تحت غيمهAnd a day when the sun beneath its clouds seemed
- ويوم كأن الشمس من فرط بردهAnd a day so bitterly cold that the sun seemed
- يا واحد الناس لا مستثنيا أحداO peerless among mankind, with no one excepted,
- يجود فيستحيي الحيا عند جودهHe gives generously, and rain blushes before his bounty.
- يحدو بها الرعد فإن كلت زجرThunder drives it onward with song; if it tires, he shouts it on.
- يفديه من نوب الزمان معاشرGroups of men ransom him from time's calamities;
No poems found.