سارت حشاشة مهجتي إذ ساروا

والنوم من بعد الأحبة عار

The last remnant of my heart’s life departed when they departed,

and sleep after the loved ones’ departure is a disgrace.

لا تنكر ذل الأعزة في الهوى

إن المحبة ذلة وصغار

Do not deny the mighty their abasement in love:

love is humiliation and lowliness.

وعزيز دمعي شاهد لك أنني

لا ناكث عهداً ولا غدار

And my precious tears bear witness to you that I

neither break a pledge nor betray.

نطقت دموعي عن لسان ساكت

في ربعكم وسكوته إقرار

My tears spoke for a silent tongue

at your dwelling, and its silence is confession.

ملكتكم دمعي بغير معوضة

ورضيت بيعاً ليس فيه خيار

I gave you possession of my tears without recompense,

and accepted a sale with no right of withdrawal.

وغريرة لم ينتثر ورق الصبا

عن غصنها إلا وفيه ثمار

And an innocent maiden, whose leaves of youth never fell

from her branch until it bore fruit,

رحلت إلى العشرين تحسب أنه

ما بعد آحاد الصبا أعشار

journeyed toward twenty, imagining that

beyond youth’s single years there were no decades.

قالت أرى ليل الشباب تعسعست

فيه بصبح مشيبك الأنوار

She said, “I see the night of youth: its lights have dimmed

within it at the dawn of your gray hair.

وذوائب الأغصان غير ذوابل

إلا إذا انفتحت بها الأزهار

The tresses of branches do not wither

until blossoms open upon them.”

فأجبتها إن المشيب مبيض

سود الصحائف والشبيبة قار

I answered her, “Gray hair whitens

the blackened pages, while youth is pitch.

بعت السواد على البياض فصح لي

في العين قار والفؤاد وقار

I sold blackness for whiteness, and so retained

blackness in my eye and dignity in my heart:

شيئان ماداما فليس لغادة

عندي وإن كثر البياض نفار

two things which, while they last, keep any fair maiden

from shunning me, however much the whiteness grows.

يا هذه إن الشبيبة موكب

ولى وفي الأكباد منه غبار

O woman, youth is a procession

that has passed, leaving its dust within our livers.

إن أصح كأس الصبابة والصبا

فلدي من خمر الغرام خمار

If I sober from the cup of passion and youth,

I still have a hangover from the wine of love.”

ولرب قافية غضضت جماحها

لما طغت وطغى بها المضمار

How many a poem’s wildness have I curbed

when it ran riot and the racecourse surged with it!

اهدى المديح إلى التغزل صفوها

فأتت وليس لصفوها أكدار

Praise offered its purest essence to love-verse,

and it came with no dregs to cloud its purity.

جردتها وسللتها فأتت كما

ينسل من نسج القديم عفار

I unsheathed it and drew it forth, and it emerged as

ʿafār [unclear] slips from the Ancient One’s weaving.

زارت فناخسرو وإن فناءها

حرم يبجل عنده الزوار

It visited Fana-Khusraw, though its own courtyard

is a sanctuary where visitors are honored.

ملك يدور به الزمان كأنه

فلك عليه للزمان مدار

A king around whom time revolves, as though he

were a sphere upon which time has its orbit.

لو أثرت قبل الملوك بكفه

باتت بها من لثمهم آثار

If kings’ kisses left impressions on his palm,

the traces of their kissing would remain upon it.

بذلن لأفواه الرجال وصانها

شرفاً فلم يلمس بها الدينار

They were offered to men’s mouths, yet he guarded his palm

in honor, never touching a dinar with it.

وصيانة البيت العتيق وستره

أن تبذل الأركان والأستار

The Ancient House is preserved and veiled

by making its corners and curtains freely available.

ففدى لقطب الدين مالك دولة

شغلته عن أوتاره الأوتار

Let a realm’s ruler be a ransom for Qutb al-Din—

one whom lute strings distracted from his blood debts—

وعصابة من حاسدي أيامه

طاروا وما قضيت لهم أوطار

and a band of those who envied his days,

who flew away with none of their desires fulfilled.

إن فقت جنساً أنت منه فأحمر ال

ياقوت نوع جنسه الأحجار

If you surpass the kind to which you belong, the red

ruby is a species whose genus is stones.

أغنى صباحك عن سنى مصباحهم

بالشمس يخفى الكوكب الغرار

Your morning makes their lamp’s radiance needless;

before the sun the deceptively bright star is hidden.

يا سائلي عمن لقيت من الورى

نقدي محك للورى وعيار

O you who ask me about the people I have met:

my judgment is a touchstone and assay for humankind.

ألمم بقطب الدين تعرف فضله

وعلى العيان تحيلك الأخبار

Visit Qutb al-Din and you will know his merit;

reports will direct you to what your own eyes see.

متيقظ حزماً يصيب فرأيه

أبداً على ليل الخطوب نهار

Vigilant and resolute, he hits the mark; his judgment

is always daylight against the night of calamities.

