لو عاد طيفكم فعاد عليلا

لأبلَّ ذو دنفٍ وبلَّ غليلا

If your specter were to return, though frail,

It would give joy to one in misery, and solace to one in distress.

ولكنتُ يوم تزايلت عن حاجرٍ

تلك الحمولُ لبينهنَّ حمولا

But when you departed from the abode,

Those burdens between us became unbearable.

ما طلَّ دمعَ العينِ إلا كونها

بعد الجميع معالماً وطلولا

My tears flowed not but because they

Became, after all were gone, landmarks and hills.

أمذكري تلك العهود ترفُّقنا

أأعدت ذكراً أم أدرت شمولا

Do you remember those days of our intimacy?

Did I reminisce or was I overwhelmed with grief?

ما للهوى العذريّ اضحك شامتاً

منّي وابكي لائماً وعذولا

Do not blame love, the chaste one, for mocking

Me, and weep for the blamer and complainer.

وثنى جفوني بالسّهاد قصيرةً

قرحى وليلي بالصدود طويلا

My eyelids have been shortened by wakefulness,

My wounds long, and my nights boundless with sadness.

لم يدر ذو القلب الخليّ بأنني

أمسيتُ ذا كلفٍ به مشغولا

The naive heart did not know that I

Have become burdened with cares for it.

ظنَّ السلوَّ ولاَ سلوَّ بذاهلٍ

جمدت مدامعهُ وذاب نحولا

Solace, and there is no solace for the heedless,

His tears froze and his misery melted away.

ومن العجائب أنَّ خصب دموعهِ

في الخدِّ أحدث في الضلوع محولا

And strangely, the fertility of his tears

In the cheek produced barrenness in the ribs.

وأبيكَ لو أجدُ السبيلَ وللأسى

قولُ المتَّيمِ لو وجدتُ سبيلا

I wish to weep for you, and if I found a way for anguish,

Like Motamm’s saying: “If I found a way.”

للثمتُ وجهاً للضحى متبلّجاً

وطرفتُ طرفاً للظلامِ كحيلا

I would kiss a cheek at dawn blossoming,

And wink at the darkness like kohl.

يمت سيوفُ البرق وهي قواضبُ

فجرحنَ جفناً بالسهد كليلا

The swords of lightning died as they were unsheathed,

So they wounded an eyelid, sparingly.

إني لأعجب من هواك أصار لي

حيَّ البروقِ صوارماً ونصولا

I wonder that your love has made for me

The flashes of lightening sharp blades and spears.

فاكفف جفونك والقوامُ وردَّ من

لحظاتِ طرفك عن حشاي قليلا

So restrain your eyelids as the people turn away

For a few moments from the gaze of your eyes.

فلقد بعثتَ السهم احورَ مضمياً

والرمحَ لدناً والحسامَ صقيلا

For you have unleashed a crooked arrow,

A polished spear, and a sharpened sword.

غادرتَ وجدي مثلَ ردفك مفعماً

وتركتُ صبريَ بالنطاق نحيلا

You left, and my love became like your camel-litter, overflowing,

And you left my patience feeble with fasting.

وسألتني كيف السوُّ ودونه

كفلٌ يقوم بما يروم كفيلا

And you asked me how was my night, and without you

A palm cannot accomplish what it intends.

ومقبَّلٌ عذبٌ لماكَ ختامهُ

منْ لي بمحو ختامه تقبيلا

And your sweet kissing had for its conclusion

A sealing – who can erase the seal of his kissing?

فسل الصَّبا عن عصر أيام الصبّى

إن كنتُ رمتُ لعهده تبديلا

So ask the morning breeze about the days of my youth,

If I have changed since those days.

لولا خياناتُ الزمانِ وأهله

ما كنتُ متَّخذَ النسيمِ رسولا

Were it not for the betrayals of Time and its people,

I would not have taken the breeze as messenger.

والدهرُ مثلُ الآل يخدع آله

والدهر أخبثُ ذمَّةً وقبيلا

Time is like kin – it deceives its own.

And Time is more treacherous in pledge and tribe.

لا ترفعنْ علمَ العلوم بمجهلٍ

فعلوُّ حظك أن تخال جهولا

Do not raise the banner of knowledge with an ignorant one,

For the loftiness of your fortune is that you seem ignorant.

وتعدَّ عن الدنيا الدنيّ وإن سما

نحو الشريف وإن أصاب خمولا

Turn away from the base world, even if it rises

Towards the noble, and even if it attains decline.

فالسيفُ تكسبهُ الضرائبُ رفعةً

إمَّا تركن بشفرتيهِ فلولا

The sword – the taxes make it lofty,

Whether you leave it with its blade bent or straight.

والدرُّ يرسبُ في القرار وقد طفا

زبدُ البحار ولا يعدُ جليلا

And pearls settle in still waters, though the

Foam of seas has passed and is no longer abundant.

ما للأنام وأصلهمْ منْ واحدٍ

متفاوتين خلائقاً وشكولا

Why are people, who share one origin,

So different in nature and forms?

تجد الجبانَ أبا الشجاع وتارةً

يلد الجوادُ المستماح بخيلا

You find the cowardly born of the valiant, and sometimes

The generous begets the tight-fisted.

شيمٌ تدلُّ على النفوس وتحتها

قسمٌ تقوم على القضاء دليلا

Attributes point to the souls, and under them

Are lots that arise from destiny.

ما لي وقصد الأغنياءِ وإنْ دعوا

بالأغنياءِ إذن ضللتُ سبيلا

Why would I seek the rich, even if they

Call me with riches? Then I would lose my way.

قومٌ إذا نقعُ القوافي ضمَّهم

في محفلٍ حسبو النهاق صهيلا

A people, when the rhymes ring out,

They gather them in an assembly, taking it for neighing.

بيدِ المطامع لستُ ابرحُ لاطماً

وجه اليقين قطيعةَ وذهولا

With greed, I do not cease being distraught,

Striking the face of certainty with separation and confusion.

حتَّى متى اصلُ الهواجر هاجراً

ظلًّا يعمُّ العالمين ظليل

Until when will I depart, departing,

A shadow covering both worlds, dark?

ما عزَّ خطْب الخطب إلا ردَّهُ الـ

ـملكُ العزيز بساحتيهِ ذليلا

No speech of speeches is honored unless

The Almighty King returns it with his submission.