والله ما صدق الواشي الذي نقلا

إن المدامع جفت والفؤاد سلا

By God, the slanderer lied when he reported

that my tears had dried and my heart had forgotten.

إن كنت أطمع في هذا وراءكم

طمعت في أن لي من مهجتي بدلا

If I hoped for this once you were gone,

I would be hoping for a substitute for my own lifeblood.

وما حسدت على كوني أحبكم

لكن على كونه حبا جرى مثلا

I was not envied merely for loving you,

but because that love became proverbial.

رويدهم فالهوى لي والوصال لهم

إن الهوى وحده دون الوصال بلا

Go gently with them: love is mine, and union theirs;

love alone, without union, is affliction.

وما يضيع الهوى فيكم وإن عملت

فيه الوشاة وفينا ذلك العملا

Love for you is not lost, even though

slanderers have worked such mischief upon it and us.

ولي وأنتم مرادي حاجة صعبت

إذا اقتضيت زماني كونها مطلا

I have a need—you are my desire—hard to fulfill;

whenever I ask my fortune for its fulfillment, it puts me off.

وإن تغفلته يوما وجاد بها

أفاق مستقضيا في قطع ما وصلا

And if one day I catch it unawares and it grants that need,

it wakes to exact repayment by severing what it joined.

أما الصدود فنفسي لا تصدقه

على الأحبة فيما قال أو فعلا

As for estrangement, my soul will not believe it

against my beloveds, in whatever it says or does.

إنا المحب فان لم أجز عن شغفي

حبا بحب فما أجزى عليه قلا

I am the lover; if my passion is not repaid

with love for love, neither am I repaid with hatred.

يكفى الوشاة افتضاحا أنهم نسبوا

إلى اشتغال بمن عنهم قد اشتغلا

It is disgrace enough for the slanderers that they ascribed

to me absorption in one who has no time for them.

ما للخلي ولي سقمي على جسدي

لو شاء من يعذل المشتاق ما عدلا

What has the carefree man to do with me, with sickness upon my body?

If the man who reproaches the yearning lover felt desire himself, he would not reproach.

لا القلب طوعي ولا أمر الهوى بيدي

دعوا فؤادي يعطي الحب ماسألا

Neither is my heart obedient to me, nor love's course in my hands.

Leave my heart to give love whatever it asks.

فلست أول مقتول بسيف هوى

لي أسوة في الهوى قبلي بمن قتلا

I am not the first slain by love's sword;

in love, I have an example in those slain before me.

قد كنت أطمع في أقصى مودتكم

فاليوم اقنع منها الذي حصلا

I once hoped for the utmost of your affection;

today I am content with what of it I have received.

هجر لا ذنب لي الا الحظوظ قضت

بقسمة جار قاضيها وما عدلا

Estrangement, with no fault in me—only fortunes have decreed

a division whose judge was unjust and did not judge fairly.

إني أسير هواكم فاقتضوا كرما

ممن أساراه ممن أكرموا نزلا

I am a captive of your love; so seek generosity

from him whose captives are among those honorably welcomed:

الناصر الملك السامي بها هما

يطوى البعيد اليها طيك السجلا

Al-Nasir, the king whose aspirations soar toward it,

who rolls up the distance to it as you roll up a scroll.

من لا يناهز في امهاله فرصاً

ولا يدير ليشفي غيظه الحيلا

One who, when granting respite, does not snatch at opportunities,

nor devise stratagems to soothe his rage.

ولا تراه إذا أبطا القضا قزما

إلى تناول ما يسعى له عجلا

Nor, when fate delays, do you see him diminished,

hurrying to grasp what he strives for.

الدهر أحقر قدرا عند همته

من أن يرى فرحاً أو أن يرى وجلا

Time is too contemptible beside his resolve

for him to be seen rejoicing or afraid.

يجزى المسيئين إحسانا ويبدلهم

بشر ما عملوا خيرا بما عملا

He repays wrongdoers with kindness, giving them

good for the evil they have done, through his own deeds.

