ماس من التيه في غلائل

بدر بديع الجمال كامل

He swayed with pride in gauzy robes,

a full moon, wondrous in beauty, perfect.

جذلان يهتزّ من دلال

نشوان من رقة الشمائل

Joyous, swaying with coquetry,

intoxicated by the delicacy of his graces.

ظبي كحيل الجفون ساج

قد روت السحر عنه بابل

A gazelle, kohl-dark of lids and tranquil-eyed,

from whom Babylon has transmitted magic.

معتدل القد غصن بان

عليه قد هاجت البلابل

Well-proportioned in stature, a bān-tree bough,

over whom the nightingales have grown excited.

مهفهف يانع رطيب

ريان والقد منه ذابل

Slender, blooming, fresh,

well-watered, yet his figure droops.

قوامه عادل ولكن

مع الهوى لا يزال مائل

His stature is upright, but

in love he never ceases to lean.

عذاره بالجمال مثر

مع انه في الخدود سابل

His cheek-down is rich in beauty,

though it hangs down along his cheeks.

بدا بشعر كليل هجري

طولا وما نلت منه طائل

He appeared with hair like the night of my abandonment—

long—and I gained nothing worthwhile from him.

للبدر لو لاح مذ تبدى

يوما لولى وعاد آفل

As for the full moon, had it shone since he appeared,

for a day, it would have turned away and set again.

اذا رنا وانثنى دلالا

ويلاه من ناظر وعامل

When he gazes and sways coquettishly,

alas for me, from an eye and a spear-shaft!

تشاكلا خصره وجسمي

فذا سقيم وذاك ناحل

His waist and my body resemble one another:

this one is sickly, and that one slender.

من لي به والعذار اضحى

لسيف اجفانه حمائل

Who will bring him to me, now that his cheek-down has become

sword-belts for the sword of his eyelids?

اسال دمعي اسى وعندي

من ذلك الدمع صار حاصل

Grief has made my tears flow, and I have

a store accumulated from those tears.

وكم اعاصيه وهو هام

ومن سحاب الجفون هامل

And how often I resist them as they stream,

and pour from the cloud of my eyelids!

يا ابي من رشأ كريم

ممنع بالوصال ياخل

O my father, what a noble fawn—

unapproachable in union, O friend!

معسل الريق ليتني لو

كنت لذاك الرضاب عامل

Honey-sweet in saliva—if only I

were a worker bee for that nectar!

ما ضره والرقيب غاف

لو زارني وهو عنه غافل

What harm would it do him, with the watcher dozing,

if he visited me while the watcher was unaware of him?

في ليلة فرعه دجاها

لا ينقضى الليل وهو سائل

On a night whose darkness is his tresses,

the night never ends while his hair streams on.

والغيث ينهل مستمدا

من كاتب السر يوم نائل

And the rain pours down, drawing replenishment

from the confidential secretary on a day of bounty.

مولى به في الانام سادت

آل اجا السادة الافاضل

A lord through whom mastery among mankind came to

the house of Aja, those virtuous lords.

محمود الأفعال والسجايا

كنز الندى مجمع الفضائل

Praiseworthy in deeds and dispositions,

a treasure of generosity, a gathering-place of virtues,

الطيب الاصل في انتساب

وغرة الدهر في الاصائل

of noble stock in his lineage,

and the age's shining brow among the nobly born.

من طاب في ظله مقبلي

وعمّ بالجود كل قائل

He in whose shade my coming was sweet,

who lavished generosity upon every speaker.

البارع الفضال الذي لو

ضاهاه قس لعاد باقل

The brilliant, bountiful man whom, if

Quss sought to match, Quss would become Baqil.

كذاك سحبان لو رآه

يوما لانساه ذكر وائل

Likewise Sahban, if he saw him

one day, would be made to forget Wa'il's name.

محامد الوصف في علاه

قامت ببرهانها الدلائل

The praises describing his eminence

are borne out by the proofs that support them.

بحر سريع الوفا مديد

بسيطه وافر وكامل

An ocean, swift in keeping faith, far-reaching,

whose expanse is abundant and complete.

بالغير من قاسه لعمري

اخطا وما البحر كالجداول

Whoever has compared him with another, by my life,

has erred: the sea is not like streams.

بالجود الامثال فيه سارت

وما له في الورى مماثل

Proverbs of his generosity have traveled far,

and he has no equal among mankind.

يرى عليه العطاء فرضا

ويتبع الفرض بالنوافل

He regards giving as a duty upon himself,

and follows that duty with voluntary offerings.

لا يسمع اللوم يوم بذل

حاشاه يصغى تقول قائل

He hears no reproach on a day of giving;

far be it from him to heed a speaker's slander.

تليد مجد سديد رأي

شديد بأس اغر باسل

Of inherited glory and sound judgment,

mighty in battle, illustrious, valiant.

اقلامه في الطروس تنشي

بدائع الحسن في الرسائل

His pens upon the pages compose

wonders of beauty in letters.

بالجود قد اينعت واضحت

تمدها بالندى الانامل

Through generosity they have ripened, and now

his fingertips nourish them with dew.

يا من به المدح قد تحلى

وكان من قبل ذاك عاطل

O you through whom praise has been adorned,

though before that it was unadorned,

عبدك بالظل منك يرضى

وذلك الظل منك وابل

your servant is content with shade from you,

and that shade from you is a downpour.

فامنن وجد يا سحاب جودٍ

في كل عام به وقابل

So grant favors and be generous, O cloud of bounty,

with it, each year and the year to come.

وخذ عروسا اليك تجلى

بحسنها تشرق المحاقل

And take a bride unveiled before you,

whose beauty makes the cultivated fields shine.

في المدح منها عليك درع

من الثنا سائغ وفاضل

In praise, from her comes a coat of mail upon you,

of eulogy, pleasing and ample.

من كل بيت بديع معنى

مشيد بالطباق آهل

From every verse of wondrous meaning,

built high with antithesis and well inhabited.

فانت كفوه لها وكافٍ

وخير مولى ونعم كافل

For you are its equal, and sufficient for her,

the best of lords and an excellent guardian.

لا زلت بالسعد في علو

ترقى الى اشرف المنازل

May you ever, with good fortune, rise on high,

ascending to the noblest stations.

ولم تزل طالعا مجدا

الى العلا والحسود نازل

And may you ever rise, striving,

toward the heights, while the envious man descends,

ما ولد الجود غيث فضل

وباب ضرع النوال حافل

as long as generosity begets a rain of bounty,

and the gate of giving's udder remains full.