زهرن فاعْجَبْ لروض ماله زَهَرُ

إِلا المباسِمُ والأَلحاظُ والطُّرَرُ

The meadows bloomed, so marvel at a garden that has no flowers,

Except smiles, glances, and blossoms.

ولا تَقُلْ لَهَبُ الوَجْنَاتِ يُحْرِقُها

فللعذارِ على أَرجائِها نَهَرُ

And say not the flames of passions burn it,

For it has rivers flowing around its edges.

أَعْجِبْ بها غُرَراً مالَتْ محاسِنُها

بالنفس يَحْمَدُ في أَمْثَالِهَا الغَرَرُ

Marvel at its charms inclining,

With the soul praising its like, charms are praised.

سَفَرْنَ والليلُ طِرْفٌ أّدْهَمٌ فَجَرَتْ

فيه الحجولُ من الأَنوارِ والغُرَر

They traveled at night, time a dark eyelid,

So stars and planets flowed in it.

وقمنَ يحمِلْنَ في الأَجفانِ مَرْهَفَةً

لو كانَتِ البيضَ قلنا إِنَّها البُتُر

They rose carrying in their eyelids a slumber,

If they were white we’d say they are full moons.

وكان من فِعْلِها بالسحرِ أَن هَجَمَتْ

على العشاءِ بما يأْتي به السَّحَرُ

By their magic they attacked suddenly

With what magic brings at night.

فما ارتَقَيْتُ الدَّرَارِي إِذْ سهِرْتُ لها

إِلا لأَصدافِ يَمٍّ كلُّها دُرَر

So I did not climb up to the terraces while staying up for them,

Except for seashells, all of them pearls.

ولا اجتلَيْتُ بدورَ الأُفْقِ عن كَلَفٍ

إِلا لِمَنْ أُتْلِفَتْ في صَوْنِهِ البِدَرُ

Nor did I wander around horizons looking for trouble,

Except for her whose company the full moon seeks.

وفي الحشا والحشايا صَبْوَةٌ كبِرَتْ

فزادَها عُنْفُواناً ذلِكَ الكِبَرُ

In the courtyard and its corners is an intoxication that grew,

And that growing increased its intoxication.

تورى زنادَ اشتياقٍ ما استطارَ به

لي من مَشِيبي ولكن أَدْمُعِي شَرَرُ

You see a spark of passion that did not subside for me,

Despite my graying hair, but my tears are embers.

وفي فؤادِيَ لا فَوْدِي قَتِيرُ هوًى

لم يُخْفِهِ الشَّعْرُ إِذْ لم يُبْدِهِ الشَّعَرُ

And in my heart there is no little nook of love

That poetry did not reveal, if poetry did not create.

خذ من غرامِيَ ما تتلُو به سُوَراً

مُحَذِّرَاتِكَ ما تَبْلو به الصُّوَرُ

Take from my passion what you recite as warnings,

Admonishing you, tested by crises.

أَما الخُدورُ فلم يَسْكُنْ بها قَلَقِي

يوماً ولم يَمْشِ في أَشواقِيَ الحّذَر

As for anxieties, my worries never settled in them

A day, and precaution never walked in my longing.

فإِنْ تَمَنَّعَ قلبي من تَقَلُّبِهِ

فما انْتَهَى بِي لَعَمْرِي في الهَوَى العُمُرُ

If my heart refused its tossing and turning,

By my life, my life never ended in passion.

أَنا المُحِبُّ وما بي ما يُقالُ لَهُ

أَوْلَى لك العَذْلُ أَم أَولَى لك العُذُرُ

I am the lover, and I am not what is said to deserve

More rightful from you, blame or excuse?

إِن قلتُ ماسَ فما قصدي به غُصُنٌ

أَو استنارَ فما قصدي به قَمَرُ

If I said it passed, I did not mean a branch,

Or if I said it shone, I did not mean a moon.

خُلِقْتُ كالنَّبْعِ إِلا أَنَّ لي ثَمَراً

والنبعُ عريانُ ما في فرعِهِ ثَمَرُ

I was created like a spring, except I have fruit,

While the spring is barren, no fruit on its branch.

المالُ عِنْدَ ذوي الإقْتَارِ مُحْتَقَبٌ

والمالُ عند ذوي الأَقدارِ مُحْتَقَرُ

Wealth, to the rich, is hoarded,

Wealth, to the noble, is disdained.

فإِنْ عدمْتُ الذي صاروا له عُدُماً

فما افتقَرْتُ وعندي هذه الفِقَرُ

If I missed what they had perished for,

Then I did not become destitute, and I have this poverty.

ولم أُقَلْقِلْ رِكابي إِنْ نَبَا وطَنٌ

ولا أَطَلْتُ اغترابي إِنْ نَأَى وَطَر

I did not shake my feet if an abode prospered,

Or prolonged my expatriation if an abode was remote.

لكن بَنُو الْحَجَرِ اسْتَدْعَتْ مكارِمُهُمْ

عَزْمِي وقد كانَ يُسْتَدْعَى بِها الحَجَرُ

But the people of virtue, their virtues

Summoned my resolve, though it was stone that was summoned.

نادى لسانُ النَّدى منهم فأَسْمَعَنِي

فقمتُ أَعْبُرُ بحراً كلُّهُ عِبَرُ

The voice of the caller called from them, so I listened

And stood to cross a sea all crossed before.

ترى المواخِرَ تَجْرِي في زَوَاخِرِهِ

فترتَقِي في أَعالِيها وتَنْحَدِرُ

You see the ships sailing in their dockyards

So they sail high in their peaks and descend.

من كل سَوْدَاءَ مِثْلِ الخالِ يَحْمِلُها

بِوَجْنَةٍ منه فيها للضُّحى خَفَرُ

Each dark one carries it like a mole,

With a flash of lightning in which dawn has its rays.

