أبرق تألق بالغضا أم نار

أم موهنا ضحكت إليك نوار

Is it lightning glittering at al-Ghaḍā, or fire?

Or, in the darkness of night, did Nawār smile upon you?

أنظر أبين قبابهم صور الدمى

محجوبة أم في الحدود صوار

Look: amid their domed tents, are those forms of beauties—

veiled—or wild cattle on the borderlands?

رفعوا هوادهم فكم من حمرة

غطى عليها برقع وخمار

They bore away their howdahs: how many a ruddy cheek

was hidden there beneath a face-veil and a head-veil.

لا زال صبا بالعقيق ورِيُّهُ

صَخبُ الرواعدِ صَوبُهُ مِدرار

May the east wind never cease at al-ʿAqīq, nor its watering—

a downpour loud with thunder, abundant and unbroken;

وسقى اللوى إذ عيشنا في ظلة

نضر وإذ عود الوصال نضار

and may it water al-Liwā, where once our life beneath its shade

was fresh, and the season of union flourished.

وكؤوسنا بيد السقاة طوالع

مثل الشموس تديرها الأقمار

Our cups rose radiant in the cupbearers’ hands,

like suns revolved by moons.

في روضة وشت الشمال بسرها

وهنا ووشت رقمها الأمطار

In a garden whose secret charms the north wind embroidered,

while, at night, the rains embroidered its patterns.

دارية النشر الذكي كأنما

نشرت بها طي البرود تجار

It scattered a sweet fragrance, as though

merchants had unfolded bundled brocades there.

أومر فيها الخضر أو خضراؤها

ليل وزهر نجومه الأزهار

The wine glowed red within it, while its greenery was

night, with blossoms for its flowering stars.

ومهفهف عبر الروادف زارني

فعلت على كثقلها أوزار

A slender youth, full across the haunches, visited me,

and upon his haunches I burdened myself with sins.

وشككت هل زناره من دقة

خصر له أم خصره الزنار

I wondered whether his sash, because of the slenderness

of his waist, was a waist—or his waist itself the sash.

ودعته وراى الرقيب عناقنا

فسطا على ذاك الشقيق بهار

I bade him farewell; the watcher saw our embrace,

and saffron swept over that anemone.

لعبت بلبي حالتاه فغرة

تجلو الظلام وموعد غرار

Two states of his mouth played with my heart:

one dispels the dark; the other is a beguiling promise.

ما لذ لي نيل البخيل ولو غدا

فيه الغنى ويلذني الأعسار

No gift from a miser pleases me, though wealth

should lie within it; poverty itself is sweeter to me.

هذا ورب قصائد اعتقتها

عن قصد مثر ربه الدينار

And many a poem have I set free

from seeking one whose own master is the dinar.

وجعلتها وفاعلي متكرم

يمناه واليسرى مني ويسار

I made them free, while my benefactor is munificent—

his right hand is bounty, and my left hand wealth.

وسماح عون الدين أحلف أنه

ذاك الجواد النافع الضرار

By ʿAwn al-Din’s generosity, I swear that he

is that bountiful one—beneficent, yet ruinous to foes—

ملك يبشر سائليه بالغني

وجه طليق منه واستبشار

a king who gives his petitioners glad tidings of riches,

with an open countenance and welcoming joy.

سبط اليدين إذا الأكف تجعدت

رحب الندى إن ضاقت الأعذار

His hands stretch open when other palms shrivel;

his bounty is broad when excuses narrow.

شهد العيان بجوده لما غدت

عن غيره تتناقب الأخبار

Eyewitnesses attest his generosity, while

reports about all others go veiled and obscure.

كلف بأخذ الثأر في رهج الوغى

والجو أكلف والعجاج مثار

He is bent on exacting vengeance in the dust of battle,

when the sky turns dusky and clouds of dust are stirred.

يغزو فتتبعه الوحوش لعادة

وثقت بها في الشبع والأطيار

He campaigns, and the wild beasts follow him from habit,

trusting him to feed them their fill—and so do the birds.

هو واحد في المكرمات وجحفل

من باسه يوم الوغى جرار

Alone in noble deeds, he is himself

through his valor, a formidable host on battle’s day.

أخذ الأمان على الزمان فجاره

مازال من كيد الخطوب يجار

He has exacted from Time a pledge of safety: whoever dwells beside him

is sheltered from calamity’s malicious schemes.

خلوا القوافي السائرات لمجده

فهما بحق معصم وسوار

Set free the far-traveling rhymes for his glory;

the two fit truly as wrist and bracelet.

فعتاده في كل يوم أكدر

صافي الحديد فرنده موار

His daily equipment is a dark-gray charger,

and gleaming steel whose watered grain ripples.

وذوابل طالت فاعمر العدا

في كل معركة بهن قصار

And lances so long that they have made his enemies’ lives

short in every battle where they meet.

ما زرت ربع أبي المظفر مادحا

إلا لأكرم والكريم يزار

I visited Abu al-Muzaffar’s abode in praise for no reason

save that he is the noblest—and the noble are visited.

فسيوفه وضيوفه في غبطة

هذى تمور دما وتلك تسار

His swords and guests alike rejoice:

the former drunk on blood, the latter made merry.

نشوان من طرب الثناء كأنه

ذو صبوة جارت عليه عقار

He is giddy with the rapture of praise, as though

a passion-struck lover overmastered by wine.

لله دارك وهي دار إقامة

بذل النضار بها وصين الجار

God bless your abode—a home worthy of dwelling:

gold is freely spent there, and the neighbor kept safe.

فلها رياض من خلائقك التي

راقت وأنملك الغزار بحار

Its gardens are those virtues of yours

that delight; your lavish fingers are seas.

عجبا لها فلقد حوت أقطارها

جودا تضيق لوسعه الأقطار

How wondrous: within its bounds it holds

generosity so vast that all horizons narrow.

دارت لك الأفلاك فيها بالمنى

وقضى الزمان بنيل ما تختار

There the celestial spheres revolve for you with wishes,

and Time decrees that you attain whatever you choose.

كالشمس أنت حللت في شرق الذرا

ودليل قولي إنه أذار

Like the sun, you have alighted in the earth’s east;

proof of what I say is that it is March.

فاسعد بها واسمع بها رائية

غراء يخلب لفظها السحار

Rejoice in it, and listen there to this rāʾiyya—

radiant, its diction captivating even sorcerers.

لو أنها سبقت زماني لادعى

أبياتها الحكمي أو بشار

Had it preceded my age, its verses would have been claimed

by al-Ḥakamī or Bashshār.