لقد سل سيفا والغدار الحمائل

أروم حياة عده وهو قاتل

He drew his sword while the traitors unsheathed their blades,

I hoped for a life of ease while he kills.

غدا حاجبا حاجبي ملك طرفه

متى ما حن قوسيها فهو نابل

He became an eyebrow whose king rules with a glance,

Whenever my bow is bent, he is an archer.

إذا ما انثنى أثنى وان كان حاسداً

عليه قضيب البانة المتمايل

Even if he sighs with envy,

Upon him is the rod of the swaying palm tree.

فهل قده غصن من ألبان ناصر

بعيشك أم لدن من السمر ذابل

Is his build the branch of soft curds

Or the melting wax of brown hyacinths?

وهل ريقه المعسول قهوة بابل

لذائقها أم بين جفنه بابل

Is his sweet saliva Babylon’s coffee

Or poison between his eyelids?

تشابه دمعي في القنوءِ وخده

وسيان في المعنى أسيل وسائل

My tears in anguish and his cheek resemble each other

In meaning both the flowing and the flowing are equal.

أذابت فؤادي قسوة في فواده

وأذكى غليلي ما تضم الغلائل

The harshness of his heart melted mine

And his coquetries stirred up my passions.

وما هيجت وجدي الغداة شمائل

سرت سحراً بل هيجته الشمائل

It was not the charms that stirred my love this morning

I walked as if spellbound, but it was the charms that stirred it.

ولا صدحت فوق الغصون بلابل

ولكنها للعاشقين بلابل

Nor did the bulbuls sing above the branches

Rather they are bulbuls to lovers.

يجود علينا طيفه وهو مانع

كما جد فينا حبه وهو هازل

His ghost is generous to us and he is prohibiting

Just as his love was generous, and he was jesting

أتى زائراً فالصبح في الشرق فارسٌ

لزورته والليلُ في الغرب راجل

A horseman came to visit in the morning dawn from the east

I would visit him and the night in the west was on foot

يوافيه ضوء الصبح من فيه ناصراً

على أن ليل الشعر لليل خاذل

The morning light meets him, victorious in his mouth

While the night of poetry belongs to the failing night

لئن جن فيه العاشقون صبابة

فأصداغه للعاشقينَ سلاسل

If lovers moan in it,

His cheeks are chains to lovers.

تعجب عمروٌ أن وقفتُ بمنزلٍ

كلانا لفقدان الأحبّةِ ناحل

Amr is surprised that I stopped at a house

Both of us bereft of loved ones were emaciated.

وأشفق من دمعي على عرصاته

وقد فاض منها سائلاً وهو سائل

And he pitied me for my tears on his courtyard

Which overflowed with the first downpour after my misfortune

أول دعم فاض بعد قطعيةِ

أول قلب هيجه المنازل

The first heart that homes stirred

We stood like inscriptions, in us were resting places for them

وقفنا رسوما في رسوم كأنّها

طروسٌ بها منا سطورٌ موائل

So it does not know what it says in sadness

Nor do we know what the maidens say

فلا هي تدري ما تقول كآبة

ولا نحن ندري ما تقول العواذل

I show them the moons in the sky like youths

And my nights are the moons of the ruined abodes

أريهم بأقمار السماء صبابةً

وبلواي أقمارُ الديار الأوافل

I turn away from them while they are a barren wilderness

Except they have disabilities in the hearts

وأصدف عنها وهي قفر كظنّهم

وما هي إلاَّ بالقلوب أواهل

And I did not say that house was ignorant of its open country

But so people would think I am ignorant

وما قلتُ تلكَ الدار جهلاً بربعها

بلى ليظنَّ القومُ أني جاهل

The morning brings back its betrayals with its blowing

Armor, and they were intimate before.

