لا وعيون لحظها ساهر

وطرفها بي أبدا ساخر

No, by eyes whose gaze stays wakeful,

and whose glance forever mocks me,

وما بدا من عقدات النقا

تحت غصون كلها ناضر

and by the rounded mounds of sand dunes revealed

beneath boughs, all fresh and flourishing:

ما عرف الإشراك في حبكم

لي بعدما وحدكم خاطر

No divided devotion in loving you was known

to any thought of mine after it declared you one.

ونافر الأعطاف عاملته

باللطف حتى سكن النافر

And a skittish one, turning his flanks away, I treated

with gentleness, until the skittish one grew calm.

ولم أزل أمسح أعطافه

ورأيه في قصتي حائر

And I never ceased to stroke his flanks,

while his mind was puzzled by my affair,

حتى غدا من خجل مطرقا

وكل إعراض له آخر

until, in bashfulness, he lowered his head;

and every turning away has an end.

عجبت من ذلي ومن عزة

في موقف عاذلة عاذر

I marveled at my abasement and at pride

in a scene where the reproacher grants excuse,

في ليلة ساهرها نائم

فماله سمع ولا ناظر

on a night whose watcher was asleep,

and so he had neither hearing nor a watching eye.

مددت فيها الفخ لما خلا ال

جو إلى أن وقع الطائر

I spread the snare that night, when the—

air was clear, until the bird fell in.

فبت من فرط اغتباطي به

أظن أني غائب حاضر

So, in my overwhelming delight in him, I spent the night

thinking myself absent yet present.

أحسب أني في جميع الورى

ناه بما أختاره آمر

I imagined myself, among all humankind,

forbidding and commanding as I pleased,

مفترض الطاعة مستوجب ال

أمر كأني الملك الناصر

owed obedience and entitled to the—

command, as though I were King al-Nasir:

السيد بن السيد المرتضى

فرع نماه الحسب الطاهر

the lord, son of the lord al-Murtada,

a branch nurtured by pure ancestral honor.

أشرف أملاك الورى همة

أولهم في المجد والآخر

The noblest of mankind's kings in aspiration,

the first of them in glory, and the last.

تجري الليالي بالذي يشتهي

طوعا ويجري الفلك الدائر

The nights unfold according to his wishes,

obediently, as does the revolving celestial sphere.

مبارك الطلعة ميمونها

نور العلى في وجهه ظاهر

Blessed is his countenance, and auspicious;

the light of eminence is manifest in his face.

يعرف من لم يره أنه

ذاك الذي يذكره الذاكر

One who has never seen him knows that he

is the very one whom the speaker mentions.

أفضل من تحمله سبطة

ضامرة كالرمح أو ضامر

The finest of those borne by a long-limbed mare,

lean as a lance, or by a lean stallion.

أطعن من هز طوال القنا

ما كل من هز القنا ماهر

The best lancer among those who brandish long spears;

not all who brandish spears are skilled.

والله ما أدري أليث الشرى

في سرجه أم جحفل سائر

By God, I cannot tell: is it a lion of al-Shara

in his saddle, or a marching host?

لا غرو أن يحمي خيس العلى

شبل أبوه الأسد الخادر

No wonder the thicket of glory is guarded

by a cub whose father is the lion in his lair;

أو يهدي الركب إذا أظلموا

نجم أبوه القمر الزاهر

or the caravan, when darkness falls, is guided

by a star whose father is the radiant moon.

الصالح الهادي له والد

لقد تساوى النجر والناجر

Al-Salih the Guide is his father;

truly, the stock and its shaper are equals.

تبارك المعطي لكم هذه ال

رتبة فهو الملك القادر

Blessed is the Giver who grants you this—

rank; He is the all-powerful Sovereign.

رداؤها فوقكم لائق

وهو على غيركم نافر

Its mantle sits well upon you,

yet upon others it sits ill.

قد كان عباس بها وابنه

والمجد فيها مكره صاغر

Abbas and his son once held that rank,

while glory there was coerced and humbled.

ولم يزل فوقهما سترها

مرخى إلى أن قتل الظافر

And over them both its veil remained

drawn down, until al-Zafir was killed.

