أحلى الهوى للعاشقين أمره — Khalil Al Yaziji

أحلى الهَوى للعاشقين أَمَرُّهُ

وَأَشدُّ نَفعاً للمحبّ أَضَرُّهُ

The sweetest love for lovers is its bitterest,

And the most beneficial to the lover is its most harmful.

أَوَما تَرى غنجَ الحَبيبُ وَدَلَّهُ

يَحلو لذوق محبِّه فَيسُرُّهُ

Do you not see how the beloved's coquetry and coyness

Taste sweet to his lover and delight him?

أَفدي غَزالاً كالغَزالة وجهُهُ

وَكأَنَّما زُهرُ الثريّا ثَغرُهُ

I would ransom a gazelle whose face is like the sun,

And whose mouth is like the Pleiades' bright stars.

قتلُ المحبِّ لديهِ في اشجانهِ

عَبدٌ فَعيدَ النَحرِ يمسي نَحرُهُ

Slaying the lover amid his sorrows is, to him,

A feast [the source reads 'a slave']; his slaughter becomes the Feast of Sacrifice.

ما إِن نظرتُ اليهِ الّا صابَني

طَرفٌ كَسيرٌ لَيسَ يُجبرُ كَسرُهُ

Whenever I look at him, I am struck by

A languid glance whose brokenness cannot be mended.

ما بين جفنيهِ مجالٌ للهَوى

يُردى القَتيلُ بِهِ وَيهلك ثأرُهُ

Between his eyelids lies an arena for love,

Where the victim is slain and vengeance for him is lost.

أَوَ ما ترى الدمَ سائِلاً من مقلتي

لكن عَلى وجناتِهِ محمرُهُ

Do you not see blood flowing from my eye,

Yet its redness is upon his cheeks?

لِلَّه وجنتُهُ وَقَلبي والهَوى

فالكلُّ جمرٌ قد تأَججَّ حَرُّهُ

How wondrous, by God, his cheek, my heart, and love—

All are embers whose heat has flared.

وَنَحيلُ جِسمي في الغَرام وعطفُهُ

وَعُقودُ دَمعي في هَواهُ وَنَحرُهُ

And my body, wasted by passion, and his slender waist,

And the necklaces of my tears in loving him, and his neck.

ملكُ الجمال سطا على مِلك الهوى

وَبجُند هاتيك اللواحظ نَصرُهُ

The king of beauty raided love's possessions,

And his victory is won by the army of those glances.

نصرٌ من اللَه العَزيزِ بفتحها

فتحاً قَريباً لَيسَ يُدرَكَ سِرُّهُ

A victory from God, the Mighty, through their opening—

A conquest close at hand, whose secret cannot be grasped.

لا دَرَّ دَرُّ هَوىً لدى الخَنساءِ من

ظَبياتهِ قد ذاب وجداً صخرُهُ

No blessing on love: before al-Khansa, one of

Its gazelles, its Sakhr has melted with longing.

يَكسو اخا الشرف العَزيز حساسةً

حاشا شَريفاً قد ترفَّع قَدرُهُ

It clothes the man of proud honor in abasement [uncertain reading];

Far be it from Sharif, whose worth has risen high.

مولىً عزيز النفس عالي همَّةٍ

سامي المقام كَريم اصلٍ حُرُّهُ

A lord of proud soul and lofty ambition,

Exalted in station, of noble, freeborn stock;

عَفُّ الإِزار حصيف قَلبٍ طاهرٍ

طابَت خَلائقهُ وأُخلص سرُّهُ

Chaste of loincloth, discerning and pure of heart,

His character is excellent, and his inmost self is purified.

متأَصّل النَسب العَريقِ كرامةً

متكمّل الحسب الشَريف أَغَرُّهُ

Deep-rooted in lineage, ancient in honor,

Perfect in noble distinction, its radiant exemplar;

متوقِّد الافكار يَجلو رأَيُهُ

نوراً جلا لَيلَ الغواية فجرُهُ

His thoughts aflame, his judgment reveals

A light whose dawn dispelled the night of error.

قد قام في دَست الوزارة فاِكتَسى

شرفَ العلى وبِهِ تشدَّد أَزرُهُ

He has taken the ministerial seat, and it was clothed

In lofty honor; through him its strength was fortified.