تُعيد الصّبا غدارنها بهبوبها

دروعاً وكانت قبل وهي مناصل

As if the branches are lovers

And the passing breeze carried messages

كأنَّ الغصونَ المائداتِ حبائبٌ

ومر النسيم المندلي رسائل

In the morning, as if the clouds poured generously with their water

Fingers of the reviver of religion, so they are floods

غداة كأن السحب جادت بمائها

أنامل محيي الدينِ فهي حوافل

With his name, poetry flowed after bitterness

He was generous, so he sweetened its armor, and he was abstaining

حلت باسمهِ الأشعار بعد مرارةٍ

وجاد فحلّى جيدها وهو عاطل

A river of superior virtue, time is not ungrateful to him

And a sea of generosity, its shores are not limited

لنيرٍ فضلٍ ما لهُ الدهرَ كاسفٌ

وبحرُ سماحٍ ما لجدواهُ ساحل

But he is freshwater springs that were not

Brackish among them, the springs did not become brackish

ولكنّه عذبُ المناهلِ لم يكن

كثانيهِ لم تعذب لديه المناهل

He is but rain in every populated land

And in every barren place, from his hands a downpour

وما هو إلاَّ الغيث في كل عامرٍ

وفي كل قفر من أياديهِ وابل

So I do not see him darken when fate is murky

Nor see him decline when matters are failing

فما وريه أن اظلمَ الدهرُ آفلٌ

ولا رأيهُ أن أشكل الخطبُ فائل

He wears the clothes of the eminent, so he is agreeable

While his detractor is ignorant of his rank

تقمّص أثوابَ العلى فهو رافلٌ

وشانئهُ عن شأنه ذاك غافل

Had the whites of swords not feared him

They would not have been coated when the blades were bared

ولو لم تخف بيضُ السيوف يراعهُ

إذاً ما اعتراها إذ تشامُ الأفاكل

Had the brown of spears not feared his resolve

The passion would not have laid them bare, so they are stripped

ولو لم تهب سمر الرماحِ اعتزامهُ

إذاً ما براها الشوق فهي نواحل

He learned to counter enemies from him

So he does to heroes what he is doing

تَعلَّمُ منهُ منازلةِ العِدى

فتفعلُ في الابطال ما هو فاعل

Every sharp blade, his blood makes it drop

And every sword, his resolve makes it strong

فكلُّ سِنان نِقسُهُ الدَّمُ ناقطٌ

وكل حُسامٍ طِرسهُ الهام شاكل

The letters of his name influence the heart

And treat it in that state accordingly

ينالُ ضميرَ القلب حرفُ شباتهِ

وعاملهُ في حالهِ تلك عامل

Enemies fear his sharpness even when sheathed

Just so, the cutting blades are feared when shielded

تخاف الأَعادي حدَّه وهو مغمَدٌ

كذلك تُخشى في الغمود الناصل

A noble lion, his cubs make one collapse

Generous is his morning for the dew and rivulets

أَصيلُ سُطاً كاللَّيث يُردي صِيالُهُ

كريمٌ ضُحاه للَّندى والأصائل

Even if praise did not speak of him

His traits would tell of his glory and imaginations

ولو لم يقُل عنهُ الثناء لحَّدثتْ

شمائلهُ عن مجدهِ والمخائل

Even if people dislike what I say

People disliked what God was doing

لئن كرهَ الأَقوامُ ما أنا قائلٌ

لقد كره الأقوام ما اللهُ فاعل

I disperse them by arguing

Just as the gushing springs dispersed the quarrelsome

أُفرّقُهم بما أقول مجادلاً

كما فَرّقت زُغبَ البُغاث الأَجادل

So, O envious one, reaching his status wearied you

He is the star, below him are the grasping

فيا حاسداً أعياه نيلُ محلّهِ

هو النَّجمُ يكبو دونه المتناول

If you meet the softness of his sword without his sharpness

Then he is but jesting with you, jesting

وان تلقَ لِين الصَّفح دون شَباتهِ

فما هوَ إلا هازئٌ بكَ هازل

If you were one whose glory like his was hoped for

You would have worn out in seriousness you undertook

ولو كنتَ مَن يُرجى له مثلُ مجده

ثناك بحّدِ الجّدِ غَما تحاول

The young man of fame, the star hides below his pace

And the steed of night falters, and the night is comprehensive

فتى الِصّيتِ يخبو النجمُ دونَ لحاقهِ

ويكبو جوادُ الَّليل والليلُ شامل

