لو كنتَ حاضر طرفِهِ وفؤادِهِ

أشْفَقْتَ من زَفَراتِهِ وسُهادِهِ

If you had been present to see his condition,

You would have pitied his sighs and pillow.

قد كانَ يرجو أن يلمّ ببرئِه

لو أنَّ طيفك كانَ من عوَّاده

He was hoping to reunite with his beloved,

If only your specter had visited him.

عذَّبتَ طرفي بالسُّهاد ولم تبُت

إلاَّ وطرفك في لذيذ رقاده

You have tormented my eyes with grief, and yet

Your eyes enjoy the comforts of slumber.

ما لي أُعَذِّب في هواكَ حشاشتي

وأذودُ حرَّ القلب عن إبراده

Why should I torment myself with love for you

And protect my burning heart from respite?

وإذا أخَذْتَ بما يبوحُ به الجوَى

أخذ الجوى إذ ذاك في إيقاده

If you heed the confessions of the risen dawn,

The dawn at that time takes to fueling it.

هذا الغرامُ وما مرادك بعده

ممَّا يحولُ جفاك دون مراده

Such is this passion, and what you intend after it,

Turning your aloofness from its purpose.

من كنت أستصفي الحياةَ لقربه

أصْبَحْتُ أرتقبُ الرَّدى لبعاده

The one for whose company I sought life,

I now await demise due to his distance.

أطلقتُ بعدكم الدُّموع وإنْ أكنْ

فيكم أسيرَ الحبّ في أقياده

After you, I let flow rivers of tears, though

I remain enslaved to love in its shackles.

ولقدْ سَدَدْتُ عن العَذول مسامعي

ورأيتُ أنَّ الرَّأي غير سداده

I turned a deaf ear to separation;

I saw that opinion lacked correctness.

يا مَن يلوم على الهوى أهل الهوى

كيف اقتناءُ الصَّبر بعد نفاذه

O you who blame the enamored for their love,

How does one acquire patience once it runs out?

هل أنتَ يومَ البين من شهدائهِ

أم أنتَ يومَ الجزع من أشهاده

Were you on the day of estrangement among its martyrs,

Or were you on the day of anguish among its witnesses?

مَن ذا يُجيرك من لواحظ سربه

ويفكُّ قلبك من يدي صيَّاده

Who can protect you from the fangs of its serpents,

And untie your heart from the hands of its hunters?

يا ربع بلّ لك الأوام متيَّمٌ

إنْ جَفَّ ناظره بماءِ فؤاده

O partridge, the pure of heart are lovesick for you,

When your sight abandons the water of their hearts.

حَكَمْت بما حكم الغرامُ بأهلِهِ

آرامُه فقَضَتْ على آساده

It has judged as passion judges its people,

And so it ruled over their misery.

وكأَنَّما كانت لذائذنا بها

روضاً جَنَيْتُ الغضّ من أوراده

It was as if our pleasures with it

Were a meadow whose fruits I plucked.

لم أنسَ عهدكِ يا أُميمة باللّوى

فسقى الغمام العهد صوب عهاده

I never forgot my pact with you, O Umayma, though

Clouds watered the pact from its place of storage.

أيَّام أصطبحُ المراشف عذبةً

ويفوزُ رائد لذَّةٍ بمراده

Days when I awake on scented pillows,

And a happy leader attains what he desires.

حيثُ الشَّبابُ قشيبةٌ أبراده

إذ كنتُ أرفلُ منه في أبراده

Where youth withers away its blossoms,

When I was adorned by it in its blossoms.

ومضرَّج الوَجَنات من دمِ عاشقٍ

يسطو بذابل أسْمَرٍ ميَّاده

With the cheeks of the passionate stained

By the blood of a lover extolling his beloved.

عاطَيْتُهُ ممَّا يَمُجُّ لُعابُهُ

صَهْباء تكْشِفُ عن صميمِ فؤاده

I gave him that which whets his appetite,

An intoxicant revealing the depths of his heart.

