هو الشوق حتى يستوي القرب والبعد

وصدق الوفا حتى كأن القلى ود

Such is longing that nearness and distance become alike,

And such is true fidelity that aversion seems affection.

فلا رقدت عين يؤرقها هوى

ولا خمدت نار يسعرها خد

May no eye that love keeps wakeful ever sleep,

Nor any fire kindled by a cheek die down.

ألا في سبيل الأعين النجل ما جرى

بمنعرج الجرعاء حيث انطوي العهد

Ah, all that befell was for those wide eyes,

At the bend of al-Jarʿāʾ, where the old bond was folded away.

عشية أدناني وأقصاهم الهوي

برغمي وأرضاهم وأسخطني البعد

That evening, love brought me near and drove them far,

Against my will, while distance pleased them and angered me.

تذكر عيشاً قد طوى نشره النوي

وعفراً عفا من سربها الأجرع الفرد

Recall a life whose unfolding separation folded away,

And pale gazelles whose herd left the lone sandy slope desolate.

خليلي نجدٌ تلك أم أنا حالم

لقد كذبتني العين ما هذه نجد

My two friends, is that Najd, or am I dreaming?

My eyes have surely deceived me: this is not Najd.

بلى هذه نجد فأين ظباؤها

أحجبها عزام اغتالها فقد

Yes, this is Najd—but where are its gazelles?

Has pride veiled them, or has loss slain them?

وما صنعت من بعدنا تلكم الدما

وكيف ذوت هاتيكم القضب الملد

And what have those dolls done since our departure?

And how have those supple boughs withered?

أرثت يد الأيام برد جمالها

وخيط بأيدي الحادثات لها برد

The hand of days wore out the cloak of their beauty,

And calamities' hands stitched them a cloak.

كأن قد أضل البين في عرصاتها

مني أو عليها في فؤاد النوي حقد

As though separation had lost, within its courtyards,

Some hopes—or distance bore a grudge against it in its heart.

لقد خلدت مما دهاك جهنم

بأحشائنا يا جنة فاتها الخلد

Hell has indeed become eternal through what befell you,

Within our entrails, O paradise denied eternity.

خليلي ما أبديتما ود مخلص

أما فيكما هزل إذا لم يكن جد

My two friends, you have shown no faithful friend's affection;

Have you no jest, if you have no earnestness?

أفوق سواد الليل تبغي نجومه

غشاء فلم لم تصح أعينها الرمد

Above night's blackness, do its stars seek

A veil? Then why have their sore eyes not healed?

كأن تعالى اللَه ذا البدر في السما

مليك مطاع والنجوم له جند

As though—God be exalted—this full moon in the sky

Were an obeyed king, with the stars for his army.

كأن سماء الليل روض منمق

حمائله مسك أزاهره ند

As though night's sky were an ornate garden,

Its garlands musk, its blossoms fragrant nadd.

كأن الدجى والبرق والزهر ناهد

من الزنج يزهيها فيضحكها العقد

As though darkness, lightning, and the stars were a budding-breasted maiden

Of the Zanj, whose necklace adorns her and makes her smile.

كأن الثريا كف نقاد استوى

على نطع سبج فوقه نثر النقد

As though the Pleiades were the hand of a coin-assayer seated

On a jet-black leather mat, with coins scattered upon it.

كأن نجوم الليل من حيرة بها

ركائب تسوي ما لها في السرى قصد

As though the stars of night, in their bewilderment,

Were mounts on the move, with no goal in their night journey.

كأن وميض البرق في حالك الدجا

صفاء بقلب قد توطنه الحقد

As though lightning's flash in the pitch-black darkness

Were purity in a heart where rancor has made its home.

كأن الكرى سر كأن الدجا حشا

كأن المنى طفل كأن الرجا مهد

As though slumber were a secret, as though darkness were a bosom,

As though wishes were a child, as though hope were a cradle.

كأن السها معنى دقيق بفكرة

فآونة يخفى وآونة يبدو

As though al-Suhā were a subtle meaning within a thought,

Now hidden, and now appearing.

كأن الدجى والفجر يفتق رتقه

مواطن غي قد أناخ بها الرشد

As though darkness, while dawn tears open its seam,

Were abodes of error where guidance has encamped.

كأن الصبار سل الصباح إلى الربى

بسر أذاع الشيخ خافيه والرند

As though the cactus drew morning forth to the hills,

With a secret whose hidden part the elder and the laurel divulged.

كأن طلابي المجد والدهر دونه ترقب

طيف حال من دونه السهد

As though my pursuit of glory, with time barring it, were awaiting

A phantom, with sleeplessness standing in its way.

