صب بلا لوعة ولا كمد

يد بلا ساعة ولا عضد

A lovesick man without burning anguish or grief

Is a hand without a forearm [uncertain reading] or upper arm.

وناظرٍ لا يسح مدمعه

مازجٌ صدق الغرام بالفند

And an eye whose tears do not stream

Mingles love's truth with falsehood.

ومشتكى الحب راح يظهر في

التقليد رداً لقول مجتهد

And one complaining of love began to offer, through

Imitation, a rebuttal to an independent jurist's words.

ومن يشب بالسلو صبوته

ضل ولو ضل بالهوى لهدى

And whoever mixes his passion with forgetfulness

Strays; had he strayed through love, he would have found guidance.

أحسن ما في الحبيب لو عقلوا

قتل محب لا بلا قود

The finest thing in a beloved, if they understood,

Is killing a lover—not without blood-retribution.

فدى الذي راعه النوى فنأى

عن ناظري واستقر في خلدي

May I be ransom for him whom separation frightened, so he withdrew

From my sight, yet settled in my heart.

يفتر لكن تجلداً عبثاً

خوف رقيب وقد وهى جلدي

He smiles; yet feigned composure is in vain,

For fear of a watcher, while my endurance has weakened.

واستعبر الطرف بعده فحكى

بذائب الدر جامد البرد

After his departure, the eye wept, imitating

Solid hailstones with molten pearls.

واطلع البدر فوق غصن نقا

فظله ليل شعره الجعد

He brought forth the full moon above a branch on a dune,

And the night of his curling hair shaded it.

وحال عن وعده البعاد فما

عاد الكرى ناظري ولم يعد

Separation turned him from his promise, so

Sleep never returned to my eye, nor did he return.

وهكذا الدهر لست أنكره

إن سرني اليوم ساءني بغد

Such is time; I do not find it strange:

If it delights me today, it grieves me tomorrow.

أشد ما كان من نوائبه

فقد قريب وقرب منفقد

The harshest of its calamities

Is losing someone near, and the nearness of someone lost.

ومهمهٍ يسفه الحليم به

ويذهر الليث فيه بالنقد

And many a wilderness where the wise man loses his wits,

And the lion is [startled?] there by little sheep.

جبت مهولاته بذي حالك

قمص مسرودة من الزرد

I crossed its terrors with one clad in dark

Shirts of closely linked mail.

كأنما الزهر في أواخره

نواظر لا تصح من رمد

As though the stars toward its close

Were eyes that never recovered from soreness.

قاسمتها الصبر في تكابده

وقاسمتني الخفاء في جسدي

I shared with it patience in enduring it,

And it shared with me my body's hiddenness.

على طمرٌ كأن نواظره

يقرأ ما اضمرت له كبدي

Upon a swift steed whose eyes seemed

To read what my liver concealed for him.

لم ار من قبل متنه جبلاً

طار على اربع من العمد

Before seeing its back, I had never seen a mountain

Fly upon four pillars.

يقصدني جود من أنامله

لو راسلتها السحاب لم تجد

Generosity from his fingertips seeks me out;

Had the clouds exchanged messages with them, they would have given nothing.

مهذب ما رأيته غرته

الا محوت الضلال بالرشد

A refined man: never did I behold his radiant brow

Without replacing error with right guidance.

املت من قبله الأنام سدى

وردتهم عن ظما ولم ارد

I had hoped in people before him, in vain;

I sought them out in thirst, but reached no water.

ينغص الدهر عيشتي نكدا

لديهم والغريب في نكد

Time embittered my life with hardship

Among them—and a stranger lives in hardship—

حتى تيممته فأقسم من

ابصر أني المقيم في بلدي

Until I sought him; then an oath was sworn by whoever

Saw me: that I was settled in my own homeland,

وان نعماه بي وقد ظهرت

اشفق من والد على ولد

And that his bounty toward me, now plainly shown,

Was more tender than a father toward a child.

لا ظفرت مقلتي برؤيته

اننظرت بعده إلى احد

May my eye never enjoy seeing him

If I look toward anyone after him.

ولا سقيت الغمام عن ظماء

ان امتدت غير راحتيه يدي

Nor may I drink the clouds' rain to ease my thirst

If my hand reaches toward any palms but his.

يسأل قبل السؤال وافده

عن عاجز في البلاد لم يفد

Before being asked, he questions his visitor

About someone helpless in the land who has not come,

لخوفه ان يقال ثم فتى

يعيش في دهره بلا رغد

Fearing someone may say, 'There is a young man

Living in his age without ease.'

وابن من واعدٍ بلا صلة

من واصل جوده ولم يعد

And distinguish from one who promises without a gift

The man who keeps giving without making promises.

يا خير من قاد فيلقاً لجباً

ارعن كاليم ظاهر الزبد

O best of those who led a clamorous host,

Vast as the sea with its foam showing!

كأن فرسانه على سفن

ثارت مجاديفها من العدد

As though its horsemen rode on ships

Whose oars sprang up from their weaponry.

يقدمها السعد حيث يقدمها

أنت ونجح الدباق بالأسد

Good fortune leads it wherever it is led

By you; and birdlime succeeds with the lion [wording unclear].

قليلها اخذٌ كثير عدى

والحزم خير من كثرة العدد

A few of its men capture many foes;

And resolve is better than strength of numbers.

كم رام عليك منك حاسدها

وقاعد من يقوم بالحسد

How often its envier sought from you something against you [wording unclear],

And one who rises through envy is left sitting.

مواقف لم يفز سواك بها

من مضر قبها ولا ادد

Battle-stands none but you have attained,

Neither Mudar's chief nor Udad.

فصغر الحزم منك اكبرهم

وارتد بالخزي عنك كل ردى

Your resolve made their greatest seem small,

And every wretch recoiled from you in disgrace.

وشام أهل العراق في حلب

دماءهم والعدو في صفد

And the people of Iraq beheld in Aleppo

Their blood, while the enemy lay in fetters.

ومن يكن يرهب الاسود سطا

لم يخش من ناهق على وتد

Whoever attacks and makes lions tremble

Does not fear a braying beast tethered to a stake.

جئناك يا يوسف الزمان بلا

قد جد في سعيه ولم يجد

We came to you, O Yusuf of the age, worn out [uncertain reading]—

One who had striven earnestly in his quest, yet found nothing.

فاسلم الدهر بقيت واحده

وشد مباني العلا به وسد

Be safe throughout time; may you remain its peerless one,

And strengthen thereby glory's edifices, and reign.

وأسعد بشهر الصيام وابق إلى

أمثال أمثاله إلى الأبد

Rejoice in the month of fasting, and live to see

The likes of its like, for all eternity.

وكلما عاد وعيده ابدا

بنعمة في العلا بلا امد

And whenever it and its feast return, may you ever

Enjoy blessings in exaltation without end.

وهاك غمراء في رياض ذرى

عليك تشدد كالساجع الغرد

Here is an overflowing ode in gardens of lofty summits,

Singing to you [uncertain reading] like a warbling, cooing bird.

توقت لعلياك ويه شاردة

فانجذبت نحوها بلا مسد

It yearned for your eminence, though wandering free [uncertain reading],

And was drawn toward it without a rope.

اعيذها من حسودها لترى

نفاثة في العقول لا العقد

I seek protection for it from its envier, so you may see it

Blowing spells into minds, not knots.

يبيد اشياخنا الزمان بلى

وشخص هذا الزمان لم يبد

Time destroys our elders through decay,

Yet this Time's own person has not perished.