من عذيري من الطَّلا والأغاني

وليالٍ مرَّت على حلوان

Who will defend me against wine and song,

and nights that passed over Hulwan?

ذهبت بالذي ملكت من الما

ل كأنيَ سبكة في القناني

They carried off all the wea—

—lth I possessed, as though I were an ingot among the bottles.

ونديم يسعى بكأسيهِ مسعى

قمر التّم حوله الفرقدان

And a boon companion bustling with his two cups,

like the full moon with the two Farqad stars around it;

أهيف قسمت لواحظه السو

د زكاة الغنى على الغزلان

slender—his dark glances apportioned

the zakat due on beauty's riches among the gazelles.

يتثنى وحليه يتغنى

هل سمعت الحمام في الأغصان

He sways, and his ornaments sing;

have you ever heard doves among the branches?

وغوانٍ تغني عن الطيب والح

لي لهذا تسمى الملاح غواني

And beauties needing neither perfume nor jew—

—elry; for this self-sufficiency, fair women are called ghawānī.

ضاربات الدفوف في جيشِ لهوٍ

طاعنات الهموم بالعيدان

Beating tambourines in an army of revelry,

thrusting at sorrows with their wooden instruments.

يا نديميّ في المدام فداءٌ

لكما في المدامة العاذلان

O my two companions over wine, a ransom

for you both be the two who censure wine!

خلقا البيت بالكؤسِ سروراً

واشْرباها صفراء كالزعفران

Perfume the house with the cups' delight,

and drink it yellow as saffron.

واسْقياني فإن اشْتكيت داءً

فاسْقياني إن شئتما تشفياني

Give me drink: if I complain of an illness,

give me drink—if you wish, you may cure me.

وإذا ما قتلت بالراح سكراً

فادْفناني في بعض تلكَ الدِّنان

And when wine has killed me with drunkenness,

bury me in one of those great wine jars.

وانْضحا من دمِي عليهِ فقد كا

ن دمِي من نداه لو تعلمان

Sprinkle some of my blood upon it, for my blood had

come from its dew—if only you knew.

جدّدا لي عيشاً على السفحِ قدماً

أيّ عيشٍ مضى وأيّ مكان

Renew for me my former life upon the slope—

what a life has passed, and what a place!

ذاكَ دهرٌ كأنَّني كنتُ فيه

بين حال الوسنان واليقظان

That was an age in which I seemed to hover

between the states of the drowsing and the wakeful.

أحتسي الراح لا بكيلٍ وأعطي

كرماً ذا وذا بلا ميزان

I sipped wine without measure and bestowed

generously—this and that, without a scale.

وأعاني العيش الهنيّ وأهنى ال

عيش يا صاح عيشةُ النشوان

I enjoyed the pleasant life; and the happiest living,

friend, is the life of one drunk with joy.

مستريحاً من حرفتي أدبي الغ

ضّ وعقلي في مثل هذا الأوان

At ease from my craft—my fresh poetry—

and from my reason at such a time.

إثن عني يا دهر نارك إنِّي

لحمى الأحمديّ ثاب عناني

Turn your fire away from me, O Time, for

my rein has turned toward al-Ahmadi's sanctuary:

الكبير الذي تُعلم نعمى

كفه الناس سحرَ هذا البيان

the great one, whose hand's beneficence all

people know—the very sorcery of this eloquence;

قاتل المال بالنوال فما أك

ياس أمواله سوى أكفان

a slayer of wealth through largesse—his

wealth is nothing but shrouds;

جار حتى ظنَّ الغريب ندى كفّ

يه هزؤاً بالمقتر اللهفان

whose bounty flowed until the stranger thought the dew of his

two hands mocked the desperate, impoverished man;

وتعدى الكرام سبقاً إلى أن

قيل ما ذا في قدرة الإنسان

who outstripped the generous so far that

people asked, “Can this lie within human power?”

همَّة جازت السماك وفي عق

ل الأعادِي وحالها دبران

An aspiration passing al-Simak, while among

his enemies Aldebaran is its station;

وندًى شبَّ ذكره فنسينا

ما سمعناه عن فتى شيبان

and a generosity the Arabs celebrated until

it effaced what we had heard of the young man of Shayban;

وفخار ما بين عرضٍ عزيزٍ

قد تربت وبين مال مهان

and pride poised between cherished honor

made rich, and riches held cheap;

وجواد إذا اجْتبى وحبا الما

ل فقل في السيول من ثهلان

a munificent man—when he gathers and grants wea—

—lth, then speak of torrents pouring from Thahlan.

