بين سر الوجد والعلن

ضاع صبري في الهوى وفني

Between longing's secrecy and its openness,

my patience was lost in love and perished.

أنست عيني بدمعتها

أنس عين الحب بالوسنِ

My eye found solace in its tear,

as the beloved's eye finds solace in slumber.

نام عن ليلي وفارقني

بعد إيناس فارقني

He slept, heedless of my night, and left me.

After bringing solace, he left me.

ما وهنى وجدي وقد بعدت

داره عني وكيف يني

My longing has not weakened, though far lies

his dwelling from me—and how could it flag?

وبغير الوصل لا سكنت

زفرة ترقى على سكنِ

And without union, may it never be stilled—

a sigh that rises over a beloved.

وبنفسي من أودعه

وهو للأشواق يودعني

And my life for the one I bid farewell,

while he entrusts me to longings.

ولذاك الطرف في كبدي

وقع أطراف القنا اللدنِ

And within my liver that gaze has

the impact of supple spear-points.

جاء يثني التيه قامته

فتوارت قامة الغصنِ

He came, pride swaying his figure,

so the branch's form hid from sight.

وأدار الكأس يسكرها

لحظ عينيه ويسكرني

And he passed the cup around; intoxicating it

was the glance of his eyes, which intoxicated me.

ثم أدنى خده خجلا

فحنيت الورد وهو جني

Then he brought his cheek near, bashful,

so I bent the rose, ripe for picking.

خلت لما أن خلوت به

والصبا مسكية الردنِ

I thought, when I was alone with him,

and the east wind's sleeve was musky:

إن ريا موهنا خطرت

لي أو ريا أبي الحسن

Surely Rayyā had appeared late at night

to me—or the fragrance of Abū al-Ḥasan.

رب كف ثرة خلقت

ضرة للعارض الهتنِ

Master of a bounteous hand, created

as a rival wife to the pouring raincloud;

وسماح ما تطبعه

بل أتى طبعا مع اللبنِ

and of generosity he never affected—

rather, it came naturally with his mother's milk.

ماجد بعت الكرام به

لم أخف من صفقة الغبنِ

A noble man for whom I exchanged the noble;

I had no fear of a losing bargain.

ضيق الأعذار مبتسم

للمرجى واسع العطنِ

Scant in excuses, smiling

toward the hopeful, with a spacious watering-ground.

فهو عاري العرض منصلت

من لباس العار والدرن

So his honor is bare, stripped

of the garb of disgrace and filth.

ما انطوى طي الرداء على

نشر أحقاد ولا إحَنِ

The folding of his cloak has never enclosed

an unfolding of hatreds or grudges.

مر في سبق الكرام على

سابق من جوده أرنِ

He raced to outstrip the noble, mounted on

a spirited racing steed of his generosity,

معنقا في أثر ماثره

تسم الأعناق بالمننِ

galloping in the wake of his glorious deeds,

which brand necks with benefactions.

تارك حد السنان لقى

متغان عنه باللسنِ

Leaving the spear's sharp point discarded,

needing it no longer, thanks to eloquence.

يا عبيدالله دمت كذا

ذا ثراء غير مختزنِ

O ʿUbaydallāh, may you always remain thus,

possessed of wealth that is never hoarded,

شائدا بنيان كل على

في ذرى عادية القننِ

raising the edifice of every lofty virtue

on heights with ancient peaks.

قعد العافي وقمت له

بفروض الجود والسننِ

The supplicant sat, and you rose for him

to fulfill generosity's duties and observances.

قسما بالسابحات ضحى

في بحار الال كالسفنِ

I swear by the steeds swimming at midmorning

through seas of mirage like ships:

قطعت أقرانها وأتت

طلقا والريح في قرنِ

they outstripped their rivals and came

at full gallop, with the wind yoked alongside.

لقد استعبدتني بندى

ذادني والريح في قرنِ

You have indeed enslaved me with bounty.

I was driven away, with the wind in a yoke,

من يرى من حب درهمه

عاكفا منه على وثنِ

by one seen, out of love for his dirham,

devoted to an idol made from it.

فاستمعها اليوم سائرة

مثل سير الخضر في المدنِ

So hear it today as it journeys,

like al-Khiḍr's journey through the cities.

هي في بغداد ثم غدا

هي في مصر وفي عدنِ

It is in Baghdad; then tomorrow

it will be in Egypt and in Aden.

سهلة الألفاظ والجة

لا بإذن فرضة الأذنِ

Easy in wording, it enters

the ear's inlet without permission.

دمت مارق النسيم ضحى

ودعت ورقاء في فننِ

May you endure so long as the breeze is gentle at midmorning

and a gray dove calls on a bough.