أيها العاذل دعني والصبا

ليس يصغي لعذول مسمعي

O reprover, leave me to youthful passion.

My ear does not heed a faultfinder.

تخذ القلب التصابي مذهبا

فهو عن صبوته لم يرجع

The heart has made youthful dalliance its creed,

and has not turned back from its infatuation.

ما لمن خان عهوداً للهوى

أن يرى مما جنى معتذرا

One who betrayed love's pledges has no right

to be seen excusing the wrong he has done.

كل من زل عن النهج هوى

وجرى في سقر مع من جرى

Whoever strays from the path falls,

and runs into Saqar with those who ran there.

عرف السر يقيناً من روى

عن بني عذرةٍ يوماً خيرا

He surely knew the secret who related

good things about Banu 'Udhra one day.

ونجا من قد توقى العطبا

وقضى من عشقه في خدع

He escaped who guarded himself against ruin,

and he perished whose love was steeped in deceit.

ورعى حق الهوى من شربا

جرع الحتف بسفح الأجرع

And he honored love's due who drank

death's draughts at the foot of al-Ajra'.

معهد أصبوا إلى أيامه

كلما هبت شمال وصبا

A dwelling-place whose days I yearn for,

whenever the north and east winds blow.

ولغير البيض من آرامه

أبداً ما مال قلب وصبا

And toward none but its fair gazelles

has a heart ever inclined or yearned.

وهم بين ربي أعلامه

أكسبوا جسمي المعنى وصبا

While they were among the hills of its landmarks,

they brought sickness upon my tormented body.

فسقاهم وسقى عهد الصبا

بالغضا كل ملثٍ ممرع

So may they and the days of youth be watered

at al-Ghada by every lingering, verdure-giving cloud.

ورعى الرحمان هاتيك الظبا

بثنيات الربى من لعلع

And may the Most Merciful protect those gazelles

in the hill-folds of La'la'.

ما رعى حق غرام أبداً

من غدا عن مذهبي منحرفا

No one has ever honored passion's due

who turned aside from my creed.

وتردى في الهوى من وردا

مورداً ما ذقت منه غرفا

And he fell to ruin in love who came

to a watering-place from which I tasted no handful.

ومن اختار طريقاً للهدى

فليكن في بردتي ملتحقا

And whoever chooses a path to guidance,

let him join me in my cloak.

ومتى شاء لرشد مركبا

فليخض في لجج العشق معي

Whenever he wants a vessel for right guidance,

let him plunge with me into love's deep waters.

وإذا ما خاف موجاً كالربى

قلت يا أيتها الأرض ابلعي

And if he fears a wave like the hills,

I say: 'O earth, swallow it up!'

أنا عبد للهوى لا بل أنا

ربه الناهض في أعبائه

I am love's slave—no, rather I am

its master, rising to shoulder its burdens.

وأنا السالك من غير إنا

سبل الأهواء في أرجائه

And I travel, without delay,

the paths of passions throughout its reaches.

من يكن من دهره ذاق عنا

ونحا قصدي شفي من دائه

Whoever has tasted hardship from his times

and turns toward my way is cured of his ailment.

أو يكن يوماً لرمس ذهبا

قلت يا أيتها النفس ارجعي

Or if one has gone to a grave one day,

I say: 'O soul, return!'

ولكم ساء امرؤ منقلبا

في الردى إذا لم يكن متبعي

How many a man has met an evil end

in destruction, when he was not my follower!

ذكرتني عهد ود سبقا

بالحمى ورق حمام غنت

They recalled to me a bygone bond of love—

the gray doves that sang in the sanctuary.

وكست قلبي المعنى قلقا

عندما حنت وأنت أنتي

And they clothed my tormented heart in unrest

when they cooed and moaned my own moan.

ورنت نحوي فطارت فرقا

لصدى أزعجها من رنتي

They gazed toward me, then flew in fright

at an echo of my cry that startled them.

وترقت تتخطى القضبا

وتغني بشجي مفجع

They rose, hopping over the branches,

and sang in a sorrowful, heart-rending voice.

وإذا ما لحنها آناً خبا

قلت يا أيتها الورق اسجعي

Whenever their song faded for a moment,

I said: 'O gray doves, coo!'

وبدور بين أكناف الحمى

وصلوني بعد ما قد هجروا

And full moons amid the sanctuary's environs

joined me after they had forsaken me.

وسقوني بنت كرمٍ عندما

شربوا منها إلى أن هجروا

They gave me the vine's daughter to drink, when

they drank of it until they babbled.

خمرة كي تسترق العجما

بايعت ما رق منها الفجر

A wine that, to enslave the non-Arabs,

made a pact with the dawn through its delicate essence.

