قِفْ أن وقفتَ فذاك وادي المُنحى

وأنشُدَ غزالَ الحّيِ أغيدَ أعينَا

Stop if you stop, for that is the valley of parting,

And sing to the beautiful gazelle of the tribe, she has left my eyes sleepless.

فلقد بكيتُ كما ضحكتُ من النَّوى

وأساء لي يومُ الوداع وأحسنا

For I have wept as I have laughed from intimacy,

And the day of farewell was unkind yet kind to me.

عانقتهُ فحييتُ ثم مضى فلو

نَشدوا قتيلَ هوًى لقلتُ لهم أنا

I bid him farewell and greeted him, then he left, so if

They asked who was slain by love, I would say it was I.

لم أَنسهُ يوم الكثيب وقد ثنى

مِثلَ القضيب بمثله صبري ثنا

I did not forget him on the sand dune when he bent

Like a stick, my patience bent like it, doubled over.

ألقاه شاهرَ سيفهِ من جَفنهِ

لاَ جفنهِ إِما تسمَّى واكتنى

He cast his piercing glance from his eyelid,

Nay, not his eyelid, as if it were named and folded over.

كالظَّبي يعطو أو يلاِحظ رانياً

والبدرِ يبدو والقضيب إذا انثنى

Like the young gazelle who glances or watches me furtively

And the moon appears and the stick when it bends over.

بدرٌ تكامل نورهُ لا يُجتلى

غصنٌ تَضوَّعَ نورُه لا يُجتنى

A full moon whose light cannot be obscured,

A blossoming branch whose light cannot be extinguished.

في خدّه ورد الحياءِ فما الحيا

وبجفنهِ وِردُ الميَّةِ والمنى

On his cheek the rose of bashfulness, so there is no shame,

And on his eyelid the tattoo of separation and intimacy.

لو رُمتُ أعقِد خصرهُ من لِينهِ

وسقامه ِعند العناق لأَمكنا

If I were to cling to his soft waist out of tenderness

And he were sick from the embrace, it would allow me to.

يَجني ويَجني لحظُنا من خدّهِ

حُلوَ الجَنى مُرَّ المذاق إذا جنى

Picking and picking, our glances from his cheek

Sweetly gather the bitter harvest when picked.

غضبانُ امنعُ ما تراهُ مُفرداً

في الحيِ ابعدُ ما يكون إذا دنا

Angry, inaccessible, how far he is when seen alone

In the settlement, the furthest when he draws near.

لو جئتهُ بالعتب تُضمِرهُ له

لقرأتهُ من وجنتَيهِ مُبيَّنا

If I were to come to him with reproach, he would pretend deafness,

And I would read it on his two cheeks, clearly expressed.

فالجدُ إلا فيهِ بات مذمَّماً

والصَّبر إلاَّ عنهُ أصبح هيِنّا

For seriousness, save for him, has become condemned,

And patience, save about him, has become effortless.

أعجِبتَ من بَذلي دموعي

وهي ياقوتٌ وعادةُ مثلها أن ُيخزنا

Do you wonder that I shed my tears,

Which are pearls, and their nature is to be hoarded?

قد كان دمعي مثلَ عهدك ابيضاً

حتى تلوَّنَ عهدهُ فتلوَّنا

My tears were as white as your pact

Until his pact changed color, so they changed.

ليس الملامُ من السقام بنافعٍ

كيفَ الشِفاءُ وطَرفهُ يُهدي الضَّنا

Blame is no use from a lover,

How can there be healing when his glance causes pining?

رشَأٌ خلتْ منهُ مساكنُ قومهِ

فالقلبُ أصبح للكآبة مسكنا

Joy whose dwellings his tribe has been deprived of,

So the heart has become a dwelling for gloom.

زالتْ بهِ شمسُ السَّرور وِإنما

بالصَّاحب ارتُجعت وعاودها السَّنا

The sun of happiness has departed from him

And will only return to him with fortune's return.

ذو عزمةٍ أبدا تُناط بفكرةٍ

تقضي على غيب الُأمور تيقُّنا

One whose will is always tied to an idea

That rules over the unknown of matters with certainty.

من خوفها أبدا تعاين رعدةً

في المرهفات وفرطَ سُقمٍ في القنا

Whom from fear of it you always sense shivering

In the sensitive ones and intense sickness in the viscera.

يقظانَ ساس الملك بعد إِذالةٍ

منهُ فحسَّن منهُ ما قد حصّنا

The resolute advisor to the king after humbling himself before him,

So he improved what had been made secure.

لَينٌ يلاقي حاسديهِ وداعاً

بأَحدَّ من ظُبة الحسام وأَخشنا

Gentleness that meets his enviers farewell

With sharper than the blades of swords and more barbed.

وإذا تجلَّى في ظلام كريهةٍ

مرهوبة ردَّ الصباح الموهِنا

And if he appeared in the darkness of a hateful trial,

Frightening and fearful, he brought back the vanquishing dawn.

