نَظَرَ الشَّاعِرُ حُسْـ

نَظَرَ الشَّاعِرُ حُسْـ

ـناً حَقُّهُ أَنْ يُعْبَدَا

ـناً حَقُّهُ أَنْ يُعْبَدَا

The poet beheld a beauty

whose due was to be worshipped.

رَام أَنْ يَرْسِمُهُ

رَام أَنْ يَرْسِمُهُ

لِلنَّاسِ رَسْماً مُخْلِدَا

لِلنَّاسِ رَسْماً مُخْلِدَا

He sought to portray it

for the people in an image that would immortalize it.

غَيْرَ أَنَّ الشِّعْرَ

غَيْرَ أَنَّ الشِّعْرَ

لَمْ يُبْلِغْهُ ذَاكَ المَقْصَدَا

لَمْ يُبْلِغْهُ ذَاكَ المَقْصَدَا

Yet poetry

did not bring him to that goal.

وَإِذَا غَايَةُ مَا فِي

وَإِذَا غَايَةُ مَا فِي

وُسْعِهِ أَنْ أَنْشَدَا

وُسْعِهِ أَنْ أَنْشَدَا

And lo, the utmost that lay within

his power was to sing:

كُلُّ فَنٍّ يَا مُفَ

كُلُّ فَنٍّ يَا مُفَ

دَّاتِي لِعَيْنَيْكِ فِدَى

دَّاتِي لِعَيْنَيْكِ فِدَى

“Every art, O my cherished one,

is a sacrifice for your eyes.”