أَرَكائِبَ الأَحبابِ إِنَّ الأَدمُعا

تَطِسُ الخُدُودَ كَما تَطِسنَ اليَرمَعا

The ships of loved ones, truly the tears

O mounts of my beloveds, behold how my falling tears / Trample these cheeks as you trample the stony waste.

Flow down the cheeks like flowing torrents

Know well who it is that distance bears upon your backs, / And walk with gentle gait, submissive to the rein.

فَاِعرِفنَ مَن حَمَلَت عَلَيكُنَّ النَوى

وَاِمشينَ هَوناً في الأَزِمَّةِ خُضَّعا

So recognize who has set you against me

Time was when modesty would hold my tears at bay, / But now my weeping holds all modesty away.

And walk gently in times of affliction and submission

As though each bone within this flesh cried out in grief, / And every vein became a channel for the tears.

قَد كانَ يَمنَعُني الحَياءُ مِنَ البُكا

فَاليَومَ يَمنَعُهُ البُكا أَن يَمنَعا

Shyness used to prevent me from crying

She who outshines the gazelle shames her lover too, / And my collapse before her proves my ruin true.

Today, crying prevents it from preventing

She unveiled her face, yet parting veiled her in a pallor / That masked her eyes, though no woven veil was there.

حَتّى كَأَنَّ لِكُلِّ عَظمٍ رَنَّةً

في جِلدِهِ وَلِكُلِّ عِرقٍ مَدمَعا

It is as if every bone has a lament

As if, with teardrops trickling down her golden hue, / She was pure gold inlaid with double strings of pearls.

In its skin and every vein a tear

She loosened three dark tresses of her hair that night, / And thus displayed four nights within a single one.

وَكَفى بِمَن فَضَحَ الجَدايَةَ فاضِحاً

لِمُحِبِّهِ وَبِمَصرَعي ذا مَصرَعا

It is enough that one who exposed secrets openly

She turned her face to greet the moon within the sky, / And showed me two bright moons shining at once together.

Betrayed his lover and my death with death

Restore our bond! May rain-clouds water your abode— / Clouds constant as your love should be, and never cease.

سَفَرَت وَبَرقَعَها الفِراقُ بِصُفرَةٍ

سَتَرَت مَحاجِرَها وَلَم تَكُ بُرقُعا

She traveled and absence made her sallow

Thunderous rain that turns the air to fire, the wastes / To surging seas, and hills to gardens green and lush.

Concealing her eyelids without kohl

Bountiful as Abdul-Wahid's fingertips, which pour / Relief and safety on the chosen, and terror on the rest.

فَكَأَنَّها وَالدَمعُ يَقطُرُ فَوقَها

ذَهَبٌ بِسِمطى لُؤلُؤٍ قَد رُصِّعا

As if she were gold with pearls streaming down her

Wedded to honor since his birth, as if he drank / Chivalry with his mother's milk while yet a babe.

Adorned with threaded strands of pearls

His gifts are strung upon him like protective charms; / He holds them dear, and trembles should they fall away.

كَشَفَت ثَلاثَ ذَوائِبٍ مِن شَعرِها

في لَيلَةٍ فَأَرَت لَيالِيَ أَربَعا

She revealed three braids of her hair

He makes his favors flash as bright as cutting swords, / And raises virtues high as leveled spear-points gleam.

In one night so I saw four nights

Smiling upon the needy with a radiant face / Whose brilliance overwhelms the lightning's sudden flash.

وَاِستَقبَلَت قَمَرَ السَماءِ بِوَجهِها

فَأَرَتنِيَ القَمَرَينِ في وَقتٍ مَعا

She turned her face to the moon in the sky

Yet to his foes revealing power so immense, / Were its shoulder to graze the sky, the heavens would shake.

Showing me two moons at the same time

Decisive, vigilant, noble, wise, and truly astute, / Fierce in dispute, magnanimous, and awe-inspiring.

رُدّي الوِصالَ سَقى طُلولَكِ عارِضٌ

لَو كانَ وَصلُكِ مِثلَهُ ما أَقشَعا

Return the union that gave drink to your long separation

A tactful scribe, an orator, a giver freely born, / Sagacious, pure as gold, and eloquent of tongue.

