يا من لواحظه مناصل

دع هجرك المضني وواصل

O you whose sidelong glances are blades,

cease your enfeebling estrangement, and be with me.

يا فارغا من لوعتي

وهواي شغلي فيك شاغل

O you untouched by my anguish,

while love of you is my all-consuming care.

أنا بين صدكَ والبعا

د لأكؤسِ الهجران ناهل

I am between your rejection and separation,

drinking deep from the cups of estrangement.

وبسوء حال في بحار

من جفاك بلا سواحل

And in wretched plight, amid seas

of your harshness, without shores.

واغن حال من فنو

ن جماله حلو الشمائل

And a soft-voiced, comely one—among the aspects

of his beauty is sweetness of manner.

تلقاه بدرا في دجى

شعر وغصنا في غلائل

You find him a full moon in the darkness

of hair, and a branch in fine robes.

في فيه حمرة بابل

ولطرفه نفثات بابل

In his mouth is Babylon's crimson,

and his gaze breathes Babylon's spells.

ويريك خصرا مدنفا

نضوا كجسم الصب ناحل

And he shows you a wasted waist,

frail and slender as a passionate lover's body.

يا سائلي عن ظبي ذُهلٍ

عنه قلبي غير ذاهل

O you who ask me of Dhuhl's gazelle,

my heart is never heedless of him.

نطقت مناطقه فَاخ

رس عاذلي خرص الخلاخل

His girdles spoke, and

his anklet hoops silenced my reproacher.

أحببت ذلي في هوا

ه ولم أحل عما يحاول

I loved my abasement in loving

him, and never swerved from what he seeks.

ورددت لوم لوائمي

فيه على عذل العواذل

And I answered the blame of those who blamed me

for him by blaming the reproachers.

ولقد تسديت الظلا

م ونجمه في الغرب مائل

And indeed I rode through the darkness,

while its star inclined toward the west,

من فوق عود مشرف

عال علو الطود بازل

atop an aged, towering camel,

full-grown, lofty as a mountain,

مرح إذا حث النجا

ءُ حسبت خطوته مراحل

spirited: when urged to speed,

you would reckon his stride whole journey-stages.

حتى أتيت جناب أر

وع شيمتا على ونائل

Until I reached the court of a noble man,

whose two traits are eminence and bounty—

أعني بهاء الدين خل

السودد الطلق المخايل

I mean Baha al-Din, the companion

of nobility, open and gracious in mien.

ملك مكارمه وسا

ئل مجتد منا وسائل

A king whose generous deeds are the means

for any bounty-seeker and petitioner among us;

متسنم يوم الفخا

ر سنام كل على وكاهل

who, on the day of boasting, mounts

the hump and shoulder of every eminence.

أهل لأن يرجى ندا

ه فربعه بالوفد آهل

Worthy that his bounty should be hoped for,

his dwelling is therefore thronged with delegations.

أخلاقه زهر النجو

م خلاله زهر الخمائل

His virtues are shining stars;

his qualities, the blossoms of groves.

بدر المحافل حين يب

دو باشرا أسد الجحافل

The full moon of assemblies when he appears,

smiling; the lion of armies.

من معشر فضلوا الأوا

خر بالسماحة والأوائل

Of a people who surpassed the later generations

and the earlier ones in generosity;

حمر الأسنة والظبي

سود القساطل والمراجل

red in spearpoints and sword-edges,

black in war-dust clouds and cauldrons.

ما فيهم إلا مصو

ن عرضه للوفر باذل

Each one has inviolate

honor, and gives freely of his wealth.

أأخا العلى وابن الأولى

ركبوا من المجد الكواهل

O brother of eminence and son of those

who rode upon glory's shoulders!

يا واهب الكوم الهجا

ئن والصريحات العقائل

O giver of high-humped, purebred she-camels

and prized thoroughbred mares,

والصافيات كأنها

رسل القطا أو كالأجادل

and purebred steeds, as though

flocks of sandgrouse, or like falcons;

ومثيرها مبثوثة

كنعائم الدو الجوافل

and you who send them scattering

like desert ostriches fleeing in alarm.

خجلت سبعة أبحر ال

أرضين بالعشر الأنامل

You have put the seven seas

of the earth to shame with your ten fingertips.

وغدوت منتجع اليتا

مى والأيامي والأرامل

And you have become the refuge of orphans,

the unmarried, and widows.

لا زلت يا ابن محمد

في ظل ملك غير زائل

May you ever, O son of Muhammad,

remain in the shade of unfading sovereignty.

وسلمت تحيا يا أبا ال

فضل الكريم بك الفضائل

And may you be safe, O Abu al-Fadl;

generous one, through you the virtues live.

وأتاك عيدك ضامنا

ببلوغ ما تهواه كافل

And may your festival come to you, pledging

and guaranteeing that you attain what you desire.

وحلت هباتك للعفا

ة ولا خلت منك المحافل

And may your gifts be sweet to those who seek them,

and may assemblies never be empty of you.