لِجِنِّيَّةٍ أَم غادَةٍ رُفِعَ السَجفُ

لِوَحشِيَّةٍ لا ما لِوَحشِيَّةٍ شَنفُ

For a flirtatious girl or a singing gazelle was the curtain raised

Was the curtain lifted for a spirit or a chosen maid?

For a wild one, not for a wild one, is there shyness

For a wild doe? Nay, for wild does wear no gems.

نَفورٌ عَرَتها نَفرَةٌ فَتَجاذَبَت

سَوالِفُها وَالحَليُ وَالخَصرُ وَالرِدفُ

Her aversion startled, startling, they pulled

A skittish one, seized by alarm, so that there pulled against one another

At her gowns and necklaces and waist and hips

Her side-locks, her jewels, her waist, and her heavy hips.

وَخُيِّلَ مِنها مِرطُها فَكَأَنَّما

تَثَنّى لَنا خوطٌ وَلا حَظَنا خِشفُ

And it seemed from her waving veil that

Her silken wrap deceived the eye, until it seemed to us

A line swayed for us, though we had no luck

That a willow bough swayed before us, and a fawn cast us a glance.

زِيادَةُ شَيبٍ وَهيَ نَقصُ زِيادَتي

وَقُوَّةُ عِشقٍ وَهيَ مِن قُوَّتي ضَعفُ

The increase of white hair yet decrease of my increase

An increase in gray hair, which spells the decrease of my life's growth,

And the power of passion, yet from my power it's weakness

And a strength of passion, which is but a weakness in my strength.

هَراقَت دَمي مَن بي مِنَ الوَجدِ ما بِها

مِنَ الوَجدِ بي وَالشَوقُ لي وَلَها حِلفُ

My blood evaporated, from me from ardour what's in her

She shed my blood—she who bears within her a passion

From ardour in me and the longing to me and to her allies

Matching the passion in me, while longing is a sworn ally to us both.

وَمَن كُلَّما جَرَّدتَها مِن ثِيابِها

كَساها ثِياباً غَيرَها الشَعَرُ الوَحفُ

And whoever stripped her of her clothes

She who, whenever you strip her bare of her garments,

The poetry dressed her in clothes other than hers

Is clothed anew by her thick, luxuriant hair.

وَقابَلَني رُمّانَتا غُصنِ بانَةٍ

يَميلُ بِهِ بَدرٌ وَيُمسِكُهُ حِقفُ

And she met me, two pomegranate branches of a bending bough

The two pomegranates of a willow bough confronted me,

Sway with a full moon, held by its crescent

Swayed by a full moon above, anchored by a sand dune below.

أَكيداً لَنا يا بَينُ واصَلتَ وَصلَنا

فَلا دارُنا تَدنو وَلا عَيشُنا يَصفو

Certainly, O loved one, you have connected and joined us

Is it a plot against us, O Separation, that you have joined our union?

So neither does our home come near, nor does our life clear up

For now our home draws no nearer, nor does our life run clear.

أُرَدِّدُ وَيلي لَو قَضى الوَيلُ حاجَةً

وَأُكثِرُ لَهفي لَو شَفى غُلَّةً لَهفُ

I repeat my woe, if only woe could fulfill a need

I repeat my cry of 'Woe!', if only woe could fulfill a need,

And I increase my fervor, if only it could cure anguish, ardor

And I multiply my sighs, if only sighs could quench a burning thirst.

ضَنىً في الهَوى كَالسُمِّ في الشَهدِ كامِناً

لَذِذتُ بِهِ جَهلاً وَفي اللَذَّةِ الحَتفُ

Bitterness in passion hidden like poison in honey

A wasting sickness in love, like poison lurking within honey,

I ignorantly delighted in it, and in delight lies ruin

I tasted it in ignorance with delight, yet in that delight lies death.

فَأَفنى وَما أَفنَتهُ نَفسي كَأَنَّما

أَبو الفَرَجِ القاضي لَهُ دونَها كَهفُ

So it destroyed me, and what my soul did not destroy

So I perish, yet my soul has not perished, as though

Is as if for Abu-l-Faraj the judge, besides her, a cave

Abu al-Faraj the Judge stands as a sanctuary for it.

قَليلُ الكَرى لَو كانَتِ البيضُ وَالقَنا

كَآرائِهِ ما أَغنَتِ البيضُ وَالزَعفُ

Of little provisions, if eggs and chickens

A man of little sleep—if the white swords and the spears were

Were like his views, eggs and feathers wouldn't enrich

As sharp as his judgments, then swords and mail would be of no avail.

