أنا مضنى نوى الأحبة نضو

والهوى داؤه نحولٌ ومحو

I am wasted by separation from my loved ones, an emaciated frame.

And love’s disease is wasting and effacement.

لا تسمني على التفرق صبرا

كل مرٍ من دون صبرك حلو

Do not demand patience of me in separation.

Every bitter thing is sweet, save enduring your absence.

بي من الغانيات ذات غناء

حسنٍ كله شجون وشجو

I am smitten with one among the beauties, whose song

is lovely, all wistful strains and sorrow.

تزدهي بالجمال دلا وما افتك

حسناً يليه دلّ وزهو

She glories coquettishly in beauty—how deadly

is beauty attended by coquetry and pride!

ظلت ألهو بحبها عن فؤادي

فاستباحت حماه والحب لهو

I kept dallying with love of her, heedless of my heart,

so she overran its sanctuary—and love is play.

خلني من قبول عذلك عنها

أنت خلي من المحبة خلو

Spare me having to heed your reproaches over her.

You, my friend, are empty of love.

لي طرف جار كلمحة طرف

وعناني إلى الصبابة رخو

I have a noble steed running like the blink of an eye,

and my rein toward passionate longing is slack.

والمصلي سبقاً لسخط عدو

ورضى من يحبه لي تلو

And the runner-up in racing for an enemy’s anger

and a beloved’s pleasure follows behind me.

واللبيب الأريب من كان للأمرين

كفواً وباذل النفس كفو

And the wise, discerning man is he who, for both tasks,

is a match; one who gives his life is a match.

بيد أن الغرام أنحل مني

كل عضو وما لمن حب عضو

Yet passion has withered within me

every limb; no lover has a helper.

وصروف الزمان تنتاش أشلاء

رسومي ولم يدم لي شلو

And time’s vicissitudes snatch away the limbs

of my form; not one limb remains to me.

فكأن الخطوب جور ابن هند

وكأني لأبن الذبيحين صنو

It is as though calamities were Ibn Hind’s tyranny,

and I were a twin to Ibn al-Dhabihayn.

وإذا النائبات مزقن حرا

فالتأسي له على الدهر رفو

And when misfortunes tear a noble man apart,

solace in others’ example mends him against time.

والليالي مع التكدر فيها

ان يشاء الأمير للشرب صفو

And the nights, despite the murk within them,

are clear for the drinkers, if the emir wills.

أعرب النظم نحوه أمر حالي

مثلما يعرب الأوامر نحو

My verse has made plain to him my condition,

just as grammar makes commands clear.

حلب مقصدي على القرب منه

ليس من مقصدي زبيد ومرو

Aleppo is my destination, close to him as it is;

Zabid and Marw are not what I seek.

واراه يجيب غير سؤالي

أفنوح هذا وذلك شدو

Yet I see him answering something other than my request.

Is this, then, lamentation, and that singing?

يا سليل الكرام من آل سيفا

والألى ما بهم مجون ولغو

O scion of the noble, from the house of Sayfa,

and of those untouched by wantonness and idle talk.

عمهم بالعلا الفخار

ووالاهم ثناءً وحفهم قبل سرو

Glory has enfolded them in eminence,

and lavished praise upon them; nobility had encircled them before.

فهم للعفاة لين وبرء

وهم للطغاة عزم وغزو

So to supplicants they are gentleness and healing,

and to tyrants, resolve and warfare.

ألحظي منعتني أم لذنب

كان مني وفيك المذنب عفو

Did you deny me because of my fortune, or for a fault

that came from me? With you, the sinner finds pardon.

فحظوظ الرجال سود وبيض

كليالي الشتاء دجن وصحو

For men’s fortunes are black and white,

like winter nights, clouded and clear.

أم توهمتني هزاراً فضيقت

مكاني وإنني اليوم صفو

Or did you take me for a nightingale and so constrict

my space, though today I am pure of heart?

أم بسهو أخرتني عن رحيلي

واعتقادي ما غال فهمك سهو

Or did you delay my departure through oversight?

Yet I believe no oversight has clouded your understanding.

عجباً اني ظمئت عندك يأساً

من مناي وفي الدلالي دلو

How strange that I have thirsted in your presence, despairing

of my hopes, though I have a bucket among the buckets.

هبك خولتني الذي عنه تعيي

حضر ان سألت ذاك وبدو

Suppose you granted me what would be beyond

townsfolk and nomads, were I to ask it of them:

افتحشوا حشاي صبراً عن الأوطان

والأهل ان ذلك حشو

would you then stuff my heart with patience far from my native lands

and family? That, indeed, is empty stuffing.

فأبح لي المسير مولاي رهواً

ان سير المحب للحب رهو

So allow me, my lord, to travel unimpeded;

for a lover’s journey to the beloved is easy.

واغنم الأجر والثنا فقر يضي

سابغ الذيل في مديحك ضفو

And win reward and praise, for my verse

has a sweeping train in your praise, full and flowing.

وإذا لم اعد إليك سريعاً

لا عداني من المذلة عمو

And if I do not return to you quickly,

may humiliation’s blindness never pass me by.

أنت لي موئل وحصن حصين

فيه لي مطلب ولي منه قثو

You are my refuge and an impregnable fortress,

within it is what I seek, and from it I gather bounty.

مولاي يا خير من يرجى

لزلة اثبتت بسهو

My lord, O best of those whose pardon is sought,

for a lapse set down through oversight:

اني أهل لكل ذنب

وأنت أهل لكل عفو

Indeed, I am capable of every sin,

and you are capable of every pardon.