يَرْمي فؤاديَ وَهْوَ في سَوادئهِ

أتُراهُ لا يخْشَى على حَوبْائه

My heart casts itself into peril

Unfearing for its ruin

ومنَ الجهالةِ وهْوَ يَرشُقُ نفسه

أنْ تَطْمعَ العشّاقُ في إبقائه

And in its ignorance it wounds itself

That lovers aspire to its preservation

تاهَ الفؤادُ هوى وتاهَ تعَظُمّاً

فمتى إفاقةُ تائهٍ في تائه

The heart went astray in passion and in vanity

So when will this wanderer wake from his wandering?

رَشَا يُريك إذا نَظْرتَ تَثنيِّاً

تُسّبي قلوبُ الخَلْقِ في أثنائه

A fawn who when you look at him bending

Hearts are taken captive by his grace

عَلقَ القضيبُ معَ الكثيبِ بقدهِ

مُتجاذبَيْنِ لحُسنه وبَهائه

The smooth branch and the thick entwined

Each pulling at the other’s beauty and brilliance

حتّى إذا بلَغا الخِصامَ تَراضيَا

للفَصْلِ بينهما بَعقْدِ قبَائه

Until when strife brought them to accord

To separate them with a necklace’s string

ذُو غُرةٍ كالنّجمِ يلمَعُ نورُه

في ظلمةٍ أخْفَتْهُ من رُقبَائه

One of tempting glance like a star whose light

Shines in the darkness that obscures it from its peers

بيضاءُ لمّا آيسَتْ من وصْلِها

وبدَتْ بُدُوَّ البَدْرِ وَسْطَ سمَائه

A beauty despaired of attaining him

And the full moon appeared amid its heavens

أَترَعْتُ في حِجْري غديراً للبُكا

فعسى يلوحُ خيَالُها في مائه

I cradled a pool for tears

That perhaps her phantom might shimmer in its waters

ومُسّهدٌ حَلّ الصبًّاحُ بفرْعِهِ

من طُولِ ليلته ومن إعيائه

And a pillow the dawn with its branch has bleached

From the length of his night and his weariness

شُقّتَ جيوبُ جفونهِ عن ناظرٍ

من طيَفْهم خالٍ ومن إغفائه

The lids of his eyes split from a watcher

Empty of their forms and his neglect

مُتَطاوِلٌ أسفارُه مُتَوسِّدٌ

وَجَناتُه إحدى يَدَيْ وَجنْائه

His journeys extend and he lies pillowed

His gardens one of his hands and wings

طَوراً يُرَى زَوْرَ الجِبالِ وتارةً

يَرْمي العراقُ به إلى زَوْرائه

Sometimes the falseness of mountains is seen

And sometimes Iraq casts him to his hunting-grounds

والدَّهرُ أتعَبُ أهِله مِن أهلِه

منْ حاول التّقويم من عوجائه

Time exhausts its people more than its own

Who attempt to straighten its crookedness

مالي وما للدّهر ما من مطلَبٍ

أُدنيه إلاَّ لجَّ في إقصائه

What have I and what has time whose every

Demand I meet retreats from granting?

دَهرٌلعَمرُك هَرَّمتْه كَبْرةٌ

حتْى غدا يَجْني على أبنائه

A time—would that it grew old!—aged by great events

Until it reaps at the cost of its sons

يُبدِى التَعجّبَ من كثير عَنائه

فيه اللّبيبُ ومن قليلِ غَنائه

The discerning is astonished at its copious troubles

And its little joys

مُتَقلّبٌ أيامَه تَجِدُ الفتى

حيرانَ بين صباحهِ ومَسائه

Its days fluctuate—the youth finds

Himself confused amid its morn and eves

كدَرَتْ فليس يَبينُ آخرُ أمرها

وظُهورُ قَعْرِ الماء عند صَفائه

They stirred up yet their final state is unclear

Like the bed of water when clarify

مَنْ لي بذي كرَمٍ أقرّطُ سَمْعَهُ

شَكوْى زمانٍ مَرَّ في غُلوَائه

Who will lend me a generous ear

That I may complain of a time immersed in injustice?

