تعلمت من أجفانه نفثة السحر

فضمنته في كل قافية شعري

I learned from his eyelids the breath of magic;

so I wove it into every rhyme of my verse.

وعلمني سجع البلابل ورده

فيا روض خديه النضير أنا القمري

And his rose taught me the warbling of nightingales;

so, O lush garden of his cheeks, I am the turtledove!

جرى في نثنيه الربيع أما ترى

تلون خديه بمختلف الزهر

Spring flowed through his curves—do you not see

his cheeks colored with flowers of every hue?

ومرت على ألطافه نسمة الصبا

فمال وقلنا إنها نشوة الخمر

And a breath of the east wind passed over his delicate charms;

so he swayed, and we said, 'It is wine's intoxication.'

سكرت فما أدري أمن خمر ريقه

وقد ساغ أم من خمر مقتله سكري

I grew drunk, and know not whether from the wine of his saliva—

so smoothly swallowed—or from the wine of his slaying came my drunkenness.

وكررت ذكراه فلم تطف غلتي

وهل تنطفي نار الصبابة بالذكر

And I repeated his remembrance, but it did not quench my thirst;

can the fire of passionate longing be extinguished by remembrance?

خذوا حذركم من حاجبيه فإنني

أخذت من السهم الذي راشه حذري

Beware of his eyebrows, for I

took my warning from the arrow that he feathered.

حمت ثغره الألمي عقارب صدغه

فيا ويل من يدنو لحامية الثغر

The scorpions of his temple guarded his dark-lipped mouth;

woe to whoever approaches the frontier's garrison!

نصبت له القلب المعنى درية

ففاجأه من حيث يدري ولا يدري

I set up my tormented heart as a target for him;

then he surprised it from where it knew and did not know.

وأرسل من تلك الجعود سلاسلاً

فأوقعن ذاك القلب في شرك الأسر

And he sent chains from those curls,

and they cast that heart into the snare of captivity.

ونبأني مذ أرسل الجفن منذراً

على فترة أن الجفون من النذر

And he told me, when he sent his eyelid as a warner,

after a lapse, that eyelids are among the warners.

بخيلٍ ولكن في الزيارة واللقا

جواد ولكن في القطيعة والهجر

Miserly—but in visits and encounters;

generous—but in estrangement and abandonment.

تبسم في وجه الدجى فأناره

وزينه بالدر مبسمه الدري

He smiled into the face of darkness and lit it up;

his pearly smile adorned it with pearls.

تموج ماء الحسن في صحن خده

نميراً فقلنا الماء سال على الجمر

The water of beauty rippled in the basin of his cheek,

pure and sweet; we said, 'Water has flowed over embers.'

أيا واهناً خصراً ومثر روادفاً

حناناً على ذاك الفقير من المثري

O frail of waist, yet rich in haunches,

mercy from the wealthy upon that poor one!

قطعتك أماراً على السخط والرضى

فأنت لدى الحالين ممتثل الأمر

I cut you off, issuing commands in anger and contentment;

in either state, you obey the command.

وصرحت في شوقي فما نلت ساعةً

فما أنا خنساء البلابل يا صخري

And I declared my longing, but gained not an hour;

so I am no Khansa of sorrows, O my Sakhr.

لقد صرعتني أوجه قمريةٍ

وأدرك قلبي غزوة الحب في بدر

Moonlike faces have indeed struck me down,

and love's battle overtook my heart at Badr.

وآمنت في فتح العيون نواعساً

إا بنيت تلك العيون على الكسر

And I believed in the conquest of languid eyes,

when those eyes were fashioned for breaking.

فيا فجر خديه المبين ضياؤه

أعيذك من ليل العذار إذا يسري

O dawn of his cheeks, whose light shines clear,

I seek protection for you from the night of cheek-down as it steals in.

كشفت الدجى عنا وغردت صادحاً

بعرس علي طائر السعد والبشر

You dispelled the darkness from us and sang aloud

at Ali's wedding, a bird of good fortune and gladness.

فتىً كرمت أعراقه فتطاولت

علواًعلى هام المجرة والنسر

A youth whose noble roots stretched

high above the heads of the Milky Way and the Eagle.

مساعيه مثل الشهب حسناً ورونقاً

ولكنها جلت على العد والحصر

His endeavors are like shooting stars in beauty and brilliance,

yet they are too great to number or encompass.

