لهذا بجود الغيث ما لاح بارقه

ومن فيك لي برق لقد ضن ثادقه

For this, with the rain's bounty whenever its lightning flashes [opening unclear].

From your mouth comes lightning for me, yet its downpour has proved miserly.

كتبت عليه لا شقاء لذائق

له بالحري لو ان مضناك ذائقه

You inscribed upon it: ‘No misery for anyone who tastes

of it’—indeed, if only your lovesick one could taste it.

ومليتني لما وثقت من الهوى

واكذب ميثاقا من الحب واثقه

You grew weary of me when I had trusted in love;

and most false in pledge is the one who trusts in love.

أعندك ان لا وصل يحلو بلا قلى

ولا حب حتى يبرم الحب وامقه

Do you believe no union is sweet without aversion,

and no love exists until love wearies its lover?

بعاد على قرب وسخط على رضى

فلا أنت من يدنو ولا من نفارقه

Distance amid nearness, displeasure amid contentment:

you neither draw near nor let us leave you.

كأنك بدر التم يبدو لناظر

ولا يحسن المسرى لعلياه رامقه

You are like a full moon appearing to a beholder,

yet its watcher knows no way to journey to its heights.

جهلت الهوى مني وأنت تربنه

فكيف إذا زمت لبين أيانقه

You failed to recognize my love, though you see it;

what then, when its she-camels are bridled for parting?

ولم أنس لا أنسى وداعك والنوى

عسوف بقلبينا المشوقين سائقه

I have not forgotten—nor will I—your farewell, when separation

had a driver cruel to our two yearning hearts.

فرحت وهذا الروض يصفر نوره

شقائقه

You departed, while this garden's blossoms yellowed—

its anemones.

يمازج منك الدمع دمعي على الثرى

فيلهيك عن حلي عليك تناسقه

Your tears mingled with mine upon the earth,

and their ordered flow distracted you from the jewels upon you.

وما خلت لولا الدمع تبدو وسرائري

ولا خلته ينهل لولا تدافقه

But for tears, I never thought my secrets would appear,

nor thought they would pour down but for their surging.

ولبل كأن الصبح فيه مآرب

تؤمل ان نقضي وخل نصادقه

And a night in which dawn seemed like wishes

we hoped to fulfill, and a friend to befriend.

قطعت به البيداء غير مفكر

على متن من يعي الصبا ان تسابقه

Through it I crossed the wilderness without a care,

astride one who exhausts the east wind if it races him.

اغر من الأبريز صيغ اديمه

وجبهته من فضة ومرافقه

White-blazed, his hide fashioned from pure gold,

and his forehead and elbows from silver.

عليه ينال المجد من لا يناله

ويتسع الأهوال من ضاق مازفه

Upon him, one who cannot attain glory attains it,

and one in straits finds room amid terrors.

ويسخر بالدهر العنيف خليله

ويخشى بغاث الطير من لا يرافقه

His companion mocks harsh time,

while one without his company fears even the weakest birds.

وثالثنا ماضي الشبا ما هززته

فمتنيه جزءيتي وخلى عاتقه

Our third was a sword with keen edges; whenever I brandished it—

then its two blade-flats [text unclear], and its shoulder, my companion.

يوافقني في كل ما اقتضى به

من الدهر والموت الزؤام يوافقه

It agrees with me in all I exact with it

from fate, and deadly death agrees with it.

الى ان دنونا من قباب فريقكم

فارتاع راعةه واوجس فارقه

Until we drew near the tents of your encampment,

its guard took fright, and its fearful one grew uneasy [wording uncertain].

رأو رجلاً كالصل يلوي وشيجه

ويبدو ذعافاً من ثناياه خازفه

They saw a man like a cobra, twisting his spear,

and deadly venom appeared between his teeth [last word unclear].

فقالوا أساري الليل أم أنت طارق

لناضل ساري ذا الظلام وطارقه

They said, ‘Are you traveling by night, or are you a visitor?

We will challenge whoever travels or comes calling in this darkness.’

فقلت لهم بل صادق العزم لم تدم

بوافيه أو تدهى الأعادي بوائقه

I told them, ‘Rather, one true in resolve [remainder unclear],

[opening unclear]—or his calamities overwhelm his foes.’