فأصبحت أستارها عنهما

مكشوفة إذ غضب الساتر

Then its veils were, from them both,

lifted away when the Concealer grew angry.

تعوَّضت عن فاجرٍ صالحاً

لا يستوي الصالح والفاجر

It gained a righteous man in place of a wicked one;

the righteous and the wicked are not alike.

وفيكما بينهما آية

باهرة برهانها باهر

And in you both, between those two, there is a sign,

dazzling, with a dazzling proof.

كلاكما سار إلى فيئها

كذا أبوه قبله سائر

Both of you went toward its shade,

as each one's father had gone before him.

أنت تفي بالعهد واف به

وهو بما يعقده غادر

You honor the covenant, faithful to it,

while he betrays whatever he pledges.

أنت بآيات الهدى مؤمن

مصدق وهو بها كافر

You believe in the signs of guidance,

affirming their truth, while he disbelieves in them.

وهو لآل المصطفى خاذل

وأنت سيف لهم ناصر

He abandons the family of the Chosen One,

while you are a sword that champions them.

لو كان حيا وتباريتما

كنت المجلي وهو العاشر

If he were alive and you two competed,

you would be the first finisher, and he the tenth.

إن قدمته السن في مدة

فهو إلى فضلك يستاخر

If age gave him precedence in years,

he falls behind beside your excellence.

أنت بما شيدته أول

وهو بما هدمه آخر

You are first through what you built,

and he is last through what he demolished.

بمثل ما أوتيت من رتبة

وسؤدد فليفخر الفاخر

In such rank as you have been granted,

and noble preeminence, let the boastful take pride.

أصبحت من يسر العلى حيث لا

يدركك الناظر والخاطر

Through glory's ease, you have reached where neither

eye nor thought can reach you.

مبجل القدر يقول العدى

أنت على ما تشتهي قادر

Venerated in standing, your enemies say:

“You can accomplish whatever you desire.”

فما لمن ترفعه خافض

ولا لمن تكسره جابر

No one can bring low the one you raise,

nor mend the one you break.

ساحتك الخضراء لا أقفرت

ينتابها الوارد والصادر

Your green courtyard—may it never lie deserted—

is frequented by those arriving and departing.

أصبحت من جملة زوارها

فلم ينل ما نلته زائر

I became one of its visitors,

and no visitor obtained what I obtained.

لم يرض بالإكرام لي وحده

فجادني إنعامه الغامر

He was not content merely to honor me,

so his overflowing bounty rained upon me.

شرفني بالقرب من حضرة

ينفق فيها الأدب البائر

He honored me with nearness to a court

where unsold literature finds a market.

مسفرة الغرة لم ألقها

إلا انثنى لي أمل سافر

Radiant of brow, I have never encountered it

without a hope returning to me unveiled.

دائمة الإحسان ينتابني

من راحتيها رائح باكر

Constant in kindness, there comes to me

from its two palms, one at evening, one at dawn.

يا حارس الدين الذي لم يسر

سير ثناه المثل السائر

O guardian of the faith, whose praise no

traveling proverb has equaled in its reach!

يا من غدا بالمجد مستأثرا

وليس بالنعمة يستأثر

O you who have claimed glory for yourself alone,

yet do not keep bounty to yourself!

يا سابقا لا يدعي سابق

مدح معاليه ولا حاضر

O foremost one, no predecessor can claim

to praise your lofty deeds, nor any contemporary.

اسمع سمعت الخير من خادم

حظك من إخلاصه وافر

Hear—may you hear good tidings—from a servant;

your share of his sincerity is abundant.

لم يدر من سكرة إعجابه

أساحر الألفاظ أم شاعر

He could not tell, drunk on his admiration,

whether he was a sorcerer of words or a poet.

لكنه شرف قدر الثنا

بنظم ما أنت له ناثر

But he ennobled the worth of praise

by stringing into verse what you scatter.

إني وإن أحسنت لا أدعي

أني لما أسديته شاكر

I, even if I have done well, do not claim

to have thanked you enough for what you bestowed.