أَعَلِمْتَ أَنَّ مِنَ الصُّدودِ خُدورَا

أَسَمِعْتَ أَنَّ مِنَ القُلُوبِ بُدُورا

Do you know that from repulsions come affections?

Have you heard that from hearts come adorations?

وَرَأَيْتَ قَبْلَ وُجُوهِهِمْ وشُعُورِهِمْ

صُبْحاً يَمُدُّ بفَرْعِهِ دَيْجُورا

You saw their faces and hair one morning,

A willow stretching out with its branches an udum.

سَفَرُوا شُمُوساً في القِبابِ مُضِيئَةً

وَرَنَوْا ظِبَاءً في الهوادجِ حُورا

They traveled suns in domes radiant,

And gazed gazelles in litters fair.

وكأنَّهُمْ إذ أَعْرَضُوا وَتَعَرَّضُوا

كانُوا لنا حَزَناً فَعَادَ سُرورا

As if when they turned away and acted indifferently

They were to us sorrow then became joy again.

صادُوا وَقَدْ نَفَرُوا فَقُلْتُ لِصَاحِبِي

هَلْ كُنْتَ تَعْتَرِفُ الصَّيود نَفُورا

They were averse and turned away so I said to my friend,

“Were you wont to acknowledge the repulsion of the beloved?”

سَكَنُوا الفُؤَادَ وَإنْ نَأَوا فَعَجَبْتُ مِنْ

قَلْبٍ أَقَامَ مُواصِلاً مَهْجُورا

They gave rest to the heart though they departed, so I wondered at

A heart that remained intimate though abandoned.

نَزَلَ الفِراقُ بِهِمْ فَفَاجَأَ حَيَّهُمْ

لَيْلاً ففاتَ مُرَاقِباً وَغَيُورا

Separation befell them and surprised their neighborhood

At night, so it escaped vigilant and jealous.

رَفَعُوا ذُيُولَ النَّومِ عَنْ أَجْفَانِهمْ

وَاسْتَنْشَطُوا لَحْظاً عَلَيْه عَثُورا

They raised the trains of slumber from their eyelids,

And freshened a glance upon it mulled.

ومُعَطَّلِ لَوْلاَ عُقودُ مَدَامِعٍ

حُلَّتْ فَحلَّتْ في الجُمانِ نُحُورا

As if, were it not for the knots of tears,

Collars would have dissolved in bosoms fair.

وَبِنَفْسِيَ القَمَرُ الَّذِي مَلَّكْتُهُ

قًلبِي فَأَصْبَحَ عِنْدَهُ مَقْمُورا

And, by my soul, the moon I governed,

My heart, so it became with him captive.

مَنَعَ التَّوَصُّلَ والتَّوَسّلَ لِلْمُنَى

بَيْنٌ بَنَى مِنْ دُونِ ذَلِكَ سُورا

It hindered access and supplication to the beloved,

A separation built without that a fence.

فَفَكَكْتُ طَرْفِي مِنْ عِقَالِ جَمَالِه

وَتَرَكْتُ قَلْبِي عِنْدَهُ مَأْسُورا

So I released my gaze from the fetter of his beauty,

And left my heart with him captive.

وَلَقَدْ يَعُودُنِيَ الخيالُ فَيَنْثَنِي

دُونَ اللقاءِ مُذَمَّماً مَدْحُورا

Imagination returns to me and bends me

Without meeting, dejected and repelled.

لا طافَ بِي الطَّيْفُ المُلِمَّ فإنَّني

قد كُنْتُ لا أَهْوَى الزِّيارَةَ زُورا

No ghost bent round me, for I

Never loved the false visit.

ولَرُبَّ رَبَّةِ حانَةٍ حَنَّتْ إلى

أَدَبِي وَكانَ كما تَرَى مَشْهُورَا

And many a keeper of a tavern inclined to

My courtesy and was, as you see, famed.

بَعَثَتْ مِنَ الصَّهبَاءِ لِي يَاقُوتَةً

قَدْ كَلَّلَتْهَا لُؤْلُؤاً مَنْثُورا

She sent me from blondness a ruby

Collared with scattered pearl.

فَقَبَسْتُها ناراً يُضِيءُ لَهيبٌها

بِيَدِ المِزاجِ عَلَى الزُّجَاجَةِ نُورا

So I took it as a fire whose flame in

The palm of mischief lights the bottle a light.

بَلْ رُبَّ خِرْقٍ جُبْتُهُ بِأَجادِلٍ

يَحْمِلْنَ مِنْ أَكْوَارِهِنَّ وُكُورا

Nay, how many a rent I mended with patches

Bearing from their jars saffron and ambergris.

نائِي مَجَالِ الطَّرْفِ قَدْ أَنِسَتْ بِهِ

رِيحَانِ تنسفه صَباً وَدَبُورا

Wandering from the range of eyes she made me love

The basil the dawn and zephyr blow and scatter.

أَذْكَتْ عَلَيْهِ الشَّمْسُ جَمْرَةَ حَرِّها

لَمَّا هَفَا بِسَرَابِهِ مَقْرُورا

The sun kindled on it the ember of her heat

When it shook out its mirage barred.

وَسَأَلْتُ فِيهِ الفَجْرَ عَنْ سِرْحانِه

جَهْلاً وكُنْتُ أَظُنُّهُ اليَعْفُورا

And I asked about its place of pasture in the dawn

Ignorant and supposed it the rufous deer.