ولكيما تسترق العربا

بايعتها الروم تحت البيع

And, that it might enslave the Arabs,

the Romans pledged allegiance to it beneath the churches.

شمأل لو عبها رث العبا

لرأي تبع بعض التبع

Wine that, were a man in a threadbare cloak to gulp it,

would make him count Tubba' among his followers.

وغزال عن ودادي عدلاً

لا لذنب وعهودي ضيعا

And a gazelle turned aside from my affection,

for no fault, and squandered my pledges.

وبأحكام الوفا ما عدلا

وحقوقي يا لنفسي ما رعى

He did not act justly by the laws of fidelity,

nor honor my rights—alas for my soul!

تخذ الهجران منه بدلاً

عن ودادي ساء ما قد صنعا

He chose, for his part, estrangement as a substitute

for my affection—how evil was what he did!

صد عني ولقلبي عذبا

وورى جمر الغضا في أضلعي

He turned away from me and tormented my heart,

and kindled ghada-wood embers within my ribs.

ولدعوى الحب من كذبا

وشهودي مع نحولي أدمعي

For my claim of love, against whoever denies it,

my witnesses, alongside my wasting, are my tears.

ومهاة كال حسنٍ في الورى

ثابت في في الكون منها ولها

And an oryx—all beauty among humankind [reading uncertain]

is established in the universe, from her and for her.

لو رآها عابد فوق الذرى

وهو شيخ هام فيها ولها

If a worshiper saw her upon the heights,

even an old man, he would fall madly in love with her.

لست بالقبول عذراً أن أرى

تاركاً ما عشت فيها ولها

I will accept no excuse for being seen

abandoning my passionate longing for her while I live.

لحظها الماضي الشبا عقلي سبا

فهو في غمرة سكرٍ لا يعي

Her glance, sharp-edged, captured my mind,

so it is lost in a flood of drunkenness, unaware.

وغدا قلبي به أيدي سبا

فهو مع جسمي لم يجتمع

And through it my heart became scattered like the people of Saba,

and has not reunited with my body.

ذات دلٍّ بظبا أجفانها

قد أعاذت حسنها لا بالرقى

A coy beauty, with the blades of her eyelids,

has shielded her beauty, not with charms.

علم الغصن تثني بأنها

ميلاناً بين بانات النقا

Her ban-tree's swaying taught the bough [reading uncertain]

to bend among the ban-trees of the dune.

ولأن الشمس من أقرانها

غيرةً منها تلظت حرقا

And because the sun is one of her peers,

it blazed, burning with jealousy of her.

شمس خدر نورها ما غربا

م سما الفكر وإن لم تطلع

A sun of the secluded chamber, whose light never set

[from] the sky of thought, even when she did not rise.

طلعت يوماً تميط الحجبا

فأرتني هول يوم المطلع

One day she rose, drawing aside the veils,

and showed me the terror of the day of rising.

وفتاة ما حوت شمس الضحى

ما حوته من جمال وسنا

And a maiden—the morning sun never possessed

the beauty and radiance she possessed.

لم يذق طرفي لما لمحا

جيدها الناصح دهراً وسنا

My eye has not tasted, since it glimpsed

her unblemished neck, sleep for an age.

بالذي أولى المنى والمنحا

وكساك ثوب لطفٍ حسنا

By Him who granted wishes and gifts

and clothed you in a lovely robe of gentleness,

حدثيني واتركي من أنبا

وصليني ودعي عذل الدعي

speak to me, and leave whoever reproached;

unite with me, and leave the impostor's reproaches.

وتخطي ليلة برج الخبا

كي أرى لي سلوةً في يوشع

And step beyond the tent's tower one night,

that I may find consolation in Yusha'.

والبسي نظمي في بدري سنا

أدركا شمسي فخار وسعود

And wear my verse about two moons of radiance

who attained two suns of glory and good fortune,

بليالٍ نال فيهن المنى

كل ذي فضل ومعروف وجود

on nights when wishes were attained

by everyone possessed of virtue, kindness, and generosity.

وغدى الكون يغني طرباً

منشداً رائق أشعاري معي

And the universe began to sing with joy,

chanting my exquisite verses with me,

مطرباً أوصاف نجبا

بقواف مثلها لم يسمع

delightfully singing the qualities of noble men,

in rhymes whose like had never been heard.

شاقه مغنى عروسٍ تجتلي

لشريف قمر الفخر الجلي

Its longing was stirred by the song of a bride unveiled

for Sharif, the radiant moon of glory.

فانبرى ينظم عقداً فضلاً

لشريف والفتى عبد العلي

So it set about stringing a necklace as a gracious gift

for Sharif and the young man 'Abd al-'Ali.