صدود ولا ذنب وعتب ولا عتبا

وسقم إذا لم أنب عن أصله أنبا

Estrangement without fault, and reproach without appeasement;

And sickness that rebukes me if I do not turn away from its source.

وكنت أرى الهجر اختباراً ومحنة

فلما تمادى الهجر بي شوش القلبا

I used to see estrangement as a test and an ordeal;

But when it persisted against me, it troubled my heart.

واصبحت في هدم بفكري وفي بناً

أقدر فيما نابني الصدق والكذبا

And in my thoughts I began demolishing and rebuilding,

Weighing truth and falsehood in what had befallen me.

وفتشت أعمالي فلم أر ريبة

ولا عملا لي واحدا يوجب العتبا

I examined my deeds and found no cause for suspicion,

Nor a single deed of mine that warranted reproach.

ترى أنفوا من حب مثلي لمثلهم

فعدوا لديهم فرط حبي لهم ذنبا

Do you suppose they scorned the love of one like me for those like them,

And reckoned my excessive love for them a fault in their eyes?

وما الذنب لي هم أظهروا عن جمالهم

لعيني ما استولوا على به غصبا

The fault is not mine: from their beauty they revealed

To my eyes what gave them mastery by force:

محاسن لا استطيع عند اجتلائها

أذب عن القلب اشتياقا ولا حبا

Beauties which, when I behold them, leave me unable

To ward longing or love away from my heart.

وما الحب ذنب بل بدون وسيلة

يمت بها نحو الأحبة من حبا

Love is no fault; rather, with no other means,

Whoever loves claims a bond with the beloved through it.

ولكن ضعف الحظ يفسد صالحي

ويجعل ملحا مائي البارد العذبا

But my poor fortune spoils what is good in me,

And turns my cool, sweet water salty.

لقد أسرفت في بخس حظي إليكم

لبال إذا ما استولمت شنت الحربا

My share with you has indeed been diminished far too much

By nights that, when asked for a feast, declare war.

يلوم على التقصير في السعي جاهل

يظن بان الحزم اكسبه القربا

An ignorant man blames me for falling short in striving,

Imagining that resolve earned him nearness.

وما الجد لولا الجد مجداً فخلني

وما الله يقضي ما حظوظ الورى كسبا

Effort could not bring glory without good fortune; so leave me

To what God decrees: people's fortunes are not earned.

وما أنا شاك صد قاس فواده

ولا قبض مرخ دون معروفه حجبا

I am not complaining of a hard-hearted man's rejection,

Nor the withholding of one who drapes veils before his bounty.

ولكنها الأقدار تثنى إذا جرت

عيونا عن الأهواء تقلبها قلبا

Rather, it is the decrees of fate that, when they run their course, turn

Eyes away from their desires, turning them completely about.

فمن شك فيها فليجل فيى فكره

ليؤمن بالأقدار من أذنه غصبا

Whoever doubts them, let him turn his thoughts upon me,

So that, dragged by the ear, he believes in fate,

ويعلم أن الله يجرى قضاءه

ويسلب بالطوع اختيار الفتى سلبا

And knows that God carries out His decree,

And strips a man of choice with his willing assent.

أمثلي ولحمي هواكم ومن دمي

يطيل على الإيام بينكم العتبا

Should one like me—love for you is my flesh and part of my blood—

Prolong reproaches among you, day after day,

ويشكو ضياعا والأيادي مظلة

وما أحمد ممن أضاع له حزبا

And complain of neglect while favors shelter him?

Ahmad is not one to abandon his own supporters.

لئن صد عني معرضا فلكم ثنا

إلي محياه وكم زارني عجبا

Even if he has turned away from me, how often he has turned

His face toward me, and how often visited me—what a wonder!

وإن جانبت أرضى سحائب جوده

فكم سحبت حولي ذيول الحيا قشبا

Though the clouds of his generosity have avoided my land,

How often they trailed fresh skirts of rain around me!

ملأت يدي مما ملا الأرض ذكره

وجاوزت بي مما رفعتني الشهبا

You filled my hand with that whose renown filled the earth,

And raised me so high that you carried me beyond the shooting stars.

ونوهت بإسمي ف يالورى ونشرت لي

فضائل فيهم بدت العجم والعربا

You exalted my name among humankind and spread for me

Virtues made manifest among them, non-Arabs and Arabs alike.

وصير لي في كل أرض بعيدة

جوارك ما يشجي الحسود من الأنبا

And in every distant land there has been fashioned for me,

By your protection, news that grieves the envious.

فلو بت في البيدا وجدت لكم يدا

تمهد ما القي على ظهره الجنبا

Were I to spend a night in the desert, I would find a hand of yours

Smoothing the ground on whose back I lay my side.

وغير مؤد شكر نعمة امرء

نسيها مخاضا ثم يذكرها ربا

No man truly gives thanks for a favor

Who forgot it when pregnant, then recalls it when nursing.

وأنشر عنكم ما إذا فاح نشره

وخالط أنفاس الورى ذكروا الربا

And I spread word of you: when its fragrance wafts

And mingles with people's breath, they remember the hills.

لقد ظن غر سره ما يسؤني

بأني إذا غولبت فارقتكم غلبا

A fool, delighted by what hurts me, has imagined

That, if challenged, I would part from you in defeat.

ولم يدر أني لو يقطعني الهوى

مددت إليه الارب أتبعه الاربا

He did not know that, were love to cut me to pieces,

I would stretch a limb toward it, following it with another.

فمن غيركم ترجى لديه انتباهة

لحظ يهب النائمون وما هبا

From whom but you could one hope for an awakening

Of fortune, when sleepers wake and it has not awakened?

وما كنت لا والله ممن إذا دعي

إلى منة من غير معدنها لبا

I have never—no, by God—been one who, when summoned

To a favor from any but its true source, responded.

أعفف آمالي فما أنا قابل

وإن ظفرت كفى بغيركم هبا

I keep my hopes chaste; I will not accept,

Even if my hand obtains them, gifts from anyone but you.

واقبله قرضا فيفرح مقرضي

لأني بكم أربا قضاه وما أربا

And I accept them as a loan, so my lender rejoices,

For through you I repay it with increase, yet he practises no usury.

ينال به ربح الربا غير آثم

ولا عاد ما اجرا على القرض في العقبا

He gains through it the profit of usury without sin,

Nor is he deprived of a reward for the loan in the hereafter.

وما طولكم ممن تؤدى فروضه

وهل شكر من ربي مجاز لمن ربا

Your bounty is not something whose dues can be discharged;

Can the thanks of one nurtured ever repay the one who nurtured him?