يا مَن طلعتِ طلوعَ الشمس من فلكِ

إن كنتُ يوماً لشمسٍ عابداً فَلَكِ

O you who rose like the sun from the sky's orbit

If I was once a worshipper of any sun, it was your orbit

لو أَنصفوا وَجْهَكِ المَوْشِيَّ حُلّتُهُ

لعُطِّلَ الوشْيُ في الدُّنيا فلم يُحَكِ

If they did justice to your radiant, gentle face

Adornment would cease in this world, no longer interwoven

قد صدتِ قلبي بأصداغِ مشبكةٍ

صيغَتْ لصَيدِ قلوبِ النّاسِ كالشّبكِ

You captivated my heart with entangled ringlets

Molded to ensnare people's hearts like a net

أصبوا إليكِ ولي صَمْتٌ حُرمتُ بهِ

والصّمتُ للرزقِ منّاعٌ كذاك حُكي

They desire you while I am silenced, deprived of speech

And silence for sustenance is thus for us, as told

اللهَ فيَّ فسِتْري فيكِ مُنْهتِكٌ

وكان قبلَكِ سِتري غيرَ مُنْهتِكِ

God is concealed in me, yet in you torn open

Though before you my cover was not torn

على شِفاهِكِ دَيني وهْيَ تُمْطلني

فأبشري بغَريمٍ في الهوى محكِ

On your lips is my faith while you make me languish

So give me glad tidings of perdition in passion intertwined

فديتُ مَجْناكِ ما أَحلى مَذاقَتَهُ

كأنّهُ ريقُ نحلٍ شِيبَ بالمِسكِ

I ransom your soft mouth, how sweet is its taste!

