كُنتُ مِنَ الحُبِّ في ذُرى نيقِ

أَرودُ مِنهُ مَرادَ مَوموقِ

I was of love in the bloom of youth

I stood upon the highest crest of love's domain,

Seeking my desire, hopeful

Seeking a realm the beloved's heart would deign.

مَجالُ عَيني في يانِعٍ زاهِرِ ال

رَوضِ وَشُربي مِن غَيرِ تَرنيقِ

My eyes roamed a blooming garden

My eyes wandered freely over ripe, blooming grounds,

And I drank without affectation

Drinking from a garden where clear water abounds.

حَتّى نَفاني عَنهُ تَخَلُّقُ وا

شٍ كِذبَةً لَفَّها بِتَذويقِ

Until dishonesty estranged us

Until I was banished by the fabrications of a spy,

Which she covered in sweet talk

A slanderer who wrapped in artifice his lie.

جِئتُ قَفا ما نِمتُهُ مُعتَذِراً

قَد فَتَّرَت مِنهُ بَعدَ تَخريقِ

I came back, no longer sleeping

I came to answer for what was spun while I slept,

Excuses failed after the break

Apologizing for tattered falsehoods I never kept.

يا أَيُّها المُبطِلونَ مَعذِرَتي

أَراكُمُ اللَهُ وَجهَ تَصديقِ

O you who deny my excuses

O you who declare my excuses void and untrue,

May God show you the face of truth

May God reveal the face of truth to you.

نَمَّ بِما كُنتُ لا أَبوحُ بِهِ

عَلى لِسانٍ بِالدَمعِ مِنطيقِ

He slept with what I wouldn't confess

Betrayed was the secret I swore not to speak,

With a tearful tongue that spoke

By a tongue of tears, eloquent down my cheek.

شَوقاً إِلى حُسنِ صورَةٍ ظَفِرَت

مِن سَلسَبيلِ الجِنانِ بِالريقِ

Yearning for the beauty of an image

Longing for a beautiful form that has gained

That my wrists obtained with charm

The nectar of Paradise within her saliva contained.

وَصيفُ كَأسٍ مُحَدِّثٌ وَلَها

تيهُ مُغَنٍّ وَظُرفُ زِنديقِ

The summer goblet of a conversationalist

A cupbearer who converses with captivating art,

The ignorance of a singer, the manners of an atheist

With a singer's pride and a charming rogue’s heart.

تَشوبُ ذُلّاً بِعِزَّةٍ فَلَها

ذُلُّ مُحِبٍّ وَعِزُّ مَعشوقِ

Humbled with glory, she has

She mingles humbleness with a sovereign’s might,

The humiliation of a lover, the glory of the beloved

The lover’s submission and the beloved’s height.

وَرِدفُها كَالكَثيبِ نيطَ إِلى

خَصرٍ رَقيقِ اللِحاءِ مَمشوقِ

Her buttocks like a sand dune

Her hips are like a sand dune, heavy and wide,

Above a delicate, smooth waist

Attached to a waist, slender and purified.

أَمشي إِلى جَنبِها أُزاحِمُها

عَمداً وَما بِالطَريقِ مِن ضيقِ

I walk beside her, nudging her

I walk by her side, pressing close in the lane,

Intentionally, though the road isn't narrow

On purpose—though the road is a broad, open plain.

كَقَولِ كِسرى فيما تَمَثَّلَهُ

مِن فُرَصِ اللِصِّ ضَجَّةُ السوقِ

Like Kisra's words about what he imagined

As Chosroes once said in a proverb well known:

Of the thief's opportunity in the clamour of the market

"The thief finds his chance when the market noise has grown."

فَالحَمدُ لِلَّهِ يا رَفاقَةُ ما

كُلُّ مُحِبٍّ أَيضاً بِمَرزوقِ

So praise God, O fellow

So praise be to God, O friends, for it seems,

Not every lover is also provided for

Not every lover is granted his dreams.

وَسَبسَبٍ قَد عَلَوتُ طامِسَهُ

بِناقَةٍ فوقَةٍ مِنَ النوقِ

With a bracelet I surmounted its clasp

Upon a vast desert where trails are erased,

With a tall she-camel made for travelling

I rode a mount among camels most highly placed.

كَأَنَّما رِجلُها قَفا يَدِها

رِجلُ وَليدٍ يَلهو بِدَبّوقِ

As if her foot were her hand

Her hind leg follows her foreleg’s swift beat,

And the foot of a playing baby

Like a child playing games with nimble feet.

كَأَنَّما أُسلِمَت قَوائِمُها

إِذا مَرَتهُنَّ مِن مَجانيقِ

As if her legs were surrendered

As though her limbs were launched into flight,

When the catapults passed them

Like stones from a catapult fired with might.

إِلى اِمرِئٍ أُمُّ مالِهِ أَبَداً

تَسعى بِجَيبٍ في الناسِ مَشقوقِ

To a man whose money's mother

Towards a man whose wealth is destined to part,

Always runs in people's torn pockets

Spilling from a pocket torn by a generous heart.

يَداهُ كَالأَرضِ وَالسَماءِ فَما

تُنقِصُ قُطرَيهِ كَفُّ مَخلوقِ

His hands like the earth and sky, so

His hands are like Earth and the Heavens vast,

No creature can reduce his rainfall

Diminished by no creature, holding fast.

