نعم الصديق المصيب في أنبه

حلب ضرع الشؤن من اربه

Excellent is the friend who is right in his reproach.

Milking the udder of the tear-ducts is among his aims.

لم يدر إلا ان كان يلعب بالعشق

إذا العشق صار يلعب به

He knew only that he was playing with love,

When love began playing with him.

بل علم الكيمياء ناظره

فآض فضيه إلى ذهبه

Rather, his eye learned alchemy,

So his silver turned into his gold.

إن عيوناً حذرت غارتها

يغار فيها المسلوب من سلبه

Indeed, there are eyes whose raid I feared,

Over which the plundered man envies his plunderer.

وهل يرى لو علقت رأى هوى

من لم يعد الحياة في وصبه

And, if you fall in love, can anyone share love's view

Who does not count life among his torments?

لا واخذ الله في دمي رشأً

يسأل بعد الإتلاف عن سببه

May God not hold a fawn to account for my blood,

Who asks, after the destruction, what caused it.

واعجباً كيف خان عهد فتى

يجزع من ريقه على شبه

And how strange! How could he betray a youth's pledge,

Who fears his saliva will harm his alum-white teeth?

حسبي من الغي انني رجل

يبغي رضا من رضاه في غضبه

It is folly enough for me that I am a man

Who seeks the favor of one whose pleasure lies in his anger.

كفى شجي ما ذممت يوم أسى

إلا كررت الثنا على عقبه

Grief enough for me: never have I blamed a day of sorrow

Without renewing my praise of it in its wake.

ولا ترقبت حل مقتبل

إلا تمنيت آن منقبله

Nor have I awaited the arrival of a coming day

Without wishing for the time before it.

فاغتبط العيش ان أمثل يو

ميك الذي أنت غير مرتقبه

So rejoice in life: the better of your two

Days is the one you are not expecting.

ولتعذر الدهر ان بشرك قد

أو همه شاكرا على نوبه

And excuse Time, for your cheerfulness has

Made it think you grateful for its calamities.

وذات حذق بالدر قد صرفت

نفيس نقد الشباب في جلبه

And one skilled in pearls has spent

Youth's precious currency in procuring them,

حتى رمى سوقها الكساد فما

يميز التبر فيه من تربه

Until stagnation struck her market, so that

Raw gold cannot be distinguished there from its dirt.

حركتها للقيام فانتبهت

تسأل كم فات الدهر من حقبه

I stirred her to rise, and she awoke,

Asking how many of Time's ages had passed.

قلت القريض القريض فابتسمت

تبسم المستغيض من عجبه

I said, 'Poetry, poetry!' and she smiled

The smile of one vexed by his astonishment.

قلت ابن عبد العزيز فابتدرت

تمسح وجه القريض من شحبه

I said, 'Ibn Abd al-Aziz!' and she hastened

To wipe the pallor from poetry's face,

تبرز فيه غريب صنعتها

علما بأغراب جود منتهبه

Displaying in it the marvel of her craft,

Knowing the wonders of its plunderer's generosity.

مولى لو ان المفاخر افتخرت

لا نتسبت في الورى إلى نسبه

A lord who, if glories themselves could boast,

Would trace their lineage among mankind to his.

مستكبر الخلق عن تكبره

محتجب بالوقار عن حجبه

Too lofty in character for arrogance,

Veiled by dignity rather than by his curtains.

من فتية في الأنام عادتهم

فك أسير الزمان من كربه

One of youths among mankind whose custom is

To free Time's captive from his distress.

قوم يروا هز مهد طفلهم

شيناً إذا لم يهتز من أدبه

A people who deem the rocking of their infant's cradle

A disgrace, unless it sways at his refinement.

عليك قطب العلى تدور بنا ال

آمال دور الرحى على قطبه

Around you, pivot of glory, revolve our

Hopes, as a millstone turns upon its pivot.

إذا انثنى عن ثناك طالبه

رأى المعالي تجد في طلبه

When one seeking to praise you turns back from it,

He sees high honors earnestly pursuing him.