أسناء برق لاح أم

ثغر الحبيب لنا ابتسم

Is it the radiance of lightning that shone, or

the beloved's mouth that smiled upon us?

أم نور محياه الذي

بجماله البدر استتم

Or the light of his face, through whose

beauty the full moon was perfected?

أم تلك آيات الجبين

فخلتها صبحاً هجم

Or those signs upon his brow,

which I took for a dawn bursting forth?

عذبت يا غصن النقا

قلب المحب أخي الألم

You tormented, O bough of the sandhill,

the lover's heart, the brother of pain.

وصددت عنه وما جنى

ذنباً لديك وما اجترم

And turned away from him, though he had committed

no sin before you, nor any crime.

وكسوتني سقماً كما

خصصت طرفك بالسقم

And you clothed me in sickness, just as

you allotted languor to your gaze.

فكتمت حبك بالحشا

والدمع باح بما اكتتم

So I hid my love for you within my breast,

and tears disclosed what had been concealed.

لم أدر ما لاقيتهُ

منكم دلالا أمم شمم

I did not know whether what I met

from you was coquetry or haughty pride.

إن الجميل إذا تحكم بالجما

ل فما ظلم

When the fair one rules through beauty,

he does no wrong.

أنسيت ما فعل الغرام

ونحن عند الملتثم

Have you forgotten what passion wrought

when we were at the place of kissing,

حيث الحبيب معانقي

وملازمي بالملتزم

where the beloved embraced me

and stayed close to me at the Multazam?

ورشفت كاس مدامة

عاطيتها فماً بفم

And I sipped a cup of wine,

exchanging it mouth to mouth;

عصرت لنا من خده

وبثغره الحبب انتظم

it was pressed for us from his cheek,

and its bubbles were strung upon his lips.

وأبيك لم انس لويلاتٍ

مضت لثماً وضم

By your father, I have not forgotten those brief nights

that passed in kissing and embracing.

بالمحجرين وباللمى

بالخد أقسم والعنم

By his two eyes and his lips' dusky hue,

by his cheek and the ‘anam shrub, I swear:

لا ذنب إلّا إنني

شبهته ظبي النعم

My only fault was that I

likened him to a gazelle of al-Na‘am.

أبدى الصدود وقال في

التشبيه زل بك القدم

He showed aversion and said: in

your comparison, your foot has slipped.

يا جاهلا قدر الهوى

ما أنت إلّا متهم

O you who know nothing of love's worth,

you are nothing but suspect.

بالظبي قد شبهتني

والظبي مرباه الاكم

You have likened me to the gazelle,

and the gazelle is reared among hillocks;

وجعل قدي اسمراً

واللدن منبته الأجم

and made my stature a dusky spear,

and the supple shaft grows in thickets.

من منصفي من أهيف

جر الصدود وما جزم

Who will give me justice against a slender youth

who prolongs his aversion, never cutting it short?

تحكي لواحظه سيو

ف الأسعدي أبي الهمم

His glances resemble the swords

of al-As‘adi, father of high resolve.

أعني ابن أسعد الذي

حاز العلى وبها احتكم

I mean the son of As‘ad, who

won eminence and ruled through it.

وبدت أشعة فضله

نعماً تلوح على علم

And the rays of his excellence appeared

as blessings gleaming upon a mountain.

فكأنه قمر يلو

ح لناظر بسما الكرم

As though he were a moon appearing

to the beholder in the sky of generosity.

يا راحتيه بحقه

رفقا لقد عجز القلم

O his two palms, for his sake,

be gentle: the pen has proved powerless.

لا البحر يحكي جوده

يا صاحبي ولا الديم

The sea cannot match his generosity,

O my friend, nor can the steady rains.

لم تلق سمحا مثله

في القادمين ولا القدم

You have met no generous man like him

among those to come or those of old.

