لو أَنّ ذا قَلَمي قُوَى كَلِمي

نابَتْ يدي لَكَ عن حَدِيثِ فَمي

If only my pen were strong, my words potent,

My hand would tire of speaking for my mouth.

وكنت تُبْصِرُ كُلَّ مُنْسكِبٍ

يسرى إِليكَ وكلَّ مُضْطَرِمِ

You would see every afflicted one

Yearning for you, and every inflamed heart.

لكن وجدتُ بَرَاعَتِي اعْتَذَرتْ

لبَرَاعَتِي بتقاصُرِ الشِّيَمِ

But my talent apologized for its inadequacy

In eloquence, by its lack of prowess,

فقعدتُ عن تكليفِها سِيراً

قامَ الزمانُ بها على قَدَمِ

So I stopped taxing it and went on

As time carried on at its own pace.

أَوَلَيْسَ أَشواقي وإِن كُتِمَتْ

كالشَّيْبِ يَضْحَكُ في فَمِ الكَتَمِ

Are not my passions, though concealed,

Like white hair laughing in a close-mouthed grin?

وصبابَتي هيَ ما عَلِمْتَ بها

نارٌ مُضَرَّمَةٌ على عَلَمِ

My youth---you knew it by

A raging fire raised on a flag.

ولقد عدِمْتَ سِوى لطيفِ هوًى

ما زال يُخْرِجُنِي من العَدَمِ

You missed naught but the gentle pining

That still brings me out of oblivion.

وشرقتُ بالمِلْحِ الأُجاجِ فَما

أُنْسِيتُ سكر الباردِِ الشَّبِمِ

And I was imbued with burning salt, yet I forgot not

The sweet intoxication of chilled wine.

وسُئِلْتُ حينَ غَرقْتُ في كُرَبٍ

عنها فقلتُ غَرقْتُ في كَرَمِ

When sunk in sorrow I was asked of you

I said I was sunk in nobility.

ويُقالُ لي هلاَّ ذَمَمْتَ ولي

شغلٌ بحمدي راعِيَ الذِّمَمِ

And I am told, why do you not blame

One whose praise is my duty to proclaim?

دَعْ من حديثِ حوادثٍ كثُرتْ

إِن الهمومَ نتائجُ الهِممِ

Leave off talk of events now many,

For troubles are the fruits of ambitions.

وكفاكَ من ذكر المُلِمَّةِ ما

وَسَمَ الوجوه بحِلْيَةِ اللِّمَمِ

And spare me describing what

Has poisoned faces with villainy's mark.

ولأَجْلِ صرفِ الدهرِ صرتُ متى

أَبصرتُ لم أَبصِرْ سوى ظُلَمِ

So that I may divert fate's turns, whene'er

I look, I see only darkness.

ونَعَمْ جهِلْتُ فقمتُ عن نِعمِ

كانت لَديْكَ وقُمْتُ في نِعَم

Good I know not! I rose from bounty

You had, and rose into bounty,

واضَيْعتَاهُ خرجتُ عن عَرَبٍ

واضَيْعتَاهُ دخَلْتُ في عَجَمِ

And lost it. I left Arab ways

And lost them, entered foreign ones.

وبضاعَتِي نُطْقِي وأَكسَدُ ما

بِيع الكلامُ على ذَوي الصَّمَم

My wares are my words, and most ruined is what

Of speech is sold to the deaf.

لَهفِي على الإِفحامِ أَيْن به

لأَجانِسَ الإِفحامَ بالفَحم

My craving is for dumbfounding---where is it

To dumbfound foreigners with embers?

بل لَيْتَها من غُمَّةٍ كَشَفَتْ

وَجْهَ التَّنَقُّل عن ذوِي الغُمم

Rather would that it lift gloom's veil

From the faces of the gloomy.

وأَنا المَلوُم فإِنْ رَجَعْتُ إِلى

عَوْدٍ إِليها بعْدها فَلُمِ

And I who am blamed, if I return

To what I'd left, am made a fool.

أَحسِنْ أَبا حَسَنَ الأَجَلَّ وقُمْ

في كَشْفِها واضْرِبْ على القِمَمِ

Do best, Abu Hasan, rise high

To reveal it, strike the peaks.

والْقَ الكتائبَ يا بْنَ والِدِها

بالكُتْبِ وارْمِ السّيفَ بالقَلَمِ

Ready battalions, son of his father,

With books, and hurl the sword with the pen.

واخدُمْ بتقبيلي البِساطَ لِمَنْ

باتَ الزمانُ له من الخَدَمِ

And serve, by my kissing the carpet, him

For whom time has been a servant.

واعرِضْ عليه حالَ خادِمِهِ

سِرًّا ونَبِّهْهُ لَهَا وَنَمِ

Show him in secret the state of his servant,

Hint to him, and sleep.

وكِلا أَسيراً منك مالكاً أَبدا

فبحق مُلْكِكَ لا عُدِمْتَ دُمِ

Each of us is your captive, eternally your subject.

So by your rule never cut short his thread!

يا ياسِرَ بْنَ بلالٍ انْتَقَمتْ

مِنِّي صروفُ الدَّهْرِ فانْتَقِم

O Ya'qub ibn Bilal, the turns of fate avenged themselves on me

So avenge me!

هذا أَبوكَ البحْرُ جارَ على

مالِي وأَجْرَى في الدُّموعِ دمِي

This, your father, is the sea that exceeded

My property's limit and shed my tears.

وعَدَا على حُرَمي وقد جُعِلَتْ

منذُ انتميتُ إِليكَ في حَرَمِ

It trespassed on my sanctuary, which since

I gave myself to you, has been inviolate.

في كلِّ يومٍ منه قارِعةٌ

أَلَمِي بها أَنْ لَسْتُ ذا أَلَمِ

Every day it assails me

With a blow that pains me for being unfelt.

فأَكونَ فيه بنانَ ذِي لَهَفٍ

طَوْراً وطوراً سِنَّ ذي نَدَمِ

So in it I become a youth of yearning

Now like one grown old in regret.

أَعطيتَني ما قام يأْخُذُهُ

مني وظنُّكَ فيه لَمْ يَقُمِ

You gave me what continues taking

From me while you thought it did not exist.

روا لَسْتُ أَقولُ صِنْوُكَ

في اللُّؤْمِ أَحْظَى منكَ في الكَرمِ

Know I do not say your hatred

In adversity is dearer than your kindness.

كم صارخِ مِنَّا ومُلْتَطِمٍ

في زاخِرٍ منه ومُلْتَطِمِ

How many complainers and self-beaters are among us,

Drowning in it, and self-beaters,

ومُكابدٍ تَعَباً إِلى أَكَمٍ

وافَى عليها كُلُّ مُرْتَكِمِ

And those enduring hardship unto blindness,

To which every rider comes.

مالي رُمِيتُ بكلِّ عاصِفَةٍ

أَنا لَسْتُ من عادٍ ولا إِرَمٍ

Why am I pelted with every gale?

I am not 'Aad or Iram of the Pillars.

وعلى ابْتِدائي ذا الحديثُ جَرَى

يا لَيْتَ شعرِي كَيْف مُخْتَتَمِي

On my beginning this discourse flowed---

Would that I knew how my end shall be!