عهدي يا جفان من اهواه منكسره

فكيف أضحت على العشاق منتصره

I knew you, O eyelids of the one I love, to be downcast;

how, then, have they come to triumph over lovers?

إن العيون وقاك الله نظرتها

يفعلن في اللب ما لا تفعل السحره

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

work upon the mind what sorcerers cannot.

يا للهوى من مجيري من هوى رشأ

أسياف أجفانه بالفتك مشتهره

Alas for love! Who will rescue me from love of a young gazelle

whose eyelids' swords are renowned for killing?

ما شمت بارق ثغر من ثنيته

إلا وأجريت من دمعي له مطره

I never glimpsed his mouth's lightning flashing from his front tooth

without bringing it rain from my tears.

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 longing for union with him!

قد صاغه الله من غصن ومن قمر

لخلقه فتنة سبحان من فطره

God has fashioned him from a branch and from a moon,

a temptation for His creatures—glory to the One who formed him!

لو لم يكن خده ماء الحياة به

ما كان عارضه ابدى لنا خضره

Were the water of life not present in his cheek,

the down upon it would not have shown us its greenery.

ساق يطوف بها خمراء صافية

من ورد خديه ام من فيه معتصره

A cupbearer passes around clear, ruby-red wine,

pressed from the roses of his cheeks—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 countenance he showed us its moon.

نشوان يختال من فرط الدلال وقد

رقت وراقت معاني حسنه النضره

Intoxicated, he struts with excessive coquetry, while

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

حلو الفكاهة ابدى قده غصنا

ومن محاسنه ابدى لنا ثمره

Sweetly witty, he displayed his stature as a branch,

and from his beauties 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 revealed to us its first bright nights.

تكاد تنقد من لين معاطفه

واللمس يؤلمه من رقة البشره

His limbs are so supple they almost split apart,

and touch pains him, so delicate is his skin.

وخصره كاد ان يخفى لرقته

كأنما هو من حالي قد اختصره

And his waist nearly vanishes, so slender is it,

as though he had made it an abridgment of my own condition.

وشعره لا تسل عنه سوى مقلي

فليس يدري الدجا الا الذي سهره

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

for none knows night's darkness except 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

And he swayed, trailing the hems of youth, while

the garden grew fragrant with his perfumed breaths.

والليل داج وعين النجم فيه لنا

ترعى الى ان قضينا بالمنى سحره

The night was dark, and the star's eye within it

watched over us until we spent its predawn hours in desired pleasures.

وادهم الليل ولى وهو منهزم

واشقر الصبح يقفو خلفه اثره

The black steed of night turned away in defeat,

and the chestnut steed of dawn 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 spreading across the east.

والورق غنت على عيدانها طربا

لما لها جس عواد الهوى وتره

The ringdoves sang joyfully upon their branches,

when love's lute-player plucked his string for them.

والسحب قد اقبلت والزهر قد ضحكت

ثغوره ودموع الطل منحدره

The clouds had come, and the flowers smiled

with their mouths, while tears of dew streamed down.

والارض اهدت لنا درا ذخائرنا

منظما ونسيم الروض قد نثره

The earth gifted us pearls—our treasures—

strung in order, while the garden breeze had scattered them.

ومطرب القوم احيا البسط حين به

ابدى السرور ومنه ما انطوى نشره

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

he revealed joy and unfolded what of it had lain hidden.

والعيش صاف وانواع الكمال غدت

بالسيد الماجد المفضال مفتخره

Life was serene, and every kind of excellence became

proud of the noble, munificent lord.

فهو الحسيب النسيب الاريجي اخو

العلياء وابن الكرام السادة البروه

For he is the esteemed, well-born al-Ariji, brother to

high glory and son of noble, righteous lords.

مولى مواهبه لم تنحصر وبه

كل المحاسن والاوصاف منحصره

A lord whose gifts are boundless, yet within him

all virtues and fine qualities are contained.

اليه يسند مرفوعا حديث عطا

يروي لنا بشره عن نافع خبره

To him is traced, exalted, the tradition of giving (ʿAṭāʾ);

his gladness (Bishr) relates its report to us from Nāfiʿ, the beneficent.

هذا الذي ما اتاه طالب صلة

الا وعائده بالجود قد غمره

This is the man whom no seeker of a gift has approached

without his visitor being flooded with generosity.

فكيف سبعا يقولون البحور غدت

ومن يديه نراها ابحرا عشره

How, then, can they say the seas number seven,

when from his two hands we behold ten seas?

هباته ليس يطوى ذكرها ابدا

وكيف لا وهي في الآفاق منتشره

The remembrance of his gifts is never folded away;

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

فقل لمن يشتكي ربب الزمان ومن

دهر الضر به نبه لها عمره

So tell whoever complains of time's vicissitudes, and of

an age of suffering that besets him—rouse his life to those gifts [wording unclear].

يا واحد العصر يا كهف النوال ومن

بالحمد يثني عليه كل من نظره

O peerless one of the age, O refuge of bounty, you whom

everyone who beholds you extols with praise,

خذها قصيدا تردت بالحياء وقد

اتت اليك عن التأخير معتذره

accept this poem, draped in modesty; it has

come to you apologizing for its delay.