غزلي بعذب حديثه

لا في العذيب وذي سلم

My love-song is of his sweet discourse,

not of al-‘Udhayb and Dhu Salam.

يولي الطعان بحربه

وبرحبه يولي النعم

In his warfare he bestows spear-thrusts,

and in his spacious court he bestows blessings.

ليث إذا حمي الوطيس

بنقع حرب واضطرم

A lion when the furnace grows hot

amid the dust of war, and blazes;

تزكو له ريح الجلا

د كأنها عرف الخزم

for him, the wind of combat grows fragrant,

as though it were the scent of lavender.

ويلٌ لا عداه إذا

سل اليماني واقتحم

Woe to his enemies when

he draws the Yemeni blade and charges,

أو هز لدنا اسمراً

خلت ابن معدي او غثم

or brandishes a supple, dusky spear:

you would think him Ibn Ma‘di or Ghuthm.

لو شمت يوم حروبه

لنسيت تحلاق اللمم

Had you beheld the day of his battles,

you would forget the Shaving of the Forelocks.

هذا العلي الاسعدي

المرعبي المحتشم

This is ‘Ali al-As‘adi,

the dignified al-Mur‘abi.

ما قال لا عند استما

ح نواله إلّا نعم

He never said ‘No’ when someone sought

his bounty—only ‘Yes’.

شهم سليل المجد عن

أبٍّ وعن أخٍّ وعمم

A valiant man, heir to glory from

father, brother, and uncles.

كانوا النجوم وذا أتى

كالبدر في داجي الظلم

They were the stars, and he came

like the full moon in the deepest darkness.

زفّت لدى إسعاده

العلياء مذ بلغ الفطم

To gladden him, there was brought as a bride

high honor, since the day he was weaned.

وبروضه هزج القر

يض مغردا سامي النغم

And in his garden, poetry sang,

warbling with lofty melodies.

وافتر مبسمه وعاد

إلى الحيوة من العدم

Its smiling mouth parted, and it returned

to life from nothingness.

للَه درّ عصابة

بعليهم سادوا الأمم

How splendid is that company,

who, through their ‘Ali, ruled the nations!

جرثومة المجد الذي

لا ريب فيه ولا وصم

The rootstock of glory, in which

there is neither doubt nor stain.

هم آل مرعب إلا ما

جد والكرام ذوو الحكم

They are the house of Mur‘ab, the illustrious

and the generous, holders of authority.

كشفوا الدجا بوميض بر

ق سنا الظباء وبالأصم

They dispelled the dark with the lightning-flash

of radiant blades, and with the solid spear.

قوم صليل ظعانهم

يبري الصميم من الصمم

A people whose spear-clang

cures the very heart of deafness.

فكأنهم عند القتال

إذا تشاجر واقتحم

In battle they seem,

when strife rages and the charge begins,

أسد على خيل كعقبا

ن محجلة بدم

lions on horses like eagles,

with stockings of blood upon their legs.

يا أيها المولى الذي

برج العلاء له حرم

O master, for whom

the tower of eminence is a sanctuary,

وافتك لمياء المديح

بحسن ثغر مبتسم

the dusky-lipped beauty of praise has come to you,

with the beauty of a smiling mouth.

ظمياء جاءت تستقي

من نيل كف فاض يم

Delicate-lipped, she has come seeking drink

from a palm's Nile, an overflowing sea.

فاسلم ودم فالعيسويّ

عقود مدحك قد نظم

So live in safety and endure, for the Christian

has strung the necklaces of your praise:

ابن الكرامة غرس نعمت

ك الشهير بذا العلم

Ibn al-Karama, the shoot of your beneficence,

renowned for this learning.

لا زل تمنح منعماً

بالجود من وافى وأم

May you never cease granting favors,

generously to whoever comes and seeks you.

حيث النوال بحاتم

قبلا بدا وبك اختتم

For bounty, with Hatim,

appeared of old, and with you reached its culmination.