حتى وَرَدْت فأَروانِي وأَحْسَنَ بي

صَدْرٌ موارِدُهُ يَشْجَى بها الصَّدِرُ

Until I arrived and they welcomed me,

With a chest whose downpours revive chests.

كانَتْ مناقِبُ آمالي مُنَقَّبَةً

فالآن أَسْفَرَ عن جَبْهَاتِهِا السَّفَرُ

The merits of my hopes were probed

So now the travel has uncovered their foreheads.

هذا أَبو القاسِمِ المقسومُ نائِلُه

ما السيلُ ما البَحْرُ ما الأَنهارُ ما المَطَر

This is Abul Qasim, attaining

What flood, what sea, what rivers, what rain?

محاسِنٌ إِنْ أَبو بكرٍ تَقَدَّمَها

فما تَأَخَّرَ عُثْمَانٌ ولا عُمَرُ

Virtues, if Abu Bakr preceded them,

No one followed like Othman or Omar.

سمعتُ عنهُمْ وقد شاهَدْتُهُمْ نَظَراً

فأَحْسَنَ الخُبْرُ ما لَمْ يَجْلُهُ الخَبَرُ

I heard of them and saw them in person,

So reports were best if untouched by reports.

كذاك جادُوا نَدًى فيه أَجَدْتُ ثَناً

فليس يُعْرَفُ لا حَصْرٌ ولا حَصَر

Thus they flowed freely, and I found in it praise

That neither limit nor bounds are known.

والشعرُ فيه قصيرٌ عُمْرُهُ زَهَرٌ

يَذْوَى ومنه طويلٌ عُمْرُهُ زُهُرُ

And poetry in it is short-lived, its life a flower

That withers, and in it long-lived, its life blossoms.

فكالمواعِظِ سَهْلٌ صَوْغُها زُبُرٌ

وكالحديدِ ثقيلٌ وَزْنُهُ زُبَر

Like advice, easy to cast into wisdom,

And like iron, heavy in its weight.

أَو كالعيونِ فهذِي حَظُّها حَوَلٌ

يَغُضُّ منها وهذِي حَظُّها حوَرُ

Or like eyes, some whose lot is a squint

That diminishes, some whose lot are wide-eyed gazelles.

يا قائداً قاد من وَصْفِي لِعِتْرَتِهِ

ما تَحْمِلُ المِسْكَ عن أّنْفِاسِهَا العِتَرُ

O leader, my description of his family guided

What musk bears of its own fragrance.

للهِ دّرُّ حَيَاءٍ حُزْتَهُ وَحياً

كأَنَّكَ العَضْبُ فيه الأّثْرُ والأَثَر

By God, your restraint, which you regarded as life

Is like a fresh track where the track and vestige lie.

تثيرُ بالقولِ أَو تُثْرِي مُجَانَسَةً

فلفظُكَ الضَّرَبُ المعسولُ والضَّرَرُ

You provoke with words or enrich with companionship

So your utterance is gentle assault and harm.

وفي يمينِكَ يَجْري كَيْفَ تَأْمُرُهُ

ما يحسُدُ الذِّكْرَ عَنْهُ الصارِمُ الذَّكَر

In your hand flows however you command it

What does not envy the sword its sharp cutting.

تلك اليراعةُ من تلك اليَرَاعَةِ إِنْ

تُقَصِّر السُّمْرُ عنها طَوَّلَ السَّمَرُ

Such composure, from such composure, if

Spears fall short, swords are lengthened.

وكم تشاجَرَ أَقوامٌ فقلتُ لهُمْ

إِن الأَصولَ عليها تنبتُ الشجَرُ

And how many peoples quarreled, so I said to them

Roots are where trees grow from.

أَنالَني في اغترابِي كُلَّ مُغْرِبَةٍ

فما النفيرُ بمعدومٍ ولا النَّفَر

In my expatriation, every trouble spot troubled me,

But no flocking to a nonexistent thing, and no fleeing.

وشَدَّ أَزْرِي فلم أَحفِلْ بنائبةٍ

تقول أَنيابُها هيهاتَ لاَ وَزَرُ

I gathered my resolve, and did not fret over a tribulation

Whose fangs said, "Alas! There is no escape."

من بعدِ ما قَرَّعَتْنِي كل قارِعَةٍ

أَيامُها الحُمْرُ من أَعْيَانِها الحُمُر

After what battered me, every battering

Its days the reddest of its red days.

وبِتُّ أَضرِبُ بالأَشعارِ طائِفَةً

لو أَنَّهُمْ ضُرِبُوا بالسَّيْفِ ما شَعَرُوا

I have been striking a group with poetry

If they were struck by swords, they would not feel it,

إِذَا نَحَتُّ القوافِي من مقاطِعِها

قالوا تَكَلَّفْ لنا أَنْ تَفْهَمَ البَقَرُ

When I mint rhymes from their endings,

They say, "You overreached so cows understand us."

إِليكَ جئتُ بها عذراءَ منشِدَةً

لا عُذْرَ عندَكَ إِنْ لَمْ تُفْضَض العُذَر

To you I came with it virgin of purpose

No excuse with you if the excuse is not pierced.

أَنْصَفْتُهَا بكَ نِصْفَ الشهرِ شَيِّقَةً

تكادُ لو أُخِّرَتْ للفِطْرِ تَنْفَطِر

I matched it to you halfway the month, slit open,

It almost ruptured if delayed until the feast.

وطابَقَتْكَ فمنها الدُّرُّ منتظِمٌ

كما رأَيتَ ومنكَ الدُّرُّ منتثِرُ

It harmonized you, so from it pearls are threaded

As you have seen, and from you pearls are scattered.