في لحظ عينيه سكر من رحيق فمه

قد زاده حوما طار على حومه

In the glance of his eyes is intoxication from the nectar of his mouth.

It has increased his circling; he soars above his circling [unclear phrasing].

وقد جرى تبر خديه بوجنته

ماء به ازداد جمر الخد في ضرمه

The gold of his cheeks has flowed upon his cheekbone

as water that made the cheek's ember blaze more fiercely.

استغفر الله ما خدّاه من ذهب

والنار لا تلتقى والماء في ادمه

I seek God's forgiveness: his cheeks are not of gold,

and fire and water do not meet in his skin.

بل حمرة الخد من أسياف مقلته

لأن من قتلت لوثته بدمه

Rather, the cheek's redness comes from the swords of his eye,

for whoever it has killed, it has smeared with his blood.

إذا تثنى كغصن فوق حقف نقي

يهتز من فرته لينا إلى قدمه

When he sways like a branch above a pure sand dune,

he sways softly from his head [uncertain reading] to his foot.

وكل كعب كحق العاج تحسبهم

من عنبر خرطوا ذا الغطا بفمه

And each ankle is like an ivory casket; you would think they

carved this lid at his mouth from ambergris.

والخال في الخد ناطور أقام به

يحمى الزهور كبعض الزنج من خدمه

The mole on his cheek is a watchman stationed there,

guarding the flowers like one of the Zanj among his servants.

كأن مبسمه من عقد جوهره

وعقد جوهره من در مبتسمه

It is as though his smiling mouth came from his jeweled necklace,

and his jeweled necklace from the pearls of his smiling mouth.

جسمي وعيناه كل مثل صاحبه

يبدى له مثلما يبديه من سقمه

My body and his eyes are each the other's likeness,

each showing the other the same kind of sickness.

لكن بأجفانه سقم بلا ألم

وسقم جسمي تشكو النفس من ألمه

But his eyelids hold a sickness without pain,

while my body's sickness makes the soul complain of its pain.

واللحظ واللفظ منه ساحران فخذ

من لحظ مقلته حذرا ومن كلمه

His glance and his speech are two sorcerers; take

care against the glance of his eye and against his words.

يا ساكني سفع سلع أدركوا رجلا

الموت في خلفه والموت من أممه

O dwellers on the dark slopes of Salʿ, come to a man's rescue:

death is behind him, and death is before him.

يشكو هواكم ويأبي أن يفارقه

ويلاه من حبكم ويلاه من عدمه

He laments his love for you, yet refuses to leave it.

Woe to me for loving you; woe to me for its absence!

فسائلوا الليل عني فهو يخبركم

بما تعاملني الأشواق في ظلمه

So ask the night about me, for it will tell you

how yearnings treat me in its darkness.

لا شيء احرى من الاهواء تأخذني

في أرض أحمد عدوانا وفي حرمه

Nothing is likelier than passions seizing me

unjustly in Ahmad's land and in his sanctuary.

وسيفه صير الراعي سوائمه

يستا من الذئب في البيدا على غنمه

His sword has made the shepherd tending his grazing flocks

trust the wolf in the wilderness with his sheep.

وصان من بالعرا عن من يهم به

صون الغيور ذوات الريب من حرمه

He has protected those in the open from anyone intent on harming them,

as a jealous man guards those under suspicion among his womenfolk.

الناصر الملك ابن الاكرمين أباً

والفرع عن أصله ينبى وعن كرمه

Al-Nasir, the king, son of the noblest in lineage:

and a branch tells of its root and of its nobility.

انظر إليه تجد ما لا تحيط به

علما وان كنت من أهليه أو حشمه

Look at him: you will find what you cannot encompass

in knowledge, even if you belong to his household or retinue.

وإن ظفرت بتقريب فكن أذنا

تسمع بها كلما يرضيك من حكمه

And if you win his favor, become an ear

through which you hear all that pleases you in his wise sayings.

وخذ ظواهرها وافتش بواطنها

تجد لها مأخذاً ينبيك عن هممه

Take their outward meanings and search their inner depths;

you will find a source for them that reveals his aspirations.

يا من يخادعه فيما يحدثه

بادى حديثك ينبيه بمنكتمه

O you who try to deceive him in what you tell him,

the outward part of your speech tells him what it conceals.

ان كان شيمتك الأسرار تكتمها

فأحمد فهم ما اضمرت من شيمه

If it is your habit to conceal secrets,

then Ahmad's traits include understanding what you conceal.

تطوى عزامئه الدنيا إذا سمعت

بان ليثا بأرض هاج في أجمه

His resolves fold up the world whenever they hear

that a lion in some land has raged in its thicket.

ما أغمد البيض حتى لم يدع عنقا

على اعوجاج ولا انفا على شممه

He did not sheathe the bright blades until he left no neck

crooked, nor any nose upturned in pride.

فكتبه اليوم أغنت عن كتائبه

فعلا وزن بما ضمن من نعمه

So today his letters have made his battalions needless

in deed; weigh them by the favors they contain.

فما يمر بأرض لانبات بها

إلا سقاها الحيا الوسمي من ديمه

For he never passes through a land where nothing grows

without life-giving autumn rain watering it from his steady showers.

وأنبتت منه واهتزت به وربت

وبارك الله للأقوام في قدمه

And it sprouts from that rain, stirs with it, and swells,

and God has blessed his coming for the peoples.

ولم يزل حاكما بالحق يمضيه

ومن أبي حكمه روى الثرى بدمه

He has always ruled with justice, enforcing it,

and waters the soil with the blood of whoever rejects his judgment,

حتى استقامت رجال واهتدت أمم

وانقاد للحق عاصيه على رغمه

until men became upright and nations found guidance,

and whoever defied him submitted to justice against his will.

يحنو على الخلق في ذات الإِله كما

يحنو الكريم إذا استغنى على رحمه

He is tender toward creation for God's sake, as

a noble man, once wealthy, is tender toward his kin.

مولى ولكن يراعيهم ويحفظهم

حفظ الوديعة لا المملوك في خدمه

He is a master, yet he tends and protects them

as one safeguards a trust, not a slave in his service.

فكلهم باسط كفيه مبتهل

يدعو لك الله ان يبقيك في نعمه

So each of them stretches out both hands in supplication,

praying to God for you, that He keep you amid His blessings.