أمالي من عذولكم عذير

ولا من جور صدكم مجير

Have I no defender against your reproacher,

nor a protector from the tyranny of your rejection?

علقت بغادر يهتز عطفاً

وردفاً مثلما اهتز الغدير

I fell for a faithless one who sways at the waist

and hips, as a pool ripples.

غرير ساعدتني في هواه

ليال شاقها من غزير

An innocent youth: in loving him I was aided

by nights whose longing abundant bounty stirred.

يجدد عهدها زفرات وجد

هي الجمرات قيل لها زفير

Sighs of passion renew their memory—

they are embers called sighs.

إذا صعدت من الأنفاس نار

فحد مطارها حد مطير

If fire rises from the breaths,

then its flight's limit is that of something rain-bearing [unclear wording].

وكم حمي النسيم بنار وجدي

وقد بردت حلي بل ثغور

How often the breeze grew hot with the fire of my passion,

while jewels—no, mouths—had grown cool.

وشقت عن ودائعهن وهناً

خدور أشرقت منها بدور

And late at night they parted to reveal their treasures—

curtained chambers, from which full moons shone.

ومالت فوق أرداف قدود

وجالت فوق أجياد شعور

And figures swayed above hips,

and tresses swept over necks.

ولما راقنا حسن أغرنا

عليه وكان ما كره الغيور

And when beauty delighted us, we raided

it, and what the jealous one hated came to pass.

مجاج لا يدور به زجاج

ولكن الثغور هي المدير

Nectar of the mouth, circulated in no glass:

but the mouths themselves pass it round.

هفا أرج الجمان على ثغور

إذا فاهت تأرَّجت الخمور

The fragrance of pearls wafted over mouths;

when they spoke, the wines grew fragrant.

ولما هزنا طرب وأنس

وبان على أسرتنا السرور

And when rapture and companionship stirred us,

and joy shone upon our brows,

نظمنا في ضياء الدين شعراً

على صفحاته للصدق نور

we composed verse in praise of Diya al-Din,

on whose pages the light of truth shines.

نشرفه بذكر علاك فيه

كما شرفت بقومك شهرزور

We ennoble it by mentioning your eminence there,

as Shahrazur was ennobled by your people.

ونعلم أن مدحاً لم يقيد

به إحسانكم كذب وزور

And we know that praise that fails to record

your beneficence is lies and falsehood.

وأم المكرمات لمن عداكم

من الأولاد مقلاة نزور

And the mother of noble deeds, for all save you,

loses her children and bears but few.

بكل قرارة للدين منكم

وللدنيا عميد أو وزير

In every settlement, one of you stands, for the faith

and for the world, as a leader or minister.

تملك قاسم ودي وحمدي

بأخرق هي الروض النضير

Qasim has won my love and praise

with a clumsy one [unclear wording]—it is the verdant garden.

فكم غناكم قلم وسيف

فأطربكم صليل أو صرير

And how often a pen and a sword sang to you,

delighting you with a clang or a squeak.

وقل الناصرون بأرض مصر

فكان وداده نهم النصير

And supporters grew scarce in the land of Egypt,

so his affection was the helper's eager craving.

وتابع بره نحوي ولكن

كما يتتابع النوء المطير

And he continued his kindness toward me, but

as rain-bearing storms follow one another.

رآني والعيون بها تعام

ومات الأعمى سواء والبصير

He saw me while eyes feigned blindness,

and the blind and the sighted died alike.

فكم كرم وإكرام وبشر

كأن طلوع طلعتها بشير

How much generosity, honor, and cheerfulness—

as though their dawning presence were a herald of good news!

منايح بل مدائح ليس منا

جميعاً فيهما من يستعير

Gifts—rather, praises: not one among us,

taken all together, borrows in either.

جميل من ندى وجميل ذكر

قليل أن يرى لهما نظير

A fine act of generosity, and a fine remembrance:

rarely is an equal seen for these two.

فضائل من فضائلك استمدت

كما فاضت على الخلج البحور

Virtues sustained by your virtues,

as the seas overflowed into the inlets.

من الفقر التي تبني المعالي

ويستغني بها الحسب الفقير

Among the passages that build lofty honors,

and through which impoverished ancestral honor grows rich.

شكرت بها ودادك وهو شكر

يزورك بعد أوله أخير

With them I thanked you for your affection—an expression of gratitude

whose later part will visit you after its first.