إن كان عطفك للإعجاب يختال

فإن طرفك للألباب يغتال

If your swaying form struts in self-admiration,

your glance indeed steals minds away.

قلوبنا بين هجر منك أو صلة

يقتادها لك إعراض وإقبال

Our hearts, between estrangement from you and union,

are led toward you by your turning away and drawing near.

أخلفت يا جمل زجر الفأل فاعتمدي

فعل الجميل عسى أن يصدق الفال

You have belied the augury, O Juml; so undertake

a gracious deed, that perhaps the omen may prove true.

ما كان أدنى مراد الوصل لو كسلت

على النشاط إلى الهجرات كسال

How close the wish for union would have been, had she grown languid,

her eagerness for repeated desertion yielding to languor!

عصية العهد والميثاق يحملها

على الهوى في الهوى دل وإدلال

Defiant of pledge and covenant, she is impelled

toward caprice in love by coquetry and proud self-assurance.

ترنحت بنسيم العذل ناعمة

ملت فمالت وغصت البان ميال

Delicate, she swayed in the breeze of reproach;

I leaned and she leaned; the [bough] of the bān tree is ever swaying.

سكرى ولا خمر إلا عذب ريقتها

كأن ريق لماها العذب جريال

Drunk, though there is no wine save her sweet saliva,

as though the sweet moisture of her dusky lips were red wine.

داوت بصحة جسمي سقم مقلتها

فما أبل ومالي منه إبلال

She cured her eye's sickness with my body's health;

so I do not recover, nor have I any recovery from it.

في روضة الحسن منها كلما سنحت

من رائق الحسن أشباه وأمثال

In the garden of her beauty, whenever she appears,

are semblances and counterparts of exquisite beauty.

للأقحوانة منها حسن مبسمها

وللشقائق منها الخد والخال

The chrysanthemum takes from her the beauty of her smile;

and the anemones, her cheek and beauty spot.

لا تسحبي أنني أصغي إلى عذل

ضلت بصيرة من يهديه عذال

Do not [suppose] that I heed reproach;

astray is the insight of one guided by faultfinders.

ملكت قاصيتي لبي وناصيتي

حبي ففي البال من جراك بلبال

You have mastered my mind's two farthest reaches and my forelock,

my beloved; because of you my thoughts are in turmoil.

بالكامل بن أبي الفتح الوزير لنا

عن النسيب لبانات وأشغال

In al-Kamil ibn Abi al-Fath, the minister, we find

needs and concerns that draw us away from love poetry.

أبو الفوارس طعان الفوارس إن

تقاصرت بخطى الخطي أبطال

Abu al-Fawaris is a mighty piercer of horsemen when

heroes fall short of the strides of the Khatti spear.

يشقى بثعلب رمح أنت حامله

أبا الفوارس يوم الروع رئبال

The 'fox' of a spear you carry brings suffering,

O Abu al-Fawaris, to a lion on the day of terror.

تكفلت لصدور الخيل عزمته

أن لا يصاب لها في الحرب أكفال

His resolve has pledged to the breasts of the horses

that no rumps of theirs shall be struck in battle.

وإن طائشة الأرماح إن هديت

براحتيه وإلا فهي ضلال

Even wayward spears find the way if guided

by his two palms; otherwise they stray.

سمر تشق جفون النقع نافذة

كأنها لجفون النقع أميال

Brown spears pierce the eyelids of the dust cloud,

as though they were kohl-sticks for the dust cloud's eyelids.

مرواد من نحور الدارعين لها

مكاحل ودم الأوداج إكحال

They are kohl-sticks; armored men's throats are their

kohl-pots, and jugular blood their kohl.

كأن في كل نحر من تشرعها

يوم الوغى عسلاً يجنيه عسال

As though in every throat at which they are leveled

on battle day lay honey, harvested by a honey-gatherer.

للسيف والضيف في يومي ندى وردى

منه نزال إذا حلا وإنزال

For sword and guest, on days of bounty and death,

he offers combat and lodging when they arrive.

تختط بيض طلاه كل عامرة

من الطلى فتراها وهي أطلال

His bright [blade-edges] mark out every inhabited abode

among throats, and you see them turned to ruins.

إذا غدت من سحاب النقع بارقة

فاللمع والنقع أوجال وآجال

When they become lightning from a cloud of battle-dust,

their gleams and dust mean terror and death.

لله عزمك من قوص ومورده

فسطاط مصر ودون الورد أهوال

God be praised for your resolve from Qus, whose watering-place

was Fustat of Egypt, with terrors before the water!

نازعتم آل رزيك على شرف

لو لم تزيلهم عنه لما زالوا

You contested with the house of Ruzzik for a height of honor

from which, had you not removed them, they would never have departed.

برأيك انفتلت تلك الحبال لهم

وأنت بالرأي نقاص وفتال

Through your judgment those cords of theirs came unraveled,

and through judgment you both undo and twist.