وإذا عفا عمن هفا لم يختلج

في صدره إصر ولا إصرار

When he pardons someone who has erred, no stirring

of resentment or obstinacy remains within his breast.

جمع النزاهة من حلاه ثلاثة

جيب وذيك طاهر وإزار

Three of his qualities unite purity:

a breast, a pure [unclear word], and a waistcloth.

واختص بالفعل السفيه ثلاثة

جود له وأسنة وشفار

Three things alone indulge in reckless deeds:

his generosity, spearheads, and blades.

في فضل منطقه وفضل فعاله

تتنزه الأسماع والأبصار

In the excellence of his speech and his deeds,

ears and eyes take their pleasure.

ما في مقالته ولا في فعله

حاشاهما زور ولا أوزار

In neither his words nor his deeds—

far be it from both—are falsehood or sins.

خف من سكينته فتحت سكونها

موج يهيج ومزبد تيار

Fear his tranquility, for beneath its stillness

are raging waves and a foaming torrent.

ومهند ما لان ملمس متنه

إلا وغر العين منه غرار

An Indian-steel sword: its back never feels smooth

without its edge deceiving the eye.

ملك القلوب برأفة ومهابة

جمع السياسة ماؤها والنار

He won hearts with compassion and awe;

water and fire combined in his governance.

كم منة لك لا يزال أخو الغنى

يغتاظ من حسد لها ويغار

How many favors of yours still make the wealthy man

seethe with envy and jealousy!

وأرحت فكرته ولكن راحة

تعبت بها في شكرك الأفكار

You eased his mind, yet with an ease

that wore out minds in giving you thanks.

وشفعتها بمكارم جاءت ولم

يعبث بهز غصونها التذكار

You followed it with noble gifts that came before

any reminder could toy with shaking their branches.

حكم التسرع أن تكون ثمارها

بدرية ومسيرهن بدار

Haste decreed that their fruits should be

early-ripening, and their journey a rush.

جاءت سوابقها ولم يعرق لها

خد ولم يبلل لهن عذار

Their forerunners came without a sweating

cheek or a sideburn moistened for their sake.

فقر أرق بعثتها لمعينها

كالغانيات وعونها أبكار

Delicate verses I sent to their wellspring,

like lovely women whose matrons are virgins.

صانت علاك فدار منها بالعلى

سور وفي يمنى يديك سوار

They guarded your eminence, forming around its heights

a wall, and on your right hand a bracelet.

لا تستمع غير الذي أنا قائل

فبقدره تتفاوت الأقدار

Listen to nothing but what I say;

by its worth, ranks differ.

ما كل من وزن الكلام بشاعر

في العود ما لا يعرف النجار

Not everyone who puts words into meter is a poet;

the lute holds something the carpenter does not know.

كثر الدخيل على جواد مفرق

لا داحس معه ولا الخطار

Many intruders challenge a far-outstripping steed,

with neither Dahis nor al-Khattar alongside it.

إن أجدبت أفكارهم أو أخلبت

فأنا الذي قطراته أنهار

If their minds grow barren or flash without rain,

I am the one whose very drops are rivers.

فكر خواطره كراحتك التي

من صوبها صوب الحيا يمتار

A mind whose thoughts are like your palm,

from whose downpour the rain itself draws sustenance.

ولقد ظفرت من المديح بمعدن

يأتيك جوهره كما تختار

You have indeed found a mine of praise

whose gems come to you just as you choose,

بفصاحة عربية وبلاغة

أدبية ينبوعها مدرار

with Arabic eloquence and rhetoric,

literary in character, its wellspring ever-flowing.

أحرزتها من دون غيرك فاحتفظ

فلكل بز مشتر وتجار

You alone have secured it: guard it well,

for every fabric has a buyer and merchants.

مروا بها وأثرتها فظباؤها

قنص إلى شرك الجميل يثار

They passed it by, but you roused it; its gazelles

are game driven toward the snare of kindness.

أصبحت عند سواك أدعى شاعراً

والعلم تطمس نوره الأشعار

Among those besides you, I have come to be called a poet,

while poetry blots out the light of learning.

تعب الزمان علي حتى جاء بي

فرداً وحيداً ليس لي أنظار

Time labored over me until it brought me forth

unique, alone, without any peers.

خلصت سلافة ما أقول من القذى

لما تولت عصرها الأعصار

The choice wine of my words was cleared of sediment

when the ages themselves undertook its pressing.

حاسب ضميرك إن خلوت وقل له

غيري يباع وداده ويعار

Reckon with your conscience when alone, and tell it:

“It is another’s affection that is sold and lent.”

لست القدير على الكلام المنتقى

لتسهلن لمدحك الأوعار

I am not the master of choice speech;

the rugged ways shall surely grow smooth for your praise.

ولتسمعن بكيمياء فصاحة

مكنوزة قيراطها قنطار

You shall surely hear of an alchemy of eloquence,

a hidden treasure, each carat of it a qintar.

فاسعد بعام قابلتك سعوده

والبشر ينطق عنه والإسفار

Rejoice in a year whose auspicious stars have greeted you,

with gladness and radiance speaking on its behalf.