يَقومُ مَقامَ الجَيشِ تَقطيبُ وَجهِهِ

وَيَستَغرِقُ الأَلفاظَ مِن لَفظِهِ حَرفُ

He takes the army's place with his frown

The mere frowning of his face takes the place of an entire army,

And his words overpower speech with merely a letter

And a single letter of his speech encompasses all words.

وَإِن فَقَدَ الإِعطاءَ حَنَّت يَمينُهُ

إِلَيهِ حَنينَ الإِلفِ فارَقَهُ الإِلفُ

And if he missed generosity, his hand would yearn

And if his right hand ceases giving, it yearns for the act

For it, the yearning of a friend who left his friend

With the yearning of a lover from whom the beloved has parted.

أَديبٌ رَسَت لِلعِلمِ في أَرضِ صَدرِهِ

جِبالٌ جِبالُ الأَرضِ في جَنبِها قُفُّ

A scholar whom knowledge took root in his heart

A scholar in the earth of whose chest mountains of knowledge are anchored,

Mountains, mountains of earth, next to them a mere hill

Mountains beside which the earth's peaks are but molehills.

جَوادٌ سَمَت في الخَيرِ وَالشَرِّ كَفُّهُ

سُمُوّاً أَوَدَّ الدَهرَ أَنَّ اِسمَهُ كَفُّ

A generous one whose palm in good and evil leapt up

Generous, his hand has soared in bestowing good and dealing harm,

Lofty, time wished that his name were palm

A soaring that made Time wish its very name were 'Hand'.

وَأَضحى وَبَينَ الناسِ في كُلِّ سَيِّدٍ

مِنَ الناسِ إِلّا في سِيادَتِهِ خَلفُ

And he came between people in every master

He has become—while among the masters of men everywhere

Among people, except in his mastership, dissident

There are replacements—the only lord with no successor.

يُفَدّونَهُ حَتّى كَأَنَّ دِماءَهُم

لِجاري هَواهُ في عُروقِهِمِ تَقفو

They ransom him, as if their blood

They offer their lives for him, as though their very blood

For the sake of his passion in their veins keeps pace

Were following the course of his love flowing within their veins.

وُقوفَينَ في وَقفَينِ شُكرٍ وَنائِلٍ

فَنائِلُهُ وَقفٌ وَشُكرُهُمُ وَقفُ

Standing in two pauses of thanks and attainer

Held in two stations: one of gratitude and one of bounty,

So his attainer is a stop, and their thanks is a stop

For his bounty is a perpetual endowment, and their gratitude is endless.

وَلَمّا فَقَدنا مِثلَهُ دامَ كَشفُنا

عَلَيهِ فَدامَ الفَقدُ وَاِنكَشَفَ الكَشفُ

And when we lost his like, our disclosure remained

And when we lacked his like, our distress remained exposed,

Upon him, so the loss remained and the disclosure was stripped

But upon finding him, the loss continued, for our exposure was laid bare.

وَما حارَتِ الأَوهامُ في عُظمِ شَأنِهِ

بِأَكثَرَ مِمّا حارَ في حُسنِهِ الطَرفُ

And imaginations did not wander in the greatness of his status

Yet imaginations were not as bewildered by his mighty stature

More than the gaze wandered in his beauty

As the eye was bewildered by the beauty of his form.

وَلا نالَ مِن حُسّادِهِ الغَيظُ وَالأَذى

بِأَعظَمَ مِمّا نالَ مِن وَفرِهِ العُرفُ

Nor did the malice and harm of his enviers attain

Nor did rage and harm afflict his envious foes

Greater than what his outstanding merit attained

More greatly than his beneficence depleted his vast wealth.

تَفَكُّرُهُ عِلمٌ وَمَنطِقُهُ حُكمٌ

وَباطِنُهُ دينٌ وَظاهِرُهُ ظَرفُ

His contemplation is knowledge and his speech is wisdom

His contemplation is knowledge, his logic is judgment,

And his essence religion and his appearance composure

His inner self is piety, and his outer self is grace.

أَماتَ رِياحَ اللُؤمِ وَهيَ عَواصِفٌ

وَمَغنى العُلى يودي وَرَسمُ النَدى يَعفو

He killed the winds of vileness, though they were tempests

He stilled the winds of meanness while they raged as storms,

And the refuge of nobility destroys while the path of dew pardons

When the abode of glory was crumbling and the trace of bounty fading.

فَلَم نَرَ قَبلَ اِبنِ الحُسَينِ أَصابِعاً

إِذا ما هَطَلنَ اِستَحيَتِ الدِيَمُ الوُطفُ

So we have not before Ibn Al-Husayn seen fingers

We never saw, before Ibn al-Husayn, fingers that,

When they pour down, the blood of injustice is shy

When they poured forth, made the heavy rainclouds blush in shame.