حَتَّى شَقَقْتُ اللَّيْلَ عَنْ إصْبَاحِهِ

وَطَوَيْتُ ذَيْلَ ظَلامِهِ المَجْرورا

Until I cleft the night into its dawn

And folded the train of its darkness dragged.

نازَلْتُهُ بِسَنَا أَبي الْحَسَنِ الَّذِي

مَلأَ المَلاَ فَتَرَكْتُهُ مَقْهُورا

I reproached it with the tooth of my father Abu-l-Hasan who

Filled high places and I left it suppressed.

بِعَلِيٍّ السَّامِي عَلَوْتُ وَصَارَ لِي

قَدْرٌ يكادُ يُدَافِعُ المَقْدورا

With Ali the lofty I transcended and there became for me

A decree that almost contests the foreordained.

خَلَفٌ يَمُدُّ إلى خُلَيْفٍ نِسْبَةً

بَدَرَتْ فكادَتْ أَنْ تَكُونَ بُدورا

A caliph extending back to a caliph, a lineage

That radiated till almost cycles.

مُتَنَاسِبُ الأَوْصَافِ جانِبُ باعِهِ

ودِفاعه قَصَرَا يَدِي مَقْصُورا

Balanced qualities, a flank supplementing its defender,

Its defense fell short, my hand confined.

وافَى يَزِيدُ الشكرَ من أَشعارِنا

مثلاً بِنَشْرِ صفاتِهِ مَنْشورا

Yazid requited our poetry with spreading

Its traits published as an example.

بِشَمَائِلٍ كادَتْ تَرِفُّ أَزاهِراً

وخلائِقٍ كادَتْ تُزَفُّ خُمُورا

With traits that almost bloom as flowers

And natures that almost stream good wine.

شِعْرٌ لَوِ اسْتَمَعَ الغَوَانِي لَحْنَهُ

أَلْقَيْنَ منْ طَرَبٍ عَلَيْهِ شُعُورا

Poetry whose melody, were the singers to hear it,

From rapture over it would loose their hair.

وَلَوَ انَّه فيما تَقَدَّمَ كائِنٌ

لغَدَا جَرِيرٌ خَلْفَهُ مَجْرورا

And if it were existent in times passed

Jarir would trail behind it dragged.

وكتَابَةٌ لا تَرْتَضِى نَهْرَ الصَّفَا

رَقًّا ولا زَهْرَ البِطاحِ سُطُورا

And a script that the rill of limpidity does not please

As parchment, nor the meadow’s flower as lines.

لو عايَنَتْهَا لاِبْنِ مُقْلَةَ مُقْلَةٌ

رَجَعَتْ تَرَى حُورَ الطَّرَائِق عُورا

If the son of Mukla saw it, the lobes

Would return seeing the free maids defective.

وَتَوَقُّدٌ في المُشْكِلاَتِ بِفِطْنَةٍ

تُدْلِي وَرُبَّتَمَا تَفِيضُ بُحُورا

And an inference in problems with an acumen

That transcends and from which oceans pour.

أَلْفَى أَبَاهُ على طرائِقِ سُؤْدُدٍ

فَجَرَى لَهُنَّ مُمَدَّحا مَشْكُورا

He found his father traversing ways of righteousness

So he coursed them lauded and thanked.

ذَاكَ الصُّعُودُ إلى السُّعُودِ مُبَلَّغاً

شَأْوَ العُلَى تَرَكَ الصُّعُودَ حُدُورا

That ascent to good fortune conveyed,

The ascent sublime left ascent in circles.

يا ابْنَ الَّذِي تَتَضَوَّعُ الدُّنْيَا إذا

ذَكّرُوا عُلاَهَ وَلَمْ يَزَلْ مَذْكُورا

O son of him at whose mention the world overflows when

They remember his eminence which remains famed,

حتَّى كَأَنَّ الشُّكْرَ كانَ نَسِيمُهُ

يَهْوى عَلَى عُرْفِ العَبِيرِ عُبُورا

So that gratitude was as if its breeze

Glided over the meadows’ perfume wafted.

ولَقَدْ ظَنَنْتُ الشِّعْرَ أَصْبَحَ نِقْسُهُ

مِسْكاً وأَمْسَى طِرْسُه كافُورا

And indeed I thought poetry’s art and skill

Became musk while its composition camphor.

فانْظُرْ لاطرَائِي وإطْرَابِي تَجِدْ

دَاوُدَ يَتْلُو في عُلاَكَ زَبُورا

So look at my agitations and perturbations you will find

David chanting through your eminence psalms.

وَتَخَيَّلِ الأّبْيَاتَ دّوْحاً ناضِراً

تَجِدِ الْمَعَانِي قَدْ صَدَحْنَ طُيُورا

And imagine the verses a meadow blossoming

You will find meanings ringing birds.

واهْنَأْ بِعِيدِ الفِطْرِ إنَّكَ عِيدُهُ

وَمُعِيدُهُ مُتَهَلِّلاً مَسْرورا

Delight in the Feast of Fast-Breaking, you are its feast,

And its celebrator exultant and joyous.

والتَفَّ في حِبَرِ المَدَائِحِ لاقِياً

ما عِشْتَ في ذاكَ الحَبيرِ حُبُورا

So turn in the ink of eulogies meeting

What you lived in that ink enamored.