His praises are an obligation upon every speaker

With praise, and the praise of all is supererogatory

مدائحهُ فرضٌ على كّلِ ناطقٍ

بمدحٍ ومدحُ العاَلمين نوافل

For the prohibiting and the protected, there is dissuading and protector

And in money and hopes, there is loss and equator

فللمَنع والعافين عاصٍ وعاصمٌ

وفي المالِ والآمالِ عادٍ وعادل

A youth whose writings, like the words of armies in their composition

Are forces against his enemies and crowds

فتًى كُتبهُ مثلُ الكتائب لفظها

جيوشٌ إلى أعدائهِ وجحافل

And their swords did not prevent them from it

Rather, his swords made citadels for them from it

وما عَقَل الأعداءَ منها سيوفُهم

بل اعتقلتهم للسَيوف المعاقل

And he makes use of prose above his lines

Just as the clear verses of armies are irresistible rulers

ويستعملُ الإتراب فوق سطورهِ

كذلك آياتُ الجيوش القساطل

The brother of the wandering words through which

The pillar of religion and the leaning religion stand

أخو الكلمات الشارداتِ التي بها

يقومُ عِمادُ الّدين والدِيّنُ مائل

If that eloquence reached Wā’il

The tribes of Wā’il would never boast

فلو بلغَتْ تلك البلاغة وائلاً

لما بجحتْ يوماً بسحبانَ وائلُ

For his claimant and foe there is a wish and demise

And for the kingdom and kingdoms, there is all-sufficient and caretaker

لداعيهِ والعادى مُنّى ومنيَّةٌ

وللُمْلك والأّملاك كافٍ وكافلُ

He accommodated me, a youth, among the elders, from the most high

A footing for mankind and shoulders

حوى يافعاً معي الكهولِ من العلى

فمَوطئُ الذّرى والكواهل

My poetry about them is inadequate

Even if it aspires below him who aspires

من القومِ نظمي عنهمُ متقاصرٌ

وإنْ كان يَهوي دونهُ المتطاول

He has, from the clan of Shaybān, enduring glory

Whose structure makes tribes lean towards him

لهُ من بني شَيبانَ مجدٌ مؤثَلٌ

مَشيد البنا تعنو لديهٍ القبائل

They who raise the banners in every towering one

Just as they have, in every valley, loved ones

همُ رافِعو الأَعلامِ في كلّ شاهقٍ

كما لهمُ في كل وهدٍ حبائل

So whoever pierces the heart of the battalion with a thrust

And whoever is courageous on the day of tribulation

فمِن طاعمٍ قلبَ الكتيبة طاعن

ومن باسمٍ يومَ الكريهة باسل

Their generosity proceeds like the path of a star

And their likenesses astonish exemplary persons

تسير مسيرَ النجمِ أمثال جودهم

وتمثل إعجابا بهنَّ الأَماثل

Were seas, they would overflow if they saw the flashes of their blades

I saw seas pouring from them streams

بحارٌ فان شاموا بروقً غمودهم

رأيت بحاراً فاضَ منها جداول

Abu Hamid, why did I not know

Though I come with what past times could not attain

أبا حامدٍ مالي جهلت وإِنني

لآتٍ بما لم تستطعه الأوائل

I see a group who made your hands a refuge

Yet their words are like shadows, and shadows vanish

أرى معشراً ألفوا أياديك مشرعاً

وقولهمُ كالظلِ والظلُّ زائل

While in you they have merits and amusements

And in my poetry they have deterrence and virtues

فعندهمُ منك الفواضلُ واللُهى

وعندك من نظمي النهى والفضائل

And I have in the world an open space, but I saw you

Worthy of that which I am saying

ولي في الورى مندوحةٌ غير أنني

رأيتكَ أَهلاً للَّذي أنا قائل

My words, if speech travels with it, are separating

Flowing anger, polished, and the meanings are well-jointed

مقالي إذا ما سُقّهَ القولُ فيصلٌ

وعضبٌ صقيلٌ والمعاني مفاصل

And my blame of my fate is old, and whenever

A malady grows old, it is undoubtedly lethal

وعَتبي على دهري قديمٌ وكلَّما

تقادمَ داءٌ فهوَ لا شكَّ قاتل

As long as you support the son of an ignorant waster in the world

Then the least calamity is the raging of calamities

وما دُمتَ في الدَّنيا تعولُ ابنَ فاقهٍ

فأَهونُ ماضٍ مَن تغولُ الغوائل