لعينِك منها يوم زالتْ حمولُها
وإنْ لم تُنِلْ تَذْرافُها وهُمولُها
For both your eyes, because of her, the day her camel-litters moved away—
though they did not pour their tears forth in streams.
ومن أجلها لمّا مررتَ بدارها
وقد أوحَشَتْ منها شَجَتْنِي طلولُها
I had not thought, when I passed by her dwelling—
now desolate without her—that its ruins would rouse my grief.
ولولا الهوى لم تَلْقَنِي بمنازلٍ
نواحلَ يستدعي نحولي نحولُها
Were it not for love, you would not find me among dwellings
wasted away, whose wasting summons my own.
أغَنِّي بها مجهولةً لم تبنْ لنا
ويُذكِرُني غَضَّ الوصالِ مَحيلُها
There I sing of an unknown woman who never showed herself to us,
and her withdrawal recalls the fresh tenderness of union.
منَ اللّاتي يُسغِبْنَ النِّطاقُ هضامةً
ويمشين بالبطحاء خِرْشا جُحولُها
One of those women whose slender waists give the girdle the lie,
walking across the gravel plain, their anklets silent.
يَقِفْنَ فيستوقفن لَحْظَ عيوننا
فما هنّ للأبصار إلّا كُبولُها
They halt, arresting the glances of our eyes;
to sight, they are nothing but its fetters.
أُريغ جَداها وهْي جِدُّ بخيلةٍ
وأعْيا على راجي الغواني بخيلُها
I seek her bounty, though she is exceedingly miserly,
and among beauties, the miserly one defeats whoever hopes in them.
وليلةَ بتنا بالأُبَيْرِقِ جاءني
على نَشْوةِ الأحلامِ وَهْناً رسولُها
One night we spent beside al-Ubayriq; there came to me,
deep in the night, borne on the intoxication of dreams, her messenger:
خيالٌ يُريني أنّها فوق مضجعي
وقد شطّ عنّي بالغُوَيرِ مَقيلُها
a phantom showing me that she was above my bed,
though her resting place at al-Ghuwayr lay far from me.
فيا ليلةً ما كان أنعمَ بثَّها
تنازح غاويها وخاب عذولُها
O night, how sweet was the intimate converse it unfolded!
Her infatuated lover prevailed, and her reprover was confounded.
وما ضرّني منها وقد بتّ راضياً
بباطلها أنْ بان صُبحاً بُطولُها
What harm did she do me, when I passed the night content
with her phantom, though at dawn its falsity stood revealed?
فلمّا تجلّى اللّيلُ بالصّبحِ واِمّحتْ
دَياجِرُ مُرخاةٌ علينا سدولُها
When night unveiled itself in dawn, there dissolved
its darkness, whose curtains had been lowered over us.
أَفَقْتُ فلم يَحصل عليّ مِنَ الّذي
خُدِعتُ به إلّا ظنونٌ أُجِيلُها
I awoke, and of the night journey
that had deceived me, nothing remained but surmises I turned over.
وكم عُصبةٍ حَطَّتْ لديه رحالَها
فأتْرَبَ عافيها وعزّ ذليلُها
How many a company has set down its baggage at his door,
its petitioner enriched and its humbled man exalted,
لدى مجلسٍ لا يمزج الهَزلُ جِدَّهُ
ولا ينطق العَوْراءَ فيه قؤولُها
in an assembly where jest never mingles with earnestness,
nor does any speaker utter an indecent word.
تُلَوّى به الأعناق مَيْلاً عن الهوى
ويُنْصَفُ من ضخمِ الشّعوب هزيلُها
There he turns necks, bending them away from caprice,
and the frail wins justice against the broad-shouldered.
إذا لم يملْ فيه إلى الحقّ جورُه
عن القَصْدِ يوماً لم تجدْ مَن يُميلُها
If an unjust man there will not incline toward the truth,
he will find no one who bends justice from its straight course.
فتىً كلُّ أطرافٍ له في كتيبة
يُصرِّفها أو مَكْرُماتٍ يُنيلُها
A young lord, every quarter of his realm upheld by a battle-host,
which he deploys—or else by noble gifts he bestows.
يُهاب كما هاب الشّجاعُ قَريعَه
ويُرجى كما ترجو الغوادي مُحولُها
He is feared as a brave warrior fears his equal,
and hoped in as drought-stricken lands hope for morning rain.
وحلّ من العلياء ما لا تَحُلّه
حذاراً من الشُّمِّ العوالي وُعولُها
He has attained a height that even mountain goats
fear to climb among the proud, towering peaks.
ففي كفّه رِقُّ المكارمِ والنّدى
وما بيدِ الأقوامِ إلّا غُلولُها
In his palm, noble deeds and bounty are enslaved,
while what lies in others’ hands is merely their fetters.
أآلَ بُوَيْهٍ اِحفظوه لدولةٍ
له وعليه صعبُها وذَلولُها
O House of Buwayh, preserve him for a realm
whose difficult and tractable affairs alike are his and rest upon him.
نماها فما تدعو سواه أباً لها
ومِن جَحْرِه دبّتْ إلينا شُبولُها
He reared it, so it calls no one but him its father,
and from his den its lion-cubs crept toward us.
مدحتك لا أنّي إخالُ مديحةً
تحيط بأوصافٍ لديك جَميلُها
I praised you—not because I supposed that my praise
could encompass the beautiful qualities you possess.
ولم يأتني التّقصيرُ من عجز منطقي
ولكنْ دهاني من معاليك طولُها
My falling short comes from no failure of my speech;
rather, the vast extent of your high virtues overwhelmed me.
ولو أنّني وفّيتُ فضلك حقَّه
عددتُ مديحي زلّةً أستقيلُها
Even if I rendered your excellence all its due,
I would count my praise a lapse for which I sought pardon.
فعشْ في نعيمٍ لا يُرى منه آخِرٌ
وحالٍ بعيدٌ أنْ يحول حؤُولُها
So live in bliss whose end is never seen,
your fortune far removed from ever undergoing change.