وَلا ساعِياً في قُلَّةِ المَجدِ مُدرِكاً

بِأَفعالِهِ ما لَيسَ يُدرِكُهُ الوَصفُ

Nor a striver in scarcity of glory attaining

Nor a striver ascending the summit of glory, attaining,

Through his deeds what description does not reach

Through his deeds, heights that description cannot reach.

وَلَم نَرَ شَيئاً يَحمِلُ العِبءَ حَملَهُ

وَيَستَصغِرُ الدُنيا وَيَحمِلُهُ طِرفُ

And we have not seen a thing that bears burdens like he bore

We have seen nothing bear the burden as he bears it,

And regards the world as slight and bears with composure

While deeming the world small, all while carried by a noble steed.

وَلا جَلَسَ البَحرُ المُحيطُ لِقاصِدٍ

وَمِن تَحتِهِ فَرشٌ وَمِن فَوقِهِ سَقفُ

Nor has the vast sea sat for a purpose

Nor has the Encompassing Ocean ever sat for a seeker,

With furnishings beneath it and ceiling above

With carpets spread beneath it and a roof raised above.

فَواعَجَباً مِنّي أُحاوِلُ نَعتَهُ

وَقَد فَنِيَت فيهِ القَراطيسُ وَالصُحفُ

So how strange of me to attempt describing him!

Oh, how strange it is of me to attempt his description,

Papers and books regarding him are exhausted

When parchment and scrolls have already been exhausted in his praise.

وَمِن كَثرَةِ الأَخبارِ عَن مَكرُماتِهِ

يَمُرُّ لَهُ صِنفٌ وَيَأتي لَهُ صِنفُ

And from the abundance of accounts of his virtues

And from the multitude of reports regarding his noble deeds,

A class passes by him, and another class comes

One variety passes by, and another arrives anew.

وَتَفتَرُّ مِنهُ عَن خِصالٍ كَأَنَّها

ثَنايا حَبيبٍ لا يُمَلُّ لَها رَشفُ

And virtues emerge from him as if they are

He smiles to reveal qualities that seem as if

The folds of a beloved which a watcher never tires of

They are the teeth of a beloved whose nectar one never tires of sipping.

قَصَدتُكَ وَالراجونَ قَصدي إِلَيهِمِ

كَثيرٌ وَلَكِن لَيسَ كَالذَنَبِ الأَنفُ

I headed to you while the hopeful headed to him

I have sought you, while other petitioners seek me out—

Many, but not like the bent tail

Many they are, yet the tail is not equal to the head.

وَلا الفِضَّةُ البَيضاءُ وَالتِبرُ واحِدٌ

نَفوعانِ لِلمُكدي وَبَينَهُما صَرفُ

Nor white silver and flakes the same

Nor are white silver and raw gold the same,

Benefits for the toiler, and between them exchange

Though both aid the beggar, there is a vast difference in their worth.

وَلَستَ بِدونٍ يُرتَجى الغَيثُ دونَهُ

وَلا مُنتَهى الجودِ الَّذي خَلفَهُ خَلفُ

You are not without rain hoped for besides you

You are not a lesser being, past whom one hopes for rain,

Nor the utmost of generosity which successors succeeded

Nor a limit of generosity beyond which lies any remainder.

وَلا واحِداً في ذا الوَرى مِن جَماعَةٍ

وَلا البَعضُ مِن كُلٍّ وَلَكِنَّكَ الضِعفُ

Nor one in the mortal world among a group

Nor are you merely one among a group in this creation,

Nor part of a whole, but you are the feeble one

Nor a part of a whole; rather, you are the manifold multiple.

وَلا الضِعفَ حَتّى يَتبَعَ الضِعفَ ضِعفُهُ

وَلا ضِعفَ ضِعفِ الضِعفِ بَل مِثلَهُ أَلفُ

Nor feeble so that feebleness follows his feebleness

And not just the double until that double is doubled again,

Nor the feebleness of feebleness, but like it a thousand

Nor double the double of that double, but a thousand times its like.

أَقاضِيَنا هَذا الَّذي أَنتَ أَهلُهُ

غَلِطتُ وَلا الثُلثانِ هَذا وَلا النِصفُ

My judge, this right which you deserve

O Judge of ours, is this praise all that you deserve?

I erred, not two-thirds this, nor half

I have erred; this is not two-thirds of your due, nor even half.

وَذَنبِيَ تَقصيري وَما جِئتُ مادِحاً

بِذَنبي وَلَكِن جِئتُ أَسأَلُ أَن تَعفو

My sin is my falling short, and I have not come praising

My sin is my shortcoming; I did not come merely to praise,

With my sin, but rather I came to ask you pardon

Bearing this sin of mine, but came to ask that you forgive.