أَوَ أجفانها المراض سكارى

ولماها العقار نسلو العقارا

Her languid eyelids intoxicated with sickness,

Her cheeks flushed with the blush of wine.

أيِّهوا بالصبوح فالليل فرعٌ

واشربوا فالصباح فيه توارى

Awaken at dawn, for night is but a branch,

And drink at morn, for it soon fades.

واصرفوا صارف السرور براحٍ

صار من نورها الظلام نهارا

Turn away the cupbearer of joy with ease,

For her radiance turns even darkness to day.

ما زهت بالحباب إلّا حسبنا

ها استعارت من الرضاب نثارا

She adorns herself with necklaces for us,

Borrowing the stars their glittering light.

لو رأينا لريق ليلى سبيلاً

ما مددنا لغيره الأبصارا

If we saw Laila's saliva as a path,

We would extend our vision to none but it.

فهو في منعة النجوم وإن كا

ن انتدى الأقحوان والجلنارا

For it excels the radiance of stars, even if

The full moons and planets shine bright.

أضرمت حوله المراشف ناراً

وانتضت فوقه الجفون شفارا

The pillows blaze around him like fire,

And the lids above him flare like torches.

وحماه افترار شيبي الذي أص

بح كافوره لدى الغيد قارا

My white hair's kindling protects him,

Having become camphor to the burning fervor.

فهو أقسى علي منها وأنكى

من نواها ولو حكى النوّارا

He is harsher upon me than she, and more painful

Than her bent posture, though the benders relate.

أنقول النوى التي ساقت الشي

ب وما ساقها سواه جهارا

I say the vows that have led my hair astray,

And nothing but loud cries led it astray.

أيها الغادة التي يفضل الدا

نقُ من مسك خالها الدينارا

O beauty, whose cheek outshines fine musk,

Whose mole excels even the golden dinar!

لا تتيهي فجود حالتَ تبرٌ

حبةٌ منه تفضل القنطارا

Do not wander, be generous, though a grain

Of your generosity excels a pile of gold.

لا تهيني غلامه فغلام ال

سمح سمحٌ يفاخر الأحرارا

Do not spurn me, his slave, for the generous man's slave

Is himself generous, and contends with the noble.

ببها حالتَ المعالمُ ضاءت

والدياجي تحولت أسحارا

The landmarks shone through your beauty,

And the darkness turned into the dawn's glow.

زانها من بني الرسول همامٌ

ما برى اللَه مثله كبّارا

Your ancestry from the Prophet's line are protectors

Whom God has never shown the like of among the great.

يخرج الدر من كنوز معاني

ه ومن بحر جوده مدرارا

He brings forth pearls from the treasures of his meanings,

And from the copious sea of his generosity comes flowing generosity.

جادنا في عشية العيد من جد

واه عيداً يبدِّد الإعسارا

We celebrated on the eve of Eid with his ancestors -

Through them, Eid dispels poverty.

زاد حسناً على سواه كما زا

د بحسن النهى جمال العذارى

He surpassed others in beauty, just as

He surpassed in the beauty of restraint the bashful virgins.

زادك اللَه يا ابن خير البرايا

عزةً حيدريةً واقتدارا

May God increase you, O son of the land's finest,

In glorious courage and empowerment.

ذدت عن جلق الهموم فلِم لَم

تنف عنها الفويسق الغدّارا

You have defended us from the visciousness of worries,

Why have you not expelled from us the deceitful spy?

إن جبران لا ترى العين واللَ

هِ خبيثاً نظيره كفّارا

Truly, Jabran you will not see, and God sees

No wicked man as vile as he is.

أتعب الناس بعد أن كان أجنى ال

ناس للناس ركبةً وفقارا

He has wearied people, after he was the most gentle of

People to people, stooping and bending low.

كلما قلت حان صرف معاشي

غصَّ لا عاش بالجواب وحارا

Whenever I say my living has arrived,

He sulks, lives not by words, and is perplexed.

وتلاهى وما عهدناه مذ كا

ن صغيراً يماطل العطارا

And he has become forgetful, not as we knew him

Since he was small, bargaining with the perfumers.

يتباهى بفروةٍ ضمَّ منها ال

هر من ذاته الخبيثة فارا

He boasts of a fur coat in which he has wrapped

The vileness of his wicked soul to conceal it.

وبدارٍ تدور فيها رحى الزو

ر غدت للفجور والفسق غارا

And a house in which the millstone of meanness turns,

It has become a den for immorality and corruption.

تنجلي في الظلام فيها الزواني

وتنام اللصوص فيها نهارا

At night, fornicators gather light in it,

And thieves sleep there in daylight.

فاصرف اصرف عناده بعصا الطر

د ونزِّه حسامك البتارا

So turn away his obstinacy with the rod of exile,

And cleanse your sharp sword for vengeance.

لا تعدت على علاك العوادي

لا ولا أخمدت لبأسك نارا

Do not transgress your lofty principles,

Nor extinguish the flames of your might.