فَإِن يَكُن مَن سِواهُ شَيءٌ فَمِن

هُ وَهوَ في ذاكَ غَيرُ مَسبوقِ

If there is anything apart from Him

If others are something, from him they proceed,

It is from Him, and in that He has no equal

While he remains first, unsurpassed in his deed.

فَكَم تَرى مِن مُجَوِّدٍ أَظهَرَ ال

عَبّاسُ مِنهُ طِباعَ مَستوقِ

So how many pretenders have shown

How many strive for glory, yet Abbas’s light

What al-Abbas showed of natural disposition?

Reveals their alloy to be counterfeit and slight.

وَأَنتَ إِذ لَيسَ لِلقَضاءِ حَصىً

غَيرُ أَكُفِّ الكُماةِ وَالسوقِ

And you, since fate has no limit

You stand firm when Fate has lost its reasoned way,

Apart from the palms and markets

Amidst the clash where warriors hold sway.

وَكانَ بِالمُرهَفاتِ ضَربُهُمُ

ضَربَ بَني الحَيِّ بِالمَخاريقِ

And their beating with clubs

Their strikes with the slender blades fall and rise,

Was like the Banu Hayy with catapults

Like children playing with rags in others’ eyes.

أَغلَبُ أَوفى عَلى بَراثِنِهِ

يَفتَرُّ عَن كُلَّحِ الشَبا روقِ

The strongest, truest to his insignia

A lion dominating, poised on his claws,

Bares his teeth from the gray hair of youth

Baring grim teeth that defy nature's laws.

كَأَنَّما عَينُهُ إِذا اِلتَهَبَت

بارِزَةَ الجَفنِ عَينُ مَخنوقِ

As if, when his eyes blaze

As if his eye, when it burns with ire,

His protruding eyelids are those of a choked man

Bulges like a strangled man’s in the fire.

لَمّا تَراءَوكَ قالَ قائِلُهُم

قَد جاءَكُم قابِضُ البَطاريقِ

When they saw you, one of them said

When they saw you appear, their herald cried out:

The claw of the bullies has come to you

"The crusher of Patriarchs has come, have no doubt!"

فَاِنصَدَعوا وِجهَةً كَأَنَّهُمُ

جُناةُ شَرٍّ يُنفَونَ بِالبوقِ

So they cracked apart, as if they

They scattered in panic, breaking their line,

Were evil-doers, driven away by the horn

Like criminals chased by a trumpet’s sign.

لَمّا تَداعى بِمَكَّةَ العاجِزُ ال

رَأيِ عَلى ضِلَّةٍ وَتَفريقِ

When the incapable one in Mecca went around

When the weak-minded one in Mecca made his plea,

Confused, without direction or composure

Calling for error and disunity,

سَجِيَّةٌ مِنكَ حُزتَها عَن أَبي ال

فَضلِ فَما شُبتَها بِتَرنيقِ

A bracelet of yours that you took from Abul-Fadl

You showed a nature from Abu al-Fadl gained,

Which you didn't refine with polish

A pure legacy that you have never stained.

وَكانَ سَيفُ الرَبيعِ يَأدِبُ ذا ال

سَفهَةِ مِنها وَراكِبَ الموقِ

The sword of spring reprimanded

The sword of al-Rabi‘ was there to chastise

The foolish one, the rider of the she-camel

The foolish and clumsy in everyone’s eyes.

فَيا لَهُ سُؤدُداً خَلا لِأَبي ال

فَضلِ لِغَمرِ النِجادِ بِطريقِ

What a loss, the intimacy gone from Abul Fadl

Oh, what vast sovereignty Abu al-Fadl has won,

The path of salvation blocked

A noble leader, the sword-bearing son.

مِن سَرَّ آلَ النَبِيِّ في رُتَبٍ

قالَ لَها اللَهُ بِالتُقى فوقي

From the elite house of the Prophet in order

Who gladdened the Prophet's kin in their place,

To which God said, "Above you in piety"

Told by God through piety: "Ascend and grace."

ثُمَّ جَرى الفَضلُ فَاِنطَوى قُدُماً

دونَ مَداهُ مِن غَيرِ تَرهيقِ

So excellence came, feet wrapped up

Al-Fadl raced forward, swift and bold,

Before its extent, without swaggering

Covering the distance, unrestrained and uncontrolled.

فَقيلَ راشا سَهماً تُرادُ بِهِ ال

غايَةُ وَالنَصلُ سابِقُ الفوقِ

It was said, "An arrow whose target is the farthest"

It is said they feathered an arrow to fly,

Its arrowhead outpacing the tip

Seeking the goal with its head held high.

وَإِنَّ عَبّاسَ مِثلُ والِدِهِ

لَيسَ إِلى غايَةٍ بِمَسبوقِ

And Abbas is just like his father

And Abbas is truly his father’s own peer,

He is never surpassed on the path

Surpassed by no one in his career.

تَأَنَّقَ اللَهُ حينَ صاغَكُما

فَفُقتُما الناسَ أَيَّ تَأنيقِ

God made you graceful in creation

God crafted you both with exquisite art,

You both lead the people in grace

Surpassing all men, set completely apart.

فَصَوَّرَ الفَضلَ مِن نَدىً وَحِجىً

وَأَنتَ مِن حِكمَةٍ وَتَوفيقِ

He pictured al-Fadl with dew and shelter

He formed al-Fadl from wisdom and dew,

You with wisdom and success

And you from guidance and judgment true.