إنّ الزمان إذا دهَى بصُروفه

شُكِيَتْ عَظائمُه إلى عُظَمائه

When time betrays with its events

Its enormities are complained of to its giants

الدينُ والدُّنيا كُفيتَ مُهمّها

مهما جَلْوتَ ظلاّمَها بضيائه

The debt of religion and world I was given to settle

However much its darkness is lit with its brilliance

ولأحمدَ بنِ علّي اجتمعَتْ عُلاً

لم تَجتمعْ من قَبله لسِوائه

And to Ahmad son of Ali gathered a loftiness

None before him gathered the like

فَرْدٌ بألفِ فضيلةٍ فيه فما

في العَصْرِ رّبُّ كفايةٍ بكِفائه

Peerless in thousands of virtues so none

In the age possesses adequacy to match him

لا تنجِلي ظُلَمُ الخطوبِ عن الفتَى

إلاّ برؤيةِ وَجهْهِ وبرائه

The gloom of afflictions is not lifted from the youth

Except by seeing his face and his innocence

مَلَك المُروءةَ دون أهلِ زمانه

مُلْكَ المَواتِ لمُبتْدِي إحيائه

He possessed manliness while the people of his time

Possessed the mortality of initiators to revival

ماضي العزيمةِ لا يُطاقُ سُؤالُه

أبدَ الزّمان لَسبقِه بَعَطائه

Determined whom questioning cannot be borne

Eternally preceding in his giving

يُفْنِي ذخائَرَهُ ويبُقى ذكْرَه

إفناؤها نَهْجٌ إلى إبقائه

He expends his treasures but his name remains

Expending them intends their preservation

وإذا أمات المالَ أصبحَ وارثاً

من آمِلٍ أحياهُ حُسْنَ ثَنائه

And when he makes wealth die he wakes an heir—

From a hopeful his praisefulness revived

ذُخْرانِ مَوْروثانِ قد بَقيا له

حَمْدٌ ومَجدٌ طال فَرْعُ بنائهِ

Two inherited provisions remain for him:

Thanks and glory with branches building

من ذاهبَيْنِ تَصرَّما فالحَمْدُ من

أموالهِ والمَجْدُ من آبائه

Of two vanishing yet thanks is from

His money and glory from his fathers

وأجَلُّ من آلائه عندَ الورّى

منه احتقارُ الغُرِّ من آلائه

And the loftiest of his endowments in the eyes

Of mankind is esteem’s disregard from his endowments

فيظَلُّ يَحْبوُ مُستميحَ نَوالهِ

وكأنّما هو طالِبٌ من لحبائه

He continues to smile requesting his pleasure

As if he were a seeker of its first fruits

وترى له كرماً يغالط نفسه

ويصحف المسطور من أبنائه

And you see in him a generosity that deceives himself

And misreads what is transcribed of his sons

يَحْبو ويَقْرأ أنه يَجنْى فَعن

دَ حِبائه يتَغْشاهُ فَضْلُ حيَائه

He smiles and reads that he reaps so

From the plenty of his gifts his self-respect pours

فَتَراهُ مُعْتَذِراً بغيرِ جنايةٍ

عُذْرَ الجُناةِ إلى أخي استِجْدائه

You see him apologizing without crime

The apology of sinners to the brother asked in need

إنّي لأُفكِرُ كيف أنظمُ شُكْرهُ

فلقد تَملّكني كريمُ إِخائه

Truly I think how I may express thanks

As one noble in brotherhood has possessed me

لكنْ أُؤمِّلُ أن يَظَلَّ على الورى

في أُفْقه المحسودِ من عَلْيائه

But I hope that he remains over mankind

In its envied horizon lofty

هو و الأعزّةُ من بَنيه دائماً

كالبَدْرِ وَسْطَ الشُهْبِ في ظَلمْائه

He and the most honorable of his children forever

Like the full-moon amid darkness’ stars