قد نفذت ذخائر الفؤاد

فكم أربي الدمع للسهاد

The heart's treasures are spent.

How long must I nurture tears for sleeplessness?

فؤاد من يحب مثل دمعه

ودمعه مظنة النفاد

A lover's heart is like his tears,

and his tears are liable to run dry.

ان هدأ الليل فطفل مقلتي

يبيت بالنزيف غير هادي

When night grows still, the child of my eye

spends the night bleeding, never soothed.

ومن بكى من النوى فقد رأى

بعينه تقطع الاكباد

Whoever weeps from separation has seen

with his own eyes, livers torn apart.

تمايلوا على الجمال ميلة

فعلموها مشية النهادي

They swayed upon their camels with such a sway

that they taught them the gait of full-breasted maidens.

وما سمعت بالغصون قبلهم

مشت بها اكثبة البوادي

Before them, I had never heard of branches

borne onward by the desert dunes.

فإن تجد يدي على ترائبي

فلا تقل لغيبة الفؤاد

If you find my hand upon my upper chest,

do not say it is because my heart is absent.

وإنما رفعتها لأنها

كانت لهم حمائل الأجياد

I only raised it because it

had served them as a sling for their necks.

حمر الخدود ان تغب فشكلها

بناظريّ داخل السواد

Though the red-cheeked ones are absent, their likeness

lies within the blackness of my eyes.

لاجل ذا الدمع جرى بشوقها

ونظم الياقوت في مجادي

That is why tears flow in longing for them

and string rubies upon my [unclear word].

لا وأبي ومن يقل لا وأبي

فقد تلى الية الأمجاد

No, by my father! Whoever says, 'No, by my father!'

has recited the oath of the noble.

ما عثر الغمض بذبل ناظري

ولا انتنت لطيفهم وسادي

Sleep has never stumbled upon my languid eyes,

nor has my pillow yielded to their phantom.

وهب رشاش مقلتي حبائلا

فأين منها زلق الرقاد

Suppose the spray from my eye were snares—

how far beyond them lies slippery sleep!

آه وآه ان تكن ملء فمي

فإنها مضمضة الصوادي

Ah, and ah! Though they fill my mouth,

they are a mouth-rinse for the thirsty.

قد نفض السمع حديث غيرهم

كما نفضت الصبر من مزادي

My hearing has shaken off talk of others,

as I have shaken patience from my waterskins.

اعاذلي وللهوى غواية

بعت بها كما ترى رشادي

O my reproacher—passion has a lure

for which, as you see, I sold my sound judgment.

ولعت بي وشعلتي كمينة

كفادح يعبث في زنادي

You hound me while my flame lies hidden,

like a fire-striker toying with my fire-steel.

دع الهوى يلعب بي وان تشا

فعدني من عذبات وادي

Let passion play with me, and if you wish,

count me among a valley's swaying boughs.

ما لحق اللوم غبار عاشق

حدا به من المشيب حادي

Reproach has never caught the dust of a lover

driven onward by gray hair's camel-driver.

أما ترى الأفاح حول لمني

حكى ابتسام البرق في البوادي

Do you not see the daisies around my locks,

echoing lightning's smile across the deserts?

بشرني طلوعه بان لي

صج وصال لدجا بعادي

Its rising gave me glad tidings that I would have

a dawn of union for my separation's darkness.

ولم أقل مناصل تجردت

وأكرزت بجانب الأغماد

I did not say, 'These are blades unsheathed

and planted beside their scabbards.'

كأن بيض الشعرات السن

على ضياع رونقي تنادي

The white hairs seem like tongues

crying out at the loss of my luster.

لبست ما اضاعني فاسوتي

كأسوة الجمرة في الرماد

I have donned what effaced me; my plight

is that of an ember in ashes.

وحاك في الرأس ضياه خيمه

ذات طنابين إلى الأفواد

Its radiance wove a tent upon my head,

with two guy-ropes reaching toward my side-locks.

كأنها عمامة لبستها

من يد مولاي أبي الأسعاد

As though it were a turban I had put on

from the hand of my master, Abu al-Asʿād.

مجرد العزم فرنده التقى

وغمده تتسم الأجواد

A drawn blade of resolve, its damascening piety,

its sheath the smile of generous men.

ما عرك الجدب أديم أرضه

ومن يديه فوقها غوادي

Drought has never chafed the skin of his land,

while morning rainclouds from his hands hover above it.