As if it were bees' spittle aged with musk

فكم خَلستُ الجَنى منهُ على حَذَرٍ

من قَولِ واشٍ شديدِ اللّذعِ مُؤتفكِ

So how often I stole this honey stealthily

Fearing the harsh, biting words of a slanderer twisted

العفْوَ منكِ فقد وسْوستنِي شَغفاً

حتى تسلّطَ شيطاني على مَلَكي

Forgive me, for desire whispering seduced me

Until my devil overpowered my angel

ونمتِ ليلُكِ مَكّ الطّرفِ عن دَنِفٍ

باكٍ بطرفٍ غزيرٍ الدمعِ غير بكي

You slept a sleep that shed tears ceaselessly

Weeping with copious, incessant tears unlike my weeping

فباتَ أضْيعَ من لحمٍ على وضَمٍ

وظل أهْوَنَ من عظمٍ على ودكِ

So he passed the night more lost than flesh on ember

And remained more abased than bone on your cheek

ولهانَ جُنَّ فغنّتْه سلاسِلُهُ

يَمشي فتَلْهو به الصبيان في السكك

And fell, his chains singing him, dragging him

The boys play with him, walking the streets

هذي صفاتي وما أخنى عليَّ سوى

دهر بقرع صفاتي مغرمٍ سدِك

Such are my traits, and none knows my state

Except time, smiting my traits, enamored of your shut door

وسوف أدركُ آمالي ويَجْذبُني

بَخْتي إلى الدرج الأعلى من الدرَكِ

And soon I will attain my hopes, pulled

By fate to the highest rank of the stair

بيُمنِ خَتلغَ بَلكا سيِّدِ الوزرا ال

أَميرِ حقاً عميدِ الملك خواجَه بِكِ

By the good fortune of Khatlagh Balqa, lord of viziers

Truly leader, pillar of the kingdom, Khwaja Bik

ذاكَ الذي امتلكتْني بيضُ أنعُمِهِ

وليسَ يَحْظى برقِّي غيرُ مُمتلكي

He whose kindness' whiteness has possessed me

And none attains advancement but those he possesses

لولا عقيدةُ إيماني لما اتّجهتْ

إلا إليه صَلاتي لا ولا نسكي

Were it not for my faith, my prayers would turn

To none but him, neither my rites nor worship

كأن أخلاقَه من طيبِ نَفحتِها

نشرٌ يجودُ بهِ الروضُ المجُودُ ذكي

As if his morals were scented by his breath's perfume

Spreading fragrant, flowing, pure generosity

في كل ليلٍ له نارٌ على علم

شبّتْ لأشعثَ في الظّلماءِ مُرتبِكِ

Each night he has a beacon of knowledge

Lit for the unkempt in the dark, confused

جَداهُ مشتركٌ بينَ الوَرى ولَهُ

من السِّيادةِ حظٌّ غيرُ مُشترِكِ

His brow is shared between all people, and he has

A share of rule unlike any other's share

صاغَ الحُلى للعُلا أيامَ دَولتِهِ

حتىّ سلكنَ الشّوى منهنّ في مسكِ

He formed adornments for the exalted in his days of rule

That wrists slipping bangles of musk through them

فألبستْهُ ثيابَ المُلكِ ضافيةً

يدَا أبي طالبٍ طُغْرِلْ بِكِ المَلكِ

So Fate clothed him in the garb of kingship perfectly

The hand of Abu Talib - Toghril Bik, king indeed!

ففازَ منهُ بركنٍ غيرِ منُهدمٍ

عندَ الخطوبِ وحَبلٍ غيرِ مُنْبَتِكِ

And so he won from it an undestroyed pillar

In adversity, an unsevered rope

أقذى عيونَ أَعاديهم حسايِكُهُمْ

كأن أجفانَهم خِيطتْ على الحَسَك

His revenge gouged out his enemies' spying eyes

As if their lids were sewn upon hot coals

مباركٌ وجهُهُ في كلِّ مُجتَمَعٍ

مُشيّعٌ قلبُهُ في كلِّ مُعْتركِ

Blessed is his face in every gathering

His heart escorted in every battlefield

لم يَعْرَ رأسُ قناً إلاّ وعمّمَهُ

برأسِ ذي أشَرٍ في الغيّ مُنْهمكِ

No head donned a helmet but he covered it

With the head of a lion in the thick, embroiled fray

فإنْ عَفا غض جَفْنيْ ساكِنٍ وَقِرٍ

وإنْ جَفا جر ذيلَ قُلْقُلٍ حَرِكِ

If he forgives, he lowers a still, calm eyelid

And if he is harsh, he drags the train of a stirring temper

وإنْ تَحلّبَ دَرّ النّقسِ في يده

فالطِّرسُ دُرْجٌ لدُرِّ منهُ مُنسلكِ

And if he milks bitterness into his hand

Gall is a robe for the pearl from him interlaced

وإنْ أفاضَ على العافينَ نائلُهُ

أَرواهُمُ بغمامٍ منهُ مُنْسفكِ

And if his palm rains on the healthy

He saturates them with a cloud pouring from him

يا مَن إذا طارَ ممتاحٌ بساحَتهِ

تلقّطَ الحبَّ في أمنٍ منَ الشّرَكِ

O you, if an auspicious bird circles in his courtyard

He picks up love safely, free of any partnership

بك استقلَّ ذبابُ الخصبِ في حَلَكي

وراقَ سَمعي خريرُ الماءِ في برَكِ

With you, the flies of fertility took shelter in my throat

And my hearing relished the gurgling of water in the pool

لمّا أنختُ بَعيري في ذراكَ ضُحىً

ناديتُ باركَ فيكَ اللهُ فابْتركِ

When I slowed my camel at your place at dawn

I called, may God bless you, so choose

أسبغْ عليَّ سجالَ العُرفِ أرْوَ بها

وأعطني عروةَ الإحسانِ أَمتسكِ

Bestow on me the mantle of convention, let it quench me

And give me the handhold of kindness, let me cling to it

وخُذْ مُحجّلةً غراءَ ما اكْتَحلتْ

بمثلها مُقلتا غرٍّ ومُحْتنكِ

Take kohl, the best darkener, that no eyes

Have been lined with its like, intense blackness and ink

ولا تظنَّ سواها مثلَها فلَكَمْ

بينَ السَّماكِ إذا مَيزَّتَ والسّمكِ

Think none else comparable, though many

Appear similar when you distinguish the fish from fish

شعرٌ تديّرَ بالغَبراءِ مُنشئهُ

وقدرُهُ مُعتلٍ في ذرْوةِ الفَلَكِ

Poetry molded by its composer into something special

Though its quality is lofty at the sky's pinnacle

فالطبعُ صائغُ حَلْيٍ من سبائكهِ

وأنتَ ناقدُ تبرٍ منهُ مُنْسبكِ

Nature is the caster of jewelry with its metals

And you the assayer of ingots from it unraveled