تبسم عن شبم كالأقاحي

ورخم أَلفاظ نشوان صاحي

He smiled, revealing cool teeth like daisies,

and mellowed his words, intoxicated yet sober.

وطاف علينا بعانيَّتين

أسكرنا غنج عين وراحِ

He went round among us with two wines of ʿAna:

an eye's coquetry and wine intoxicated us.

فكان للإثم أَقداحه

وتفاح خديه فوز القداحِ

So, for sin, his goblets

and his cheeks' apples were the winning gaming lots.

فناديت لا أمرة في الهوى

تطاع لغير أمير الملاحِ

Then I cried: “No command in love

is obeyed from anyone but the prince of beauties.”

أأعزل من صبره يلتقي

كميّا من الحسن شاكي السلاحِ

Can one stripped of his patience confront

a warrior of beauty, fully armed?

له طرة كظلام الدجى

على غرة كضياء الصّباحِ

He has a forelock like the darkness of night

above a brow like the light of morning.

فؤادي من خوف هجرانه

مريض الجنان مهيض الجناحِ

My heart, fearing his abandonment,

is heartsick and broken-winged.

يساوره حرج في السوار

ويقلقه قلق في الوشاحِ

Tightness in the bracelet assails it,

and looseness in the sash disquiets it.

مغاني اللّوى قد لوت عهدنا

وعهدك كلّ فتاة رداحِ

O dwellings of al-Liwa, our pledge has been broken,

and yours, by every full-hipped maiden.

سحبن السحائب أذيالها

ورحن بربعك مرضى الرياحِ

The clouds dragged their trailing skirts,

and went by your dwelling with languishing winds;

ومرت بتربك منهلة

تباري ندى يد ترب السماحِ

and passed over your soil, pouring rain,

vying with the bounty of the hand of generosity's peer:

فتى الصاحب المانح الأعطيا

ت ينهبها الناس نهب المباحِ

the Sahib's young man, the bestower of gifts

that people plunder like freely permitted spoil.

هو الصدر أصبح ذا راحة

تمير وصدر أمين النواحي

He is the chief, now endowed with a palm

that gives sustenance, and a heart trustworthy in every quarter.

يبشرنا بشره بالمنى

ويقضي لآمله بالنجاحِ

His cheerful face brings us glad tidings of our hopes,

and he decrees success for whoever hopes in him.

وتسخر آراؤه بالظبي

وتهزأ أقلامه بالرماحِ

His counsels scoff at sword edges,

and his pens mock spears.

جواد إذا سيل معروفه

أَتاك يخجل سيل البطاحِ

Generous: when the flood of his kindness

reaches you, it shames the torrents of the lowlands.

الآن عريكة دهري نداه

فأصحب من بعد طول الجماحِ

His bounty softened the temper of my fate,

so it yielded after long defiance.

وأحيا من البكر لكنه

يلاقي الحروب بوجه وقاحِ

He is more bashful than a virgin, yet

he meets wars with a brazen face.

توقل من مجده ذروة

فشيدها بالندى والكفاحِ

He climbed a summit of his glory

and raised it high through bounty and combat.

فما الروض باكره عارض

من المزن منهمر ذو انفساحِ

So no garden, visited at dawn by a cloud

of rain, pouring far and wide,

بكى شجوَه فيه مستعبرا

فأضحك نرجسه والاقاحِ

weeping its sorrow there, shedding tears,

then making its narcissi and daisies laugh,

بأَطيب من عرضه نفحة

فلا زال ذا عرض مستباحِ

has a fragrance sweeter than his good name;

so may he always possess wealth freely available to all.

أقول لسائق عيسى غدا

طليح سرى منضيا للطلاحِ

I say to the driver of my pale camels, who has become

worn out by night travel, wearing down the weary mounts:

أذلك ربع خدين الندى

أبي الفضل لاح فثق بالفلاحِ

“Is that the dwelling of generosity's companion,

Abu al-Fadl, now in sight? Then be sure of success.

فثم أخو كرم طرفه

إلى المكرمات شديد الطماحِ

For there is a man of generosity whose gaze

soars ardently toward noble deeds.

يحن إلى البذل كل الحنين

ويرتاح للحمد أي إرتياحِ

He yearns for giving with all his longing

and delights in praise—what delight!”

أيا ابن غيوث السدى والندى

ويا ابن ليوث الوغى والكفاحِ

O son of the downpours of beneficence and bounty,

and O son of the lions of battle and combat!

لقد كنت مقترحا منعما

فجاء بك الدهر فوق اقتراحي

I had indeed wished for a benefactor,

then fate brought you, surpassing my wish.

لك الله كم لك من نعمة

غنيت بها عن أكف الشجاحِ

God bless you! How many a favor of yours

has spared me the hands of the miserly!

إذا أفسد الدهر لي حالة

سعت بمواهبها في صلاحي

Whenever fate spoils my condition,

it hastens with its gifts to restore my well-being.

فهنيت عيدا معادا علي

ك ما هزم الليل جيش الصباحِ

So may you be blessed with a festival that returns to you,

as long as morning's army routs the night.

وعشت أخا نعمة ثبتة

فما يثبت الدهر ما أنت ماحي

And may you live endowed with enduring blessings,

for fate cannot establish what you efface.

ولا زلت تجعل أبدان من

يناوي معاليك بدن الأضاحي

And may you ever turn the bodies of those

who oppose your eminence into sacrificial camels.