أَمَّا الكواكِبُ فاحْتَمَوْا بمواكِبِ

كم من عِرابٍ حَوْلَهُمْ وأَعارِبِ

The stars gathered in their orbits

Surrounded by many nomads and knights

ولقدْ هَوِيتُ طلوعَ نجمٍ ثاقِبٍ

منهم فكان هُوِيَ نَجْمٍ ثاقِبِ

And I fell for the rising of a piercing star among them

It was the falling of a piercing star

تلك النجومُ فَإِنْ تُرِدْ أَنْواءَها

فَسَلِ الدموعَ تُجِبْ بغَيْث ساكِب

Those stars, if you want their radiance

Ask the tears, they will bring down pouring rain

جَعَلُوا سماءَهُمُ الرِّكابَ وأًقسموا

أَنْ لا وصول لِطالعٍ في غارِبِ

They made the sky their mounts and swore

No rising star can reach a setting one

ساروا وحوْلَ حُدُوجِهِمْ زُرْقُ القَنَا

فكأَنما نُظِمتْ وِشاحَ ترائبِ

They strode, their horses clad in armors

As if embroidered robes of knights

من أَسمَرٍ يقضي بأَسْمَرَ عاسِلٍ

أَو أَبيضٍ يمضي بأَبْيَضَ قاضِبِ

Of dark ones going with dark stalwarts

Or white ones with dashing whites

قلْ لَسودِ دَعِي الخُروج فإِنَّها

قد مَنَّعتْ غِزْلانَها بثعالِبِ

Say to the blacks, let the going be easy

For they have prevented their gazelles with leopards

هَزَّوا من الأَعطافِ آلة طاعنٍ

ونَضَوْا من الأَجفانِ آلةَ ضاربِ

They shook from their quivers well-aimed arrows

And drew from their eyelids striking blades

ورَمَوْا بسهمٍ من عيونٍ صائبٍ

فقضَى بغَيْثٍ من عيونٍ صائِبِ

And shot with a precise eye's arrow

Bringing down a pouring rain with precise eyes

ولقد كسوتُ القلبَ لأْمةَ سَلْوَةٍ

وعلِمْتُ أَنَّ الحُسْنَ أَولُ سالبِ

And I had clad my heart for a gentle nation

And learned that beauty is the first conqueror

وجلا عليَّ البدرُ وجه مُواصِلٍ

فأَبِيتُ حيثُ النَّجْمُ طَرْفُ مُراقِبِ

The moon rose to me with a visiting face

So I stayed where the star's gaze kept guard

وجلَوْتُ للمنصورِ غيدَ قصائدٍ

أَنزلَتُهَا منهُ بأَكْملَ خاطِبِ

And I went to al-Mansur with poetry scrolls

Which I let down to him with the perfect suitor

وخُصِصْتُ منه براتبٍ فاعْتَاقَهُ

عنِّي بَهَائِمُ خُصِّصوا بَمَرَاتِبِ

And he granted me a stipend he freed

For me from taxes given to the stipended

من عامل يغتالَهُ بعوامِلٍ

أَو كاتبٍ يحْتَازُهُ بِكتائبِ

From an agent who deceives him with agents

Or a clerk who seizes him with troops

والمالُ يُنْثَرُ في حُجُورِ عبيدِهِمْ

بَيدَي نظامِ الدينِ نَثْر الخاصِبِ

And money is scattered in their slaves' laps

By Nizam al-Din's dispersing hands

يا دهْرُ أَنتَ سَمَحْتَ منه بناظِرٍ

أعْمى فلا تَبْخَلْ عليه بِحَاجِبِ

O time, you allowed him an overseer

With blind eyes, so do not begrudge him an eyebrow

أَيَتِمُّ أَمْرُكَ يا أَشَلُّ وهذِه ال

أَمثالُ لم تنطِقْ بشيءٍ كاذبِ

Is your command complete, O feeble one, while

These examples spoke nothing false?

إِن الصناعةَ يا أَشلُّ مُهنَّدٌ

ماضِي الغِرارِ محلُّه لِلضَّاربِ

O feeble one, craft is a slanted profession

Its wont is deceit, the place of the fraudulent

شُلَّت يَمِينُكَ عن صِيانَةِ مالِها

قَصْداً وصحَّتْ من بَنِيكَ لِنَاهِبِ

Your right hand is paralyzed from protecting its wealth

Intentionally, while your sons' hands are active in pillage

وأَراكَ قد ملَّكْتَ كفَّكَ عَيْنَ ما

جَحَدَتْهُ عيْنُك بالْعَمَى لِلطالبِ

And I see you have empowered your palm with what

Your blind eye has denied the seeker

لا يأْمْرنِّي منك وجْهُ مُسالمٍ

صمْتاً وقد أَخْفَيْتَ قَلْبَ مُحاربِ

No peaceful face of yours should order me

Silently, when you hide a warring heart

لو قُمْتُ في الديوانِ أَنظِمُ هَجْوَهُ

ديوانَ شعرٍ لم أَقُمْ بالواجِبِ

If I stood in the diwan composing satire of it

A book of poetry, I would not have done my duty

دَسْتٌ بياذِقُهُ سطَتْ بشِياهِهِ

وتَحكَّمتْ فيهِ بحكْمٍ غالِب

Flattering hands have controlled it with their palms

And dominated it with overwhelming rule

يُزْهَى أَبو البدرِ اللعينُ كأَنَّهُ

لم يَدْرِ أَن البَدْرَ نَجْلُ غياهِبِ

Abu al-Budur, the damned, is adorned as if

He knows not the moon is born of passing nights

ويُرَى أَبو الفَرجِ الخسيسُ مجازِفاً

يُقْضَى له بمناصِبٍ ومناسِبِ

And Abu al-Faraj, the lowly, is seen conferred

Ranks and positions suitable to him

ويَمِيلُ فيه الزَّعْلَمشُّ لِطَبْعِهِ

فَيهُزُّ منه التِّيهُ مَعْطِفَ شارب

And in it al-Za'lamsh inclines by his nature

So confusion sheds its cloak's lapels

قومٌ كأَنَّ اللَّه صَبَّ شُخوصَهُمْ

واللُّؤْمَ لما صُوِّروا في قالَبِ

A people as if God poured their forms

And the ignominy when they were molded in a mold

يا كاتِباً أَدَى إِلَي الكُتَّاب ما

عادُوا أَحَقَّ لأَجلِهِ بمُكاتِبِ

O writer who brought the writers what

Made them most deserving of writers

لَقَطَتْ أَنَامِلُك السَّحابَ فخِلْتُها

بَرْقاً وكَفَّكَ هاطِلاتِ سَحَائِبِ

Your fingers grasped the clouds and I found them

Lightning, and your palm a pouring rain

حاشاكَ أَ تَثْنِي اهْتِمامَكَ جانباً

وتنامَ عن ذَهبٍ لِخِلِّكَ ذاهِبِ

Far from you to turn your care aside

And sleep from gold leaving to your uncle

هُو راتِبٌ قد كُنْتُ أَرْقُبُ نَجْمَهُ

فَهَوَى وقد جَعَلَ التُّقلُّقَ راتِبي

It is a stipend I used to await its star

But it fell and made my anxiety my stipend

والليلُ إِنْ لَمْ يأْتِ لَيْسَ بمُنْقَضٍ

أَبدًا ولا راعِي النُّجُومِ بآيِب

And the night, if it does not come, is not ending

Ever, nor is the watcher of stars bringing news