حكم اخص بها منادمة الفكر

وأخصها بذوي الغرام من البشر

Maxims I reserve for intimate converse with thought,

And I reserve them for those in love among humankind.

حكم تخرّ لها المسامع سجداً

فتثيبها الدرّ الفريد المبتكر

Maxims before which ears fall prostrate,

And which reward them with peerless, freshly wrought pearls.

شهدت بدائعها بأن مديرها

خدم الغرام وقام فيه على خطر

Their marvels attest that their dispenser

Has served passion and stood within it in peril,

ودعا لدين الحب في فتراته

والحب أحسن ما يسام وما يسر

And preached the faith of love during its lulls;

And love is the finest of what is sought and what is concealed.

حسنت قوانين الأمور وإنما

قانونه يسبي العقول بلا وتر

The laws of worldly affairs are fine, yet

Love's law takes minds captive without a bowstring.

فترى بدستور الغرام أسيرنا

لا يفتدى وقتيلنا دمه هدر

Thus, under passion's code, you see our captive

Unransomed, and our slain one's blood unavenged.

دانت لطاعته الجوارح واختفى

ويجل عن حد ووقت ينتظر

The limbs submitted to its rule, while it stayed hidden,

And it transcends any limit or awaited hour.

وبعكس طبع المرء ينفذ أمره

وجرى القضاء بأن يطاع إذا أمر

And its command takes effect against a person's nature,

And fate decreed it must be obeyed when it commands.

يستخرج الدر الفريد من النهى

ويهذِّب الأخلاق في زمن الصغر

It draws peerless pearls from the intellect,

And refines character in the years of childhood,

ويعطِّر الأرواح في نفحاته

ويخلد الذكر الجميل المفتخر

And perfumes souls with its fragrant breaths,

And immortalizes fair renown worthy of pride.

واحذر لحاظ الغيد إن لم تستطع

صبراً وكن من سودهن على حذر

And beware the glances of graceful maidens, if you cannot

Bear them patiently; and guard against their black eyes.

واسلم بنفسك إنني لك ناصح

وسل الخبير بها ودع خطط الخطر

And keep yourself safe; I am your sincere adviser.

And ask one versed in them, and forsake paths of peril.

ودع النفوس تميس في روض المنى

طمعاً ولا تجنِ الثمار من الشجر

And let souls sway in the garden of wishes,

In longing; and do not pluck fruit from the trees.

فالحب أصدقه لدى العشاق ما

عزَّت مطالبه وعز المصطبر

For among lovers, the truest love is that

Whose aims are hard to attain, and whose steadfast sufferer is rare.

واحفظ حديث الحسن عمن قد رأى

من آيه الكبرى وما زاغ البصر

And retain the tale of beauty from one who has seen

Some of its greatest signs, his sight never straying.

والحسن لا تسع العبارة وصفه

وتطاول الشعراء فيه من القصر

And beauty's description is beyond the compass of words,

And poets have stretched to reach it, for they fall short.

وانظر إلى شعر المليح ظفيرة

ظفرت بتقبيل المواطىء والأثر

And look at the fair one's hair: a braid

That has won the privilege of kissing his trodden ground and footprints.

وكأنها ألف بليت بجرها

ما كنت أعهد قبلها ألفاً تجر

And it is like an alif afflicted with being dragged;

Before it, I had never known an alif to be 'dragged' into the genitive.

وانظر لطرّته وغرّته معاً

وأدر لحاظك في الصباح وفي السحر

And look at his forelock and his radiant brow together,

And turn your gaze through morning and the predawn hour;

ترَ آيتين ومن عجائب ما ترى

قمر الجمال يلوح من فلك الغرر

You will see two signs; and among the wonders you see

Is beauty's moon, shining from the sphere of radiant brows.

وانظر لقوسي حاجبيه وقد رمى

بهما فؤاد المستهام بلا وتر

And look at his eyebrows' two bows: he has shot

The lovestruck heart with them, without a bowstring.

قرنا على قتلي رؤوسهما وما

أبصرت بينهما طريقاً للمفر

They joined their tips to kill me, and I have not

Seen any path between them by which to flee.

وانظر إلى سود اللحاظ كأنها

بيض مجردة لسفك دم البشر

And look at the black eyes, as though they were

White blades unsheathed to shed human blood.

سكرى تميس من النعاس وكلما

شهرت أسنّتها يميل بها السكر

Drunken, they sway from drowsiness; and whenever

They bare their spearheads, drunkenness makes them lean.

وانظر إلى ثغر العقيق وقف لدى

شفة الجمان وحيّ بارقة الدرر

And look at the carnelian mouth, and stand beside

The lip of pearl beads, and greet the gleam of pearls.

وانشق أريج المسك من نفحاته

ورد اللمى وسل التزوُّد بالنظر

And inhale musk's fragrance from his breaths;

And come to drink at the dusky lips, and seek provisions through gazing.

وانظر إلى جيد الأَغن كأنه

كأس من البلور قم بما أسر

And look at the soft-voiced one's neck, as though it were

A cup of crystal; act upon what he has confided.

وارقب طلوع الفجر من أزراره

واعذر لطلعته المؤذن في السحر

And watch dawn rise from his buttons,

And, for his radiant face, excuse the muezzin before dawn.

وانظر لمختصر الخصور بدقّة

وسل الكثيب يريك شرح المختصر

And look closely at the 'abridgment' of waists,

And ask the sand-dune: it will show you that abridgment's commentary.

تر إنما بي من نحول في الهوى

فعل وفاعله الضمير المستتر

You will see that my wasting away in love

Is but an act, and its agent is the hidden pronoun.