مَالي وما للأعْيُنِ النُّجْلِ
أَجْمَعْنَ عُدْواناً على قَتْلي
What is it to me or to the eyes of parting
That they have all agreed to kill me
وما لقلبي يتصدَّى لها
بَيْنَ ألِيمِ الشَّوْقِ والخَبْل
And what is it to my heart that confronts them
Between the pain of longing and confusion
من لَحَظاتٍ لم يَزَلْ غُنْجُها
يَحْكُمُ بالجوْرِ على العَدْل
Moments that have not ceased charming
To rule unjustly over justice
ضعيفةُ المكرِ ولكنَّها
تَقْتُلُ بين الجِدِّ والهزل
Weak in cunning, yet they
Kill between earnestness and jest
لله كم يُطْمِعُ تَفْتِيرُها
لو أنها تَسْمح بالبَذْل
My God, how much hope their coquetry awakens
If only they would be kind enough to give
باخلةٌ قد كِدْتُ مِنْ بخلها
وعِشْقِها أَكْلَفُ بالبُخْل
Stingy, I have almost perished from their stinginess
And their love leaves me destitute
ما عابَها إذ بَخِلتْ بُخْلُها
لو لم تَشِنْها خُلَّةُ المَطْلِ
Nothing was wrong with their stinginess when they were stingy
If only the stain of waiting did not dishonor them
أَيُّ شِفارٍ طَبَعَتْهَا يدُ
التفتيرِ فاسْتَغْنَتْ عن الصقْل
What engraving has marked them, making them suffice
Without the need for polishing
مُحْتَكِمَاتٌ في دماءِ الورى
كأنَّها من ذاكَ في حِلِّ
Arbiters in the blood of mortals
As if they were of that lineage
واهاً لها كم من فؤادٍ شجٍ
أُسْلِمَ مِنْهَا في يَدَيْ عَدْل
Woe to them, how many aching hearts
Were handed over to justice by them
ضلَّ دليلي في سبيلِ الهوى
بين الدَّلال الرَّحْبِ والدلِّ
My guide was lost in the path of passion
Between the vast valley and the gorge
كم وقعة لي في ميادينه
أصَبْتُ فيها مَقْتَلَ العَذْل
How many battles I had in their fields
Where I was dealt the most painful of blows
غيٌّ لو أن الرشدَ لي مُنصفٌ
لم يَنْهَ عن أَمثالِهِ مِثْلي
It was absentminded of me, had reason been fair to me
It would not have allowed the likes of me to desire the likes of them
شَرَّدَ عن جَفْنِي لذيذَ الكَرَى
ظبيٌ شرودٌ شارِدُ الوَصْل
It has evicted the sweet dreams from my eyelids
A gazelle, whose connection is lost, wandering
وسنانُ ناهيكَ بأَجفانِهِ
على الهوى منْ شاهِدَي عدل
And their teeth - no need to mention their eyelashes -
Are witnesses of justice against my passion
سالتْ على ألحاظِهِ كُحلةٌ
واخَجْلتي من خَجْلضةِ الكُحل
Kohl has flowed over their glances
And I was too shy by the application of kohl
إذا أدرات بيننا خَمْرَها
قامتْ لنا خدَّاهُ بالنُّقْل
When she shows us her wine between us
Her cheeks serve it to us
غصن سقته رية أدمعي
أغنته عن طل وعن دبل
A branch I watered with my tears
My weeping made it needless of rain or buckets
واأسفي من رمنٍ باخلٍ
يُمِرُّ للمرءِ ولا يُحْلي
Woe is me from a withholding palm tree
That ripens for man but does not sweeten
ما زالَ مُذْ ما صَفرتْ كَفُّهُ
يَطْوي له كَشْحاً على غِلِّ
It has not ceased since its palms turned yellow
To fold greed upon greed for it
ويَا لَذَرْعي ضَاقَ عن هِمَّةِ
مُعْلَمَةٍ في زَمَن غُفْل
Woe to my means, too narrow for the aspirations
Of an instructor in times of ignorance
حسبي بها عُلْيا علي عُلاً
فلم يَزَلْ يُعْلي وَيَسْتَعْلي
Suffice it as a most high against me, continuously
Elevating itself and aggrandizing
من أريحيٍّ بين بيضِ الظُّبَا
يومَ الوغى والسُّمُرِ الذُّبْل
A wholesome doe between the white gazelles
On a day of commotion and the fading vegetation
مُبتَسِمٌ حيثُ المنايا به
تكْشِرُ عن أنْيابِها العُصْل
Smiling while deaths unto him
Bare their fangs
أروعُ ثَبْتُ العَزْمِ لا طائشٌ
والهامُ يَحْكي طائشَ النَّبل
Of firmest resolve, not fickle
And enthusiasm tells of the erratic arrow
ليثُ شرىً مُفتَرِسٌ باسِلٌ
يذودُ عن غِيلٍ وعَنْ شِبْل
A fearless lion hunting prey
Protecting from dishonor and cubs
ماضٍ كنَصْلِ السَّيْفِ لا يَنْثَني
مُصَمّمٌ في الحادثِ الجَزْلِ
Unwavering like a sword blade, not bending
Determined in fateful matters
ناهيك منه حَوَّلاً قُلَّباً
والموتُ قد قامَ على رِجْل
Undaunted he turns and tosses
While death stands on its feet
أغَرُّ طَلقُ الوجهِ وضَّاحُهُ
يَصْلى جحيمَ الحربِ أو يُصْلي
Dazzling fair of face and smile
Whether he prays the hell of war or makes it pray
هَشٌّ إلى داعي النَّدى مُسْرِعٌ
يَسبِقُ وفْدَ القولِ بالفعْل
Delicate toward the caller of dew, hastening
His action precedes the delegation of words
دُونَكَ رَبْعَ المجدِ خَيّمْ به
وَحُطَّ بين الماءِ والظلِّ
Beneath you lies a quarter of glory, camp in it
And alight between water and shade
نَحلُلْ جَنَاباً مُمْرِعاً آمِناً
فيه المنى جامعةُ الشَّمل
We covet a rested, fulfilled, safe side
In which wishes are united
غنْ بَذَلَتْ راحتُهُ نائلاً
لم تَرْضَ بِالبَعْضِ منَ الكُلِّ
If his ease has been granted in full
It would not accept just a portion of the whole
أناملٌ جَانَسَ أقلامَها
مِدَادُهُنَّ الغيثَ بالمحل
Fingers harmonized with their pens
Their ink is the rain in torrents
إيهٍ وهلْ حُكْمُكَ لي مُنْصِفٌ
وطالبٌ ما فاتَ من ذَحْل
Oh woe, is your rule fair to me
And seeking what was lost of rights?
ومنهضي مُضْطَلِعٌ بي فَكمْ
حَمَلتَ من عِبءٍ ومنْ ثِقْلِ
My undertakings burdened with me, so how much
Have you carried of weight and heaviness?
خُذْها فقد ساعدني مِقْوَلٌ
كالنّصْلِ أو كالأَرْقَمِ الصِلّ
Take it, for rhymed prose has aided me
Like a blade or straight, slender palm trunk
وَاصْغِ إليه مُغْرِباً منتجاً
يملأُ سَمْعَ الدَّهْرِ إذ يُمْلي
And listen to it melodiously innovating
Filling the hearing of time as it dictates
وهاكَ شكري مَنْهلاً سائغاً
فَرِدْهَ بَيْنَ العَلِّ والنَّهْلِ
And here is my gratitude, a delicious spring
Dispense it between elevation and streams
