ما ضاع من أياّمنا هل يُغرَمُ

هيهات والأزمانُ كيف تقوَّمُ

The days that slipped from our hands, could their loss ever be compensated?

Alas! And how could time ever be set right?

يومٌ بأرواحٍ يباعُ ويشتَرى

وأخوه ليس يُسامُ فيه دِرهمُ

A day in which souls are sold and bought,

While its brother is not equal in worth to a single dirham

سيان قلبي في المشيب وفي الصِّبا

لو يستوى شَعرٌ أغرُّ وأسحمُ

My heart is the same in old age and in youth

If only gray hair and jet black were equal

لي وقفةٌ في الدار لا رجعت بما

أهوى ولا يأسِى عليها يُقدِمُ

I have a pause in this abode, I will not go back to what

I desire, nor will regret for it make me proceed

لا تحسب الآثارَ لُعبةَ هازلٍ

نار ادكارِك في المعالم تُضرمُ

Do not think the relics are some fool’s plaything

The fire of your ruins sets landmarks ablaze

أو ما رأيتَ عِمادَها في نؤيها

مثلَ السِّوار يجول فيه المِعصمُ

Or have you not seen its pillars in its appearance

Like a bracelet circulating around the wrist

وكفَاك أنى للنواعبِ عاتبٌ

ولصُمِّ أحجارِ الديار مكلِّم

It is enough for you that to the coquettish I am a reproacher

And to the deaf stones of the dwellings I am a speaker

ومن البلادةِ في الصبابة أنني

مستخبرٌ عنهنَّ من لا يفهمُ

And of my naivete in youth, that to them

I am an inquirer, from one who does not understand

وأنا البليغُ شكا إليها بثَّه

عبثا فما بالُ المطايا تُرزِمُ

And I am the eloquent one, who complained to her of his love

In vain, so how could the writs of fate be torn up?

كلٌّ كنَى عن شوقِه بلغاتهِ

ولربّما أبكَى الفصيحَ الأعجمُ

Everyone alludes to his passion in his own language

And sometimes the eloquent makes the foreigner weep

ترجُو سُلوَّكَ في رسومٍ بينها ال

أغصانُ سَكرَى والحمامُ متَّيُم

You hope for your path among guideposts between which

Are tipsiness’ branches and the pigeon is plaintive

هذى تميلُ إذا تنسَّمت الصَّبا

والوُرق تذكر إلفَها فترَنَّم

This one sways when the morning breeze blows

And the leaves remember their haunts and murmur

فمتى تروع العيسُ غزلانَ النقا

بعصابةٍ سئمَ العواذلُ منهمُ

So when will the eyes’ gazelles startle the hunters of gazelles

With a band the coquettish have grown weary of?

النُّسكُ عند عفيفهم دينُ الهوى

والنصح عند لبيبهم لا يُفهَمُ

Devotion in their chaste eyes is the religion of passion

And good advice in their discerning eyes cannot be comprehended

حتّام أرعىَ وردةً لا تُجتنَى

في الخدِّ أو تُفّاحةً لا تُلثمُ

Hatim tends a rose that is not to be plucked

In the cheek, or an apple that is not to be kissed

أيُذادُ عن تلك المحاسنِ ناظرى

وتريد مني أن يسَوَّغَها الفمُ

Shall my gaze be averted from those beauties?

And you want my mouth to make them palatable?

في كلّ يومٍ للعيون وقائعٌ

إنسانُها الطمَّاحُ فيها يُكلَمُ

For the eyes there are incidents every day

Their flirtatious one in them converses

لو لم تكن جَرْحَى غداةَ لقائهم

ما كان يجرى من مآقيها الدمُ

Had they not been my wounds the morning after meeting them

Their tribulations would not have caused blood to flow

ولو اقتدرتُ قسمتُها يومَ النوى

عينا تلاحظهم وأخرَى تَسْجُمُ

And if I could I would have on the day of blaming

One eye watch them, and the other wink

دع لمحةً إ تستطع عُلَقَ الهوى

فبذاك تعلمُ كيف نام النوَّمُ

Let a glance that can capture the pinnacle of passion remain

For by that you will know how tranquil sleep is

ولطالما اعتقب العواذل مسمعى

فزجرنَ منه مُصْعَبا ولا يُخطَمُ

And for long the coquettish reproached my hearing

And deterred me from it - an unpierceable and unseverable thing

ما كنتُ أولَ من عصاهُ فؤادُه

وجنَى عليه مقَنَّعٌ ومعمَّمُ

I was not the first one whose heart disobeyed it

Deceived by a masked and turbaned one

لم أدر أنَّ الحبَّ حوَمةُ مأزِقٍ

تُصلىِ ولا أنّ اللواحظَ أسهمُ

I did not know that love is the pitfall of catastrophe

That is prayed for, nor that the sights are arrows

أصفُ الأحبّةَ واللسان يقول لي

وصفُ الوزير أبى المعالى أعظمُ

I describe the loved ones while my tongue says to me

Describing the Excellent Minister is greater

المستجير من المذمَّة بالنَّدَى

والمستجار إذا أظلَّك مَغْرمُ

The one seeking refuge from blame in the dew

And the one seeking refuge, when a burning love envelops you

في كلِّ يوم للمكارم عندَه

سوقٌ عُكاظٌ دونَها والموسِمُ

For it every day at his place are virtues

An Ukaz market, without peer even in season

وكأنّما أموالُه من بَذلها

نَهبٌ بأيدى الغانمين مقسَّمُ

As if his wealth, because of his spending it

Is war booty in the hands of the victors divided up

فلو أنها وَجدتْ عليه ناصرا

لرأيتها من كفّهِ تتظلّمُ

So if it found in him a helper

You would see it complaining of his palm

أسمعتَ قبلَ يمينه وشماله

بسحائبٍ أو أبحرٍ تتختَّمُ

Have you heard, before his right and left

Of clouds or seas stamped with his seal?

