عثرة قلبي فيكم لا تقالْ

وإنما العذلُ حديثٌ يقالْ

My stumbling upon you is not to be blamed,

Rather, the fault is in the words being said.

ثقوا بما أسأرتمُ من جوى

زلتم ولكن ماله من زوال

Trust in what I have confided of my love,

You slipped, but it will not slip away.

ومن نحولٍ شاهدٍ أنَّ غير السـ

ـقم دعوى للهوى وانتحال

And the witness of emaciation has shown that

Other than sickness, love's claim is pretense.

يا صاحِ دعني من حديث الحديثِ

العهدِ إلاَّ بالقلى والملال

O companion, leave me be from talk of talk,

Of the past - only embers and ashes remain.

مهلاً بدمعي فبذكر الحمى

كأنّما أنشطتهُ من عقال

Gently, with my tears, the memory of passion

Rouses it from the tether, as though.

يا دارُ لا خيّم فيك الحيا

ولا تمشّت فيك ريح الشّمال

O abode, no life has camped in you,

Nor has the wind of the north walked in you.

ظمئتُ لما خفَّ عنك الدُّمى

فلا أضافتكِ الغيوثُ الثقال

I thirsted when the rain clouds parted from you,

The downpours did not host you.

من مائسٍ كالغصنِ أو سافر

كالشمس أو منتقبٍ كالهلال

One who travels like a bending branch,

Or roams like the sun or wanes like the crescent.

وشى به الوشي وطيبُ الشّذا

وأفحمت أحجاله والحجال

And the whisperers whispered of him

And the scent of youth and the prime of life.

يحكيه بدر التمّ والفضلُ

للمحكّي بعداً وسناً وانتقال

The full moon relates it along with merit and virtue

To the storyteller - eternally.

وحرمةِ الخال لقد نام عن شغلٍ

به ناجٍ من الهمِّ خال

The sanctity of the maternal uncle - who forsook

A confidante free of worries for him.

يعجب والليلُ مديد الخطى

من اعتلاقي بذيول الخيال

Amazing is the lengthy stride of night,

When I cling to the tails of imagination.

فساعةٌ طوّلها بالجفا

وليلة قصّرها بالوصال

An hour lengthened by estrangement,

And a night shortened by union.

ناصرُ دمعي بمدودِ الأسى

هازم صبري بجنود الجمال

My tears' ally with the troops of beauty

Vanquished my patience with the soldiers of longing.

بطلعة البدر وريق الطَّلا

وقامة الغصنِ ولحظ الغزال

The rising of the full moon, the tresses of twilight,

The posture of the branch, the gaze of the gazelle.

حلوُ الجنى مرّ التجنّي وخو

ظُ البان فيه الميل والاعتدال

Sweet is the harvest, bitter is the reaping, and so

The cup appears - in it blend and moderation.

كأنَّ خدَّيه وأصداغه

صبحُ الهدى من تحت ليل الضلال

As if his cheeks and temples

Are the dawn of guidance under the night of ruin.

أما ودين الحبِّ في أهله

وعزَّةِ الحسن وذلّ السؤال

But by the covenant of love among its people,

And the honor of beauty and baseness of questioning,

ما فتر الحاظك إلا ظبي الـ

ـهند وأجفانك إلا نبال

Your gaze did not wander but to the doe of India

And your eyelids to nothing but arrows.

ولا عذاراك سوى جنَّةٍ

تلقاك بالسلمِ وتنوي القتال

Your excuses are none but a heavenly garden

That meets you with peace and intends war.

لولا شفيعاك اللَّمى والهوى

خاب مشيراك الصّبا والدلال

Had it not been for your intercessors, wishes and love,

Your advisors, the morning breeze and the guide, would have failed.

لقّنت أخلاق بني الدهر في

ليِّ المواعيد وطول المطال

You taught the morals of the people of time

Promises of nights, and prolonging hopes.

من ناقضٍ عهداً ومن رافضٍ

وداً وقد أملته للملال

From one who broke a pact, who rejected

A affection - though I made it last.

قلّص عني ظلَّه والفقيدُ الـ

ـحسِ من يرجو بقاء الظّلال

He shortened his shade from me, and the missing

Beloved - who hopes for the shades to remain?

فاجتنب الناس وكن حجرة

فآل هذا الدهر خفاَّق آل

So avoid people, and be solitary,

For the orbits of this life are declining.

لو جاء حسَّان بإحسانه

يشكو أواماً ما سقوه بلال

If Hassân came with his beauty

To complain of injustices - what adversity!

لا نوا ففيهم شرق الماء للـ

ـصَّادي وما فيهم صفاءُ الزلَّال

Do not blame, for in them the water rises to the hunters,

And in them there is no purity of stream.

من سامعٍ للإفك أو خادعٍ

بالشك أو مختلق للمحال

From a hearer of slander, or a deceiver

With doubt, or a fabricator of impossibilities.

ما سمنت أعراض دنياهمُ

إلاَّ وأعراضهمُ للهزال

Their worldly forms have not been enriched

Except that their forms are for decline.

تحيَّزوا بالنقص وامتاز سيف الـ

ـديّنِ من بينهم بالكمال

They inclined to defects, while the sword

Of religion distinguished itself among them with perfection.