عهدي يا جفان من اهواه منكسره

فكيف أضحت على العشاق منتصره

I remember you, O eyelids of the one I love, downcast;

so how have you become victorious over lovers?

إن العيون وقاك الله نظرتها

يفعلن في اللب ما لا تفعل السحره

Indeed, the eyes—may God shield you from their glance—

do to the mind what sorcerers cannot do.

يا للهوى من مجيري من هوى رشأ

أسياف أجفانه بالفتك مشتهره

Alas for love! Who will shield me from loving a young gazelle

whose eyelids' swords are renowned for slaying?

ما شمت بارق ثغر من ثنيته

إلا وأجريت من دمعي له مطره

Never did I glimpse his mouth's lightning from his front tooth

without pouring forth a shower of my tears for it.

محجب بالقنا كم من قتيل هوى

قضى وبالوصل منه ما قضى وطره

Screened by spears—how many a victim of love

has died without fulfilling his desire for union with him!

قد صاغه الله من غصن ومن قمر

لخلقه فتنة سبحان من فطره

God fashioned him from a bough and a moon,

as a temptation to His creatures—glory to Him who created him!

لو لم يكن خده ماء الحياة به

ما كان عارضه ابدى لنا خضره

Had the water of life not been within his cheek,

the down upon it would never have shown us green.

ساق يطوف بها خمراء صافية

من ورد خديه ام من فيه معتصره

A cupbearer goes round with it, clear red wine—

is it pressed from his cheeks' roses, or from his mouth?

ومن ذوائبه ليلا ابان لنا

ومن محياه قد ابدى لنا قمره

And from his tresses he revealed a night to us,

and from his face he showed us its moon.

نشوان يختال من فرط الدلال وقد

رقت وراقت معاني حسنه النضره

Intoxicated, he struts in excessive coquetry, and

the radiant charms of his beauty have grown delicate and lovely.

حلو الفكاهة ابدى قده غصنا

ومن محاسنه ابدى لنا ثمره

Sweet in wit, he displayed his figure as a bough,

and from his charms he showed us its fruit.

من فرقه وثناياه ومبسمه

شهر الوصال لقد ابدى لنا غرره

From his hair's parting, his front teeth, and his smiling mouth,

the month of union has shown us its bright beginnings.

تكاد تنقد من لين معاطفه

واللمس يؤلمه من رقة البشره

His limbs almost fall apart from softness,

and touch pains him, so delicate is his skin.

وخصره كاد ان يخفى لرقته

كأنما هو من حالي قد اختصره

His waist almost vanishes from its slenderness,

as though he had condensed it from my own condition.

وشعره لا تسل عنه سوى مقلي

فليس يدري الدجا الا الذي سهره

As for his hair, ask none but my eyes about it;

for none knows night-darkness but one who has kept vigil through it.

لم انس اذ زارني خنح الدجا حذرا

من الوشاة وليل الشعر قد ستره

I have not forgotten when he visited me at nightfall, wary

of tale-bearers, while the night of his hair concealed him.

وماس يسحب اذيال الشباب وقد

تضوع الروض من انفاسه العطره

He swayed, trailing the skirts of youth, while

the garden grew fragrant from his perfumed breaths.

والليل داج وعين النجم فيه لنا

ترعى الى ان قضينا بالمنى سحره

Night was dark; the star's eye within it was there for us,

keeping watch until we spent its predawn hours amid wishes.

وادهم الليل ولى وهو منهزم

واشقر الصبح يقفو خلفه اثره

And night's black steed fled in defeat,

while dawn's chestnut steed followed in its tracks.

والشمس في الاكوان قد بزغت

للشرب حتى بدت في الشرق منتشره

The sun had risen throughout creation,

for the drinkers, until it appeared spread across the east.

والورق غنت على عيدانها طربا

لما لها جس عواد الهوى وتره

The doves sang in rapture upon their boughs,

when love's lutenist plucked his string for them.

والسحب قد اقبلت والزهر قد ضحكت

ثغوره ودموع الطل منحدره

The clouds approached, and laughter filled the flowers'

mouths, while tears of dew streamed down.

والارض اهدت لنا درا ذخائرنا

منظما ونسيم الروض قد نثره

The earth bestowed on us pearls, our treasures,

strung together, and the garden breeze scattered them.

ومطرب القوم احيا البسط حين به

ابدى السرور ومنه ما انطوى نشره

The company's singer revived delight when, through it,

he revealed joy and unfolded what lay folded within it.

والعيش صاف وانواع الكمال غدت

بالسيد الماجد المفضال مفتخره

Life was serene, and all forms of perfection grew

proud of the illustrious, munificent lord.

فهو الحسيب النسيب الاريجي اخو

العلياء وابن الكرام السادة البروه

For he is noble in standing and lineage, generous-hearted, brother of

lofty honor, and son of noble, righteous lords.

مولى مواهبه لم تنحصر وبه

كل المحاسن والاوصاف منحصره

A lord whose gifts know no bounds, yet in him

all merits and qualities are contained.

اليه يسند مرفوعا حديث عطا

يروي لنا بشره عن نافع خبره

To him is ascribed, raised high, the report of giving (ʿAtaʾ);

his glad face relates his story to us from Nafiʿ ('beneficial').

هذا الذي ما اتاه طالب صلة

الا وعائده بالجود قد غمره

This is he whom no seeker of a gift approaches

without his overwhelming that visitor with generosity.

فكيف سبعا يقولون البحور غدت

ومن يديه نراها ابحرا عشره

How, then, can they say the seas have become seven,

when from his two hands we see them as ten seas?

هباته ليس يطوى ذكرها ابدا

وكيف لا وهي في الآفاق منتشره

The memory of his gifts is never folded away;

how could it be, when they are spread across the horizons?

فقل لمن يشتكي ربب الزمان ومن

دهر الضر به نبه لها عمره

So speak to one who complains of time's vicissitudes, and of

an age that harmed him, his lifetime [apparently] prey to them.

يا واحد العصر يا كهف النوال ومن

بالحمد يثني عليه كل من نظره

O peerless one of the age, O refuge of bounty, and one

whom all who behold him extol with praise,

خذها قصيدا تردت بالحياء وقد

اتت اليك عن التأخير معتذره

Accept this poem, cloaked in modesty; it has

come to you apologizing for its delay.