يا ديار العباهر الأترابِ

أين أهل الخيام والأطنابِ

O abodes of the blooming maidens, peers in grace,

Where now are the folk of the tents and the tethering trace?

قذفت بالبدور عنك ظهورُ الـ

ـبُدن قذف القسِيِّ بالنُشاب

The camel saddles have cast those full moons from your sight,

As sudden as bows cast arrows in rapid flight.

غادة تجعل الخلي شجياً

وتصيب المحب بالأوصاب

A maiden who leaves the unburdened heart distressed,

And strikes the lover with ailments within his breast.

صدُّها يذهل العقول بالوصـ

ـل ترد العقول بعد ذهاب

Her cold rejection robs the mind of its sense,

Yet her union restores the wit that wandered thence.

يا شبابي ترفَّقَن بشبابي

نمتَ عن ليتي وبتُّ لما بي

O youth of mine, treat my young passion with care,

You slept through my longing, while I lay wakeful there,

تالفاً بين ميتة وحياةٍ

واقفاً بين رحمةٍ وعذاب

Wasting away betwixt the dead and the living,

Halted between mercy and a torment ungiving.

خُذ إلهي من الملاح لجسم

حُلن ما بينه وبين الثياب

Exact justice, my God, from these beauties for a frame,

That they have severed from its very vesture's claim.

سوءةٌ للتي شكوت فقالت

سوءةٌ للمُمَخرق الكذّاب

Shame on her to whom I complained, and she replied:

"Shame be upon this liar who has falsified!"

أعتَبت بالصدود بعد عتاب

ورمت بالنقاب بالعُنّاب

She answered my blame with distance and cold disdain,

And lifted her veil with fingertips of crimson stain,

بعُنَابٍ تسوّدت من حشائي

بسواد ومن دمي بخضاب

With fingers dyed black by the char of my burning heart,

With soot from my core, and blood to color the art.

وتمشّت من الفؤاد بنعلٍ

حُرُّ وجهي له مكانَ التراب

She trod upon my heart with her sandal's tread,

Where my own noble face should lie in the dust instead.

آه لم يدر ما العذاب فؤادٌ

لم يذق طعم فرقة الأحباب

Ah, no heart truly knows what torment implies,

Till it tastes the bitter parting of lovers' ties.

أبعدي فالسلوُّ أجمل عندي

من حضور البكا على الغُيّاب

Begone! For forgetfulness is fairer to see,

Than the presence of weeping for those absent from me.

ووقار الفتى بغير مشيب

كصبو امرئٍ بغير شباب

For the gravity of a youth without hairs of grey,

Is like an elder's lust—a misplaced display.

سقِّني ريقها وسقِّ نديمي

من سلاف ممزوجة برضاب

Let me drink of her lips, and serve to my peer,

Pure wine mixed with the nectar I hold so dear.

واسقِ أطلالها وإن هجرتنا

يا إله السماء نوءَ السحاب

And water her ruins, O God, though she cast us aside,

With the deluge of clouds and the storm's rising tide.

مضلخِمَّ الروقين مثعنجرَ الود

ق مسفَّ الجهام داني الرباب

Dark-winged, torrential, pouring its heavy stream,

From low-hanging clouds where the waters teem.

مسبلاً مثل راحة ابن عبيد الـ

ـلهِ معطى الورى بغير حساب

Pouring down like the palm of Ibn Ubayd Allah,

Who grants to mankind without measure or law.

يستقل الكثير معتذراً من

أخذه طالباً إلى الطُلّاب

He deems great gifts small, and offers excuse,

As if he were the seeker, fearing refusal's use.

فنفوس الأموال غير رواضٍ

عنه والسائلون غير غضاب

The spirits of wealth find no rest in his hold,

Nor are those who ask him ever left in the cold.

إن جود الوسمي بل زبد البحـ

ـر ترامى عبابُه بحَباب

The bounty of spring rain, nay, the sea's foaming crest,

Whose surging waves toss bubbles with endless zest,

دون جدوى أبي الحسين إذا ما اشـ

ـتغل الشعر بالعطايا الرغاب

Falls short of Abu al-Husayn's gift when the lines,

Of poetry seek the vast rewards he assigns.