يصفو بها عيشُ النَّديم كأَنَّما

أخَذَتْ عليه العهد من أنكاده

With it the drinker's life becomes serene, as though

It had sworn to him to provide him comfort.

حتَّى إذا ألقى الظَّلام رداءه

واستلَّ سيف الصُّبح من أغماده

Until the night cast off its cloak,

And the sword of dawn unsheathed from its scabbard,

قلتُ اسمحنْ لي ما بخلت بزورةٍ

وهل المحبّ بها على ميعاده

I said, “Permit me, withhold not a visit,”

Does the lover spend his promised time devoid of you?

لا ذاقَ ريقك بعد ذلك إنْ صحا

أو كانَ يعثر غيّه برشاده

Thereafter your saliva knew no sweetness when awake,

Or stumbled confusedly to guidance.

فَسَدَتْ معاملة الحسان لمَفْرِقٍ

نَزَلَ البياضُ به مكان سواده

Dealings of kindness ceased for one who parts;

Pallor settled on him in place of darkness.

وثنى المشيب من الشَّباب عنانه

عن ودِّ زينبه وعشق سعاده

And grey hair turned youth’s rein

From love of Zainab and passion for Su’ad.

ونفاسة الصّمصام في إفرنده

لا في نفاسة غمده ونجاده

The elegance of wine in a crystal vessel,

Not in the elegance of its scabbard and sheath.

سالمت أيَّامي فقال لي العُلى

إنْ كانَ عاداك الزَّمان فعاده

I bid farewell to my days, and Al-‘Ula said to me,

“If time betrays you, then betray it.”

ولقد يعزُّ على المعالي أنْ ترى

مثلي بهذا الدهر طوع قياده

Indeed, it pains the glorious to see the likes of me

In the grip of fate, complying with its lead.

صافيتُ أخلاقي الأَبيَّة دونه

فلينطو أبداً على أحقاده

I refined my noble, defiant nature beyond it,

So let it forever seethe in its grudges.

وأنا القويُّ على شدائد بطشه

عاندته فرَغِمْتُ أنفَ عناده

And I am strong against its tyrannical injustices;

I resisted it, overriding its recalcitrance.

وأراه يمكر بي ويحسَبُ أنَّه

يضطرُّني يوماً إلى أوغاده

I see it plotting against me, thinking

It will one day force me into its lowliness.

هيهات قد تربَّت يداك فدون ما

قد رامَ هذا الدهر خرط قتاده

Never! Your hands have withered, before what

This fate intended in knotting its cord.

ولمنْ أراد من الأَكارم بغية

ألفى أبا سلمان فوقَ مراده

For whoever desires the generous deeds,

He will find Abu Salman above his purpose.

بأسٌ يذوب له الحديد ونائلٌ

كالعارض المنهلّ في إرفاده

A hero whose might melts iron, an attainer

Like lightning that flashes in its pouring.

النَّاس مغتنمون في إبراقه

طوراً ومحترزون من إرعاده

People exploit his shining,

At times, and protect themselves from his thunder.

مستنزل الإِحسان صادق وعده

ومزلزل الأَركان في إيعاده

The abode of kindness, true to his promise,

And the shaker of pillars in his threats.

حسدت مناقبه الكواكبُ في العُلى

حتَّى رأيت البدر من حسَّاده

The stars in the celestial realm envied his virtues,

Until I saw the moon among his enviers.

أمَّا العيال عليه فهي أماجد

والمجد لا ينفكُّ عن أمجاده

As for his family, they are glories,

And glory is never divorced from glories.

يتطفَّلون على موائد فضله

يتبرَّكون بمائه وبزاده

They beg from the tables of his bounty,

Blessed by his water and provision.

طرب الشَّمائل كلَّما استجديته

طرب الشّجاع لحربه وجلاده

The noble spirits are delighted whenever I petition him;

The brave are aroused for his battle and execution.

ولربَّما أجرى اليراعَ فلاحَ لي

بيض الأَيادي من سواد مداده

And perhaps he made well the stricken, so there came to me

White hands from the darkness of his ink.

