قامَتْ حُرُوبُ الْهَوَى على سَاقِ

بَيْنَ قُلُوبٍ وَبَيْنَ أَحْدَاقِ

The wars of passion rose on a leg

Between hearts and eyes

وانْفَسَخَتْ هُدْنَةُ السُّلُوِّ فَمَا

تُوثَقُ منها عُقُودُ مِيثَاقِ

And the truce of intimacy was broken, so

No contracts can be bound from it

وكانَ صَبْرِي بَيْضاً مُلَحَّمَةً

نَزَعْتُها مِنْ لِقَاءِ أَشْوَاقِ

And my patience was coagulated white

I took it off to meet passions

فَلَيْتَ شِعْري وَقَدْ بَكَيْتُ دَماً

هَلْ ذُبِحَ النَّوْمُ بَيْنَ آماقي

I wish I knew, and after I cried blood

Was sleep slaughtered between my eyelids?

لِيَهْنِكَ النَّصْرُ يا غَرَامُ فَكَمْ

لِوَاءِ قَلْبٍ عَلَيْكَ خَفَّاقِ

To weaken victory, O love, so many

Flags of hearts over you fluttering

خُذْ مِنْ حَدِيثِ الْهَوَى مُطَالَعَةً

سارَ بها البَرْقُ لا ابْنُ بَرَّاقِ

Take from the talk of love a recitation

By which the lightning went, not Ibn Barraq

يُعْرِبُ عَمَّا طَوَتْهُ أَسْطُرُهَا

لِسَانُ وَرْقَاءَ بَيْنَ أَوْرَاقِ

It explains what its lines have twisted

The tongue of paper between papers

وما أُدَاجِيكَ في حَدِيثِ صَباً

أَخْلَقْتُ فيهِ بُرُودَ أَخْلاَقِي

And I do not talk to you in the talk of youth

I created in it the coldness of my morals

أَصْبَحَ شَطْرُ الفُؤادِ في يَدِ مَنْ

لَسْتُ عَلَيْهِ أَضِنُّ بِالبَاقِي

The half of my heart is in the hand of one

I do not envy him for the rest

أَيْنَ غَزَالُ الْكِنَاسِ مِنْ رَشَإِ

يَنْطَحُ من فاحمٍ بِأَرْوَاقِ

Where is the deer of the dresser from the gazelles

Stabbing with evident stabbing?

وأَيْنَ بَدْرُ السَّمَاءِ من قَمَرٍ

مَطْلَعُهُ في سَمَاءِ أَطْوَاقِ

And where is the full moon in the sky from a moon

Whose emergence is in the sky of rings?

هَاتِ مُدَاماً كَأَنَّ عاصِرَهَا

عَرَّضَ فِيها بِوَجْنّةِ السَّاقِي

Give wine that is as if its presser

Displayed in it the bend of the cupbearer

يُمْسِكُ أَرْمَاقَنَا وَإنْ طَفِقَتْ

فِي الْكَأْسِ مَمْسُوكَةً بِأَرْمَاقِ

That holds our eyelids, and if

In the cup it was held back by eyelids

نارٌ وَلَيْسَ الخَلِيلُ شارِبَهَا

فَكَيْفَ ما أَتْلَفَتْ بِإحْرَاقِ

A fire, and the friend is not drinking it

So how did it get burned?

يَحْمِلُ أَنْفَاسَ رَوْضَةٍ سَرَقَتْ

رِقَّتَها مِنْ نُفُوسِ عُشَّاقِ

It carries the breaths of a garden that

Stole its fragility from the souls of lovers

غَنَّتْ على دَوْحِهَا مُغَرِّدَةٌ

تُطْرِبُ هارُونَنَا بِإسْحَاقِ

She sang melodiously on her branch

Delighting our Harun with Isaac

رَاسَلْتُهَا مادِحاً أَبَا حَسَنٍ

فَغَبَّرَتْ في طَرِيق سَبَّاقِ

I wrote to her praising Abu Al-Hassan

So she disappeared on the path of the messenger

عليٌّ المُعْتَلِي بِسُؤْدُدِهِ

في شاهِِق الذِّرْوَتَيْنِ مِزْلاَقِ

Ali, the climber, with his blaze

On the steep twin peaks sliding

فَرْعُ فَخَارٍ أُصُولُ نَبْعَتِهِ

كانَتْ فُرُوعاً لِخَيْرِ أَعْرَاقِ

A twig of pottery whose origins

Were branches of the best trees

يَطَّرِدُ المَجْدُ فِي مَنَاسِبِهِ

كَجَوْهَرٍ في فِرِنْدِ ذَلاَّقِ

Glory chases him on his occasions

Like a jewel in the necklace of a coquette

غَرْسُ الأَمانِيِّ في أَنَامِلِهِ

يُثْمِرُ بِالْجُودِ قَبْلَ إيرَاقَ

Planting wishes in his fingers

Fruits with generosity before dripping

لا تَدَّعي رِقِّيَ الخُطًوبُ فَقَدْ

أّخّذْتُ مِنْهُ كِتابَ إعْتَاقِ

Do not claim the sublimity of sermons, for I have

Taken from him a document of manumission

صنائِعٌ أَصْبَحَتْ سَبَائِكُهَا

مناطِقاً في خُصُورِ أَعْنَاقِ

Crafts have become necklaces

Around the necks of fair ladies

كانَتْ سُرُوبُ العُلاَ مُفَرَّقَةً

فَلَفَّها لَيْلَةً بِسَوَّاقِ

The adornments of ascension were scattered

So he gathered them one night with a thread

هَلِ الْقَوَافِي لَوْلاَ فَضَائِلُهُ

غَيْرُ مِدَادٍ وَغَيْرُ أَوْرَاقِ

Do meters, were it not for his merits

Deserve other than ink and paper?

يُثْنَى عَلَى مَدْحِهِ وكم مِدَحٍ

ما بَيْنَ كَشْطٍ وَبَيْنَ إلْحاقِ

His praise is sung, and how much praise

Between depletion and attachment

سِهَامُ آرائِهِ مُسَدَّدَةُ

جَوْدَةَ نَزْعٍ وَحُسْنَ إغْرَاقِ

The arrows of his opinions dead shot

Excellent drawing and beautiful drowning

يَنْفُثُ صِلُّ اليَرَاعِ في يَدِهِ

سُمًّا غَدَا فيه كُلُّ دِرْيَاقِ

He spits in his hand the saliva of determination

Poison in which every suit of armor dissolved

يُرَوِّضُ الطِّرْسَ من خَوَاطِرِهِ

بِمُسْتَهلِّ الشُّؤُونِ غَيْدَاقِ

He tames fantasy with the dawns

Of events, a lively colt

يَلْعَبُ بِالْمُرْهَفِ الدَّلِِيقِ فَهَلْ

سَمِعْتَ عَنْ لاعِبٍ بِمِخْرَاقِ

He plays with the subtle wit - did you

Hear of a player with a sledgehammer?

وَيَنْثَنِي الرُّمْحُ ذُو الكُعُوبِ بِهِ

يَهْتَزُّ مِنْ خِيفَةٍ وَإشْفَاقِ

And the lance with bases bends with him

Shaking with fear and dread

والعَامُ قَدْ عَامَ مِنْهُ في كَرَمٍ

أَغْرَقْتَهُ فِيهِ أَيَّ إغْرَاقِ

And the year has lasted with him in generosity

You have drowned it in which drowning!

لا زالَ في عِزَّةٍّ مُجَدَّدَةٍ

ما قامَ ساقٌ فَنَاحَ في سَاقِ

He still has renewed glory

As long as a leg stood up and bent on a leg