حتام لا ينثني الجموح

ويغمد المرهف الصفيح

How long will the headstrong one refuse to relent,

and the keen, broad-bladed sword remain unsheathed?

أما لهذا النوى مقر

وليس في ركبه طليح

Has this separation no resting place,

and is no one in its caravan weary?

وما لداء الفراق راق

وما لمستصحبيه روح

Has parting's sickness no healer,

and no relief for its constant companions?

أواه كم لوعة بقلبي

تغدو وكم روعة تروح

Ah, how many burning pangs within my heart

come each morning, and how many terrors depart each evening!

إن الهوى داؤه عياء

يعجز عن برئه المسيح

Love's sickness is incurable;

the Messiah is powerless to cure it.

أخف منه الحمام بطشاً

فأنه قاتل يربح

Death strikes more gently than it,

for it is a killer that profits.

ومدنف الحب في عذاب

فليس يحيي ولا يطيح

And one wasted by love lives in torment:

it neither revives him nor lays him low.

ارق بالأبرقين جفني

يرف على رامة مليح

My eyelid grew sleepless at al-Abraqayn;

a fair one flutters over Ramah.

كأنما صوب دمع عيني

مذعن لي صوبه السفوح

As though the downpour of tears from my eye—

its gushing rain—were obedient to me.

ذكرني مربعا وربعا

كلاهما مخصب فسيح

It recalled to me a spring retreat and a dwelling,

both fertile and spacious,

وطيب أيامنا اللواتي

يهدأ من ذكرها الجريح

and the sweetness of those days of ours

whose remembrance soothes the wounded,

وظبية رعيها فؤادي

وان رعى الظباء شيح

and a gazelle whose pasture is my heart,

though gazelles graze on wormwood.

هيفاء كالغصن فوق حقف

والبدر من فرعها يلوح

Slender-waisted, like a bough above a curved dune,

and the full moon gleams from her tresses.

ان قيل في عصرنا مليح

فأنها ذاك المليح

If a beauty is spoken of in our age,

then she is that beauty.

فارقتها نازحاً ومن لي

بماكث ما له نزوح

I left her, bound far away—and who can give me

one who remains and never departs?

ولم احرفي الوداع حزنا

وربما الكن الفصيح

And at farewell I could utter no reply for grief;

sometimes even the eloquent are rendered tongue-tied.

كان شحيحا بها فؤادي

وطالما احرم الشحيح

My heart begrudged giving her up,

and many a miser has been deprived.

وذو شجي في فروع ايك

مغرد منشد صدوح

And a sorrowful creature amid a thicket's branches,

warbling, chanting, full-throated,

ناح وما نوحه لما بي

كل على ما به ينوح

wailed, though its lament was not for my suffering:

each one laments what ails him.

وانما هاجه بكائي

والداء يعدى به الصحيح

It was only my weeping that stirred it,

and sickness can infect the healthy.

وبيننا فيا لغرام بون

وفي تباريحنا وضوح

Between us—alas for love!—there is a gulf,

and in our agonies it is plain.

يشوقه الألف من قريب

ودون ألفي القفار فيح

Its nearby mate awakens its longing,

while vast deserts stand between me and my beloved.

لعل من جوده مباح

وما لعلياه مستبيح

Perhaps he whose bounty is freely available,

and whose lofty station none can attain,

ينجح في قصده إيابي

فإنه المقصد النجيح

is the one I shall successfully return to seek,

for he is the goal that brings success.

مولاي يا سيف آل سيفا الصفيح

وهو الفتى الصفوح

My lord, O Sayf of the house of Sayfa, the broad blade,

and he is the forgiving youth.

أخفيت إلا عليك عسري

والحر بالسر لا يبوح

I hid my hardship from everyone but you;

a noble man does not reveal his secret.

وانه قبل كان ميتا

وفي ضميري له ضريح

And before this, it had lain dead,

with a tomb for it within my heart.

فانشق بالشوق عنه قلبي

فقام يسعى ويستميح

Then longing split my heart open to release it,

and it rose, hastening and begging for bounty.

وكل مستحسن لديه

دون بلوغ المنى قبيح

And all that it finds beautiful

is ugly until its wishes are attained.

وأنت ممن الأماني

مموها جودك الصريح

And you are among those whose hopes—

[Unclear wording]—your unalloyed generosity.

فجدبه عن رضى وعرف

عليه عرف الثنا يفوح

So grant it with goodwill and kindness,

over which the fragrance of praise wafts.

ودم ترى ملجأ لسراج

سامي ذري مجده رجيح

And may you ever be seen as a refuge for Siraj,

lofty in the heights of his glory, eminent.

ولا تضق في الخطوب ذرعاً

فأنها في الرواح ريح

And do not lose heart amid calamities,

for in passing they are but wind.

كم ليلة غالها صباح

وادهم فكه صبيح

How many a night has morning slain,

and many a dark fetter has a bright dawn undone!

وارض لحكم الزمان حالا

وان عنا صرفه المبيح

And accept time's decree at once,

even if its ravaging turns bring hardship.

مذ قبل الأمر من أبيه

نجا من المدية الذبيح

When he accepted his father's command,

the one marked for sacrifice escaped the knife.

وما لمن ساء كم بقاء

لكل مستحدث مزيح

And those who wronged you will not endure;

every new thing has something that removes it.

مضى على حكمه مراد

ولم يدم بعده نصوح

Murad passed away under its decree,

and Nasuh did not endure after him.

ولو عهدنا دوام حي

دام إذا آدم ونوح

Had we ever known a living being to last,

then Adam and Noah would have lasted.

نعيم اوقاتنا مزال

فلا غبوق ولا صبوح

The bliss of our days is taken away,

so there is no evening draught, no morning draught.

وبؤسها دون ان يعاني

سهداً به جفنك القريح

And their misery is too slight to merit

your sore eyelid's suffering sleeplessness over it.

ولست مستنكراً بأن قد

تشرق بعد الكسوف يوح

And you do not find it strange that

Yuh, the sun, may shine after an eclipse.

إليكها حكمة وحكما

ابرزه واعظ نصيح

Here it is for you: wisdom and judgment,

set forth by a sincere counselor.

كأنما في السطور منها

قس وفي نفسها السطيح

As though within its lines stood

Quss, and within its soul, al-Satih.

فهاكها لا أرى بدهري

الاك من هزه الريح

So take it; in my lifetime I see none

but you whom the wind has stirred.

عذراء ما مسها طموع

ولا رنا نحوها طموح

A virgin whom no covetous one has touched,

nor has any aspiring one gazed toward her.

تبقى عليك الزمان حمداً

يطول في وصفه الشروح

It will endure through time as praise of you,

with commentaries growing long in describing it.