أقضيب بان أم قوام أملد

وكحيل طرف أم غزال أغيد

Is it a bān-tree bough, or a supple figure?

And a kohl-dark eye, or a graceful gazelle?

ان قلت ظبي فهو ابهى منظرا

او قلت غصن فهو منه ااميد

If you call him a gazelle, he is lovelier to behold;

or call him a bough: he sways more than it.

رشأ يغار الظبي منه ان رنا

والغصن بطرف ان غدا يتأوّد

A fawn whom the gazelle envies when he gazes,

and a bough with a gaze when he begins to sway.

نشوان قد مالت به خمر الصبا

فالريق يسكر واللحاظ تعربد

Intoxicated, swayed by the wine of youth;

so his saliva intoxicates, and his glances run riot.

حلو التثني بالقوام اذا بدا

فيكاد ذاك القد منه بعقد

Sweet is the sway of his figure when he appears;

that figure of his almost ties itself in knots.

مصري لفظ بابلي ينتمي

للترك منه اللحظ وهو مهند

Egyptian in speech, Babylonian—his gaze traces its lineage

to the Turks, while he is an Indian-forged blade.

هو قاتلي وانا القتيل بحبه

ودمي على وجناته لي يشهد

He is my slayer, and I am slain by love for him;

and my blood upon his cheeks bears witness for me.

فكأنما النعمان وجنة خده

وكأن ذاك الخال فيه الأسود

As though al-Nuʿman were his cheek,

and that mole upon it were al-Aswad, the Black.

اني لأعجب في الهوى من رقة

في خصره والقلب منه جلمد

In love, I marvel at the delicacy

of his waist, while his heart is solid rock.

نقلت صحاح الجوهري بثغره

خبرا رواه الريق وهو مبرد

Al-Jawhari’s Ṣiḥāḥ, in his mouth, conveyed

a report his saliva narrated, itself cooling.

ثغر تجانس بالمحاسن وصفه

فالدر فيه منظم ومنضد

A mouth whose description accords with beauty:

the pearls within are strung and set in rows.

لم انس ليلة زارني فيها وقد

غاب الوشاة بها ونام الحسد

I have not forgotten the night he visited me, when

the tale-bearers were absent and the envious slept.

وغدا يعاطيني سلاف حديثه

وكؤوس عتب بيننا تتردد

He began offering me the choicest wine of his talk,

while cups of reproach passed back and forth between us.

حتى اذا الاجفان ذبلها الكرى

وسرى بها كحل الظلام الآسود

Until, when sleep had wilted the eyelids

and the kohl of black darkness had spread through them,

باتت بمنزلة الوشاح له يدي

ضمّا وبالاخرى غدا يتوسد

my arm spent the night like a sash around him,

clasping him, while he made the other his pillow.

فلثمته لتزول نار تلهبي

فاذا الخدود لهيبها يتوقد

I kissed him to quench the fire of my ardor,

but behold, the flame of his cheeks was blazing.

وطفقت اكتمه الهوى فوشى به

سقمي ودمعي قد غدا يتبرد

I began hiding my love from him, but it was betrayed

by my sickness and my tears, now growing cool.

ثم انثنى عني وولى نافرا

وكذا الغزال اذا تانس يشرد

Then he turned from me and fled in alarm;

so a gazelle, when it grows tame, bolts away.

فظننت ان الطيف منه زارني

او هل يزور الطيف من لا يرقد

I thought his dream-phantom had visited me—

or can a dream-phantom visit one who does not sleep?

يا قاتل الله العذو لالى متى

باللوم يغريني وعنه يفند

Ah, may God smite the reprover! How long

will he goad me with blame and censure me for loving him?

او كيف اسلوه وعامل قده

عدل القوام وفي التثني مفرد

Or how could I forget him, when the spear-shaft of his stature

is straight in form, yet singular in its swaying?

ولنا عن الصحاح يروي بشره

خبرا لابراهيم اضحى يسند

His smiling face relates to us, on sound authority,

a report it now traces to Ibrahim:

مولى اياديه تفيض مكارما

ونداه من جود السحائب اجود

a lord whose favors overflow with generosity,

whose bounty surpasses the generosity of clouds.

وترى السخاء يلوح من اعطافه

وبه سجاياه المليحة تشهد

You see generosity shining from his bearing,

and his gracious qualities bear witness to it.

من قد بني لبني ابيه في العلا

بيتا رفيع المجد وهو مشيد

One who has built, for his father’s sons, in the heights,

a house of lofty glory, firmly raised.

وسما الى العليا ونال مكانة

كيوان دون محلها والفرقد

He rose to the heights and attained a station

beneath which lie Kaywan and Farqad.

بحر سريع الجود الا انه

طابت مشاربه وراق المورد

An ocean swift in bounty, except that

his drinking waters are sweet and his watering place is clear.

واذا بنو الامال عنه بالوفا

صدروا تقول لهم اياديه ردوا

When the sons of hope, their wishes fulfilled by him,

depart, his favors tell them, “Come back to drink!”

يتعلم البحر السخا من جوده

والغيث من راحاته يتعود

The sea learns generosity from his bounty,

and rain learns the habit from his palms.

حدث وقل ما شئت عنه فانه

هو فوق ما فيه تقول وأزيد

Speak, and say whatever you wish of him, for

he surpasses all you say of him, and more.

اقسمت لا يأتي الزمان بمثله

ابدا وليس له نظير يوجد

I have sworn that time will never bring his like,

ever; no equal to him is to be found.

لم يثنه بالعذل عن بذل اللهى

ثان ولا يلهيه عنه مفند

No discourager has turned him, with reproach, from lavishing gifts,

nor has a faultfinder distracted him from it.

ما زال محسودا على عليائه

ان الكريم على علاه يحسد

He has always been envied for his eminence;

indeed, the generous man is envied for his high rank.

مت يا حسود فان مولده اتى

في برج سعد بالهنا يتولد

Die, envious one! His birth took place

under a lucky sign; he was born amid happiness.

انا لست ابرح عن حماه انني

بالجود والاحسان منه مقيد

I will never leave his protection, for I

am fettered by his generosity and kindness.

مولاي ابراهيم يا من كفه

بحر النوال وفضله لا يجحد

My lord Ibrahim, O you whose palm

is an ocean of bounty, and whose excellence is undeniable,

خذ من ثنائي ما تضوع نشره

فلأنت اولى بالثنا من يحمد

take from my praise what diffuses its fragrance;

for you are the worthiest of all who are praised.

لا زالت الاعياد مشرقة بكم

واليكم ايامها تتردد

May the festivals ever be radiant through you,

and may their days return to you again and again,

ما حرك العود النسيم وما غدت

ورق الحمى طربا عليه تغرد

as long as the breeze stirs the bough, and

the gray doves of the protected grounds begin to sing upon it in delight.