بحيث تريني لا أمين بمنطقي

ولم يخف مين النطق ما فاه ناطقه

So that you see I do not lie in my speech;

and a speaker's falsehood is not hidden once he speaks.

فلم تثني عنك الصوارم والقنا

والا عاق قربي من لديك عوائقه

Sharp swords and lances did not turn me from you,

nor did the hindrances of those around you impede my approach.

ولست بمبدي الشي ما لم اتمه

ولا طالباً للأمر لست أراهقه

I do not reveal a thing before I finish it,

nor seek an undertaking I cannot approach.

ولا أنا بالراجي من الغيث قطرة

لري وإبراهيم سحت غوادقه

Nor am I one to hope for a drop of rain

to quench my thirst, while Ibrahim's abundant showers pour down.

تسير فتروي المجد بين سحابه

بلالا وتردى المعتدين صواعقه

They pass, watering glory amid his clouds

with moisture, while his thunderbolts strike transgressors down.

وموضوعةٌ للمعتفين جفانه

ومصفوفة للوافدين نمارقه

His great bowls are laid out for those seeking bounty,

and his cushions arrayed for those who come.

إمام أطاع اللَه حتى أطاعه

على الرغم صديق له ومماذقه

An imam who obeyed God until he was obeyed

by his friend and his false friend, despite themselves.

كريم السجايا والعطايا لقاصد

كأنهما أعرافه وخلائقه

Noble in character and in gifts to whoever seeks him,

as though both were his accustomed virtues and innate traits.

عليهم بأعقاب الأمور مهذب

حليم على الجاني المقيد طالقه

Refined, and versed in the outcomes of affairs,

forbearing toward the offender, restraining the unrestrained.

له سير طابت وطاب رواتها

كما طاب نشراً من شذا المسك صاحقه

His deeds are good, and good are those who recount them,

just as the grinder of musk takes on its fragrant scent.

تكاد سنا أنواره تذهل الورى

إذا رفعت عند القيام سرادقه

The radiance of his lights almost dazzles all creation

when his pavilion curtains are lifted as he rises.

ولو لم يعف قبح الحجاب لزررت

على وجهه للناظرين يلامقه

Had he not shunned the ugliness of veiling, they would be buttoned

over his face against onlookers—his cloaks.

تفرع عن مجدٍ وجدٍ من العلا

فأحنت له العليا ودرت حوالقه

He sprang from glory and an ancestor of lofty rank;

so the heights bowed to him, and his towering clouds poured forth.

فجاء بأزكى محتد يرهب العدى

ويولي الندى ما ذرفي الأفق شارقه

He came of the purest stock, striking fear into foes,

and bestowing bounty as long as the horizon's sun rises.

فيا أيها المولى الذي بعلومه

من الدهر نمحو بؤسنا ونماحقه

O master, through whose learning

we erase our misery at fate's hands and contend with it.

ومن كلمت اوصافه وصفاته

ومن عظمت آلاؤه وحقائقه

And you whose qualities and attributes are complete,

and whose favors and true merits are great:

هنيئاً لك الأيام فاغنم صفاءها

فما العيش في الأيام إلا مغانقه

May your days be blessed; seize their serenity,

for life amid the days is nothing but [last word unclear].

وتعساً لمن جاراك في كل غاية

وهيهات يبغى عاقل الأمر مائقه

Ruin to whoever rivals you in any goal!

How far-fetched that a fool should challenge one wise in affairs!

فدم لا تلقاك الزمان بحادث

فقد ساء تدبيراً وكدر رائقه

Live on; may time meet you with no calamity,

for its designs have been bad, and it has clouded what was clear.

ودونك في حلي الثناء خريدة

تلوح فتخفي البدر منها مشارقه

Take a maiden decked in the jewels of praise:

she gleams, her rising radiance hiding the full moon.

لها عبق من نشرها يكتفي به

عن العنبر الورد الذي ضاع ناشقه

Her wafting fragrance is enough

in place of rosy ambergris, which perfumes whoever inhales it.

سفى رُبعها مذا جدبت منك وابل

فلا غر وان اثنت عليك حدائقه

A downpour from you watered her dwelling when it had grown barren;

so no wonder if its gardens praise you.

فأنت الذي ما مل وصفك سامع

كما لا يمل الحب ما فاه عاشقه

You are one whose description no listener wearies of,

just as the beloved never tires of what his lover utters.