زَفَّ المنامُ إليّ طَيْفَ خَيالِهِ

لو أنّ طَيْفاً كان من أبدالِهِ

Slumber carried to me the ghost of his phantom

If only a ghost it were of his incarnations

لو كان مُعْتَنقي لَما طَغِيَ الهوَى

لو كان يَطْغَى لاعْتناقِ مِثاله

If my embracer, desire would not have surged

If surging were for embracing his likeness

بِتْنا نُعَلَّلُ بالوِصالِ منَ امْرئٍ

لم يُبْقِ منّا غيرُ ذِكْرِ وْصاله

We almost fancied being united with a man

Who left us with nothing but memories of his union

في ليلةٍ لحَظَ الزّمانُ نَعيمَنا

فيها بعَيْنِ العارفِ المُتَباله

In a night, time glanced at our delight

In it, in the observing eye of the swooning lover

تَمّتْ محاسنُه فتَمّ صُدودُه

وكذاكَ نَقْصُ البَدْرِ وقْتَ كَماله

His attributes perfected, so his affability perfected

Likewise the moon's defect at its peak

قَلّ الهوَى في العينِ منه مثْلما

يَلْقَى الأميرُ نَداهُ باسْتِقْلاله

Love lessened in the eye from him, as

The prince finds his cry with independence

ماذا يُريدُ الهَجْرُ من مُتَعَرِّضٍ

للدَّهْرِ يَمزُجُ رَنْقَهُ بِزُلاله

What does estrangement want from one displaying

To fate, blending his throaty voice with his shadow

صَبٍّ عصَى عُذّالَه حتّى إذا

نسَم الصَّبابةَ صارَ من عُذّاله

A petulant lad who defied his reprimanders until

The zephyr blew, whereupon he turned into one of his reprimanders

ومُهَفْهفٍ حبَس الورَى صَرْفُ الهوَى

ما بينَ عارضِه المُنيرِ وخاله

And an enchanter who trapped passion with the course of desire

Between his bright cheek and his mole

عاطَيْتُه الصَّهْباءَ أخطُبُ نَوْمَه

والصّحْوُ يَحجُبُ حُسْنَه بِدَلاله

I asked him for daytime sleep and wakefulness concealed his beauty with its guide

I kept extending it to him until I surely

ما زلتُ أَبسطُهُ بها حتّى لقد

فرَّقْتُ بينَ دَلالِه وجَماله

Separated between his guide and his beauty

Until drowsiness fooled around with his body

حتّى إذا عبَث السُّباتُ بقَدِّه

عَبثاً يَكونُ الجِدُّ من أمثاله

Playfully becoming the essence of its like

I interceded for him with my manliness and took

شَفّعْتُ فيه مُروءتي وسلَبْتُه

نَفْسي وبِعْتُ حَرامَه بحَلاله

My soul from myself and sold his prohibitions for the lawful

And a taster who thought prolonging would increase

ومُماذِقٌ حَسِبَ المِطالَ يَزيدُني

حُبّاً له فوهَبْتُه لِمِطاله

My love for him, so I gifted it to his prolonging

If only time would show gratitude, it would not have left

ولَوَ انَّ هذا الدّهْرَ يشكرُ لم يدَعْ

شُكْري وقد عَدَّدْتُ بعْضَ خِصاله

My gratitude as I enumerated some of its traits

If only this generosity would show gratitude, it would not have left

ولَوَ انَّ هذا الجودَ يشكرُ لم يَدَعْ

شكْرَ الأميرِ وقد غدا منْ آله

The prince's gratitude as he became of his house

Abundance is in his bestowal, attaining is in

الوَفْرُ عند نَوالِه والنَّيْلُ عن

د سُؤالِه والمَوْتُ عند صِياله

His questioning, and death lies in his haunt

People are from his inquiry, generosity is from

والخَلْقُ من سُؤاله والجُودُ من

عُذّالِه والدَّهرُ من عُمّاله

His reprimand, and fate is from his workers

Hopes gather from his assets

تَتجمّعُ الآمالُ من أموالِه

فَتُفَرَّقُ الأموالُ في آماله

So assets disperse into his hopes

He has such sweetness that if it were distributed to people,

وله حُلومٌ لو قُسِمْنَ على الوَرى

ما زاد عاقِلُه على جُهّاله

The sensible would not increase over the ignorant in it

And he has manners that if they were planets,

وخلائِقٌ لو أنّهُنٌ كواكبٌ

أَضحَى السُّها في الضّوءِ مِثْلَ هِلاله

The Pleiades in their glow would become like its crescent

And his words are more gratifying to the hearing

وفُصولُ قَوْلٍ هُنّ أعذَبُ مَسمَعاً

من راحةِ المَشْغولِ عن أشغاله

Than the comfort of the busy from their busyness

The generosity of his intuition does not withhold his utterance

سَمْحُ البديهةِ ليس يُمسكُ لَفْظَه

فكأنّما ألفاظُه من ماله

Its as if his words were from his assets

And as if his resolves and his swords

وكأنّما عزَماتُه وسُيوفُه

من جِدِّهن خلُقِنْ َمن إقْباله

Were created from his determination and his encroachment

Smiling in discourse, you'd reckon he is

مُتَبسِّمٌ في الخَطْبِ تَحسَبُ أَنّه

من حُسْنِه مُتلثِّمٌ بنِعاله

Veiled for his beauty by his slipper

If fate knew the value of his deed

لو كان يَدْري الدَّهرُ قيمةَ فِعْلِه

نُسِجَتْ حوادثُه على مِنْواله

Its events would be tailored to his example

My Indian steel, the antiquity of whose craftsmanship

يا هُنْدُوانيّاً عتيقُ نِجارِه

أَغْنَى الصَّياقِلَ عن حديثِ صِقاله

Has made polishing redundant in telling of its sharpmaking

I channeled poetry to you until poems became for it

أُجري إليك الشِّعْرَ حتّى أَصبحَتْ

منه القِصارُ حوامِداً لِطِواله

Short pieces eulogizing its lengths

And so whoever trails his train toward the heights

وكذاكَ مَن جَرَّ الذُّيولَ إلى العُلا

عَلِقَ الثَّناءُ بصَفْحتَيْ أذْياله

Praise sticks to the pages of his train’s edges