لعدوِّ حسنِكِ ما لسمعِ العاذلِ

منّى إذا ما قام فيكِ مجادلي

To the fault-finder, your beauty is not for the jealous ear,

When my blamer rises against you,

طال الملامُ عليكِ أعلم أنه

حسدٌ وما حظِيَ الحسودُ بطائِل

Blame against you is prolonged, I know it is

Envy, and the envious attains no goal,

أرضى الهوى منكِ المكدَّرَ بالنوى

حظّاً وأقنعُ بالغريم الماطِل

Love is satisfied with you though intention troubles it,

A share, and I am content with the procrastinating adversary,

وإذا شكوتِك في جمالٍ هاجرٍ

عمداً شكرتكِ في خيالٍ واصلِ

And if you complain of a beauty that has deserted,

I thank you for an imagination that keeps company,

ولقد أُحِلُّكِ لو عرفتِ محلّه

قلباً يضيق سوى هواكِ بنازلِ

And I would give you a place, if you but knew its worth,

A heart that barely contains, save your love, a lodger,

أعطِي بذلٍّ ما منعتِ بعزّةٍ

فيضيعُ في أثناء بخلكِ نائلي

Give with generosity what you refused in pride,

So that my attainment be not lost amidst your stinginess,

ما ضرَّ يا حسناءُ قلبا جائرا

لكِ لو تعلَّمَ من قوامٍ عادلِ

What harm, O beautiful one, to a tyrannical heart,

If it learned justice from an upright overseer,

أمسائلٌ ماذا فعلنا بعدّه

سَكَنٌ بِدجلَةَ لا يجودُ لسائلِ

What questions, what have we done after his loss?

Quiet by the Tigris that does not flow for the questioner,

أم راجعٌ زمنٌ به بقِيَ الأسى

ومضى وكيف رجوعُ أمسِ الزائلِ

Or a time gone by in which sorrow remained,

And passed away, but how can the gone yesterday return?

هيهات زدنَ سِنِيَّ فانتقصت قُوَى

ودّي ومُتنَ مع الشباب وسائلي

Alas! Age increased me and weakened my strength

And generosity, and the spring of my youth dried up,

كنتُ الحسامَ جلاي شرخُ شبيبتي

بين الحسان وماءُ غصني صاقلي

I was the cutting sword, the bloom of my youth split,

Between beauties, and the water of my branch polished me,

فطُرحتُ عن أعناقهنّ بأن ذوتْ

منّي ذوائبُ كنّ قبلُ خمائلي

So I was cast from their necks when the tresses departed

From me, which before were my intimate friends,

عُمرٌ مضى سَرَفا وعصرُ بطالةٍ

أخذ المشيبُ لحقّه من باطلي

A life spent extravagantly and a time of idleness

Which old age took its due from my futility,

مَلكَ الحجا منّي مكانَ خلاعتي

وتوقّرت بعد المِراحِ شمائلي

Decrepitude took the place of my virility,

And my qualities were honored after my strength weakened,

أحييتُ أمواتَ المحاسنِ قائلاً

لو لم يُرَعْنَ من الحسودِ بقاتلِ

I revived the beauties of the dead, saying,

Had they not been afflicted by the envious killer,

قالوا عدوّك فاحتقره جاهلٌ

من لي على فضلي بحظ الجاهلِ

They said, “He is your enemy,” so an ignorant one scorned him.

Who do I have, through my merit, with the lot of the ignorant?

يا إخوةَ الأيّام يتَّبعونها

من مستقيمٍ كاذبٍ أو مائلِ

O brothers of time, some follow it

Sincerely, some lying, some deviating,

خلُّوا ابن أيّوبٍ عليَّ وشأنَكم

من ناكثٍ أو غادرٍ أو حائلِ

Leave the son of Ayyub to me, and your business is

With the violator, the traitor or the deluder,

من لا تحوّله الخطوبُ بحادثٍ

عنّي ولا عَقْلُ الزمان بشاغلِ

He who is not changed by events from me,

Nor the reason of time with any preoccupying,

وإذا رجَعتُ إلى أواخِر ودّه

قابلتُها بوسائطٍ وأوائلِ

And if I return to the ends of his love,

I meet them with introductions and beginnings,

وإذا حملتُ عليه ثِقْلا لم أقل

يا ليتني رَوّحتُ ظهرَ الحاملِ

And if I carry a burden on him I do not say,

Would that I had eased the back of the carrier,

ما ضرّني قاسٍ عليَّ فنابذي

ومحمدٌ حانٍ عليَّ فقابلي

It does not harm me if one is harsh to me and abandons me,

While Muhammad is gentle to me and meets me,

لله راضٍ بالقليل لنفسه

متذمّمٌ لي بالكثير الفاضلِ

To God I am content with the little for myself,

Displeased with the abundant virtuous for me,

مِن ممسِكي الحسبِ التليدِ ومطلقي ال

أيدي إذا جفَّتْ بنانُ الباذلِ

From those who uphold the respected lineage and release

Hands when the palms of the giver have dried up,

رامين في الغرض البعيد إذا نأى

يوم الفخار على سهام النابلِ

Who fling at the distant goal when the day draws away

Upon the arrows of the shooter the pottery day,

شرعوا إلى الغاياتِ كلَّ مهفهفٍ

سارٍ على خيلِ الأنامل جائل

They set out to the ends, every impassioned one,

Riding on the horses of their fingers erring,

لو لم يكن رمحا لما شحذوا له

حدّين موضعَ زُجِّهِ والعاملِ

If it were not a lance they would not have sharpened for it

Two edges, the place of its strap and its worker,

نفثاتُه السحرُ المبلبلُ لا كما

خُبِّرْت أنّ السحرَ صنعةُ بابلِ

Its breaths are spellbinding sorcery, not as

I was told that sorcery is the making of Babylon,

ألحِقْهُمُ في المجدِ واحفظْهم وزد

ولقد فعلتَ وزدتَ حدّ الفاعلِ

Join them in glory and preserve them and increase,

And You have done and increased beyond the doer,

وأعِرْ علاك العيدَ يزددْ حسنُه

يا حَلْيَ أيّامِ الزمانِ العاطلِ

And acquaint ole, the Feast, so its beauty increases,

O adornment of the days of the useless time,

قابلْ به عاماً ترنَّقَ إنه

متضاعِفٌ لك خيرُه في القابلِ

Meet with it a year that has been covered in green, it is

For You doubly good in the meeting,