فاطْلب رفده إذا كنت ممَّن

يرتقي كائناً على كيوان

Seek his largesse, if you are one who

would climb, though it be as high as Saturn.

ذاك قدرٌ نائي المكان ولكن

ذاك رفدٌ لطالب الرّفد داني

That is a rank whose place is far away, but

that largesse lies near whoever seeks largesse.

ومحل سامي السماك إلى أن

حررته كواكب الميزان

His lofty station reached al-Simak, until

the stars of Libra fixed its measure.

شمْ نداه وذهنه الصفو واحْذر

من عوادِي الطوفان والنيران

Breathe in his bounty and the purity of his mind, and beware

the assaults of flood and fire.

أيّ ذهنٍ وأيّ برٍّ وحامٍ

كله قد حلا لذوق الجاني

What a mind, what goodness, what a protector—

all of it sweet to whoever gathers its fruit.

وكلام لو قلد الغيد عقداً

فرَّطت في قلائد العقيان

Words that, were secluded maidens adorned with them as fine gold,

would make them neglect necklaces of purest gold.

قسما من طروسه الغرّ بالنو

ر ومن نفس خطها بالدّخان

Some of his radiant pages are inscribed in li—

—ght, and his very breath traced others in smoke.

إنَّها كالظباء في أعين الخل

ق ومثل الشنوف في الآذان

They are like gazelles in the eyes of human—

—kind, and like earrings in the ears;

من نظام يعشو له الأعشيان

ونثارٍ يعنو له العبدان

ordered verse so dazzling that even two dim-sighted ones blink,

and scattered prose before which two servants bow.

ويراع بكفِّه هو عندي

قصب السبق حازه والرهان

The pen in his hand has, to my mind,

won the palm of precedence and the wager.

خطه والكلام حلوان لكن

هو يوم الوغى من المرَّان

His script and speech are sweet as Hulwan, but

on battle-day he is made of hard spearwood.

ما رأينا كريقه يبرئ الس

مّ إذا اهتزَّ وهو كالثعبان

Never have we seen the like of its spittle curing poi—

—son when it quivers, though it is like a serpent.

يا جواداً أنشى المدائح معنًى

بنوالٍ يريك معنًى ثاني

O generous one, who gave panegyrics meaning

through gifts that reveal a second Maʿn;

ربَّ ليلٍ قد خضته لك بحراً

متعب الحوت واقف السرطان

many a night I crossed for you as though it were an ocean,

wearying the Fish and bringing Cancer to a halt,

ونهار كأنما الآل فيه

مرهفٌ في الوغى بكفِّ جبان

and a day whose shimmering mirage seemed

a sharpened sword in battle, held in a coward's hand.

واثق الوعد من طرابلس الشا

م بجودٍ حيث التقى البحران

Trusting the promise from Tripoli of al-Sha—

—m, of bounty where the two seas meet,

مهدياً من مدائحِي لك عذراً

لها في القريض رفعة شان

I offer you, from my panegyrics, an apology—

for in verse they possess a rank of consequence.

لم يحكّ وشيها ابن أبي سل

مى لرب المكارم ابن سنان

Their brocade was not woven by Ibn Abi Sul—

—ma for the lord of noble deeds, Ibn Sinan;

لا ولا قال في القريض شقيقاً

لحلاها زياد في النعمان

nor did Ziyad compose in verse a twin

to their beauty for al-Nuʿman.

من حسانٍ لديَّ لم تهد إلاَّ

لفلانٍ من الورى وفلان

Fair poems of mine, offered only

to this man and that among humankind.

فتهنى بها فربَّ كريمٍ

قبلنا عدَّ مثلها في التهاني

Take delight in them: many a noble man

before us counted their like among congratulations.

وابْقَ حتَّى يبلى الجديدان من طو

لِ نواءٍ ويلتقي الخافقان

Remain until the two ever-new ones wear away from long—

—drawn separation, and the two horizons meet.

ليَ ذكر سارٍ بودك في الخل

قِ فلو لم تجد عليّ كفاني

I have a remembrance traveling, through your affection, among crea—

—tion; even if you bestowed nothing more upon me, it would suffice.