صيرني في كلِّ وادٍ أهيم

من حظّ قلبي منه هاءٌ وميم

He made me wander, raving, through every valley.

My share of him is a hāʾ and a mīm.

مبخل يشبه ريم الفلا

وأطول شجوي من بخيل كريم

A withholding one, resembled by the gazelle of the wild—

and I prolong my complaint of a generous one who withholds.

لم أنس في حبه كم ليلةٍ

خلّفني أرعى دجاها البهيم

I have not forgotten how many a night, for love of him,

he left me watching over its pitch-black gloom.

نظرت في أنجمها نظرةً

فقال لي جسميَ أني سقيم

I cast a single glance upon its stars,

and my body told me that I was ill—

شوقاً لمن لست على حبّه

بصالح لكنّ قلبي كليم

yearning for one whose love leaves me

far from whole; indeed, my heart is wounded.

بدر على غصنٍ جديد الحيا

فخلّ عرجون الهلال القديم

A full moon upon a bough, newly clothed in modesty—

so leave aside the crescent’s ancient palm-stalk.

وأقسم بواو القسم الصدق من

صدغيه أن ليس له من قسيم

I swear by the oath’s wāw—the lock curling

beside one of his temples—that he has no equal.

ولا تخلني سامعاً لومةً

أعوذ بالله السميع العليم

Do not suppose that I will listen to reproach;

I seek refuge in God, the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.

في شرعة البين وحكم الأسى

جفنٌ نزوحٌ وغرامٌ مقيم

Under separation’s law and sorrow’s decree:

a restless eyelid and an abiding passion.

وثابت الودّ لديغ الحشا

يأتي إلى الله بقلبٍ سليم

Steadfast love dwells within my breast

and comes before God with a sound heart.

يا روضة تجني بألحاظها

فتجتني حرّ الشقا من نعيم

O garden that harvests with its glances,

you make me reap searing misery out of bliss.

كن كيفما شئت وعن مهجتي

فلا تسل عن حال أهل الجحيم

Be however you wish; but as for my soul,

do not ask about the state of hell’s inhabitants.

ما الشمس إلا وجهك المجتلى

وما الحيا إلا ندى ابن العديم

The sun is nothing but your radiant face,

and rain nothing but the bounty of Ibn al-ʿAdīm.

كمال دين الله من غيثه

قد ألحق النائي بخصب المقيم

The perfection of God’s religion comes from his raincloud;

it has granted the distant man the settled man’s abundance.

لا يسأل القاصد عن بابه

إلا سنا النشر وطيب الشميم

No one making for his door need ask the way—

its spreading radiance and sweet perfume point it out.

ماذا لقينا في حديث الثنا

من مجده المتّضح المستقيم

What we have endured in speaking praise

because of his manifest, undeviating glory!

الناطق الواصف في خجلة

بالعجز والساكت عين الأثيم

The eloquent describer stands abashed,

confessing helplessness, while silence is sin itself.

ذو طلعة في البشر كم ناظرت

بدراً فأمسى خدّه كالّلطيم

A countenance whose joyous brightness has often faced

a full moon, till its cheek seemed that of one slapped.

وهمة في الفضل كم جاورت

غيثاً فولّى غيمه كالهزيم

And an aspiration in excellence that has often neighbored

a raincloud, whose clouds then fled in rout.

قاضٍ قضى العدل ولكنه

قضى على المال قضاء الغريم

A judge who rendered judgment justly—yet

sentenced wealth as a creditor would.

ما فطمت من كرم كفّه

من قبل ما أدرك سنّ الفطيم

His hand was never weaned from generosity,

even before he reached the age of weaning.

جاء النهى يسأل ميلادَهُ

فبشّروه بغلامٍ حليم

Discernment came inquiring at his birth,

and was given glad tidings of a forbearing boy.

لا عيب فيه غير نعمى يدٍ

يمشي شذا أنفاسها بالنسيم

He has no fault except the beneficence of a hand

whose breath’s fragrance travels upon the breeze.

من معشر سادوا وساسوا الورَى

ببأس قاسٍ وبجدْوَى رحيم

He comes from a people who gained mastery and governed humankind

with stern might and merciful generosity;

مثل النجوم الزهر كم مهتدٍ

بها من الناس وكم من رجيم

like radiant stars—how many people have found guidance

through them, and how many an outcast has been pelted away!

تطوّف الأشعار من حولهم

فائزةً ما سعيها بالذميم

Poems circle all around them,

triumphant, their course deserving no blame.

وخير ما طاف لنسك العلى

بيتٌ نظيمٌ حول بيتٍ عظيم

And the finest thing to circle in devotion to high glory

is a well-strung verse circling a mighty House.

يا عمر الخير لقد نبهت

منك المعالي طرف راعٍ حكيم

O ʿUmar of goodness, the lofty virtues have awakened

through you the eye of a wise observer.

لا زلت ذا ذكرٍ كثير السُّرى

بكلّ أرض وندى لا يريم

May you never cease to possess fame that travels far by night

through every land, and bounty that never departs.

كم عادنا منك ندًى مشهرٌ

لواحظ المدح وأمنٌ منيم

How often has your renowned largesse returned to us,

with praise’s glances and security that lulls to sleep.

وكم رأيناك لمربى الثنا

أباً فجئناك بدرٍّ يتيم

How often have we seen you as a father to praise’s nursling;

so we have come to you with a peerless full moon.