سودوا وهل لا تسود الأعين السودُ

لا يجهل البارقاتِ البيضَ صنديدُ

They were made sovereign—and how could black eyes not reign?

No stalwart champion can fail to know the flash of white blades.

لم يخلق اللَه طرفاً ناعساً غنجاً

إلّا لتعذيب طرفٍ فيه تسهيد

God created no languid, coquettish eye

except to torment another eye with sleeplessness.

ذكرت أيام أفراحي بكم وسنا

راحي ونور صباحي الخد والجيد

I remembered my days of joy with you, and the radiance

of my wine, and my morning’s light—the cheek and neck.

فباد مصطبري وانهل من بصري

يا أملح الغيد ما سالت به البيد

Then my patient endurance vanished, and from my eyes poured—

O loveliest of maidens—such a flood that the deserts flowed with it.

وظلت واللَه لا الصهباء مطربتي

ولا الأغاريد والبيض الرعاديد

And I remained—by God—with no red wine to delight me,

nor songs, nor delicate fair ones.

ما حيلتي ما صنيعي فاتني قمرٌ

في طرفه حورٌ في فيه قنديد

What recourse have I, what can I do? My moon has eluded me.

His eye holds ḥawar’s dark-on-white beauty; his mouth holds sugar-candy.

أنامه عن عهودي جور طائفةٍ

ألقى أيمتها الأشرار نمرود

A faction’s injustice made him sleep, heedless of my covenants;

its wicked leaders cast Nimrod down.

همُ الذئاب ولكن أصبحوا غنماً

لما أتى الشام ليثُ اللَهِ محمود

They were wolves, but they became sheep

when Mahmoud, the Lion of God, came to al-Sham.

فهو الوزير الذي تعنو الرقاب له

وتتقيه الغطاريف الأماجيد

He is the vizier before whom necks bow,

and whom proud, illustrious nobles hold in awe.

العدل حلته والفضل حليته

والفصل كلمته والخلة الجود

Justice is his robe, and excellence his adornment;

judgment is his word, and generosity his nature.

يحيي ويطرب مفؤوداً يخاطبه

كأن ألفاظه عيسى وداود

He gives life and rapture to a heart he addresses,

as though his words were Jesus and David.