أما ولو ببابه احتمى الدجا

لما اختشى خطب صباح عادي

Indeed, were darkness to seek shelter at his door,

it would not fear an attacking dawn's onslaught;

أو دخل النهار تحت ذيله

ما زحف الليل على العباد

or if daylight entered beneath his robe's hem,

night would never march upon mankind.

لقيته ومن رأى بني الوفا

فقد رأى أهلة الأعياد

I met him; whoever has seen the Banu al-Wafa

has seen the crescent moons of feast days:

الضاربين رفرفاً على العلا

الواضحين غرر الرشاد

those who spread a canopy over the heights,

whose brows shine with right guidance.

هم البحاران حبوا واحتبوا

قلت الحبا دارت على الأطواد

They are two seas, giving gifts and sitting knee-bound;

I say, 'Those knee-wraps encircle mountains.'

تميزوا في الأولياء مثلما

تميز الملوك في الأجناد

They stand apart among the saints, just as

kings stand apart among soldiers.

هم الذين فرعوا خصائص ال

ملوك من خصاصه الزهاد

They are those who derived the prerogatives of the

kings from the poverty of ascetics.

قد نقد المجد لهم صفاتهم

فقد شباة الحسن في الجياد

Glory has assayed their qualities for them,

and found beauty's keen edge wanting in noble steeds.

وقد رأيت فرقدي بني الوفا

كلاهما لمن يضل هادي

I have seen the Banu al-Wafa's two Farqad stars;

each one guides whoever goes astray.

كلاهما منبع فضل وهدى

يكرع منه حاضر وبادي

Each is a spring of bounty and guidance,

from which townsman and nomad drink deep.

فما منهض البركات ذكره

ان نفدت راحلتي وزادي

So, O you whose remembrance awakens blessings,

though my mount and provisions are spent,

أرسلني الحب إليك قاصداً

وارتجى كرامة القصاد

love sent me to you as a seeker,

hoping for the honor accorded visitors.

وفي يدي من المدمج تحفة

قليلة لمثلها الأيادي

In my hand is a gift of tightly woven verse,

such as few hands can offer.

وباثنتين منك ان اجزيتني

غبت عن جوائز الاتشاد

If you reward me with two things from you,

I shall forgo the prizes of recitation:

بنظرة جالبة الوداد

ودعوة قامعة الفساد

a glance that draws forth affection,

and a prayer that drives out corruption.

آه وبارب عسى عناية

وتستقال عثرة الجواد

Ah, O Lord, may there be gracious care,

and may the noble steed's stumble be pardoned,

وتستقر مقلتي بمائها

واكتفى مع الورى جهادي

and may my eye rest, its water still within,

and may my struggle with mankind suffice.

كم ازرع الشكر وما لزرعه

إذا أتى الا بأن من حصاد

How often I sow gratitude, yet its sowing,

when it comes, has no harvest but [unclear].

واتبع الهوى بكل غادر

ليس هواه في سوى عنادي

I follow desire after every faithless one,

whose only desire is to thwart me.

ولي حظوظٌ لا تفيد جملة

كما يخط الطفل بالمداد

I have fortunes that yield no benefit at all,

like a child's scribbling in ink.

تشعبت من الصبا وناصبت

على السرى مخارم البلاد

I wandered many paths through youthful passion, and braved

the lands' mountain passes on night journeys,

بين هوى لخانل ومدحه

لباخل وفرقة لغادي

between love for a deceiver and praise

for a miser, and parting from one who departs.

فانفث الرقى على مخبّل

واطلب الحراك من جماد

So breathe healing charms over a madman,

and ask a lifeless thing to move.

نفرت من قصائدي لانها

إلى الكثير سلم النعادي

I have recoiled from my poems, because they

are a ladder to so much enmity.

لا اسفاً على ذوات اسطر

كأنها مراود الاحقاد

No regret for things made of lines,

as though they were kohl-sticks of rancor.

اليّة لولا هوى بني الوفا

منزّل منزلة اعنقادي

I swear: were it not for love of the Banu al-Wafa,

set in the place of my creed,

وان تكون منهم التفاتة

تثت في شهرة السداد

and that a glance from them might come

to establish my reputation for rectitude,

لما نظمت قولة لقولة

من القوافي الصعبة القياد

I would not have strung one utterance to another

from rhymes so hard to rein.

لكنني ادخرتها وسيلة

ونعم ما ادّخرت من عتاد

But I have stored it up as a means of approach—

excellent indeed is the provision I have stored!