إن له فرط غرام وأسا

حتى صبا وهو مشيب قد أسن

His passion and sorrow are excessive,

until he falls in love, though gray-haired and already old.

والتفت الالما إليه لفتة

لو صادفته وهو ميت لافتتن

The dark-lipped youth turned a glance toward him

that would have enthralled him even had it found him dead,

بطلعة زادت على الشمس سنا

تجرى بكل في الهوى سنن

with a countenance surpassing the sun in radiance,

leading everyone along the paths of love.

ظبي ملا قلبي هموما وشجا

وما قضى لي أربا ولا شجن

A gazelle who filled my heart with cares and grief,

yet fulfilled neither my wish nor my need.

عن مثل عقد الدر يفتر فما

ان لم يهم في حبه مثلي فمن

He parts his mouth to reveal something like a string of pearls.

If someone like me does not lose himself in loving him, who will?

أفديه كم عقل لكهل وفتى

إذ هله ذاك المحيا وفتن

I would ransom him! How many minds of mature men and youths

that countenance has stunned and bewitched!

أبدله وجدا ويبدى وحراً

ولكما استرضى تابا وحرن

I offer him longing in return; he displays rancor.

How often, when entreated, he refuses and balks!

هاجرته ازداد هجري ولعا

راسلته فسب رسلي ولعن

I shunned him; estrangement only increased my passion.

I sent him messages; he cursed my messengers and damned them.

فكم أقاسي في هواه لغبا

وهو مريح إن هذا لغبن

How much weariness I endure in loving him,

while he rests at ease—surely this is an unfair bargain!

لم يبق لي ولا لصب ورعا

ملاقة فيه ولين ورعن

They have left neither me nor any lover a shred of restraint:

his ingratiating charm, his softness, and his flightiness.

قبلته فهل أخاف مأثما

وهل لذاك الظلم وهو ما ثمن

I kissed him—should I fear a sin?

And does that sweet saliva, being water, have a price?

لولا فتور في مقاه وسجى

ما أوثق القلب هواه وسجن

Were it not for the languor and stillness in his eyes,

love for him would not have bound and imprisoned my heart.

ولا تشكيت من الأين وجي

إذا دجى جنح من اليل دجن

Nor would I have complained of exhaustion's ache

when a gloomy stretch of night grew dark.

صيرت نفسي عبد رق لا ولا

ورمت وصله فقال لا ولن

I made myself a slave in bondage, not merely a client,

and sought union with him; he said, “No, and never.”

ينبيك أني معه على شفا

ما في اعتراض لحظة لي من شفن

You can tell that I stand with him on the brink

from the hostility in the sidelong glance he casts at me.

لي عنه إن أعرض في الأرض رها

وأحمد ما باعني ولا رهن

If he turns away, there is ample room on earth for me without him,

and Ahmad has neither sold me nor pawned me.

الملك الناصر من حسبي عطا

كون فناه لي مأوي وعطن

King al-Nasir—it is gift enough from him

that his courtyard is my refuge and resting place.

ملك إلى العليا اهدى من قطاً

ما قر دون وصلها ولا قطن

A king surer of his path to greatness than sandgrouse,

never resting or settling short of attaining it.

تطوى إليها في الفلا كل طحا

بفيلق لو طاحن الشم طحن

Toward it, every desert expanse is traversed

by a host that would grind lofty mountains down if it grappled with them.

كم جار فضلا بارزا وكامنا

وحل من عقد وكم وكي منن

How his bounty has flowed, both open and hidden!

How many knots he has untied, how many favors bound fast!

إذا بدا في معشر له بداً

وأمهم لم يبق روح في بدن

When he appears among a people hostile to him

and advances upon them, no soul remains in a body.

لو قذفت ما شربته من دماً

سيوفه روت ربوعا ودمن

Were they to pour out the blood they have drunk,

his swords would water homesteads and abandoned camps.

داهية متى تصادف ذا دها

يهلك من داهنه وما دهن

A master of guile: whenever he meets a cunning man,

he destroys whoever dissembles with him, without yielding.

لا يطي همته حب رشاً

عن قصد ذى بغي على العليا رشن

Love of a gazelle does not bend his resolve away

from pursuing a rebel who intrudes upon the highest rank.

متى تجد منازلا ذات خوى

فأحمد المخوى واهلوها خون

Whenever you find dwellings lying desolate,

Ahmad laid them waste, and their inhabitants were traitors.

هو المليك لم يفته سؤدداً

ومفخرا ولم يشنه سوددن

He is the sovereign whom none has outstripped in lordship

and glory; no base frivolity has blemished him.

إذا الهوى الهاه عن كسب علا

عصاه في الحالين سرا وعلن

If desire distracts him from gaining eminence,

he defies it in both conditions, in secret and in public.

لا يوثرن عجزا على الحزن وطا

ولا على الغربة إن هم وطن

He never weakly chooses smooth ground over rough,

nor homeland over exile once his resolve is set.

خليفة قد أبدل الغى هدى

والخوف أمناً والحروبات هدن

A caliph who has replaced error with guidance,

fear with safety, and wars with truces.

تضحى على الخلق عطاياه لها

إذا ملوك الأرض ظنت باللهن

His gifts to mankind are lavish bounty,

when earthly kings begrudge even morsels.

مواهب ليست خسا ولا زكى

بل كالحصا فليس يحصيها زكن

Gifts neither odd nor even,

but like pebbles—no clever mind can count them.

وفوده مثل الحجيج في منى

يعطونه حمدا ويعطيهم منن

His delegations are like pilgrims at Mina:

they give him praise, and he gives them favors.

ومن يلقه يلق من الرفق أباً

برا لذاك عنده الوفد ابن

Whoever meets him finds, in kindness, a father,

a loving one; thus his visitors are sons to him.

فاسكن إذا قضيت منه منسكا

فاكرم الوفد عليه من سكن

So stay when you have completed your rite with him,

for dearest to him among visitors are those who stay.

ان لم تجد من الزمان مرتكا

فاركن إليه فهو نعم المرتكن

If you find no support against time,

lean on him—what an excellent support he is!

مذ شاد ركن المجد لم يخش وها

ولا اعتراه خور ولا وهن

Since he raised the pillar of glory, he has feared no collapse,

nor has weakness or frailty overtaken him.

يا ملكا كالبحر إن فاض جدا

أزرى بكسرى فارس وذى جدن

O king, like the sea when overflowing with bounty,

who puts Persia's Kisra and Dhu Jadan to shame!

هل لك في استدراك عبد ذى جناً

لا كالحنا كاد يوازى في جنن

Will you rescue a servant with a stooped back,

not merely bent, but almost buried in a grave?

صيره الدهر عصا بلا لحاً

ولم تفده فطنة ولا لحن

Time has made him a stick stripped of bark,

and neither cleverness nor discernment has helped him.

علا من العار إذا راح سدى

ولم تصبه حجب ولا سدى

Great is the shame if he departs empty-handed,

with neither protection nor bounty reaching him.

بقيت للملك بقا بلا فنا

ما غردت قمرية على فنن

May you endure for the kingdom, never passing away,

as long as a turtledove sings upon a branch.