1. يا من لدمعٍ مارقي وصبيبهِ

    ولوجدِ قلب ما انقضى ولهيبه

    Who will heed my fugitive’s tears and their pouring [reading uncertain],

    and a heart’s unending anguish and its blaze?

  2. ومتيمٍ قد هذبتُه يدُ النوى

    بصحيح وجدٍ غير ما يهذيبه

    And a love-stricken man whom the hand of separation has refined

    with genuine passion, not something he merely raves about.

  3. خانته مهجته فما تمشي على

    عاداته الأولى ولا تجريبه

    His soul betrayed him, and no longer follows

    his former habits or his experience.

  4. هم على تركِ الهوى ركبته

    فاطاعها وعصى على تركيبه

    He resolved to leave passion; she overpowered him,

    so he obeyed her, rebelling against his own nature.

  5. وحشى تعشقه الغرام وحله

    قسرا وليس بكفوه وضريبه

    A wild creature whom passion adored and inhabited

    by force, though it was neither his equal nor his peer.

  6. يا قلبُ خنت وأنت من يجبا الوفا

    ما مثل فعلك صالح بنجيبه

    O heart, you betrayed, though loyalty is expected of you;

    a deed like yours does not befit a noble soul.

  7. ما كنتَ تكرمَ ضيفَ شوقِ بِاللقا

    ووصا له أبداً ولا تقريبه

    You never honored longing’s guest with a meeting,

    or union with him, ever, nor by drawing him near.

  8. يا هندُ قد اضرمتِ من نكر الجفا

    في القلب ما لاينطفي وغريبه

    O Hind, through the horror of estrangement you have kindled

    in the heart what cannot be quenched, with all its strangeness.

  9. أنا منعرفت غرامه فاستخبري

    عن حال مأخوذِ الجفا وسليبه

    I am the one whose passion you knew; inquire

    about the plight of estrangement’s captive and the one it has despoiled.

  10. شاب العذول النصح منه فمعه بي

    كمشوب ما أهداه لي ومعيبه

    The reproacher adulterated his counsel; [the closing phrase is unclear],

    like the tainted thing he gave me, and its flaw.

  11. لنفس ذيبي إِهلكت فان تسلَ

    ممن به هذا فقل من ذيبه

    For my wolf’s soul I was destroyed [wording uncertain]; if you ask

    by whom this befell him, say, ‘By his wolf.’

  12. يا نفس أكثرت التأسف فاعملي

    بالصبر عن واهي الهوى وقريبه

    O soul, you have lamented too much; practice

    patience in renouncing feeble passion and its kin.

  13. فالدهر قد جلب السرور بأحمدٍ

    فبدرهه أنا آمن وجليبه

    For time has brought joy through Ahmad,

    so by his full moon I am safe—and his captive [reading uncertain].

  14. الناصرَ الملك الذي انتهب العلى

    والمجدُ كل الفخرِ في منهوبه

    Al-Nasir, the king who seized the heights

    and glory: all honor lies in his spoils.

  15. ملكُ ملا الدنيا علا ومتى رأى

    أدنى السنا نادى العلى ملى بهِ

    A king who filled the world with loftiness; whenever he saw

    the faintest radiance, he called to the heights, ‘Be filled with it!’ [reading uncertain]

  16. يا خليه روعى البلاد واسمعي

    فتكا بيوم جهوله وأريبه

    O [unclear addressee], terrify the lands and make them hear

    of slaughter on a day for its foolish and its discerning.

  17. بل قسمي أعداه بين قتيله

    وأسيره كي يشتفى وحريبه

    Rather, divide his enemies among his slain

    and his captives and despoiled foes, so he may find satisfaction.

  18. فقضاؤه حق العلى لي مطرب

    فاعجب لحق ينقضي وطريبه

    His paying greatness its due is a delight to me;

    so marvel at a debt discharged, and at the one it delights.

  19. حفظ العهود فما مضى لي مثلها

    فأضاعها ابن حسيبه ونسيبه

    He kept covenants such as I had never known before,

    then the son of his noble kinsman squandered them.

  20. يا نائب الرحمن كم من نعمةٍ

    وافتك منه غير ما تنوى به

    O deputy of the All-Merciful, how many blessings

    have reached you from Him beyond what you intended!

  21. ما زال ضرع يديْ يمينك حافلا

    لغذيّ جودك مذ نشا وربيبه

    Your right hand, the udder feeding mine, has ever brimmed

    for your bounty’s nursling since he grew, and its foster-child.

  22. كم قلتَ عطشاناً بمورد غيره

    يا مهجتي لا تكثري مريبه

    How often you said, thirsty at another’s watering-place:

    ‘O my soul, do not increase his misgivings.’

  23. وإذا الندى نادى به اقتل فاقة

    لوحيد عصرك قال قل أذويبهِ

    And when bounty called through him, ‘Slay poverty!’

    to the peerless man of your age, he said, ‘Say: I wither through it’ [reading uncertain].

  24. فلسوف أمدحه وأملا محرقاً

    لازال قطرك يرتضى فهمي به

    So I shall praise him and fill what is scorched;

    may your rain ever satisfy my understanding.

  25. وأَصخ لصوتٍ العندليب فقد شذا

    وارم الغراب مسكتا لنعيبه

    And listen to the nightingale’s voice, for it has spread fragrance,

    and pelt the crow, silencing its cawing.

  26. وتهنه عيداً به تعد العلا

    لك حال لف المجد أو تشريبه

    And enjoy a feast in which the heights prepare

    for you a state of enfolding glory or infusing it [wording uncertain].