منّا الوصالُ ومنكُمُ الهجرُ

وعلى إساءَتكمْ بنا الشّكرُ

You turned away, while still we yearned for union;

Yet we were thankful, though you gave but grief.

ولكلّ من أسدى الجميلَ سوى

مسدي الجَميل إليكُمُ أجرُ

To every well-doer seeking your reward

Reward is due from us, and more but for belief.

يا طَلعَةً للحُسنِ يَظلِمها

مَنْ قال يوماً إنّها البدرُ

O moon of loveliness tyrannized by shade,

None called you once the sun, for disbelief.

إن كان جرماً ما ظننتِ بنا

فالجرم يمحو وِزْرَه العذرُ

If we have sinned in what we fancied of you,

Sin becomes an ignored thing if excuse is brief.

حنّت إليكمْ كلُّ غاديةٍ

وبكى عليكمْ بعدِيَ القَطْرُ

Towards you each lovely-one came hurrying down,

And, when you left, the rain wept on your grief.

وثراكُمُ لا زال مُلتمعاً

في حافَتَيْهِ النَّوْرُ والزّهرُ

Still lightly sports your camp, and there do meet

The breeze, the rise, the bud, the bloom, the leaf.

وَإِذا اِبتَغى وطناً يقيم بهِ

سحُّ الحَيا فرُباكُمُ الخُضْرُ

And when a serpent seeks a spot to bide,

A place, where you have stepped, is pleasure-proof.

وكأنّ قلبِي يوم بينِكُمُ

شطرٌ أقام وعندكمْ شطرُ

As though my heart, while you were here, became

Two halves, and one went travelling with you.

ولقد وقفتُ على وداعكُمُ

وجوانحِي من صبرها صِفْرُ

Before you left I stood to say farewell,

But from my breast all power of speech was gone.

وبهنّ مِن تلذيع بينكُم

جمرٌ بودّي أنّه الجمرُ

And on the flames of parting I was cast,

And wished the glowing thing had not been fire.

وإذا مددتُ يداً إلى جَلَدي

فمحلّقٌ عنِّي به نَسْرُ

I stretch a hand, to tear my raiment's flap,

But from me soars an eagle through desire.

يا صاحِبيَّ وَما عَذَرتُكما

أنْ تنجوا عمّن به الأسرُ

My friends, no censure of you rest on me,

Though from a drunken reveller you fled.

وصحوتُها عن صاحبٍ ثمِلٍ

لم تنزُ فِي أوصاله الخمرُ

I woke to find an idolater gone by,

No Bacchus he, although he reeled as red.

سكرانَ من عُجْبٍ يمرّ بهِ

ولربّ سكرٍ دونه السُّكرُ

Yet you were heedless, when he tottered past,

For what he drank could bring no shame on you.

وَصممتُما عنهُ وليسَ بهِ

ممّا يَخاف عليكما وِقْرُ

Now has the time swooped down on us, and we

Surrendered by it, while our weapons flew.

ألا وقد فسح الزّمانُ لنا

أَعطانَه وَاِستُغزِرَ الدَّرُّ

The year of error circled, heedlessness was ours,

Its months and days we treated as untrue.

وَكأنّما الحولُ المجرَّمُ مِنْ

غَفلاتِنا عن مرَّه شهرُ

When power was centered in these hands of ours,

Command and banning flourished as we knew.

وإذا الأزمّةُ في أناملنا

والنَّهْيُ للأقوامِ والأمرُ

God has a mother who anointed Him,

Till in the dawn we doubted if it shone.

للّهِ أُمٌّ غَلّستْ بفتىً

حتّى شَككنا أنّه الفجرُ

Up she sprang, proof withdrawing from His side,

Proclaiming what her splendid son had done.

قامَتْ تمطّى عنه عالمةً

أنّ الذي جاءتْ به الفخرُ

Before his birth, the noblest of mankind

Were promised by his essence and pure zone.

وَتَشاهَدَتْ مِن قبلِ مَولدهِ

بذكائهِ الأعراق والنّجرُ

He came, as comes the friend, free from defect,

Not patched, nor needing tools to fashion one.

فَأَتى كَما شاءَ الصديق لَه

لا مَرْقَعٌ فيه ولا جَبْرُ

His attributes rose challengingly above him,

Pride subject to no other pride but His.

وَتَخالُ كِبْراً في شَمائلهِ

مِن عزّةٍ ولغيره الكِبرُ

You see Him on a day of battle, when

The pool's hot-bubbling, and the fear stark-drawn,

وَتراهُ في يومِ الهياجِ إذا

وَضَحَ الحِمامُ وصرّح الذُّعرُ

Plunging to tear the souls, as stoops the kite,

Swooping wherever chance may bring it on.

يَهوي إلى قنصِ النّفوس كما

يهوي إلى فُرصاته الصَّقْرُ

In every field His hands make white blood red,

And brown cheeks blanch wherever He has gone.

وَبِكفّه في كلِّ معركةٍ

تَرد الدّماء البِيضُ والسُّمرُ

Why should I now take long in time's despite,

When good and evil both are equal there?

كَم ذا أُطيلُ القولَ في زمنٍ

سِيّانِ فيه الخيرُ والشّرُّ

The base uninjured lead a life of ease,

While un427 is galled by grief and care.

أَشراره في نجوةٍ أبداً

مِن شرّه والمُبتَلَى الحُرُّ

A folk to whom but poverty is dearth,

Though stores and plenty flame before them clear.

قَومٌ يرَون الفقر بينهُمُ

أن تُعدمَ الأموالُ والوَفْرُ

The rich they count a poor and luckless wight,

Who lacks the teeming gold and groaning gear.

ويعدُّ غيرُهُم فقيرَهمُ

مَن لا جميلَ له ولا ذِكرُ

Honor among them is a word concealing

A gulf 'twixt generosity and fear.

وكأنّما المعروف بينهمُ

من حشمةٍ منه هو النُّكْرُ

Can any win, when barriers like this rise

Twixt the longed goal and hands that grasp in dream?

كَيفَ الفلاحُ وبيننا خَلَفٌ

لا نائِلٌ منهمْ ولا بِشْرُ

All honor they have cast behind their backs,

And what they do for honor's sake, is bare.

نبذوا الجميلَ وراء أظهرهمْ

فرباعهمْ من فعله قَفْرُ

Seek out their nobles, you will find them those

Of no avail, a benefit, or care.

وإذا عددتَ خيارهمْ فهمُ

مَن لا اِنتِفاعَ بِهمْ ولا ضَرُّ

Daily of them a number passing by,

Could make a thousand of their like seem rare.

في كلِّ يومٍ منهمُ تِرَةٌ

لو كان في أمثالهمْ وِتْرُ

Many, whose acts have plucked their sleeves to rags,

Come to you artificial, unaware.

وَلَربّ فعلٍ دقّ صاحبُهُ

حتّى أتاك وجُرمُه هَدْرُ