إذا تذكر ذو جرم إساءته

وما جزاه بها من صالح خجلا

When an offender remembers his wrongdoing

and the good he received in return, he grows ashamed.

وود يفدى من الاسوا بمهجته

نعليه دع غير نعليه إذا قبلا

And he wishes to ransom from harm with his own lifeblood

the king's sandals—let alone more than his sandals—when he kisses them.

خلائق وعلا فاق النام بها

ومن يرم نيل امر فائت خذلا

Virtues and eminence by which he surpassed mankind;

whoever seeks to attain what lies beyond reach is thwarted.

وجه حيي واخلاق تناسبه

ومنطق ظاهر لا يعرف الزللا

A modest face, and character to match,

and clear speech that knows no error.

في الحرب والسلم يلقي منه إن سئلوا

بحرا وان حركوه للقا جبلا

In war and peace, those who ask find in him

a sea; and if they rouse him to battle, a mountain.

لقاه احسن من بشرى يحل بها

قيد الأسير ويكسي بعدها الحللا

Meeting him is better than glad tidings by which

a captive's fetter is undone and he is then clothed in fine robes.

ووجهه الطلق خير حين أبصره

من الغنى بعد فقر أسهر المقلا

His cheerful face, when I behold it, is better

than wealth after poverty that kept the eyes awake.

أني ليحسبني من بات يحسدني

اخفي عليك فيمشى شامتا جدلا

How can the man who spends his nights envying me think

I am hidden from your notice, then walk gloating and gleeful?

رأى تغاضيك عن تزييف بهرجه

فظنه جائزا في النقد قد قبلا

He saw you refrain from exposing his counterfeit coin,

and supposed it had passed the assay and been accepted.

وأنت أدرى بنا منا فاعقلنا

يراك تعرف ما يدرى وما جهلا

You know us better than we know ourselves; the wisest of us

sees that you know what he knows and what he does not.

بكم عرفت وفيكم نشأتي ولكم

بقيتي وعليكم بت متكلا

Through you I became known, among you I was raised, and yours

is what remains of my life; upon you I have come to rely.

لكم مكاني ألف أن ترد بدلا

ومالذي الرشد عنكم ان يرد بدلا

You have a thousand to take my place, should you want a substitute;

but one of sound judgment has none to replace you, should he seek one.

أحبكم حب عرفان فلو وزنوا

حب البرايا بحبي فيك ما عدلا

I love you with a love of grateful recognition; were they to weigh

all creation's love against mine for you, it would not balance.

لو اقتسمنا بقدر الحب منزلة

أعطيت علواً وأعطى غيري السفلا

If we shared rank in proportion to love,

I would be granted the heights, and another the low places.

فلو تراني أمسي رافعا ليدي

في الليل أدعو لك الرحمن مبتهلا

If you could see me each evening, lifting my hand,

praying for you in the night, beseeching the All-Merciful,

علمت أني وحيداً في محبتكم

لكن أبى الحظ أن يسترضى الاملا

you would know I am unmatched in my love for you;

but fortune refused to satisfy the hopeful one.

بالكره لا باختياري بات مفترقا

شملي وبت لمس الضر محتملا

Unwillingly, not by my choice, there has come a scattering

of my company; I spend the night bearing hardship's touch.

لولا المنى عنك بالبشرى يحدثني

كان الأسا عاملا بي غير ما عملا

Were hope not telling me glad tidings of you,

grief would have worked upon me otherwise than it has.

إذا ذكرتك والدنيا موليه

أيقنت لي أن باسترجاعها قبلا

Whenever I remember you while the world turns away,

I know I have the strength to bring it back.

فرات بحرك تغنينا موارده

عن الثماد وتنسى ذلك الوشلا

Your sea is sweet; its watering places spare us

the scant pools and make us forget that trickle.

بقيت تملي على الدنيا محاسنها

بما فعلت وتحلى جيدها العطلا

May you live on, dictating to the world its beauties

through your deeds, and adorning its bare neck.

تعيرها منك مهما مال جانبها

لحظا يقوم منها ذلك الميلا

Whenever its side leans, you lend it from yourself

a glance that sets that leaning straight.