وَلكُلُّ ما يولي الشَريفُ مُشرَّفٌ

كالنَهر يُكسِبُهُ التدفّقَ بحرُهُ

And everything Sharif bestows is ennobled,

Like a river whose sea imparts its flow.

سَهُلت لديهِ من الامور صِعابها

لما غدا فيها مُطاعا امرُهُ

For him, difficult affairs became easy

When his command in them came to be obeyed.

وَغدا زِمام الدهر طوعَ بنانه

اذ بات مكشوفاً لديهِ سرُّهُ

And time's reins yielded to his fingertips,

As its secret lay revealed before him.

وَهُو الَّذي ضبَط البلاد بِكفِّهِ

لما حوى ما عنهُ ضاقَت صدرُهُ

And he it is who held the lands in his grasp,

When he encompassed what his breast was too narrow to contain.

يَرنو بفكرتهِ فيوشِكُ ما يُرى

بالعين منهُ ان يُراهُ فكرُهُ

He gazes with his thought, and what is seen

By his eye is nearly perceived by his mind.

وَالناس فيهِ على اختلاف ضروبهم

كالفرد يجمعهم ثناهُ وَشكرُهُ

And people, in their regard for him, despite their varied kinds,

Are as one, united by praise and thanks for him.

تتعطَّر الارجاءُ من ذكرٍ لَهُ

وَيَضوعُ ما بين النَسائم عطرُهُ

The surroundings are perfumed by the mention of him,

And his fragrance wafts among the breezes.

فاذا يهبُّ نسيمُ روضٍ عاطراً

فَهناك طيب ثنائِهِ لا نشرُهُ

So when a garden breeze blows fragrant,

There is the perfume of his praise, not the garden's scent.

مَسعودُ جَدٍّ قارن التَوفيقَ في

قُطرٍ غدا باليُمنِ يَزهو بِشرُهُ

Blessed in fortune, he was accompanied by success in

A land whose gladness now shines with good fortune.

فَتَرَنَّمَت اطيارُهُ وَتَراقَصَت

اغصانُهُ وافترَّ يَبسِم زَهرُهُ

So its birds sang, and there danced

Its branches, and its blossoms opened, smiling.

وَجرت مياهُ الأَمن فيهِ كانها

نهرٌ يَفيض كما تدفَّق نهرُهُ

And the waters of safety flowed within it, as though

A river overflowing, as its own river surged.

فزها بها رَوض الهناءِ كَما اِنطفا

لَهبُ العناءِ بها وأُخمِد جمرُهُ

So through them the garden of bliss bloomed, while there went out

The flame of suffering through them, and its embers were quenched.

وَصَفا الزَمان بِهِ بظلّ أَميرِهِ

وَزَزيرهِ وغدا يسيراً عُسرُهُ

And time grew serene there, beneath the shade of its emir

And its minister; its hardship turned to ease.

بُشرى لِمَصرٍ بالشَريف لأَنَّها

حازَت بِهِ شرفاً تسامى فَخرُهُ

Glad tidings to Egypt in Sharif, for she

Gained through him an honor whose glory rose high.

متزيّنٌ بحلى العلى متواضعٌ

حيثُ العلاءُ بِهِ تشامخ كِبرُهُ

Adorned with the jewels of eminence, yet humble,

While loftiness through him has towered in its pride.

حازَ الكَمالَ ولاح في أُفُقِ العلا

فَرداً فقال الناس هَذا بَدرُهُ

He attained perfection and shone on the horizon of eminence,

Peerless; the people said, 'This is its full moon.'

وَتلألأَت اوصافُه الحُسنى وَلَم

تُحصَر فقال الناس هذي زُهرُهُ

And his finest qualities glittered, and could not

Be counted; the people said, 'These are its stars.'

أَخلاقُ فَضلٍ ذكرها مدحٌ لَها

كالمِسكِ ابلغ من ثناهُ نشرُهُ

Virtuous traits: to mention them is to praise them,

Like musk, whose fragrance is more eloquent than praise of it.

يا اوجَ محمدٍ ليس تُحصى زُهرهُ

يا بحرَ فضلٍ لَيسَ يُحصَر دُرُّهُ

O zenith of Muhammad, whose stars cannot be numbered;

O sea of bounty, whose pearls cannot be counted!

أنتَ الشَريف كَما سُميت وَحسبُنا

بين الملا شَرَفاً من اسمك ذكرُهُ

You are Sharif—the noble—as you were named; it is enough for us

As honor among the people simply to mention your name.