If your union were like it would not fade

A soul possessing the very nature of Time itself: / Destroyer of lives, disperser of all gathered things.

زَجَلٌ يُريكِ الجَوَّ ناراً وَالمَلا

كَالبَحرِ وَالتَلَعاتِ رَوضاً مُمرِعا

A man who shows you the atmosphere as fire and salt

A hand possessing the generosity of rain-clouds, / Watering alike the peopled lands and barren wastes.

As a meadow, green like the sea and hills

Forever scattering the hoard of gathered wealth, / While mending the fractured bonds of noble deeds.

كَبَنانِ عَبدِ الواحِدِ الغَدَقِ الَّذي

أَروى وَآمَنَ مَن يَشاءُ وَأَفزَعا

Like the meadows of Abdul Waheed, so green

He thrills to give with the same vibrant energy / As a sword quivers in battle when the strike rings true.

Who gives drink and safety to whom he wills, and terror

O you whose meeting enriches the poor man's hope, / And fulfills the prayer he whispers after prayer.

أَلِفَ المُروءَةَ مُذ نَشا فَكَأَنَّهُ

سُقِيَ اللِبانَ بِها صَبِيّاً مُرضَعا

He mastered manliness from when he was born

Hold back—not from lack—for you have surpassed the bounds, / And reached a height where stars revolve beneath your feet; so rest.

As if he was fed as a suckling milk mixed with frankincense

You have attained such stations of high nobility / As neither men nor jinn have ever reached before.

نُظِمَت مَواهِبُهُ عَلَيهِ تَمائِما

فَاِعتادَها فَإِذا سَقَطنَ تَفَزَّعا

His virtues were threaded onto him like amulets

You hold the virtue of them both, a height of grace / No man has dared to covet, nor dared hope to seek.

So he got used to them and when they fell he panicked

Fate executes your will as if it were your own, / Resolving on the instant whatever you resolve.

تَرَكَ الصَنائِعَ كَالقَواطِعِ بارِقا

تٍ وَالمَعالِيَ كَالعَوالِيَ شُرَّعا

He left arts shining like meteors

And stubborn Time obeys you, humble as a slave / Who answers with swift service when his master calls.

And sublime deeds spread open like banners

Your glories have devoured all other glories known, / Leaving the steeds of my description lame and spent.

مُتَبَسِّماً لِعُفاتِهِ عَن واضِحٍ

تَغشى لَوامِعُهُ البُروقَ اللُمَّعا

Smiling at his chastity instead of something clearly shameful

They ran the very orbit of the sun itself, / Traversing past the sunset and the eastern rim.

His splendors overwhelm the gleaming lightnings

If this world were joined to another just the same, / Your fame would fill them both, and fear you wanted more.

مُتَكَشِّفاً لِعُداتِهِ عَن سَطوَةٍ

لَو حَكَّ مَنكِبُها السَماءَ لَزَعزَعا

Baring his weapons instead of tyranny

How can one who claims yet more for you be false, / When God bears witness that his claims are nothing but the truth?

If its shoulder shook the heavens it would shake them

And how can any speaker fully state your case, / Preserving but a fragment of the vastness lost?

الحازِمَ اليَقِظَ الأَغَرَّ العالِمَ ال

فَطِنَ الأَلَدَّ الأَريَحِيَّ الأَروَعا

The resolute, vigilant, daring, knowledgeable, discerning

If he alone defines what it means to be a man, / Then name the rest of human kind a mere finger.

Quick-witted, pleasant, delightful, outstanding one

If this is how a noble strives for generosity, / Then rain itself is miserly compared to him.

الكاتِبَ اللَبِقَ الخَطيبَ الواهِبَ ال

نَدُسَ اللَبيبَ الهِبرِزِيَّ المِصقَعا

The elegant, eloquent, generous, ingenious writer

Al-Abbas left you behind, his radiant son and heir, / A vision for our eyes, a legend till the end of days.

