هُنّيتِ رُوزي فَذاكَ صَومُكِ وال

مِيلادُ جاءَ والعيدُ في نَسقِ

Your rose-like face, that is your fast while

Birth and feast came in procession

فَذاكَ اِنحَلَّت فيهِ كُلَّ يَد

وَذاكَ أخملت فيهِ كلّ نَقي

That is where every hand relaxed

And where every purity was defiled

وَجهٌ كَصدرِ الحُسامِ تَصبو لَهُ ال

عينُ وَيَنقد القَلبُ من فَرَقِ

A face like the chest of polished swords from which

Eyes pour and hearts bleed from yearning

وَمُقْلَةٌ شَوقها لِيَقْظَتِها

شَوقٌ لِحسّادها إِلى الأَرقِ

And eyelids whose longing in their waking

Is longing that keeps rivals sleepless

ومُرْتَقىً تَعْجَبُ السّماءُ لَهُ

إِذا اِستَطالَت إِليهِ كَيفَ رُقي

And a figure that heaven is amazed by

When it rises high, wondering how it ascended

تَوّجتَ شَهباءَها بِمُشْرِقَةً

مُشرِفة شُهْبُها عَلى الأُفُقِ

You crowned its moonlike beauty with a rising

Star, its trailing locks above the horizon

جَوٌّ تَهاوى مِنهُ كَوكَبُهُ

طَرفُهُ طَرفُ رُجُوم مُسْتَرِقِ

A visage from which a planet swoons

A glance that steals glances furtively

فَوارِسُ تُذهل الفَوارِس أَن

تَهافَتَت مِن أَرشاقِها الرشِقِ

Horsemen who daze horsemen, stunned

That its lightning bolts scattered the dawn

مِن راكضٍ في الهَواءِ أَهوَ منَ ال

فَتحِ مجرّ مِن تَحتِهِ لَبقِ

Galloping in air, swifter than the

Rupture of a starry womb’s water breaking

شَاوٍ مِنَ الخصرِ لَو تحاوِلُهُ ال

خُضرُ لَزَلَّت عَن مَوطِئ زُلَقِ

A waist, if the tender green were to try it

It would slip from its firm foothold

يَقولُ مَن دينُهُ الفروسَة ما

لاقَكَ إِلّا ضَربٌ مِنَ الإِلقِ

He whose faith is horsemanship says you met me

With nothing but a manner of casting

بَدائِعٌ تغبطُ السماءُ بِها ال

أَرضَ وتُذكي الإِشفاقَ في الشَفَقِ

Wonders that make the sky envy

Earth, and kindle passion in the sunset

في دَولَةٍ جَمَعتْ إيالَتُها

مِن بَدَد الحُسْنِ كلَّ مفترقِ

In a state whose domains gathered up

All beauty’s diversity from its dispersion

تَزرُّ أطواقُهَا على ملكٍ

مكتفلٍ رزقَ كلّ مرتزقِ

Its provinces burden a king

Who feeds each mercenary

مَحمودٌ اِسماً وَمَيسَماً وندىً

وَاِعتَصب الدم كلّ مرنققِ

Praiseworthy in name and fame and dew

And the blood of each suckled knight

طبَّق طوفانُه فَلَسْت ترى

إلّا مُغيثاً مُشفٍ على غرقِ

His flood layered until you see

Only a saving rain on the drowned

يا بحرُ لا خلق تدّعي شبَهاً

فات المدى ما حَوَيْتَ من خُلُقِ

O sea, claim no likeness to his humanity

What virtues you contain are boundless

مُلْكُكَ هَذا الَّذي تَملأه

صِباهُ يَجري وَالدهر في طلقِ

This realm of yours which fills

His youth flows, time in release