لواحظ تشهر بيض الصفاح

وقامة تخجل سمر الرماح

Glances unsheathe gleaming sword blades,

and a stature puts dusky spears to shame.

يا فتية العشق خذوا حذركم

فقاتلي بالهجر شاكي السلاح

O youths of love, take your precautions,

for he who slays me by desertion is fully armed.

قوامه يطعن مني الحشا

ولحظه يثخن مني جراح

His figure pierces my innermost heart,

and his glance deepens my wounds.

يا قلبي المضنى على هجره

صبرا ففي الصبر النجا والنجاح

O my heart, worn out by his desertion,

be patient, for in patience lie deliverance and success.

ويا عذولي عنه لا تلهني

فالعشق جد ليس فيه مزاح

And O my reproacher, do not distract me from him,

for love is earnest: there is no jesting in it.

واعذر اخا الحب على جهله

فما على اهل الهوى من جناح

And pardon love's brother for his ignorance,

for no blame falls on the people of passion.

وانت يا صاح بعيش مضى

رفقا بسكر الحب ان كنت صاح

And you, my friend—by the life gone by—

be gentle with love's drunkenness, if you are sober.

علقته ريم كناس له

يذل في الحرب اسود الكفاح

I loved him, a gazelle of the covert, before whom

the lions of combat are humbled in war.

عزيز حسن والبها جنده

وكيف لا وهو مليك الملاح

A mighty lord of beauty, with splendor his army—

and how could he not be, when he is king of the fair?

مبرد الريق لنا الجوهري

عن ثغره يروي حديث الصحاح

His saliva is cool; for us, al-Jawhari

recounts from his mouth the account of al-Sihah.

يغنيك من فيه ومن خده

عن وجنة الورد وثغر الاقاح

His mouth and his cheek suffice you

instead of the rose's cheek and the daisies' mouths.

يا خجلة الغصن اذا ما انثنى

قوامه من تحت ذاك الوشاح

Oh, the bough's shame at the swaying

of his figure beneath that sash!

ويا حياء الظبي منه اذا

ما غزلت تلك العيون الوقاح

And oh, the gazelle's shame before him when

those brazen eyes turn amorous!

كم ليلة بت بها ساهرا

من وجهه ارقب ضوء الصباح

How many a night I passed awake,

watching for dawn's light from his face!

ولاح كالبدر فقلنا اما

تخشى على حسنك من قول لاح

And he appeared like the full moon, so we said, 'Do you not

fear for your beauty the words of a reproacher?'

لم انس طيفا منه اذ زارني

وعنبر الليل الشذا منه فاح

I have not forgotten his phantom when it visited me,

and the fragrance wafted from night's ambergris.

وبت بالفرع وبالفرق ما

بين اغتباق منهما واصطباح

And I spent the night with his locks and their parting,

between evening draughts from both and draughts at dawn.

وباللمى من ثغره جاد لي

حتى ترشفت من الريق راح

And with the dusky tint of his lips he indulged me,

until I sipped wine from his saliva.

يا بابي افديه من باخل

قد باعني في الحب بيع السماح

Oh, I would ransom him with my father—such a miser,

who has sold me off in love with lavish ease.

لي اطراحي لذ في حبه

فكل نسكي في هواه اطراح

Being cast aside grew sweet to me in loving him,

for all my worship in his love is self-abandonment.

به فادي زاد لكنني

من شرف الدين ارجو الصلاح

Through him my redeemer grew [wording unclear], yet I

hope for restoration from Sharaf al-Din.

مولى عظيم القدر سامي العلا

عن وصف معناه تكل الفصاح

A lord of mighty standing and lofty eminence,

whose true worth leaves eloquent speakers weary to describe.

من ضاء صبح الجود منه وقد

نادى مناديه الفلاح الفلاح

He from whom the dawn of generosity shone, while

his herald cried, 'Success! Success!'

سباق غايات جواد له

عزم الى شأ والعلا وارتياح

Foremost at every goal, a generous steed with

resolve for far reaches and eminence, and joyful readiness.

طلق محياه جميل اللقا

لوجهه تعنو الوجوه الصباح

Bright is his countenance, gracious his greeting;

before his face, fair faces bow.

لو شاهد الغيث حيا كفه

لراح من عظم الحيا في افتضاح

If the rain beheld the rain-like bounty of his palm,

it would depart in disgrace from overwhelming shame.

بحر مديد وافر كامل

بسيط جود وسريع انسراح

A sea—vast, abundant, perfect—

expansive in generosity and swift in its outpouring.

دونكمُ فالورد منه حلا

ووردك البحر حلال مباح

Take your fill: the draught from him is sweet,

and your drinking from this sea is lawful and permitted.

يمينه تروي السخا عن عطا

ووجهه عن بشر يروي السماح

His right hand recounts generosity from ‘Ata,

and his face recounts liberality from Bishr.

ان كنت قد ابطأت في مدحه

وحدت في الوضع عن الاصطلاح

If I have been slow in praising him

and strayed in composition from convention,

عذرا فما القاصر لي عن رضى

يا صدق من قال تجري الرياح

forgive me: my shortcoming was not by choice.

How true was he who said, 'The winds blow.'

مولاي خذها في الثنا مدحة

بديعة تسكر من غير راح

My lord, accept it as a poem of praise,

exquisite, intoxicating without wine.

بكرا تردت برداء الحيا

تغنى به عن كل خود رداح

A virgin clothed in a robe of modesty,

with which you can dispense with every full-figured maiden.

وافتح لها باب قبول فما

عن بابك اليوم لها من براح

And open for her a door of acceptance, for there is no

departure for her from your door today.

واجلس عنان الفقر عن غيه

فادهم الفقر قويّ الجماح

And hold poverty's reins still against its waywardness,

for poverty's black steed is fiercely unruly.

لا زلت بالاقبال والسعد في

حسن اختتام في الهنا وافتتاح

May you ever, with prosperity and good fortune, enjoy

a fine ending and beginning in happiness.

ولا برحت الدهر في نعمة

وعيشة راضية وانشراح

And may you never cease, for all time, to live in blessing,

and a contented life and gladness,

ما حرك العود نسيم وما

غنت على العيدان ذات الجناح

as long as a breeze stirs a bough, and as long as

a winged creature sings upon the branches.