طلعن بأفق المكرمات صفاته

فلا نكر لو فاقت على الأنجم الزهر

His qualities rose on the horizon of noble deeds;

no wonder they surpassed the bright stars.

لقد نظمت عقداً على منحر العلى

فأصبح وسط العقد من ذلك النحر

They have strung a necklace upon the throat of exalted rank,

and he became the necklace's centerpiece upon that throat.

تربي بحجر الفضل طفلاً فأصبحت

مساعيه تنميه إلى البيت والحجر

He was reared as a child in virtue's lap, and then

his deeds came to trace his lineage to the House and the Stone.

تفرس منه عمه عفة الردى

فكان كما شاء الإباطيب الأزر

His uncle discerned in him chastity of the cloak,

and he proved as he wished—[unclear epithet concerning waistcloths].

أخو المجد كفاه أماناً وملجأ

فيمناه من أمن ويسراه من يسر

A brother of glory, his two hands are safety and refuge;

his right hand is of security, his left of ease.

تواضع فاستعلى على النجم راقياً

وأكبره الرائي وحاشاه من كبر

He humbled himself, and so rose, ascending above the star;

the beholder deemed him great, yet pride is far from him.

لقد ظهرت منه الضمائر مخلصاً

بأعماله للَه في السر والجهر

His inner intentions have indeed become manifest: he is sincere

in his works for God, in secret and in public.

يرى النقل من أفعاله مثل فرضه

فلم يقتصر منها على الشفع والوتر

He regards voluntary deeds as he does his prescribed duty,

and does not restrict them to the paired and single prayers.

لياليه يحييها خشوعاً وخشيةً

فكل الليالي عنده ليلة القدر

He keeps his nights alive in humility and awe;

every night, for him, is the Night of Decree.

تأمل بمعناه إذا رمت مدحه

فمعنى علي القدر جل عن الفكر

Ponder his essence if you seek to praise him;

for the essence of Ali, exalted in rank, is beyond thought.

إذا هل أتى نص أتت بمديحه

فأين مقام الشعر من محكم الذكر

If the text of 'Has there come...' has brought his praise,

where does poetry stand beside the definitive Reminder?

رسى حلمه طوداً ووقره الحجى

ولكنه طبعاً أرق من الخمر

His forbearance stands firm as a mountain, and reason dignifies him,

yet in temperament he is more delicate than wine.

إليك علي القدر شعري رفته

وإن لم أكن للشعر عندي من قدر

To you, Ali of lofty rank, I raise my verse [reading uncertain],

though poetry has no standing with me.

وما أنا ممن يبخس الشعر حقه

وقد قال خير الخلق إن من الشعر

And I am not one who denies poetry its due,

and the best of creation said, 'Indeed, some poetry...'

ولكن رأيت الشعر في العصر دولةً

مضعضعةً من غير نهي ولا أمر

But I have seen poetry in this age as a realm

in disarray, with neither prohibition nor command.

أما لأسود الشعر عذر إذا رأت

ثعالبه في غير ميدانها تجري

Have poetry's lions no excuse when they see

its foxes running outside their proper field?

لك القلم المجوال إما مضاؤه

فأصدق في الهيجا من البيض والسمر

Yours is the far-ranging pen; as for its sharpness,

it is truer in battle than white swords and brown spears.

عليم بما خلف الحجاب محدث

بما كان في الأيام من عالم الذر

Knowing what lies behind the veil, it relates

what happened through the ages, from the world of primordial particles.

إذا استترت عنه معانيه أصبحت

على رغمها مهتوكة الحجب والستر

If its meanings hide from it, they become

despite themselves, stripped of veils and coverings.

بسفر العلى يملي فتحسب أنه

عن الغيب ما يمليه في ذلك السفر

It dictates in the book of exalted deeds, and you suppose that

what it dictates in that book comes from the unseen.

فكان كموسى قد أتى بيمينه

عصاً أبطلت ما يأفكون من السحر

Thus it was like Moses, who brought in his right hand

a staff that nullified the magic they fabricated.

قدم مالكاً عمر الزمان تحاط من

معاليك بأن المجد في عسكر بحر

May you remain a ruler for time's whole span, surrounded by

your lofty deeds—for glory is in Bahr's host.