فيهنَّ من قِصدِ اليراع أراقمٌ

تَقضِى وتَمضِى والقنا يتحطَّمُ

In them are signs of sending forth squadrons

That fulfill, proceed, while the spear is shattered

ما هنَّ إلا موردٌ من فوقهِ

طيرُ الرغائبِ والمطالبِ حُوَّمُ

They are but a wellspring from above him

The birds of wishes and requests are confined

الجِدُّ من عزماتهِ متلقِّنٌ

والمجدُ من أخلاقه متعلِّمُ

Seriousness from his resolves is a pupil

And glory from his manners is a learner

متهلّلٌ للوفد يُحسَب أنه

بدرٌ أحاط بجانبيهِ الأنجُمُ

Delighted to welcome delegations, you would think he is

A full moon surrounded on its sides by stars

تُثنِى عواذله عليه بعذلهم

ولربّما نشَرَ الثناءَ اللُّوَّمُ

Its coquettish sing his praises in their gentle ways

And sometimes the blamer spreads praise

خلعتْ عليه المكرُماتُ ملابسا

ما يزال ينقُشها المديح ويرقُمُ

The gifts of honor dressed him in robes

That eulogy continually fashions and tailors

عِشق المعالىَ فهْو من شغفٍ بها

عند الرقاد بغيرها لا يَحلُمُ

He is passionate about the heights, so he is one who from ardor for them

When asleep dreams of nothing but them

بصوابه في الرأى ثُقِّف القنا

وبعزمه صُقلِ الحسامُ المِخذَمُ

The sword is polished by his resolve

And glory in his verses is employed

يحمِى بسطوته مسارحَ لحظهِ

فالعزُّ في أبياته مستخدَمُ

And if you notice, you say a watching falcon

And if he looks away, you say a blinking owl

وإذا تلمَّح قلت صقرٌ ناظرٌ

وإذا تغاضَى قلت أطرقَ أرقمُ

Steadfast of soul, as if in his chill

On the day of tremors the orange tree withers and shrivels

ثَبْتُ الجَنانِ كأنّما في بُرده

يومَ الزعازع يذبُلٌ ويلَملَمُ

His anxieties and his hopes raised for him

An edifice of glory whose pillar does not crumble

رفَعتْ له هِمّاتُه وزَماعُه

بنيانَ مجدٍ ركنُه لا يُهدَمُ

A long period roamed in the lands, so for him, glorious

He quenches the thirst of the one who quenches, another accused

طَوْلٌ تشرَّد في البلادِ فمنِجدٌ

يَروِى الذي يَرويه آخرُ متهِمُ

By God, you, when worries insinuate themselves

And the unremitting whip their bridle and halters

لله أنتَ إذا تسلَّبت الرُّبَى

وشكا الأُحاحَ سِماكُها والمِرْزَمُ

To repel the one who harms your neighbor, the head of an asp

Not every horse in the race is properly trained

لِيرُدَّ مَن جاراك رأسَ طِمِرةٍ

ما كلُّ طِرْفٍ في السّباقِ مطهَّمُ

Glory has burdens that make carrying them difficult

Which the mythological Phoenix, decayed, bears

للمجد أثقالٌ تعِجُّ إفالهُم

منها وينهَزها الفنيقُ المقُرَمُ

Far be it from you that a second nature change your disposition for generosity

And the resolute in you be rent asunder

حاشاك أن يَثنِى طباعَك في الندى

ثانٍ وينقُضَ من خِلالكَ مُبرِمُ

If you do good, you are exceeding

Or if you bestow bounty, you are perfecting

إن تَصنع الحسنَى فإنك زائدٌ

أو تُسبغ النُّعمَى فأنت متمّمُ

And I, whose way is to thank you in life

Until an energetic one or a dispirited one succeeds me

وأنا الذي سيرَّتُ شكرك في الدُّنَى

حتى تلاه مُعرِقٌ أو مُشئمُ

And I brought from the sea of praise, pearls

Strung in the throat of a water camel or smooth fish

وجلبتُ من بحر الثناءِ لآلئا

في نحرِ ما أو ليتنيه تُنظَّمُ

I presented my hopes to your abundant spring, secure

That behind honey there would not be bitter aloe

أوردتُ آمالى غديرَك آمنا

من أن يكون وراءَ شهدٍ عَلقمُ

And I sucked the teat of your bounty, without passion

Trusting that its ration would not be weaned

ورضعتُ ثدىَ نداك من دون الهوى

ثقةً بأنّ رصيعَه لا يُفطَمُ

The Nawruz presented to you in its branches

Flowers in leaves of loftiness, veiled

أهَدى لك النيروزُ في أغصانهِ

زَهرا بأوراقِ العلاء يُكمَّمُ

Every day its horses and its riders

Their brows marked with good mention of you

في كلِّ يومٍ خيلُه وركابُه

جَبَهاتُهنَّ بطيب ذكرك تُوسمُ

The blessing still in your presence has its udder full

A filled vessel whose opening does not constrict

لا زالت النَّعماءُ عندك حَلْبُها

ملءُ الإناء وبطنُها لا يُعقَمُ

And fate is subjugated behind you whenever

The appointed destiny makes you prosper

والدهر مجنوبٌ وراءك كلّما

وأتاك أسعده القضاءُ المبرَمُ

Like the ascendant’s night and the day of one with a horoscope

Success writes and good fortune seals

كالنِّقسِ ليلتُه وطِرسٍ يومُهُ

والنُّجحُ يَكتبُ والسعادةُ تختِمُ