إذا أنت لم ترعَ البروقَ اللوامحا

ونمتَ جرى من تحتِكَ الماء طافِحا

If you do not heed the flashing lightning,

And sleep, the water will flow beneath you, brimming over.

غرستَ الهوى بالوصل ثم احتقرتَه

فأهملته مستأنساً ومُسامِحا

You planted love through union, then held it cheap;

You neglected it, complacent and indulgent.

ولم تدرِ حتى أينعَت ثمراتُه

وهبَّت رياح الهجر فيه لواقِحا

You did not know until its fruits had ripened,

And the winds of estrangement blew through it, bearing pollen.

وأمسيتَ تستدعي من الوصلِ عازِباً

عليك وتَستكري من النوم نازِحا

Now at evening you summon a union absent

From you, and seek to hire sleep, though it too is far away.

فأما حديثي كيف قضَّيتُ ليلتي

فإني وجدت الدهرَ سكرانَ طافِحا

As for my tale—how I lost my night—

I found Time drunken, brimming over.

فقابلتُ إنساناً بإنسانِ مُقلتي

فألفيتُه في ماءِ خديه سابِحا

I brought a man face-to-face with the little man of my eye,

And found him swimming in the water of his cheeks.

فبرح بي لون التباريح واقفاً

على خدِّه من خدِّه ليسَ بارِحا

A form of torment sorely afflicted me, standing

Upon his cheek—from my cheek—never departing.

وفي العذر ما يلقاك أسود حالكاً

يقوم عليه أبيضُ اللون واضِحا

There is an excuse: what meets you is pitch-black,

With manifest white rising over it.

وولَّى وطال الشوق والليل بعده

ووكل طرفي بالطويلين ماسِحا

He turned away; after him, longing and night both lengthened,

Leaving my gaze to sweep across those two long reaches.

وماذا على المهموم من طولِ ليله

إذا اعترضَ الهمُّ المُماسي مُصابِحا

What does the troubled man care how long his night may be,

When grief assails him at evening and again at morning?

وأين يكون المستجدُّ من الضَّنى

وقد شَغلَ الماضي الحشا والجَوانِحا

And where could newly arising sorrow find a place,

When the old has filled the heart and ribs?

نوائب لو كانت توالت صروفها

بحيث يراها صالحٌ كنت صالِحا

Calamities—their turns came one upon another;

Had a righteous man seen them, I would have been made whole.

ولكن خَلت بي حيثُ لا يَبطش الندى

فيُخشى ولا يُصغي إذا قمتُ مادِحا

But they singled me out where generosity neither strikes so as to be feared,

Nor listens when I rise to offer praise.

إلى أن دَعاني جودُه فاستَجرها

ولم أدر من ألقى إليه النصائِحا

Until his generosity summoned me, and I sought its protection from them;

I had not known to whom I should address my sincere words.

فأقبل بي راجٍ من العُرف غادِياً

وولَّى بها ناجٍ من الخوفِ رائِحا

At dawn, hope of favor brought me to him;

At dusk, escape from fear bore me away.

فتىً ينظر الأقوالَ من غير فعلِه

فيُبصر فيها من نداهُ ملامِحا

A noble youth who considers words apart from his own deeds,

And sees within them the features of his largesse.

فمجدٌ يحثُّ القول من كلِّ قائلٍ

إليه وجودٌ يستحثُّ القَرائِحا

Glory urges the words of every speaker

Toward him, while generosity quickens poetic gifts.

وإن أشرقَت ألفاظُه فطروسُه

دجى الليل ما بين النهارين جانِحا

Though his words shine, his pages are

The darkness of night inclining between two daylights,

بأرقشَ ماضٍ ما يداوي جريحه

وقد ينشر الموتى ويأسو الجرائِحا

Inscribed by a speckled, keen point: none can heal the one it wounds,

Yet it may revive the dead and mend injuries.

إذا أنا قلت الشعر فيك وجدته

من الشعر ممدوحاً وإن كان مادِحا

Whenever I speak poetry of you, I find it

Praised among poems, though it is itself a poem of praise.

فألفيتُهم يستعرضونَ حوائجي

إليهم ولو كانَت عليهم جوانِحا

I found them considering the needs I brought

Before them, though those needs might weigh heavily upon them.

تحمل لي الثقلَ الذي يستخفُّه

نداك وإن ألقاه غيركَ طارِحا

Bear for me the burden that your bounty counts light,

Though anyone else, encountering it, would cast it down.

وكيف وهل يستنهضُ البحرُ للندى

أقلني فإني قلتُ ما قلتُ مازِحا

But how could the sea be roused to give freely?

Forgive me—I said what I said in jest.