1. بكيت لأُخفى بالدموع السوافح

    حرارة ما أَضرمت بين الجوانحِ

    I wept to conceal with streaming tears

    the heat of what you kindled within my ribs.

  2. فاحرقت أحشائي وأقرحتِ مقلتي

    ولولاكِ ما هات عليَّ قوارحي

    So you scorched my innards and ulcerated my eye;

    were it not for you, my sores would not have seemed light to me.

  3. ولا نيل من قلبي وقلبيَ عالمٌ

    بأن التمادِي في الهوى غير صالحِ

    Nor would my heart have been harmed, though my heart knows

    that persisting in love is no good.

  4. وإِني وإِن أَخفيتُ ما بي من الأسى

    لأَعلم حقاً أَن حبّك فاضحي

    And I, though I hide the sorrow within me,

    know for certain that loving you exposes me.

  5. وإِني في وجدي بقدَّك والرنا

    أعرَضُ نفسي للقنا والصفائحِ

    And in my passion for your stature and lingering gaze,

    I expose myself to lances and sword-blades.

  6. وأَدفعها بين اللحاظ لمعرك

    ألاوذ فيه بين رامٍ ورامحِ

    And I thrust myself amid glances into a battlefield,

    dodging there between an archer and a spearman.

  7. تقولين لي عما قليل أزوره

    وذلك ميعادٌ بعيدُ المطارح

    You say of me, 'Soon I shall visit him,'

    and that is a promised meeting far beyond reach.

  8. ألستِ على قرب الديار بعيدةً

    فكيف على بعدِ الديار النوازحِ

    Are you not distant even when the homes are near?

    Then how will it be when the homes are remote and far away?

  9. دعي الوعد واطفِ الآن بالوصل عِلّتي

    فكم غرِضاد بالبروقِ اللوامحِ

    Abandon the promise; now extinguish my ailment through union,

    for how many a thirsty soul has been deceived by flashing lightning!

  10. ولا تدعي يوماً ليوم ورائه

    فعقبي تواني المرء فوتُ المصالحِ

    And do not leave one day for another that follows,

    for a person's delay ends in lost advantages.

  11. أَقول وقدَ صدّت لكلِّ مباكرِ

    يُعنفني في حبّها ومراوحِ

    I say, when she has turned away, to every morning visitor

    who rebukes me for loving her, and every evening visitor:

  12. إِذا كنت راضٍ بالجفا من أَحبتي

    وإِن طولوه ما فضول الكواشحِ

    If I am content with coldness from my loved ones,

    even if they prolong it, why the meddling of the spiteful?

  13. أَتزعم اللاحون قد أَضرموا الحشا

    وأنت تماليهم بأَنك ناصحي

    Do you claim the reproachers have set my innards ablaze,

    while you side with them, claiming to be my adviser?

  14. بنفسي من لم تخط نفسي وقد رمت

    بألحاظ أجفانٍ مراضٍ صحائحِ

    My life for her who did not miss my soul when she shot

    with glances from eyelids ailing, yet sound.

  15. ومن كلما استبكيتُ منهَا تضاحكت

    وأفعالها جدٌ تضاحكَ مازحِ

    And her who, whenever I asked her for tears, laughed—

    though her deeds are earnest—with a jester's laughter.

  16. ولو غير ألحاظٍ رمتني لدستها

    ملا الأرض خيراً بالمساعي النوجحِ

    Had anything but glances struck me, I would have trampled them.

    He filled the earth with good through successful endeavors,

  17. سلالةَ إسماعيل واعدد وراءه

    وفاخر بأنسابِ الملوك الطحاطحِ

    a scion of Ismaʿil—count those beyond him,

    and boast of the lineages of mighty kings.

  18. فتى ردَّ بالسف العَلا في نصالها

    وقادَ إِ أَحكامِها كلَّ جامحِ

    A youth who restored glory by the sword to its blade-points,

    and brought every rebel under its laws,

  19. بعزم تفلُّ المرهفاَتُ بحدّةِ

    وحزمٍ يوازي كلَّ قرب مكافحِ

    with a resolve whose sharpness blunts keen-edged blades,

    and prudence equal to every confronting opponent.

  20. دع الفخرَ ياباغي الفخار لأحمد

    وحِدْ عن طريق الباقياتِ الصوالحِ

    Leave pride, O seeker of glory, to Ahmad,

    and turn aside from the path of enduring righteous deeds,

  21. لمن يخطب العلياءَ غالٍ مهورها

    إِذا ما ترجا رخصها كل ناكحِ

    for one who woos high glory at a costly bridal price,

    when every suitor hopes to win her cheaply;

  22. ومن كلِّ يوم نهضةٌ منه للعلى

    تعاني اقتناص المكرمات السوانحِ

    and for one who makes a daily advance toward glory,

    striving to capture the noble deeds that present themselves.

  23. يدير إِذا ما أظلم الخطبُ رأيه

    فيسفرُ عن نهجِ من النهجِ واضحِ

    When calamity darkens, he turns his judgment over,

    and it reveals a clear way among the ways.

  24. ويجلو ظلام المشكلات إِذا دجت

    بأفكارِ قلب منتجات لواقحِ

    He dispels the darkness of difficulties when they deepen,

    with his heart's productive, fertile thoughts.

  25. أخو عزماتٍ لا ينامُ عدوّها

    على الَجنب إِلا في بطون الضرائحِ

    A man of resolves whose enemy does not sleep

    on his side except in the bellies of graves.

  26. كفاه وقد أربى على الترب جيشه

    عن الجيش سعد ذابح كلَّ ذابحَ

    Though his army outnumbered the dust, enough for him was

    good fortune that slays every slayer, in place of an army.

  27. فتىً كمُلت فيه أداةُ اكتهالِه

    فند على تجذيعهِ كل قارحِ

    A youth complete in all the faculties of mature age,

    who, though still a young steed, outstripped every full-grown horse.

  28. أقام على العلياءِ شوقاً من النّدى

    يُتاجره منا به كل رائحِ

    He established on glory's heights a market of bounty,

    where every passerby among us trades with him.

  29. ملا بابه أيدي الأماني مغانماً

    ولا ربحَ إِلاّ عند كلِّ مُسامحَ

    His gate filled the hands of wishes with spoils,

    and profit lies only with openhanded givers.

  30. بضائِعُنا المزجاةُ تنفقُ عندَه

    وانفقها حوليه سوق المدائحِ

    Our meager wares sell readily with him,

    and the market of praises around him makes them sell.

  31. ومدحيَ موقوفٌ عليه إذ الثنا

    توخّى به أربا به كل مانحِ

    And my praise is reserved for him, since praise

    is how every giver has sought an aim through him.

  32. وما مهرُ إِحدى المحصناتِ من النسا

    كمهرِ سواها من ذواتِ التسافُحَ

    And the dower of a chaste woman is not

    like that of other women given to promiscuity.