خذ حديثي فإنه معسول

ورجال حديثهم مغسول

Take my tale, for it is honeyed,

while some men's speech is washed-out.

بت حيث التفت شاهدت روضاً

وغديراً وقابلتني قبول

I spent the night: wherever I turned, I saw a garden,

and a pool, and an east wind greeted me.

غير أن القدود لم أك أدري

قبل هذا من أي شيء تميل

Yet, as for those slender figures, I had not known

before this what made them sway.

وغصون الحدائق الخضر جار

بينهن العناق والتقبيل

And the boughs of the green gardens exchanged

embraces and kisses among themselves.

فجرى من رويحة الفجر فيها

نفس خافت النسيم عليل

Then through them, from dawn's little breeze, flowed

a breath, faint in its stirring and languid.

فأثارت بعد السكون حراكاً

هزها منه شمأل وشمول

So it stirred movement after stillness;

a north wind and wine set them swaying with it.

فإذا القد مال بعد اعتدال

فتيقن أن النسيم عذول

So when a figure leans after standing straight,

be certain that the breeze is a reprover.

حبذا جور غادة تتثنى

باعتدال وفي هواها عدول

How lovely the tyranny of a maiden who sways

with poise, though love of her is wayward.

لم يزل سحرها إلى الوصل باباً

منه نحو الرضى يكون الوصول

Her enchantment has always been a doorway to union,

through which one reaches her favor.

أنا في أسرها وأسري عليها

فكلانا هو العزيز الذليل

I am in her captivity, and she is in mine;

so each of us is both mighty and humbled.

كلما قلت أستطيل عليها

حكم الحب أنها تستطيل

Whenever I say I will gain mastery over her,

Love decrees that she shall have mastery over me.

غزلي من قرينة الحال لا من

غزل صدق أهله مستحيل

My love verse comes from the evidence of my state, not from

love verse whose poets cannot be truthful.

ولا سلو ولا علو ولكن

لي طلوع مع الهوى ونزول

There is neither forgetting nor superiority, but

with passion I have my rising and my falling.

وإذا جر مقودي لم أجاذب

فيه والعاشق الحرون ثقيل

And when it pulls my rein, I do not pull back

against it; a balking lover is burdensome.

ومتى قلت تقطع الهجر قالت

لا يجوز الخروج عما تقول

Whenever I say, 'Estrangement has ended,' she replies,

'One may not depart from what you say.'

ولها شافعان خلق وخلق

كل ما شئت منهما فجميل

And she has two intercessors: form and character;

whichever of the two you choose is beautiful.

غير أن الدلال شأن الغواني

والمبرا من العيوب قليل

Yet coquetry is the way of lovely women,

and few are free of flaws.

وبنو منقذ إذا الشعر لم يو

سم بأسمائهم عراه الخمول

And the sons of Munqidh—if poetry is not

marked with their names, obscurity overtakes it.

وإذا أثنت القوافي عليهم

شرفوها فحظهن جزيل

And when the rhymes sing their praises,

they ennoble the verses, whose portion is ample.

سبقت مولد الزمان علاهم

فهو جار ما بينهم ونزيل

Their glory preceded the birth of Time;

so he is a neighbor and guest among them.

فإذا كنت للمبارك خلاً

فلك الدهر خادم وخليل

So if you are al-Mubarak's close friend,

Time is your servant and companion.

الكريم الذي إذا فاض جوداً

فله البحر والغمام رسيل

The generous one who, when he overflows with bounty,

has sea and rain-cloud as his peers.

ملك يحتمي بحدي ظباه

وسطاه رعية ورعيل

A king whose blades' twin edges give shelter,

with his might, to subjects and troops.

الكبير الأخص لم ينعتوه

باختصاص وقدره مجهول

The great, the most distinguished—they did not describe him

with such distinction while his worth was unknown.

إنما النعت في معاليه فضل

وهو في نعت آخرين فضول

Only praise of his lofty deeds has merit;

in describing others, it is idle excess.

لم يفارق أهل الصعيدين إلا

ولمن فيهما عليه عويل

He did not leave the people of the two Saʿids

without those in both raising a lament for him.

أفسدتهم عوائد لك فيهم

ضل عنها الحادي وحار الدليل

Your habitual favors among them have spoiled them;

the camel-driver lost their trail, and the guide was bewildered.

ولو أن النجوم رامت مساعيك

لسدت في وجههن السبيل

Even if the stars aspired to your achievements,

the way would be barred before them.

أنت بالسيف واليراعة أدرى

ولك البيض واليراع قبيل

You are best versed in sword and reed-pen;

white blades and reed-pens are your kin.

لست ممن يزداد إن قلدوه

عملاً قدرك الجليل جليل

You are not one whose stature grows if they entrust him

with office; your great worth is great in itself.

ولا ولا أنت من رجال إذا ما

عزلوهم بمجدهم مهزول

No, nor are you among men who, when

dismissed, are left emaciated in their glory.

وإذا كنت والياً بالسجايا

والعطايا فغيرك المعزول

And if you are a ruler through noble traits

and gifts, then someone other than you is deposed.

لك في كل ناظر وضمير

إمرة أمر حكمها لا يزول

Yours, in every eye and heart,

is sovereign command whose rule never fades,

ومكان مخيم حيث وجه الب

در تاج والمشتري إكليل

and a camping-place where the full moon's face

is a crown and Jupiter a diadem,

وأواخي رياسة يتوخى العزم

فيها والصارم المسلول

and tethering-stakes of leadership, where resolve is sought,

along with the keen, unsheathed sword.

وإذا المنقذ حاول نصراً

للقوافي فغيرها المخذول

And when al-Munqidh seeks victory

for the rhymes, it is others who are forsaken.

يستمد المديح من حسنات

مجدها واسع الرداء صقيل

Praise draws sustenance from good deeds

whose glory is broad-mantled and burnished bright.

نسب صار في البسيطة عنه

حسب فخره عري طويل

A lineage beside which, throughout the earth,

even long pedigrees stand stripped of their pride.

هذه خدمة القدوم دعاها

سائق مزعج وحاد عجول

This is my tribute on arrival, called forth

by an insistent driver and a hasty camel-chanter.

فتقبل لطائفاً ليس عنها

من ثواب يجوز إلا القبول

So accept these delicate offerings, for which

no reward is fitting but acceptance.

كلمات تأتي الحزون وتمشي

حيث لانت أباطح وسهول

Words that reach rugged ground and walk

where pebbled streambeds and plains lie smooth.

وإذا ما أردت نحت صخور

فلساني بنحتهن كفيل

And whenever I wish to carve rocks,

my tongue is sure to carve them.