كيف ألفت الصدَّ والهجرا

كيف ألفت الصدَّ والهجرا

عمدا ولم تحتقب الأجرا

عمدا ولم تحتقب الأجرا

How have you grown accustomed to rejection and estrangement,

How did you get used to estrangement and abandonment

deliberately, without storing up any reward,

Deliberately, without expecting any reward

في عاشق يجني عليه الهوى

في عاشق يجني عليه الهوى

فيجتني من صبره الصبرا

فيجتني من صبره الصبرا

toward a lover whom passion wrongs,

For a lover who is afflicted by passion

who reaps bitter aloes from his patience?

And reaps nothing but patience from his patience

يظلمه كل غرير له

يظلمه كل غرير له

مؤزَّر حمّله الوزرا

مؤزَّر حمّله الوزرا

Every fresh-faced beloved of his wrongs him,

Every deceiver wrongs him

girded, he makes him bear the burden of sin;

Burdening him with the burden

ومقلة قد خلقت فتنة

ومقلة قد خلقت فتنة

أجفانها تختلق السحرا

أجفانها تختلق السحرا

and an eye created as a temptation,

And a coquette created as a sedition

whose eyelids conjure magic,

Whose eyelids fabricate magic

على كثيب أم على ديمة

على كثيب أم على ديمة

فوق قضيب زرّه زرا

فوق قضيب زرّه زرا

upon a dune—or upon a rain cloud—

On a mound or on a plain

above a bough fastened tightly.

On a twig which he made flourish

أحبه إن شاء قتلى وإن

أحبه إن شاء قتلى وإن

أساء او لم يكشف الضرا

أساء او لم يكشف الضرا

I love him, even if he wills my death, and even if

I love him whether he kills me or wrongs me

he does wrong or fails to dispel affliction.

Or does not uncover my distress

وفر كف الحسن ردفا له

وفر كف الحسن ردفا له

مكملا واختصر الخصرا

مكملا واختصر الخصرا

Beauty's hand made his buttocks ample,

The palm of beauty supplies him

perfectly rounded, and narrowed his waist.

Completing and shortening the waist

وخط فوق الورد من خده

وخط فوق الورد من خده

آس عذار أوضح العذرا

آس عذار أوضح العذرا

And it traced over the roses of his cheek

And lining above the roses on his cheek

the myrtle of cheek-down, making my excuse plain.

Clear justification that justifies

لم أنس تقبيلي قبيل النوى

لم أنس تقبيلي قبيل النوى

والبعد منه ذلك الثغرا

والبعد منه ذلك الثغرا

I have not forgotten kissing, just before parting

I have not forgotten kissing him before sleep

and separation from him, that mouth.

And being far from that mouth

وبيننا من عطر أنفاسه

وبيننا من عطر أنفاسه

نشر نسيم عطر العطرا

نشر نسيم عطر العطرا

And between us, from the scent of his breath,

And between us from the scent of his breath

was a wafting breeze that perfumed perfume itself.

The breeze spread the scent of perfume

والروض مخضر وأوراقه

والروض مخضر وأوراقه

قد حملت من طلها درا

قد حملت من طلها درا

And the garden was green, and its leaves

While the meadow is green and its leaves

had borne pearls from their dew.

Carried pearls from its dew

وشملة الظلماء قد أسدلت

وشملة الظلماء قد أسدلت

صيانة من دوننا سترا

صيانة من دوننا سترا

And the cloak of dark night had lowered

And the cloak of darkness has been lowered

a veil before us, for protection.

Shielding what is beyond us a veil

والزهر كالزهر وقد أصبحت

والزهر كالزهر وقد أصبحت

مجرّة الأفق لها نهرا

مجرّة الأفق لها نهرا

And the stars were like flowers, while

The flowers are like flowers and have become

the horizon's Milky Way became their river.

The horizon for them a river

والبدر يحكي وجه من وجهه

والبدر يحكي وجه من وجهه

بدر ندى يخجِّل البدرا

بدر ندى يخجِّل البدرا

And the full moon mirrors the face of one whose face

And the moon tells from its face

is a moon of bounty that puts the full moon to shame:

A full moon that shames the full moon

وجه عبيدالله ذاك الذي

وجه عبيدالله ذاك الذي

إحسانه يستعبد الحُرا

إحسانه يستعبد الحُرا

the face of Ubaydallah, that man whose

The face of Ubaydullah is the one

kindness enslaves the free.

Whose kindness enslaves the free man

ذاك الذي أصبح ثغر المنى

ذاك الذي أصبح ثغر المنى

منا بما أولاه مفترا

منا بما أولاه مفترا

That man, through whom the mouth of hope

The one who has become the mouth of wishes

among us has smiled at what he bestowed.

Mocking us with what he has squandered

أقسمت بالبيت الذي يغتدي

أقسمت بالبيت الذي يغتدي

زواره شعثَ سرى غبرا

زواره شعثَ سرى غبرا

I swear by the House, where morning finds

I swear by the house that transgresses

its visitors disheveled by night travel and dust-covered:

Its disheveled visitors covered in dust

إن أمين الدين برًّ بمن

إن أمين الدين برًّ بمن

يسومه الإحسانَ والبِر ا

يسومه الإحسانَ والبِر ا

Amin al-Din is surely kind to whoever

That Amin Al-Din is righteous to those

asks him for generosity and kindness.

