قال العذول فزاد قلباً شيّقا

ما ضرَّ يا مسحور دمعك لو رقى

The love-lorn said, and made my heart more ardent

No harm, O enchanted one, if your tears were to flow

هيهات مع نأي الأحبَّة والضنا

ترقى دموع العين أو تجدي الرّقى

Alas! With the remoteness of loved ones and disdain

Neither do the eyes' tears flow, nor comfort found

ما زاد قلبي في الدموع تبحراً

إلا وزادني العذول تملُّقا

My heart has not increased in tears like an ocean

Except that the love-lorn made me more fawning

أبكي الصبا بدموع عينٍ كادَ في

شكوى الجفا إنسانها أن ينطقا

I weep for my youth with the tears of eyes that nearly

In complaining of estrangement, gained speech

آهاً لعهد صباً وعهد صبابةٍ

شبَّ ادِّكارهما فشيب مفرقا

Alas for the era of youth and the time of youthfulness

Whose remembrance turned my hair white and parted

يا من رمى هذا الرماد بمفرقي

ما ذا رمى قلبي الشجيّ فأحرقا

O you who cast ashes upon my parting

What did you cast upon my burning heart and kindled?

وتفرقت جفناي عن دمعٍ به

أشرت وعن ميسور نوم أملقا

My eyelids parted from tears, whereby

I was sleepless, and from restful sleep recoiled

إن يغن جفنيَّ البكاء فقد قلى

عدمُ الكرى فيها وأن يتفرَّقا

If weeping suffices my eyelids, then the lack

Of loved ones in them, and that they should part, has seared

أفديك راشقة اللحاظ رشيقة

يا لحظها وقوامها ما أرشقا

I ransom you,glance-darting, graceful one

O her glance, and her stature, how radiant!

عربيةٌ أروِي لباسمِ ثغرها

نظماً لأكباد الحواسد مقلقا

An Arab lady, I narrate to her mouth’s beauty

Compositions to trouble the envious hearts

تجفو ولو أني قبرت وسلمت

سلمتُ تسليم البشاشة أوزقا

She is disdainful, even if I were to be buried and resigned

Resigned with the friendliness of cremation or burial

ولربَّما عطفت وغصن قوامها

بالحلي أثمر والذوائب أورقا

And perhaps she would show tenderness, and the branch of her stature

Would bear fruit, and her tresses burgeon

وضممتها في الحيِّ أرشف ثغرها

ثمَّ انتبهت فلا العذيب ولا النقا

And I would embrace her alive—the most noble of her mouth—

Then regain consciousness, neither reproached nor blamed

طيفاً ألمَّ وما يظن بشاعر

قاضي القضاة سميعه إلا التقا

An apparition that saddened, and what poet would think

Except meeting the Hearing Judge (God)

أمَّا الزمان فقد كساهُ نضارةً

قاضي القضاة ابن العلوم أبو البقا

As for time, it has clothed him in brilliance

The Judge of Judges, son of sciences, Abu Bakr

قاضي القضاة تهنها علياء ما

برحت ببيتكم الممدّح أليقا

The Judge of Judges—may it be pleasant for the lofty what

Has not ceased to be your praised house, most fitting

من ذا لذا إرثاً وملكاً عن رضاً

لكمُ بهِ النعمى وللأعدا الشقا

Who else has inheritance and property of consent

For you blessings, and for enemies misery?

ولنا بكم هذا الهناء المجتلى

ولكم بنا هذا الثناء المنتقى

For us, through you, is this attained glory

And for you through us this chosen praise

لا تعدم المدح الحسان بهاءه

وثناه مملا مغرباً أو مشرقاً

Do not lack excellent praise in its splendor

And its sparkle, filling west and east

ذو السؤدد الموروث والكسب الذي

أثرى فنفق ما رجاه ونطقا

Of inherited nobility and gains which

Enriched him, so he spent what he hoped and uttered

عرقت جباه السائدين حياله

وكذا يكون ابن السيادة معرقا

The foreheads of commanders sweat before him

Thus is the son of nobles distinguished

أبناء خزرجها وعيبة نصرها

هنئتُم الشرف التقي ثمَّ ارتقى

Children of its defenders and the excellence of its victory

You gained the devout nobility, then ascended

إن يشبه الأسلاف أخلاق لقد

رضع الرجا منها الغمام المغدقا

If he resembles the morals of the ancestors—for he

Suckled glory from it, clouds pouring

أكرم به متحلّياً من مصره

حتى أقام لسعدها متدمشقا

Honor him, displaying from his Egypt,

Until for his fortune made resident in Damascus

يا وارث الأنصار فضل سيادةٍ

أخذت على عهد المعالي موتقا

O heir of the supporters, excellence of nobility

Which took during the era of glories, tied

يا من سجعت بمدحِه إذ لم أزل

بنداه ثمَّ ندى ذويه مطوَّقا

O you, whose praise I dedicated, when I did not

Cease his call, then his people's call adorned

عذراً على تأخير عبدٍ عنكمُ

أضحى بترسيم الهموم معوّقا

Excuse a servant from you, who spent

His time composing sorrows, impeded

عرفَ الزمان بأنني أشكو إلى

رحماكَ عدّته فعاق عن اللقا

Time recognized that I complain to

Your mercy—so refrain from meeting

بأليمهِ يا سيدي وأليمه

لا أستطيع بشكوها أن أنطقا

With his pains, O my master, and his pains

I cannot speak of complaining thereof

ومع اهْتمام الهمّ بي فاسْتجلها

عذراء قالَ ثناؤها ما أصدقا

And with the preoccupation of worries upon me, so petition them,

Innocent, whose praise is most truthful

جاءتك في شفق الحياء وإنما

مجدتك في الحسنى أبرُّ وأشفقا

She came to you in the twilight of shyness, and but

Glorified you in goodness, more righteous and merciful

يا من على جدواه أن يهمى الحيا

وعلى نبات مدائحِي أن تعبقا

O you, above whose bounty life should worry,

And above the growth of my praises, flourish

أن يغد مدحِي عن ثناك مقصراً

فلقد يرى فوق النجوم محلّقا

That my praise of you should tomorrow be deficient

For indeed it sees itself above the stars, soaring