إن لم تهاجر إلى جيرون ممتطياً

جرداً يصاحبها قود وشملال

If you did not migrate to Jayrun astride

sleek horses, accompanied by led mounts and a swift she-camel,

فقد أقمت مقاماً كان موقفه

برداً على كبد العلياء سلسال

you nevertheless took a stand whose station was

sweet-flowing coolness to the liver of lofty honor.

حزت الشجاعة أفعالاً وتسمية

إذ لم يروعك آساد وأصلال

You won courage both in deeds and in name,

since neither lions nor vipers frightened you.

وما مضى بك يوم ليس فيه على

أيام ضرغام تدبير وأعمال

No day of yours went by without surpassing

Dirgham's days in planning and deeds.

وإن أيام بلبيس لعالمة

منك الغناء وإن لم يدر جهال

The days of Bilbays surely know

your service, though the ignorant do not.

أبليت فيها بما سيرت من عدد

ومن عديد إلى الأعداء ينثال

There you proved your mettle with the equipment you dispatched,

and with troops pouring forth against the enemies.

لولا بيوت من الأموال جدت بها

على عساكرهم لم يستقم حال

But for the treasure-houses of wealth you lavished

upon their armies, affairs would not have stood firm.

وقد سحبت إلى يحيى ململمة

لها من الحلق الماذي أذيال

You drew toward Yahya a tightly massed host

with trailing skirts of gleaming mail-rings.

قارعته فتشظى عود صعدته

ضعفاً وهل يتساوى النبع والضال

You clashed with him, and the shaft of his spear splintered

from weakness—can nabʿ wood and wild lote wood be equal?

وافى إلى شاطئي مصر وصحبته

ممن فللت شبا حديه أفلال

He reached Egypt's two shores, his companions

broken remnants of those through whom you had blunted his two keen edges.

حملت عن شاور أثقال دولته

حتى لخفت مهمات وأثقال

You shouldered the burdens of Shawar's rule for him,

until grave affairs and heavy loads grew light.

هذي الوزارة قد ألبستها حللاً

قشيبة وبعهدي وهي أسمال

You have clothed this ministry in robes

fresh and new, though in my memory it wore rags.

عادت إلى أنسها الماضي وبهجتها

فدارها اليوم دار منك محلال

It has returned to its former comfort and splendor;

today its house, thanks to you, is a well-frequented home.

أعدتها وهي معطار النسيم وقد

مضت عليها ليال وهي مبقال

You restored it, fragrant in its breeze, though

nights had passed over it while it was overgrown with herbs.

أنت المشار إليه قبل أسرته

برتبة لم يشنها القيل والقال

You are the man singled out ahead of his family,

by a rank untainted by hearsay and gossip.

إذا نطقت فمسموع وممتثل

وإن سكت فإعظام وإجلال

When you speak, you are heard and obeyed;

and when you are silent, there is reverence and veneration.

ملك يصلى إلى أفعال سؤدده

لا بل عليها لأهل المدح أقوال

A king toward whose noble deeds one prays—

no, rather, those who praise have words to say about them.

تحلى بصدق سجاياه مدائحنا

جيد تحلى بغير الصدق معطال

Our praises are adorned by the truth of his character;

a neck adorned with anything but truth is bare.

قد استرق قلوب العالمين له

وجه جميل محياه وإجمال

The hearts of all people have been enslaved to him

by the beauty of his countenance and gracious dealings.

فللمكارم من إشراق غرته

تهلل ولصوت الحمد إهلال

From the radiance of his brow, noble virtues

beam with joy, and the voice of praise rings aloud.

ترنو نواظرنا منه إلى ملك

على الملوك له فضل وإفضال

Our eyes gaze on him as a king

who has superiority over kings and bounty to bestow.

لم يستووا معه مذ كان في شرف

إلا كما يتساوى الماء والآل

They have never equaled him since he stood in honor,

save as water equals a mirage.

كأن أيامه وهي التي حسنت

عندي من العمر أسحار وآصال

As though his days, the days that have been fair

to me in my life, were predawn hours and late afternoons.

أنا الولي الذي صحت مودته

وليس عندك فيما قلت إشكال

I am the loyal friend whose affection has proved true,

and you have no doubt about what I have said.

وقد رأيت جميل الرأي أغفلني

وكان لي منه إحفاء وإحفال

Yet I have found your gracious regard overlooking me,

though I once received from it solicitous care and high regard.

خفضت من بعد رفع الحال منزلتي

وكان ينصبها التمييز والحال

You lowered my station after raising my status;

distinction and circumstance once upheld it.

أنت المسيح وآمالي بها سقم

وما تموت لمن يرجوك آمال

You are the Messiah, and my hopes are sick;

hopes never die for one who trusts in you.

وما أريد سوى بشر وتكرمة

إن الكرامة في حقي هي المال

I want nothing but a cheerful welcome and honor;

for in my case honor itself is wealth.

وليهنك القادم الميمون من رجب

يحدو ركائبه يمن وإقبال

May the auspicious newcomer from Rajab gladden you,

good fortune and prosperity singing its riding camels onward;

مبشر بدوام العز ما علقت

شول ووافى عقيب الفطر شوال

heralding lasting glory for as long as

dry she-camels conceive and Shawwal follows the breaking of the fast.