لله أبلجُ من ذؤابة هاشمٍ

لا زالَ حزبُ الله من أجناده

By the most illustrious of Hashim,

The party of God never ceased to be among his soldiers.

عقل الحوادث أقْلَعَتْ لهياجها

فكأَنَّها مصفودة بصفاده

The minds of calamities recoiled from his ferocity,

As if fettered by his shackles.

لمَ لا يُؤَمَّل للإِغاثة كلّها

من كانَ قطب الغوث من أجداده

Why would not all aid be expected

From one whose ancestors were the pivot of succor?

لحق الكرام الأَوَّلين ولم يزل

في حَلْبَة النجباء سبق جواده

He attained the peerage of the generous ancients, and still

His steed retains precedence in the racecourse of nobles.

فكأنَّما انتقب الصَّباح إذا بدا

إقبالهُ منه على وفَّاده

So it is as if the morning were picking out its splendor

When his rising upon his loved ones appears.

لا تعجبوا لجمال آل محمَّد

نورُ النَّبيّ سرى إلى أولاده

Be not astonished at the beauty of Muhammad's progeny;

The light of the Prophet coursed unto his children.

بيتٌ قواعده قواعدُ يَذْبُلٍ

يَتَعَثَّرُ الحدثان في أوتاده

A house whose foundations are secure,

Upon which the inexperienced stumble in its pegs.

أطواد مجد في العُلى لم ينزلوا

إلاَّ على الشرُفات من أطواده

Pillars of glory in the heights they did not descend,

Except upon the noblest of its pillars.

من كلِّ بحرٍ يستفاض نواله

يا فوزَ من قد راحَ من روَّاده

From every sea its abundance pours forth,

Oh, the blessedness of one who frequented its visitors!

قد تستمدّ العارفون وإنَّما

استمدادها بالفيض من إمداده

The gnostics derive from it, and yet

Its derivation for them is from His provision.

يا أهل ذا البيت الرَّفيع عماده

وانحطَّت الملوان دون عماده

O people of the lofty House, its pillar!

And the anchors fell short of its pillar!

أروي لكم خبر الثناء وطالما

أَوْقَفْت راويه على إسناده

I convey to you the tale of praise, and long have I

Paused its narrator at its chain of transmission.

مستعبد الحرّ الكريم بفضله

لا حرَّ في الدُّنيا مع استعباده

Enslaved to the noble and generous one by his merit,

No freeman remains in the world despite his enslavement.

شاركت أبناء الرجال بما حَوَتْ

يمناكَ بين طريفه وتلاده

You shared with the sons of men what your felicity

Contained between its shores and its expanses.

وإذا تفرَّدَ في الزَّمان مهذّب

ألفيتكَ المعدودَ من أفراده

And if one refined stands alone in the age,

I find you counted among its individuals.

روضي ذوى ولوى الرَّجاء بعوده

فليجر منك الماء في أعواده

My garden blossomed and the hope turned to its fragrance,

So let it draw from you water into its stalks.

يفديك من ملكت يمينُك رقَّه

ورآك ملجأ قصدِهِ ومراده

May he who acquired your patronage ransom you

With his soul, took you as the goal of his purpose.

منع الوصول إلى ذراك بعيده

لا زلت أنْتَ العيد في أعياده

Keeping distant from your presence remains far,

You remain the feast during feast days.

والحظّ يصلد في يديَّ زناده

إنِّي أُعيذُك من صُلود زناده

Misfortune's bolt recoils in my hands from its bow,

I seek refuge in you from the recoil of its bolt.

يا مَن نَعِمْتُ به وأَيَّة نعمة

وسَعِدْتُ بين النَّاس في إسعاده

O you with whom I was blessed, and what blessing!

And I was felicitous among people by gladdening them.

تاجرت في شعري إليك وإنَّما

نَفَقَ القريض لديك بعد كساده

I engaged in poetry to you, and yet

The verse flowed to you after it waned.

ومن الكلام إذا نظرتَ جواهرٌ

يجبى إلى مَن كانَ من نقَّاده

And of speech, when you observe its pearls,

It must be collected by one who is among its appraisers.