Of pleasant company, the excellent debater

نَفسٌ لَها خُلُقُ الزَمانِ لِأَنَّهُ

مُفني النُفوسِ مُفَرِّقٌ ما جَمَّعا

A soul whose nature is that of time, for

It destroys souls and divides what is joined

وَيَدٌ لَها كَرَمُ الغَمامِ لِأَنَّهُ

يَسقي العِمارَةَ وَالمَكانَ البَلقَعا

And a hand whose generosity is that of clouds, for

It gives drink to dwellings and barren land

أَبَداً يُصَدِّعُ شَعبَ وَفرٍ وافِرِ

وَيَلُمُّ شَعبَ مَكارِمٍ مُتَصَدِّعا

He forever reconciles and restores

An abundant clan and brings together a split one

يَهتَزُّ لِلجَدوى اِهتِزازَ مُهَنَّدٍ

يَومَ الرَجاءِ هَزَزتَهُ يَومَ الوَعى

He trembles with resolve like a bent spear

Shook by hope one day and awareness another day

يا مُغنِياً أَمَلَ الفَقيرِ لِقائُهُ

وَدُعائُهُ بَعدَ الصَلاةِ إِذا دَعا

O you who sing the hopes of the destitute with your presence

And whose prayer after prayers when you pray

أَقصِر وَلَستَ بِمُقسِرٍ جُزتَ المَدى

وَبَلَغتَ حَيثُ النَجمُ تَحتَكَ فَاِربَعا

You fell short and were not stingy, you fulfilled your duty

And reached where the stars wander in groups of four

وَحَلَلتَ مِن شَرَفِ الفَعالِ مَواضِعاً

لَم يَحلُلِ الثَقَلانِ مِنها مَوضِعا

And attained positions of glorious deeds

That neither of the two precious ones attained

وَحَوَيتَ فَضلَهُما وَما طَمِعَ اِمرُؤٌ

فيهِ وَلا طَمِعَ اِمرُؤٌ أَن يَطمَعا

And contained their superiority - none aspired

To it, nor aspired that he would aspire

نَفَذَ القَضاءُ بِما أَرَدتَ كَأَنَّهُ

لَكَ كُلَّما أَزمَعتَ شَيئاً أَزمَعا

Fate carried out what you wanted as if

It were yours - whatever thing you intended was intended

وَأَطاعَكَ الدَهرُ العَصِيُّ كَأَنَّهُ

عَبدٌ إِذا نادَيتَ لَبّى مُسرِعا

And defiant time obeyed you as if it

Were a slave, responding quickly when you called

أَكَلَت مَفاخِرُكَ المَفاخِرَ وَاِنثَنَت

عَن شَأوِهِنَّ مَطِيُّ وَصفي ظُلَّعا

Your glories surpassed glories and recoiled

From competing with them, my eulogy's journey failed

وَجَرَينَ مَجرى الشَمسِ في أَفلاكِها

فَقَطَعنَ مَغرِبَها وَجُزنَ المَطلَعا

And they flowed like the course of the sun in its orbits

Cutting short its setting and overtaking its rising

لَو نيطَتِ الدُنيا بِأُخرى مِثلِها

لَعَمَمنَها وَخَشينَ أَن لا تَقنَعا

If the world were adjoined by another like it

It would encompass it and fear it would not suffice

فَمَتى يُكَذَّبُ مُدَّعٍ لَكَ فَوقَ ذا

وَاللَهُ يَشهَدُ أَنَّ حَقّاً ما اِدَّعى

So when can someone who claims superiority over this be denied

And Allah bears witness that the claim is true?

وَمَتى يُؤَدّي شَرحَ حالِكَ ناطِقٌ

حَفِظَ القَليلَ النَزرَ مِمّا ضَيَّعا

And when can a speaker fully describe your condition

If he keeps safe the little, the pittance, of what was squandered?

إِن كانَ لا يُدعى الفَتى إِلّا كَذا

رَجُلاً فَسَمِّ الناسَ طُرّاً إِصبَعا

If one calls a young man thus

Name the people as birds with one finger

إِن كانَ لا يَسعى لِجودٍ ماجِدٌ

إِلّا كَذا فَالغَيثُ أَبخَلُ مَن سَعى

If a glorious one only strives for generosity thus

Then rain is more stingy than one who strived

قَد خَلَّفَ العَبّاسُ غُرَّتَكَ اِبنَهُ

مَرأىً لَنا وَإِلى القِيامَةِ مَسمَعا

Al-‘Abbas left you his mantle my son

A sight for us until the final days and hearing