فرشت للربيع فينا مهاده

فاستنارت حزونه ووهاده

Spring's bedding was spread among us;

and its rugged heights and hollows shone.

وتجلت عرائس الدوح تختال

بوشي وسميه ابراده

The brides of the great trees appeared, strutting

in its mantles, embroidered by its autumn rain.

وكأن الشقيق شوقاً إليهن

تلظى مما يجن فؤاده

And the anemone seemed, in longing for them,

to blaze with what its heart kept hidden.

ورنا النرجس الغضيض بلحظ

صيغ من اصفر النضار سواده

And the downcast narcissus gazed with an eye

whose dark pupil was fashioned from pure yellow gold,

جزعا من زحام الوية الورد

وقد طاب ورده ومراده

in alarm at the crowding of the roses' banners,

though its draught and its desire were sweet.

والأقاح النضير يفتر عن در

نضيد يشتاقه نقاده

And the fresh daisies smile, revealing pearls

strung in rows, which their appraisers long for.

والخزامى قد ضاع حبا عليه

من شذاها طريفه وتلاده

And the lavender, out of love for him, has scented

with its fragrance his new wealth and his inherited wealth.

وتغنى الهزار في عذبات

البان فاهتز مائلا مياده

And the nightingale sang among the branch-tips

of the bān tree; its swaying stem quivered and leaned.

ينحني تحية ويحنو عليه

كل عود كأنه عوَّاده

Bowing in greeting and bending tenderly over him,

each bough seems like his lute-player.

فالبدار البدار يا بدر للهو

بروض مخضرة اعواده

So hasten, hasten, O full moon, to pleasure

in a garden whose boughs are green.

لا تعدني بعيد بعدك وعداً

آفة الصب وعده وبعاده

Do not make me a promise just after your departure;

the lover's bane is his promise and his separation.

طالما نمت عن بكاي بطرف

جاده نوء طرفه وسهاده

How often you slept heedless of my weeping from an eye

drenched by the rainstorm of his eye and his sleeplessness.

دال صد المحب من صدغك الأعوج

امضى ومن لحاظك صاده

The dāl of rejection toward the lover, compared with your crooked temple-lock,

is more cutting; and its ṣād more cutting than your glances.

زادك اللَه رفعة انما صبك

من صبره وصابك زاده

May God raise you higher; your lover has only

his patience and your bitter sap for sustenance.

داؤه في الهوى عداك عياء

عد عنه لا ينتهي تعداده

His illness in love—may it spare you—is incurable;

turn away from it; its reckoning has no end.

مله العائدون مني وما

اعضل داءً تملّه عواده

My sickbed visitors have wearied of it; and how

intractable is a disease its visitors tire of!

مثل ما مل من سعادة مولانا

ومن سوء بؤسهم حساده

Just as they tire of our master's good fortune,

and of their own bitter misery—his enviers.

الوزير الخطير ركن بناء المجد

في شامخ العلا وعماده

The eminent minister, cornerstone of glory's edifice

in the towering heights of honor, and its mainstay.

مصطفى المصطفى لتدبير ملك

الملك فيما به تحيط بلاده

Mustafa, chosen to administer the dominion

of the king, throughout all that his lands encompass.

شامه اصلحت به وكذا آمد

صينت وزخرفت بغداده

His Shām was set right through him, and likewise Amid

was safeguarded, and his Baghdad adorned.

ولنا الآن منه في حلب الشهباء

أمن كجمعهم آحاده

And now, through him, we have in Aleppo the Grey

security whose single instances match their combined whole.

ولقد زارنا به الغيث واستقضاه

عهداً بأن تدوم عهاده

Rain indeed visited us through him, and exacted from him

a pledge that his recurring showers would endure.

بعد يأس أمضنا ومقالات

أناس في كتبنا ميعاده

After despair that tormented us, and the pronouncements

of people: 'Its appointed time is in our books.'

رصدوا الأنجم الطوالع والأفلاك

واللَه غالب مرصاده

They observed the rising stars and celestial spheres,

but God's watch is all-prevailing.

يا غمام الندى الملث وضرغام

وغي غابة عليه صعاده

O unceasing cloud of bounty, and lion

of battle, whose spears are a forest around him!

والذي يالف النوال كما

يألف طرف الخلى منا رقاده

And you, who are as accustomed to giving as

the carefree one's eye among us is to its sleep.

فترى السن العباد على نعماه

تثنى كأنها عباده

So you see people's tongues, for his favors,

offering praise as though they were his worshippers.

والمهاب الذي يروع أعاديه

بمقدار ما يروق وداده

And the awe-inspiring one, who terrifies his enemies

to the same degree that his affection delights.

فهو يحي المنى بجدواه فينا

والمنايا سيوفه وجياده

For he brings hopes to life among us with his bounty,

while his swords and steeds are death.

وأخو الحلم من يلين بجنبيه

وتمسي قوية أعضاده

And a man of forbearance is one who is yielding at his sides,

while his arms remain strong.

ما رأينا الاك جامع فضل

جمعت في صفاته أضداده

We have seen none but you, a gatherer of virtues

whose opposites are gathered in his qualities.

حاز علماً وامتاز عزماً فأرضى

اللَه منه اجتهاده وجهاده

He attained learning and excelled in resolve, thus pleasing

God with his diligence and his struggle.

وبنا رفعة على الأمر والنهي

حنواً كأننا أولاده

And he built eminence upon command and prohibition,

with tenderness, as though we were his children.

ولقد عز من تواضع اللَه

وإن كان في السماك وساده

Indeed, whoever humbles himself before God gains honor,

even if his pillow lies at al-Simāk.

وابق يا من تجاره طاب في

العلياء كالمشرفي طال نجاده

And endure, O you whose trade prospers in

the heights, like a Mashrafi sword whose baldric is long.

تحسم الداء والمظالم داء

ان تناسيته يعم فساده

You eradicate disease; injustices are a disease

whose corruption spreads everywhere if you neglect it.

واعتدال الزمان صوره عدلك

لا مهرجانه ولا أعياده

The balance of the age was fashioned by your justice,

not its Mihrjān festival, nor its feast days.

فيه الليل والنهار سواء

وسواء آساده ونقاده

In it, night and day are equal,

and its lions and sheep are equal.

ولهذا يا فرد دهرك فضل

ليس يحصى وهكذا افراده

For this, O peerless one of your age, there is merit

beyond counting, as are its individual instances.

قال لي هاتف الضمائر قولا

لذ في مسمع الحشا ايراده

A voice of inward thoughts spoke words to me

whose utterance was sweet to the heart's hearing:

شعر من أبي الطيب المنقح ارخ

جاء نور وزنا وأنت مراده

A polished verse from Abu al-Tayyib records the date:

'Light has come in measured verse, and you are its intended meaning.'