ولع النسيم وبانه الجرعا

وصفاك إلا الحلي والردعا

The breeze blew gently, spreading its scent,

Describing you, but for jewelry and refuge.

يا دمية ضاقت خلاخلها

عنها وضقت بحبها ذرعا

O doll, whose anklets are too tight,

She is distressed by her love a fathom.

قد كنت ذا دمع وذا جلد

فبقيت لا جلدا ولا دمعا

I used to have tears and endurance,

So I remained with neither endurance nor tears.

صيرت جسمي للضنى سكنا

وسكنت بعد قبالة الجزعا

I made my body a dwelling for sadness,

And dwelt next to sobbing.

يا من رأى أدماء سانحة

قلبي لها لا المنحنى مرعى

O you who saw slain bodies,

My heart is not bent pasture for them.

لاثت بمثل الدعص مئزرها

وجلت بعودا راكة طلعا

She wrapped her skirt like a rod,

And came quickly with slender, erect branches.

وإذا تراجعك الكلام فلا

تعدم لأيام الصبا رجعا

And if speech drives you back, still,

Do not fail to return to the days of youth.

ولقد سعت بالراح تصبحني

سكرى اللواحظ وعثة المسعى

The winds blew to wake me at dawn

Intoxicated sights and scattered quests.

في مستنير الزهر ما صنعت

إبراده عدن ولا صنعا

In the bright flowers I did not make

Their cooling ‘Adan or artifice.

باكرت مقترعا ثراه وما

ركت الحام لبانة فرعا

I rose early, plucking them, but did not

Leave the doves a bough to perch on.

سلت عليه البارقات ظبي

لبس االغدير لحوفها دوعا

The lightnings asked the gazelle to wear

The flood’s stones as anklets.

يا عاذلي إن شئت تسمعني

عذلا فشف لصخرة سمعا

O reproacher, if you want to hear me

Reproach, uncover your ear, O rock!

طبعا جبلت على الغرام كما

جهل الوزير على الندى طبعا

Indeed, I was created to love, as

The minister was created to be generous.

ملك رزين الحلم منتقم

غير أن طبع مجتني المرعى

The king of dignified dream is avenging,

Except that my nature betrayed the pasture.

لطريره ونزيله قسمت

خلقاه ذاضرا وذا نفعا

He allotted its thrushes and lodger

A present and future creation.

سامي الندى يلقى العدا أبدا

وترا وتلقى جوده شفعا

Lofty, high-minded, he always meets

The enemy, and his bounty intercedes.

هام تدر عليك أنعمه

عفوا لوم تبس لها ضرعا

Solicitous, he bestows his boons on you,

Pardoning, blaming - the udder dried up for them.

لما صنعت له المديح رأى

حسنا فأحسن عنده الصنعا

When I composed his eulogy he saw

It was beautiful, so his making was beautiful.

مازلت تحت الخفض مستترا

حتى رأيت بمدحه الرفعا

I remained obscured beneath low profile

Until I saw through his eulogy exaltation.

قسما بمن حج الحجيج له

والمازمين ومن أتى جمعا

By the One who guided the pilgrims, indeed for him

And the settlers, and whoever came in droves

تسعى به فتلاء تحسبها

في نسعها من دقةٍ نسعا

Do slender waists hasten which they suppose

In their slenderness to be from minute creation

ما زال سير الخمس ينحلها

حتى أطفن بمكة سبعا

The movement of five planets continues to undo them

Until seven planets set in Mecca

إن الوزير فتى هبيرة لم

يرث السماحة والندى بدعا

Indeed the minister is a terrific young man

He did not inherit generosity and high-mindedness arbitrarily

الواصل المعروف حين رأى

لسواه في إيثاره قطعا

The openly generous one, when he saw

None equaled his superior generosity

لوقيل زد وسعا على كرم

تأتيه طبعا فلم يجد وسعا

If it were said "Give more and be more generous"

His nature would come to have no capacity

تغنيه يوم الروع سطوته

عن أن يخوض لمأزق نفعا

His power avails him the day adversity strikes

From plunging into a dire solution

وبكفه قلم يصول به

يغني الفتير ويشعب الصدعا

With his palm there is a pen that runs rampant with it

Enriching the impoverished and mending the rift

فيه حياة للولي وللغم

ر المعادي حية تسعى

Through it there is life for the loyal, and for

The hostile foe a living serpent

ففداء هون الدين كل فتى

يقلي السماح ويعشق المنعا

So may every young man who meets

Generosity and loves loftiness ransom him

من معشر ليسوا إذا نسبوا

في الجود لا غربا ولا نبعا

They are a people who, when attributed

In generosity, have no east or spring

بيض الوجوه فغن هم سئلوا

رفدا رأيت وجوههم سفعا

Fair of face, though when asked

For provision, I saw their faces darkened

وافيت يا تاج الملوك على

وضع يخالف ذلك الوضعا

You came, O crown of kings, contrary

To the position, unlike that position

لما رايتَ البخل شرعهم

أرسلت تنسخ ذلك الشرعا

When you saw their canon was stinginess

You sent abrogating that canon

يا ابن الأولي وطئوا على عنفٍ

من حاسديهم آنفا جدعا

O son of the loyal, they set foot

Upon the enviers, muzzling them

غرس مساميع ذوو لسن

مشحوذة لا تعرف القذعا

They planted hearing faculties for those with

Sharp tongues that know no dignity

بلك يدفع النكبات نازلة

من ساورته فلم يطق دفعا

Through you the descending afflictions are warded off

From those who did not have the capacity to ward

فلك سددت لآمل خللا

ولكم مددت لخامل ضبعا

So for the hopeful you fixed a gap

And for the hopeless you extended aid

لو كنت في زمن الكليم لما

دخل المِرا آياته التسعا

If I were in the era of Kalimullah, the nine

Signs would not have entered his sanctuaries

أعدد للحدثان كل فتى

لبى الكريهة قبل أن يدعا

Prepare every young man who meets

What is hated before he calls for aid

ومهندا ما اهتز يوم وغى

إلا رأيت لبان لمعا

I have not seen Mount Abandon waver

Except that I saw its gleam flash

ومشرفا نهدا مراكله

جذعا تخال بلبته جذعا

And Musharraf, its hillside forts

Like lofty trunks with erect branches

يجري على الغايات فارسه

خبيا فتحسب طرفه سمعا

Its steed runs the lengths heroically

You would think its forelock listens

أحييتَ يا حيى الرجاء كما

أحيا وليَّ الديمة الرَّرعا

You revived hope, O reviver,

As you revived the faith of the breastfeeding baby

أنا ناظم الدر الثمين إذا

وأفاك غيري ناظما جزعا

I am the composer of the precious pearl, so if

Another composes it, mourn me, mourn me!

فتهنَّ شهر الله وابق على

مر الشهور مهنئا جمعا

Then congratulate God’s month and remain

Congratulating months over time

ما ناوح الدوحَ النسيم وما

طرب الحمام فرجَع السجعا

The cool breeze never sighed, nor

Did the doves thrill and rhymes echo