كأن يراعي خائض بطن ظلمة

فيلفظ لي من فيه جوهره الفرد

As though my reed pen were wading into the belly of darkness,

Then spitting forth for me from its mouth its peerless jewel.

كأن المعاني السانحات لخاطري

كواعب زارت ما لزورتها وعد

As though the meanings that come unbidden to my mind

Were budding-breasted maidens who came without a promised visit.

كأن حسام الدين عاهد نجله

على طلب العليا فلم يخفر العهد

As though Ḥusām al-Dīn had made a pact with his son

To seek the heights, and he did not break the pact.

فقام بعبء الكد في طلب العلى

ومن واصل الراحات صارمه الجد

So he shouldered the burden of toil in seeking high rank,

And whoever consorts with ease is forsaken by good fortune.

وكم بين من غد الظبا أعين الظبا

ومن دأبه ضرب المهند لا هند

How far apart are one who takes gazelles' eyes for blades

And one whose habit is wielding the Indian blade—not Hind.

همام تناجينا مخايل عزمه

بأن إليه يرجع الحل والعقد

A high-souled man whose signs of resolve whisper to us

That all loosing and binding rest with him;

وان على أعتابه تقصر العلى

وان إلى آرائه ينتهي الحد

And that high rank falls short at his thresholds,

And that the utmost limit is reached in his counsels.

همت راحتاه للعدى وعفاته

فمن هذه سم ومن هذه شهد

His two palms pour forth upon foes and his petitioners:

From this one comes poison; from that one, honey.

من القوم قد صانوا حمى حوزة العلى

طريفاً وصابتهم معاليهم التلد

Of a people who guarded the sanctuary of the realm of greatness,

Newly won, while their inherited glories rained down upon them.

هنالك ألقى رحله البأس والندى

وألقى عصا التسيار واستوطن المجد

There valor and generosity laid down their packs,

And glory cast down its journeying staff and settled there.

حديقة فضل لا يصوح نبتها

وبحر عطاء ما لساحله رد

A garden of excellence whose growth never withers,

And a sea of giving whose shore knows no refusal,

ورقة أخلاق تسير بها الصبا

وبأس له ترمي فرائسها الأسد

And gentle manners borne abroad by the east wind,

And valor before which lions throw down their prey.

قطفنا جنى جدواه حيناً ولم يزل

علينا له ظل من البر ممتد

We plucked the fruit of his bounty for a time, and still

His shade of goodness stretches out over us.

وغاب وعندي من أياديه شاهد

وواعجبا من أين لي بعدها عند

He was absent, yet I have a witness to his favors;

And oh, what wonder! How could I be defiant after them?

وآب فلا ورد البشاشة ناضب

لديه ولا باب المكارم منسد

And he returned: the rose of welcome has not withered

With him, nor is the gate of noble deeds barred.

فيا أوبة ذابت لها كبد النوى

لأنت برغم البعد في كبدي برد

Then, O return that melted separation's liver!

You are surely coolness in my liver, despite distance.

وفاء بلا وعد من الدهر حيث لم

يكن قبل قسطنطينية باللقا وعد

Fulfillment without a promise from time, for no

Promise of meeting had been made before Constantinople.

أروض المني واللَه يبقيك أخضرا

أبن لي هل آس نباتك أو ورد

O garden of wishes—may God keep you green!

Tell me: are your plants myrtle or roses?

هنيئاً لقسطنطينية الروم قد قضت

لبانتها واسترجع المنصل الغمد

Joy to Constantinople of the Romans, for it has fulfilled

Its desire, and the sheath has reclaimed the blade.

أرانيه فيها اللَه والدهر لائذ

بأعتابه والوفد يزحمه الوفد

May God show him to me there, with time taking refuge

At his thresholds, delegation crowding delegation.

إليك إمام الفضل منا توجهت

ركائب مل الأفق يزجى لها الوفد

Toward you, leader of excellence, have set out from us

Mounts filling the horizon, toward which delegations are urged.

معان هي السحر الحلال وحسبها

من السحر ان يثني عليك بها الضد

Meanings that are lawful magic; it is enough for them

As magic that even a foe praises you through them.

كأن قوافيها عمائم غلمة

خصورهم نحل قدودهم مُلد

As though their rhymes were turbans of youths,

Whose waists are slender and whose figures are supple.

تهنى بك العيد الذي قد أفضته

على حلب مذ جئت يقدمك السعد

The festival rejoices in you—the festival you have poured

Upon Aleppo since you came, with good fortune leading you.

سرور على الشهباء فاضت فعيدت

بفاضله الأمصار والغور والنجد

Joy overflowed upon al-Shahbāʾ, and celebrations arose

From its surplus in the cities, the lowlands, and the highlands.