لما أدار مدامة الأحداق

دبت حميا نشوة الأخلاق

When he passed round the wine of eyes,

the heat of rapture crept through my nature.

جار المدير لها ولو عدل الهوى

في حكمه لامت جوار الساقي

Its pourer was unjust; if love were fair

in its judgment, it would have blamed the cupbearer's injustice.

ظبي أعار الليل طرة شعره

وأمد ضوء الصبح بالإشراق

A gazelle who lent the night his forelock

and supplied dawn's light with radiance.

وسنان ذاب السحر في آماقه

وأذاب ماء الروح في آماقي

He was drowsy-eyed; magic melted in his eye-corners

and melted my soul's water in my own.

كتب الجمال على صحيفة خده

عذر المحب وحجة المشتاق

Beauty wrote upon the page of his cheek

the lover's excuse and the yearning one's justification.

ما كنت أدري قبل رؤية وجهه

أن الخدود مصارع العشاق

Before seeing his face, I did not know

that cheeks are the killing grounds of lovers.

أشفقت من إعراضه وصدوده

فوقعت فيما خفت من إشفاقي

I feared his turning away and his rejection,

and through my fear fell into what I dreaded.

وافقته مذ كان وهو مخالفي

فأعجب لطول خلافه ووفاقي

I have agreed with him from the first, though he opposes me;

so marvel at his long opposition and my agreement.

خلق من الأيام معروف لها

مازال يجزي طاعة بشقاق

This is a well-known habit of the days:

always to repay obedience with discord.

وافقتها زمن الشباب فأقسمت

لا كان رفق العيش بعض رفاقي

I accorded with them in youth, and they swore

that ease of life should never be among my companions.

وصحبتها بعد المشيب فأخفقت

منها المطامع أيما إخفاق

I kept their company after my hair turned gray; then failed

my hopes in them, with utter failure.

ولقد كشفت لها قناع قناعة

خلعت رداء العجز والإملاق

Indeed, I removed before them the veil of contentment;

I cast off the cloak of helplessness and poverty.

وركبت أعجاز القوافي طالباً

بصدورها شرف الحياة الباقي

I mounted the hindquarters of rhymes, seeking

through their foreparts life's enduring honor.

وإلى أبي الغارات واهنت الخطا

أيدي جيادي بالثناء رباقي

Toward Abu al-Gharat, faltering in stride,

my steeds' forelegs were held by my fetters of praise.

مولى الملوك الصالح الهادي إلى

شرع الندى ومكارم الأخلاق

Lord of kings, al-Salih, who guides toward

the law of generosity and noble character.

يممت ساحته التي لاقى الغنى

فيها كساد مدائحي بنفاق

I headed for his court, where wealth met

the stagnation of my praises with brisk demand.

ولثمت راحته التي قسمت بها

معلومة الآجال والأرزاق

I kissed his palm, by which were apportioned

the determined spans of life and shares of sustenance.

أحيا بها وأمات حتى خلتها

جمعت زعاف السم والدرياق

With it he gave life and dealt death, until I thought it

combined deadly poison and its antidote.

والغيث ينبوع الحياة وطالما

وافى مع الإغراق بالإحراق

Rain is the wellspring of life, yet often

it brings burning along with drowning.

ملك أصوغ مديحه من شعره

فصلاته عندي بلا استحقاق

A king whose praise I fashion from his own poetry,

so his gifts to me are undeserved.

لما علقت به وثقت بمنعم

أمسى كريم العهد والميثاق

When I attached myself to him, I trusted a benefactor

who proved noble in pledge and covenant.

أعتقت من رق الملوك مطامعي

ورميت عصمة ودهم بطلاق

I freed my ambitions from bondage to kings

and cast off the bond of their affection by divorce.

أما وقد أصبحت من خدامه

فالشام شامي والعراق عراقي

Now that I have become one of his servants,

al-Sham is my al-Sham, and Iraq my Iraq.

فإذا حنت مصر علي وربها

فالأرض داري والسماء رواقي

If Egypt and its lord look kindly on me,

the earth is my home, and the sky my canopy.

