1. لا أظلمُ البينَ حالي كالذي كانا

    سِيّانِ إنْ غاب من أهوى وإن دانا

    I do not unjustly blame parting; my state is as it was.

    It is all the same whether the one I love is absent or near.

  2. ما زادني القرب عما كنتُ أعرفه

    إلا أسى وتَباريحا وأشجانا

    Closeness brought me nothing beyond what I already knew

    except grief, anguish, and sorrow.

  3. والبعد أهونُ من قربٍ يُجدِّد لي

    معْ ما أُكابده صدا وهجرانا

    And distance is easier than closeness that renews for me,

    alongside what I suffer, rejection and abandonment.

  4. مللتمُ وادعيتم أنّ ذاك لكم

    طبعا صدقتُم فمَلُّوا هجريَ الآنا

    You grew weary and claimed that this was your

    nature. You spoke truly—so tire now of forsaking me.

  5. والله ما حُلْتمُ عن عادةٍ عُرِفت

    منكم ولكنه صبري الذي خانا

    By God, you have not departed from a habit known

    in you; but it is my patience that has betrayed me.

  6. بَقُّوا من الصبر عندي ما أصون به

    سرَّ الغرام وإلا صار إعلانا

    Leave me enough patience to preserve

    love's secret; otherwise it will become a public declaration.

  7. مالي بُليت بقاسٍ مُعجَب صَلِف

    يرضى إذا بِتُّ بالهجران غضبانا

    Why am I afflicted with one so cruel, conceited, and arrogant,

    who is pleased when I spend the night angry at abandonment?

  8. لولا تَعلُّقُ عينيه لما تركتْ

    أخلاقُه بالقِلى والصد إنسانا

    Were it not for his eyes' captivating hold, there would be no sparing

    of any soul by his manners, with their loathing and rejection.

  9. يا مُسقِمِى بجفونٍ تَدَّعى سَقَما

    لا أَدَّعى مثَلها زُورا وبهتانا

    O you who sicken me with eyelids that claim illness,

    unlike them, I do not claim it with falsehood and fabrication.

  10. بي مابخصرِك من سُقْمٍ وموجِبهُ

    صَدٌّ كرِدفك تعنيفا وعدوانا

    In me is the frailty of your waist, and its cause is

    a rebuff as weighty as your haunches in harshness and aggression.

  11. قصدتَ ظلمي بلا ذنبٍ كما ظَلمت

    كَفّاك ثغرَك بالمِسواك أحيانا

    You sought to wrong me without fault, just as

    your two hands sometimes wronged your mouth with the tooth-stick.

  12. يا أوحدَ الناسِ في خَلْقٍ وفي خُلُق

    هَلاّ أضفتَ لذاك الحسنِ إحسانا

    O peerless one among people in form and character,

    why not add kindness to that beauty?

  13. بلِ الكمالُ لَعمري رتبةٌ بَعُدتْ

    فلم يَنْلها امروٌّ إلا ابنَ عثمانا

    Rather, perfection, by my life, is a rank far out of reach;

    no man has attained it except Ibn Uthman.

  14. شيخُ الرياسة كهل المكرمات فتى ال

    إحسان تِرْب العَطايا كن كما كانا

    An elder in leadership, mature in noble deeds, youthful in

    beneficence, a peer of gifts—be as he was.

  15. إذا دعوتُ تُلبِّيني عَزائمه

    كما دعا المرءُ آباء وإخوانا

    When I call, his resolves answer me,

    as a man calls upon fathers and brothers.

  16. كم رام مدحى مكافاةً لنائله

    فينثنِى عنه للتقصيرِ خجلانا

    How often my praise has sought to recompense his bounty,

    only to withdraw from him, ashamed of falling short.

  17. يا من حُسِدتُ على أُولى عَزائمِه

    جَدِّدْ علي حاسِدي أمرِي فقد خَانا

    O you whose first resolves made me the object of envy,

    renew my fortune against my envier, for it has betrayed me.

  18. أنت الغمامُ وروضى زاهر فإذا

    أَغبَّه فكنْ باب سَعْدِي عند مولانا

    You are the rain-cloud, and my garden blooms; so if

    it waters my garden only at intervals, be my gateway to fortune with our lord.

  19. فإن أصِل فهْي عاداتٌ عُرِفت بها

    أو لا فلم تبقِ للإِحسان إمكانا

    If I gain access, such are the ways for which you are known;

    or if not, you have left no further scope for beneficence.

  20. سارت فضائُله في الْخَلْقِ واشتهرتْ

    فكلُّ قلبٍ حَوَى منهن ديوانا

    His virtues spread among humankind and became renowned;

    so every heart holds a volume of them.

  21. عجزتُ عنها وعن وصفِى ولو ظَهرتْ

    فيما مضى أعجزتْ قُسا وسَحْبانا

    I fall short of them and of describing them; had they appeared

    in times past, they would have baffled Quss and Sahban.

  22. ذو همةٍ ساعدتْها نخوةٌ عَظُمت

    لو أنها ماءُ بحرٍ كان طوفانا

    He has high resolve, aided by a noble pride so great

    that, were it a sea's water, it would be a deluge.

  23. تُعطِي فتَحِقر ما تعطي ولو وهبتْ

    كقَدْرِها وهبتْ أضعافَ دُنيانا

    It gives, yet thinks little of what it gives; were it to bestow

    according to its measure, it would give our world many times over.

  24. لا يلبث الفقرُ في أرضٍ وراحُته

    مما يجود فيغني الإنس والجانا

    Poverty does not linger in a land; his palm,

    through its lavish giving, enriches humankind and jinn.

  25. يُفرِّق المالَ في جمعِ الثناء له

    جودٌ ويَعْتَدُّ جمعَ المالِ حرمانا

    Wealth is scattered to gather praise for him

    by a generosity that deems amassing wealth deprivation.

  26. فما حَوتْ كفُّه عينا ولا عَرَضا

    إلا ليجعله للحمد أثمانا

    So his hand has held neither cash nor goods

    except to make them payments for praise.

  27. له على كلِّ حُرٍّ مِنَّةٌ كَتبت

    في وجهه لجميل الذِّكْرِ عنوانا

    He has done every noble man a favor that has inscribed

    on his face a heading for fair remembrance.

  28. هذا على أنه يُخفِي صَنائعَه

    فينا ويأبَى لما أَخْفاه إعلانا

    All this, though he conceals his benefactions

    among us, and refuses to publicize what he has hidden.

  29. تخالُ في كل نادٍ من مَدائحه

    راحا تَرَقْرَق في النادي وريحانا

    From his praises, in every gathering, you imagine

    wine rippling through the assembly, and fragrant basil.

  30. يُدبرها فيهم الراوي فيُطربهم

    حتى يَظلَّ الحليمُ اللُّبّ نشوانا

    The reciter arranges them among the listeners, enrapturing them,

    until even the sober-minded is left intoxicated.

  31. أتيتُه وصروفُ الدهرِ تَعْرِقني

    عَضّاً وأَحسبُها أُسْدا وغِيلانا

    I came to him as the vicissitudes of time gnawed me bare

    with their bites; I imagined them lions and ghouls.

  32. فكَفَّ كَفَّ عوادِيها وأَمَّنَنى

    منها وصَيَّرَ لي في ظله شانا

    So he stayed the hand of their assaults and made me safe

    from them, and gave me standing beneath his shade.