Who give him favor and righteousness

ثرى ترب المجد ذو راحة

ثرى ترب المجد ذو راحة

إذا اعتفاها معدم أثرى

إذا اعتفاها معدم أثرى

Wealthy, glory's peer, possessed of a palm:

Soil that cultivates the soil of glory

when a pauper seeks its gifts, he grows rich.

If it enriches those who have no trace

أغر ما فرّ الغنى من يدي

أغر ما فرّ الغنى من يدي

راج إلى نائله فرّا

راج إلى نائله فرّا

Radiant: wealth has never fled the hands

How strange is what the wealth escaped from my hands

of a hopeful seeker who fled to his bounty.

Yearning for its obtainer to escape

ترى المنايا السود جندا له

ترى المنايا السود جندا له

إذا اغتدت بيض الظبي حمرا

إذا اغتدت بيض الظبي حمرا

You see black deaths as an army for him,

You see death's black soldiers for him

when the white sword-edges turn red.

When the antelope's whiteness turns red

وأروع تعرك أقلامه

وأروع تعرك أقلامه

بخطّها الخطيّة السمرا

بخطّها الخطيّة السمرا

And a majestic man: his pens wear down

And the most wondrous is the friction of his pens

with their writing the brown Khaṭṭī spears.

With their typographic dark inscription

سترت أحوالي من جوده

سترت أحوالي من جوده

ببحر جود يفضح البحرا

ببحر جود يفضح البحرا

My circumstances were veiled by his generosity,

His generosity concealed my conditions

by a sea of bounty that puts the sea to shame.

With an ocean of generosity that shames the ocean

أحبه الله فداك امرؤ

أحبه الله فداك امرؤ

قد فركت راحته الوفرا

قد فركت راحته الوفرا

May God love him! May a man be your ransom

May Allah protect you man

whose palm has loathed wealth.

Whose rest his generosity has made abundant

يواصل المعروف حبا له

يواصل المعروف حبا له

ويهجر الفحشاء والهجرا

ويهجر الفحشاء والهجرا

He pursues kindness out of love for it,

He upholds goodwill out of love for him

and shuns indecency and foul speech.

And abandons vulgarity and estrangement

يا شرف الإسلام يا منعما

يا شرف الإسلام يا منعما

حلى نداه عيشنا المرا

حلى نداه عيشنا المرا

O Sharaf al-Islam, O benefactor

O honor of Islam, O comforter

whose bounty sweetened our bitter life!

Whose munificence sweetened our lives

عشت فكم أعربت من لبسة ال

عشت فكم أعربت من لبسة ال

إفلاس مضطرا ومعترا

إفلاس مضطرا ومعترا

Long may you live! How many you have brought out of the garb of

I lived so how much I complained about a garment of

destitution—the distressed and the needy!

Distress, destitute and blameworthy

من يوم عبَّرت غدت مقلتي

من يوم عبَّرت غدت مقلتي

ساهية ساهرة عبرى

ساهية ساهرة عبرى

Since the day you crossed over, my eye has grown

Since the day I crossed over, my eyelids became

distracted, sleepless, tearful.

Forgetful, wakeful, tearful

ترعى لك الشعرى وحق لها

ترعى لك الشعرى وحق لها

إذ كنت من يرعى لها الشعرا

إذ كنت من يرعى لها الشعرا

It watches Sirius for your sake—and rightly so—

They look after poetry for you, and that is right for them

since you were the one who nurtured poetry for it.

When you were the one who looked after poetry

فمن لصب بأياديكم

فمن لصب بأياديكم

يا ذا الأيادي مغرم مغري

يا ذا الأيادي مغرم مغري

Who, then, will help one in love with your favors—

So who was saturated by your hands

O giver of favors—enamored and enthralled?

O you of hands, infatuated, infatuating

قد ضاع منه صبره واغتدى

قد ضاع منه صبره واغتدى

صاع التنائي عنده كرّا

صاع التنائي عنده كرّا

His patience has deserted him, and now

He lost his patience from him and transgressed

a ṣāʿ of separation seems to him a kurr.

The measure of longing with him became ample

قد كان لا يصبر يوما فقد

قد كان لا يصبر يوما فقد

صار يعد اليوم والشهرا

صار يعد اليوم والشهرا

He once could not endure a day, but now

He used not to be patient a day, so he has

he has come to count the days and months.

Become counting the day and month

يحب ان يقرأ من كتبكم

يحب ان يقرأ من كتبكم

نيابة عن قربكم سطرا

نيابة عن قربكم سطرا

He longs to read from your letters

He loves to read from your books

a line in place of your nearness,

As a substitute for your nearness, a line

ويبصر الأثواب محمولة

ويبصر الأثواب محمولة

عشرا إلى أبوابه عشرا

عشرا إلى أبوابه عشرا

and to see robes being carried

And to see clothes carried

ten by ten to his doors.

Ten to his doors, ten

لا زلت تقري ضيف شعري الذي

لا زلت تقري ضيف شعري الذي

بمثل إحسانكم يقرا

بمثل إحسانكم يقرا

May you never cease to host the guest that is my verse,

You still host the poetry guest who

who is welcomed with kindness like yours.

With your kindness prospers