من مبلغ اليمن الذي فارقته

ما غاب عنه من حديث فراقي

Who will tell Yemen, which I left,

what it has not heard of the story of my parting?

إني وردت الجود يفهق بحره

وشربت من كأس الغنى بدهاق

I have come to generosity, whose sea overflows,

and drunk from the cup of wealth in brimming draughts.

في ظل فياض المواهب أبلج

حلت يداه من الزمان وثاقي

In the shade of a radiant-faced giver overflowing with gifts,

whose two hands freed me from time's bonds.

أنسيت حين وردت غمر نواله

ما اعتدت من ثمد ومن رقراق

When I reached his bounty's deep waters, I was made to forget

the scant pools and shimmering shallows I had known.

للناصر بن الصالح الشرف الذي

فاقت به مصر على الآفاق

To al-Nasir, son of al-Salih, belongs the honor

by which Egypt surpassed all horizons.

ملك إذا استثنى أباه وجده

فضل الورى طرأً على الإطلاق

A king who, excepting his father and grandfather,

surpasses all humanity, altogether and absolutely.

أنظره أو فانظر أباه تجدهما

سيين في شرف وفي أخلاق

Look at him, or look at his father: you will find them

equals in honor and in character.

من آل رزيك الذين سما بهم

شرف لنيل العز والأعراق

Of the house of Ruzzik, with whom

honor soared toward glory and nobility of descent.

من دوحة المجد التي أغصانها

مجحدية الثمرات والأوراق

From the great tree of glory, whose branches

are [glorious] in fruit and leaf.

آساد حرب لم ترع بكريهة

وبدور مجد لم تشن بمحاق

Lions of war, never frightened by a dire battle,

and full moons of glory never marred by waning.

أضحى بمحيي الدين كل معاند

وفؤاده كلوائه الخفاق

Muhyi al-Din has left every adversary

with his heart fluttering like his fluttering banner.

عضد الإمام ومجد الإسلام الذي

يرمي عيون عداه بالإطراق

The imam's supporting arm and Islam's glory, who

casts his enemies' eyes down.

الفارس المزري بكل منازل

في يوم معركة ويوم سباق

The horseman who puts every challenger to shame

on a day of battle and a day of racing.

والواضع الأرماح بعد نباله

في الدرع بين ترائب وتراق

And who plants spears, after his arrows,

into armor, between breastbones and collarbones.

من لا يروعه الهياج إذا التقى

والتف ساق في الجلاد بساق

One whom battle's tumult does not frighten when forces meet

and leg entwines with leg in combat.

شاهدت في الميدان مثل فعاله

في الحرب بين ذوابل ورقاق

In the arena I witnessed the like of his deeds

in war, amid slender spears and thin blades.

يرمي ويطعن جامعاً في حالة

عمل النصال الزرق والأفواق

He shoots and thrusts, combining in one moment

the work of blue spearheads and arrow-nocks.

بموارق من نبله شبهتها

برماحه في المعشر المراق

With piercing shafts from his arrows, which I likened

to his spears amid the host of rebels.

في ظهر وردي الأديم كأنه

برق تألق في متون براق

On the back of a rose-hided steed, as though he were

lightning flashing along Buraq's back.

ملك إذا جادت سماء نواله

أزرت بصوب الوابل الغيداق

A king: when the sky of his bounty rains,

it puts the abundant downpour to shame.

لا أشتكي ظمأ الأماني بعدما

روت سحائبه ثرى إملاقي

I do not complain of my wishes' thirst, now that

his clouds have watered the soil of my poverty.

من شاكر عني نداه فإنني

عن شكر ما أولاه ضاق نطاقي

Who will thank his bounty for me? For I

have too narrow a compass to thank him for what he bestowed.

منن تخف عليه إلا أنها

نقلت مؤونتها على الأعناق

Favors weigh lightly on him, but they

have shifted their burden onto our necks.

قد كنت حراً قبل أنعمه التي

حكمت عوارفهن باسترقاقي

I was free before his favors, whose

benefactions decreed my enslavement.

فالله يبقيه ووالده فقد

سادا ملوك الأرض باستحقاق

May God preserve him and his father, for

they both have deservedly surpassed the kings of the earth.