مَن فعلُهُ مثل أسمِه كالسيفِ

مستغنٍ عن الَألقاب جَمعا والكُنى

He whose actions are like his name, like the sword,

Independent of titles, plural or singular.

تُجنى جواهرُ لفظهِ وسماحهِ

مذ بات غيثاً للعُفاة ومعدِنا

The pearls of his eloquence and generosity are picked,

For he has spent the night a rain for the destitute and a source.

مَن جودهْ فينا يصوب ورأيهُ

أبداً يُصيب ومجدهُ عالي البنا

Whose generosity corrects us and whose opinion

Always hits the target and his glory is of lofty construction.

إن هبَّ خطبٌ فالغناءَ بكفّهِ

وبكفّهِ إن أجحف العُدم الغِنا

If events become grave, his palms are song,

And his palms, if events are unjust, are wealth.

ذو الجود بحرُ هباتهِ لا يُمتطى

والحلم طَودُ ثباتهِ لن يوزنا

The sea of his gifts cannot be crossed,

And the mountain of his steadfastness cannot be weighed.

والسعيِ خلَّف كلّ ساعٍ بعدهُ

لماَّ نأَى عن أن يقال لهُ وَنى

He left every effort behind him, after the striving,

Because he avoided it being said of him, "He wearied."

الواهب الِمنن الحسام ومن رمى

مُنن القوافي بالسماح فأوهنا

The giver of generous gifts, the sword, and he who casts

The gifts of meter with generosity has subdued them.

والوازع الَأحداث عنّي بعدما

هتفت بذكري من هناك ومن هنا

The restrainer of events, protect me after

Voices called out my name, from here and from there.

كم جئت مادَحهُ فأَحسن صنعَهُ

رفدي كعادته وُعدْتُ فأَحسنا

How often have I come praising him, and he graciously rewarded me,

As is his habit, and I returned, and again was gracious.

أُهدي مدائحهُ فرادى كلَّما

أهدت أنامله مواهبَهُ ثُنى

I bestow his praises individually, whenever

His fingers bestowed his gifts in pairs.

مالت بنا الآمالُ نحو فِناء مَنْ

أَفنى النُّضار فما انثنى عنهُ الثنا

Our hopes inclined toward the demise of one

Who caused youth to expire, yet did not incline from it at all.

عاف الدنايا منذ كان وإنما

عاف الديانا حين فاقَ بَني الدُّنى

He disdained the world since he existed, and only

Disdained the religion when he surpassed the people of lowliness.

أضحى العناءُ حليفَ مادح غيرهِ

أن لم يكن إياه أَضمر أو عنى

Toil has become the comrade of one who praises another

Unless he intends or implies praising him.

فاكفف بَنايك إنها عمَّت كما

عمَّت سحائبها العدى والأَزمُنا

So curb your compositions, for they have become comprehensive

As the clouds have become comprehensive of enemies and times.

واسلم صفيَّ الدين أَلمٍ حرى

شرفاً بان تخِذ الزيارة ديدنا

And surrender the elite of the religion to the pain that is deserved

So that visiting may become your habit.

هيَ وعكةٌ زالت أمامَ سلامةٍ

زانت مُنًى أَمت على الشاني مَنى

It is an affliction that disappeared before integrity

That adorned the refuge and brought disappointment to the fault finder.

كم انطلقتْ من مادحيك وأَخرستْ

من حاسديك على المعالي أَلسنا

How your praises of your praiser spoke

And silenced those envious of you regarding the heights!

كما أزعجت مستوسناً منهم وكم

أصفت لدنيا منهلاً مستأسِنا

How you disturbed one hostile among them and how

You characterized for the world a slanderous watering hole!

فالصبحُ فينا ما خبا حتى بدا

والغُمض عنا ما نأى حتى دنا

For the dawn among us did not gloom until it shone

And blindness did not depart until it drew near.

فبروقُ وعدك ما اصحَّ لشائمٍ

وسحابُ جودك ما أسحَّ وأَهتنا

For the flashes of your promise did not clear for one who defames

And the clouds of your generosity did not travel or confuse us.

لو يستطيع البدرُ جادَك عائداً

واليمَّ أمك بالسماحة مُذعنا

If the full moon could emulate your generosity, returning,

And the days emulate your generosity, submitting!

بسمت بك الأَيام بعد قطوبها

واخضرَّت الغبراءُ وابتهج الهنا

You brought smiles to the days after their gloom

And the barren land became green and the grief was gladdened.

أَسِواك للعلياءِ غابة همّهِ

ولمعتفيهِ ومادحيهِ ما اقتنى

Make its heights a forest for your worries

And for your refugees and praisers what it has gained.

يلقون منك هِجان مجدٍ سعيهُ

بذَّ القرونَ السابقين وهجّنا

They obtain from you the passions of glory, his effort

Has surpassed the prior centuries and stirred them.

كأن الأَنام صحيفةً وزمانُهُ

بوجودهِ ختمَ الكتاب وعَنونا

As if people are a parchment and his time

With his existence sealed the book and entitled it!