إنسان عيني ساهر بك سافح

يا أيُّها الإنسان إنكَ كادح

The pupil of my eye, wakeful for you, pours forth tears.

O human being, surely you are toiling.

وجوانح ملئتْ عليكَ تحسراً

هذا وهنّ إلى لقاكَ جوانح

And inward hearts have been filled with grief for you;

here they are, inclining toward meeting you.

يا معرضاً قلبي عليه ومدمعي

هذا مقيم هوًى وهذا نازح

O you who turn away—my heart and tears are fixed upon you:

this one stays, love-bound, while that one travels far.

يا يوسف الحسن البديع جماله

والله ما عيشي بهجرك صالح

O Joseph of beauty, wondrous in his loveliness,

by God, my life is not sound while you forsake me.

إن كان وجهك بدر سعد إنَّه

من لحظك الفتَّاك سعدُ الذابح

If your face is the full moon of Saʿd, then surely

your murderous glance is Saʿd al-Dhābiḥ—the Slaughterer.

ما ضرَّ مثلك لائم إلاَّ كما

قد ضرَّ أقمار الدجنَّة نابح

A censurer can harm one like you only as

a barking dog can harm the moons of darkness.

ولقد يجدد فيك جرح حشاشتي

طيرٌ على البان المرنَّح صادح

Once more it opens the wound of my innermost heart for you—

a bird singing upon the swaying ban tree.

يا فرط ضعفي حيث صرت فريسة

وحمام بانات الحمى لي جارح

How extreme my weakness, now that I have become prey,

and the doves of the sanctuary’s ban trees are birds of prey to me.

عجباً لشخصك نافراً جرح الحشا

فهو الغزال لديَّ وهو الجارح

How strange your person: fleeing after wounding the heart’s core—

for to me he is both the gazelle and the hunter.

وتغزل الأشعار فيك كواسد

ولهنَّ في مدح الجمال منادح

Love-poems spun about you lie unsold,

while in praising beauty they possess spacious fields.

وفي ابن محمود المحامد حقها

فغدت إلى علياه وهي طوامح

And in Ibn Mahmud, praises find their rightful object;

so they turn toward his heights, aspiring.

وزكت أحاديث الورى عن مجدِهِ

فجميع ما يحكون عنهُ مدائح

The people’s accounts of his glory have flourished,

so everything they tell of him is praise.

الكاتم الصدقات وهي شهيرةٌ

كالمسك يكتم وهو شيء فائح

He hides his alms, though they are renowned,

as musk is hidden, though its fragrance spreads.

والقائل الكلمات يقدر قدرها

سوَر الكلام كأنهنَّ فواتح

He speaks words, according each its proper worth:

chapters of speech, as though they were Opening chapters.

من كلِّ ساجعة السطور كأنما

همزاتها وُرْقٌ هناك صوادح

From every line of rhymed prose, as though

its hamzas were gray doves cooing there.

وفريدة قد أقرحت عن مثلها

فطن الورى فلذاك قيل قرائح

A peerless pearl that, in attempting its like, has wounded

the wits of humankind—hence wits are called qarāʾiḥ.

وَارِي الزنادِ فضائلاً وفواضلا

هذا وما فيه لعمرك قادح

His fire-striker flashes with virtues and overflowing gifts,

and, by your life, no faultfinder can strike a flaw in him.

يجدي ويسبح في الثناءِ فيحتوي

أمد العلى فهو الجواد السابح

He bestows, and swims through praise, encompassing

the furthest reach of glory—the generous steed in full course.

ويزين رفعة بيته بجلالهِ

فكأنَّما هي في السماء مصابح

He adorns his house’s lofty rank with majesty,

until it seems like lamps set in the sky.

في كفِّهِ قلمٌ كأنَّ رِشاءه

للرزقِ والدرر النفيسة مائح

In his hand is a pen whose cord, as it were,

draws up sustenance and precious pearls.

خافت مهابته الرماح فأذعنتْ

حتَّى تخوّفه السماكُ الرامحُ

Spears feared his awe and yielded,

until even al-Simāk the Lancer feared him.

يا مانحي غرر اللهى متبسِّماً

والعام مغبرّ الأسرَّة كالح

O you who grant me the choicest gifts, smiling,

while the year is dust-faced and scowling.

جرَّدتني سيفاً بمدحك قائماً

حتى تضمّ عليَّ ثرايَ صفائح

You unsheathed me as a sword, standing in your praise,

until the slabs of my earth close over me.

فلأشكرنَّك في القريض بسبّق

مع أنها عمَّا بلغت طلائح

I shall surely thank you in verse, pressing ever ahead,

though my verses, short of what you have attained, are worn out.

ومن المكارم أن تسامح عجزها

إنَّ الكريم ابنَ الكريم مسامح

Among noble deeds is pardoning the one unequal to them;

surely the generous son of the generous is forgiving.